DeWalt skipped the race as well with their stuff in the midway area.
Fox wouldn't have shown it, but the race was a "Salute To Military Families". Each driver walked out with someone serving at the current time. They had singers from Luke AFB singing God Bless America as the Golden Knights came down and landed on the front straight. Besides the F-16 flyby from Luke they had two Apaches buzz the track as well. During the anthem they had military members holding red, white and blue flags standing on top of the hillside. It was really good!
Terry also made a few observations on what was going on at the track:
I'll start with the Fox baseball thing, they leave the cars on pit road for the longest time, finally heard on the scanner that they are waiting for the baseball game to end. Then they do fire and let them sit on pit road running finally letting them pull out, wasn't the kind of day where it was cold out. They were then told 4 pace laps instead of 3, you get the idea.
I was surprised at the fact there were open spaces in the reserved camping but not as many as I had figured and those had been paid for. Same for the grandstands empty seats but not as many as I figured. The hillside looked filled as well, only reasonable priced area. Friday night was a joke, that was the smallest crowd I had ever seen for a Busch race, I've seen better crowds for the trucks. When we were walking in we walked by "Octane" thought maybe I'd see some of the people who normally hang out, but they were no where to be found. Also very few of the type of people who go in there. I guess the #2 racing series in America doesn't matter to the money people that Daytona craves.
At least they let you bring in bottled water, it's near 90 and Amerserve wants that $ 4.25 for the same bottle. They did raise the price of beer to $7. Of course there were those who would shell out the money. Bashas once again kept prices at the store the same as their supermarkets and paid for the showers in the camping area. Nice move on their part, at least they stay fan friendly.
The racing was bad but hey isn't that what the COT is all about. By lap 200 people were leaving, even with Jr. running well. I wonder how many of those people will come back? Oh well NA$CAR/ISC got their money. The camping with our group was a good time and that's the most important thing.
Those were some great observations Terry and I definitely appreciate them. And a round of applause for the folks at Bashas for taking care of the race fans who were there.
During the part of the pre-race we got to see, Jarod stopped by the Hollyweird Motel and dropped off some subs which aptly fit the Three Stooges who were in there. DW is definitely a ham, Jeff Hammond is definitely a turkey, and Chris Myers is definitely full of bologna. Since a lot of talk has been going on all week about Aaron Fike and drug testing, they got around to talking about that. Jabber Jaws thinks they should have drug testing 3 times a year conducted by an outside agency and have a consistent drug abuse program in NA$CAR. Hammond, owner Pink Pony Racing and a team that Fike drove for at one point, said that they have a drug clause in their contract. Drug clause doesn't mean drug testing. Then we got the usual shilling for the goofy cam and the Jabber Jaws store.
One of the things that I thought was pretty neat was Jeff Gordon making a wish come true for a boy named Joshua who went through the Make A Wish Foundation to meet Jeff. This was the 200th kid who had their dream come true in meeting Jeff. Whether you like Jeff or not, this shows he does care about kids and making their dreams come true. So kudos to Jeff. It was at this point that they decided to cut to the baseball game after another brief stop in the Hollyweird Motel and a commercial.
When they returned from the baseball game, they were well into the first lap. Newman pulled away, like every other pole sitter in the Uni-Car, followed by Sadler, Busch, and Kahne. We wouldn't get very far into the race when on Lap 10, Ms Terry DeBris made an appearance between Turns 1 & 2. Supposedly she was dressed up as an Arizona Cardinal, but as they didn't show her, we'll never know for sure. Then it was off to commercial. When they interrupted the commercials on Lap 13, they showed a replay of Larry Mac waving the green flag at the start of the race and also mentioned that the green flag had just returned from Iraq. Also while they were at commercial, 16 cars made pit stops, but they didn't bother showing that. Then we got the restart on Lap 17.
On the restart, Newman was unable to pull away from Edwards and Busch and Johnson caught them giving us a little side by side racing for the lead. On Lap 23, Jabber Jaws made one of his observations about the Uni-Car. "The car is struggling at the 1.5 mile tracks and is competitive at the others". I hate to say it, but it sure looked like the Uni-Car was struggling at Martinsville and Bristol too and they're not 1.5 mile tracks. Kyle Busch was running on the high side to try to get around Cousin Carl. On the next Lap, Johnson went low and got around Cousin Carl for 3rd. Since we had seen some racing action, it was time to resume the commercial programming on Lap 25.
While they were showing their usual plethora of commercials, Johnson had gotten by Newman on Lap 30. Then they rudely interrupted the commercials on Lap 32. Johnson managed to put some distance between himself and Newman. On Lap 39, Cousin Carl got around Newman for 2nd and started to chase down Johnson. It was at this point we'd hear about Jeff Burton and the problem with glare from the Booth Buffoons. We'd also be told about the glare about a dozen more times before the sun set. On Lap 40, Matt Kenseth hit the wall bringing out Caution #2. They replayed some of the in-car audio and you could hear Matt say the car wouldn't turn and "that's what happens when we don't do our job". We got to see some pit stops and Newman got off pit road 1st followed by Cousin Carl, and Johnson. Then it was back to commercial programming.
When they interrupted the commercials again, it was Lap 47 and just in time for the restart. Jr. got by Stewart for 5th. Two laps later, Kenseth went behind the wall. On Lap 53, Jr. got by Newman for 3rd and the Fox cheerleaders in the announcing booth were starting to warm up. On Lap 57, they showed what was supposed to be a battle for 15th, but it didn't look like much of a battle. It was more like one car not being able to pass the other one, which is typical of the Uni-Car. Since we got so see a little bit of racing, it was back to commercials on Lap 60 with Johnson leading.
When they returned, it was Lap 67. Kyle Busch was complaining about his car being extremely loose and that he was driving "a 30th place car". Cousin Carl was starting to reel in Johnson on Lap 71. On Lap 73, Newman was advancing to the rear and had dropped back to 10th place. On Lap 75, David Ragan was trying to get by Newman for 10th. The next lap, Kyle Busch got by Newman. Since we got so see a couple of passes, it was time to once again go back to commercials on Lap 77.
When they broke into a race again, it was Lap 83. Johnson was lapping Bill Elliott and Joe Nemechek and moving in on Sam Hornish Jr. Matt Kenseth had returned to the track after 40 laps in the garage getting repairs done. Kasey Kahne's car was loose and Mark Martin got by him for 8th. With Johnson having to work lapped traffic and slower cars, Cousin Carl caught him. There were 34 cars on the lead lap and since we had seen some passes and cars getting lapped, it was time again to break into more commercials on Lap 93.
They were gracious enough to only have 7 laps of commercials and came back on Lap 100. The big mention was Jeff Burton moving up to 20th. Since we got to see Jeff move up to 20th, it was time to go back to commercial on Lap 104. When they returned on Lap 112, we got to see Cousin Carl passing Johnson for the lead. This was also the beginning of some green flag pit stops. On Lap 114, Caution #3 came out when Front Row Joe's car was putting out a lot of smoke every time he braked. Mears was the recipient of the free pass. They showed a good shot of Denny Hamlin pulling tape off the windshield that he'd been using as a sun visor. Johnson, Hamlin, Martin, and a lot of other cars hit the pits and it was back to commercial on Lap 116.
When they came back, it was time for a Face Break with some gibberish from the Hollyweird Motel. During the pit stops, one of Cousin Carl's crewmembers went over too early and Carl was penalized. Not only did he lose a lap for being caught in the pits when the caution came out but he also had to start from the end of the longest line. 26 cars were on the lead lap when they restarted on Lap 122. There was a lot of confusion not only because of the double file restart but also because the tail end of the lead lap cars were ahead of the leader. Johnson was in 1st and Jr. was in 2nd. On Lap 124, Johnson and Jr. were going at it for the lead and Jabber Jaws showed just how unbiased he is when he started shouting "Junior Junior Junior". By the next lap, Jr. had the lead. Larry Mac, always the shill, had to get in a plug for the upcoming Talladega race when he said "It will be his 300th start at Talladega". Anyone get the feeling Talladega isn't selling out?
They had a good shot of David Gilliland's car and you could see that there was once again no sponsor on the hood. On Lap 128, with the help of some lap traffic, Johnson got the lead again. Mark Martin had caught up to Jr. in the traffic and was going for 2nd. Once again, the Commentating Clowns said there was a great battle going on for 6th. No battle just, Hamlin not being able to complete his pass of Bowyer. On Lap 132, Regan Smith made an unscheduled pit stop and there were still 24 cars on the lead lap.
On Lap 134, Newman's power steering let loose dumping power steering fluid all over the track. Why he didn't go down and get out of the way of the traffic is beyond me. Jeff Burton, Reid Sorenson, Matt Kenseth, spun. JJ Yeley hit the wall. Johnny Sauter hit somebody and went behind the wall. Newman made it to pit road and when he tried to stop, he spun his car. They had to red flag the race at this point and it was a return to commercials.
When they came back, Jabber Jaws had changed into his Kyle Busch/Toyota cheerleading outfit and talked to him on the radio. For somebody who had been complaining about driving a 30th place car, Busch was doing pretty good running in 5th. Then the Hollyweird Motel had another Face Fake. Hambone did a little show and tell about the cool box and how it took hot air and made it cool. Maybe they should try that with Jabber Jaws to keep the announcing booth nice and cool. Fox had done a good job so far of not showing the grandstands, so it was hard to tell if it was a sell-out or not and they didn't mention anything about the crowd. I guess after the Busch race and all the empty seats for that, it was better to keep their mouths shut about the crowd. The cars started rolling again under caution on Lap 136.
When cars started ducking into the pits on Lap 137, Larry Mac said "Looks like we had a little cat and mouth going on" referring to Johnson staying out on the track. Reid Sorenson got nailed for removing equipment from the pits. Of course, we don't know what equipment it was since they didn't bother saying what it was. Was it a wrench, catch can, or a crew member caught up on the hood? We'll never know. They showed a good close up of some of the fans and a young race fan who was going up the stairs. Then we got the restart on Lap 141. Truex Jr. was in First, Johnson was second, and Kahne was in third. Since Fox had Foxed up the beginning of the race, they didn't bother announcing one of the few nice moments of the race with the "Crank It Up". Jabber Jaws was flapping his gums right up until the time they started it. When they ruined the "Crank It Up" on Lap 144, Larry Mac once again was shilling for the official tire provider and the Booth Bozos went into cheerleading mode for Jr. once again.
We got a roof cam shot from Stewart's car while the Fox Cheerleaders were talking about Kyle Busch having problems with his fuel gauge. Of course, we got the usual speculation out of the Commentating Clowns about pressure fluctuation. If he was having fluctuation problems that early in a run, then there was something major wrong with his car. Reid Sorenson blew a left front on Lap 142 and hit the wall. Montoya spun to avoid him and not a word from the booth about the tire blowing on it's own. The obvious cause was damage according to them. Larry Mac opened his gob and mentioned the great battle that had been going on for the last 140 laps between Robby Gordon and Montoya. I sure wish we could've seen some of it instead of some of the non-battles we'd seen. Since they were under caution, folks pitted and Robby Gordon got the free pass on Lap 150. Then it was time once again for commercial programming. When they interrupted their commercial programming on Lap 153, they barely got back in time to catch the restart. 21 cars were on the lead lap with Jr. leading, Biffle in 2nd, Truex Jr. in 3rd and Sadler in 4th. The restart was the typical Uni-Car restart. Jr. pulled away from Biffle and Truex Jr. On Lap 155, Truex Jr. got by Biffle. The Booth Buffoons started into their blabbering about how Truex Jr. was having carburetor problems and how others wished they had the same sort of problems the way he was running. While watching the ticker, I could see that Bobby Labonte was running in 20th, but there was no mention of him as usual. I guess General Mills doesn't want to pony up any mention money so their car gets mentioned. On Lap 151, Sadler's engine decided to go to lunch on him. Initial speculation from the Asinine Announcers was that he had blown a tire. It would take them 20 laps before we found out what actually happened to Sadler's car.
Everybody headed for the pits and this time the Booth Buffoons didn't Fox it up. They actually got the lead-in for another "Crank It Up" right this time. I sure did enjoy hearing those air wrenches. Makes me sort of homesick. Then it was back to commercials before returning for the restart on Lap 145. Mark Martin had the lead, McMurray was 2nd, Kurt Busch was in 3rd, and Truex Jr. was in 4th. After they restarted, Brian Vickers and Robby Gordon were trying to stay ahead of Mark Martin to keep from getting lapped. Mark Martin maintained his lead while Truex Jr. moved up to 2nd, Jr. was up to 3rd, McMurray had slipped back to 4th, and Jeff Gordon was in 5th.On Lap 174, they threw up a DEI graphic showing where the DEI cars were running. Robby Gordon managed to race his way back to the lead lap. On Lap 176, they threw up a Ford Moves graphic which took up half the screen as Matt Kenseth returned to the track. There was a lot of cheerleading going on from the Booth Bozos as they were mentioning that only 21 cars were on the lead lap. Since we got to see some racing and passes, it was time once again for commercials on Lap 178.
When the interrupted the commercials on Lap 185, Cousin Carl had managed to not only get back his lap but was running in 13th place. For some reason they were discussing the radio's in the cars and DW said "They should put a "Use In Case of Emergency" sticker on the radio button. I wish DW would take his own advice. Jr. was running in 3rd and Mr. Happy was in 4th, so it was time to go back to commercials on Lap 193. One of the commercials was for Burger Ding and they seem to be getting worse with their "Breakfast of the Future" thing. When they came back from commercial, they had missed Caution #7 which happened while they were away. After all, commercials are more important than the racing. David Ragan had a right front go flat and spun. Of course, no mention that it was a Goodyear Racing Eagle that went flat. David Gilliland was the 1st car a lap down and everyone started heading to the pits. When they came off pit road, Jr. was 1st, Mark Martin was in 2nd, and Truex Jr. was in 3rd. The it was time to go back to commercials again.
They interrupted the commercials just in time to catch the restart on Lap 204 and threw up a graphic showing where the Childress cars were running. On Lap 211, Bobby Labonte finally got mentioned because his car was running on 7 cylinders for some reason. Needless to say, Jabber jaws had to beat his gums saying that maybe running on 7 cylinders wasn't too bad based on how Bobby was running. On Lap 212, Nemechek returned to the track. On the next lap, we got an in-car shot from Kyle Busch and Jeff Burton had dropped back to 12th, Cousin Carl dropped back to 14th, and Johnson was up to 10th. On Lap 220, Jabber Jaws was trying to once again play the suck-up like he did with Cousin Carl the week before when he said "We may have a new winner tonight and it's not 2 8's but a single 8". Of course, we also had to hear him say that Mark was running old set-ups from the year before. Uh, DW? Didn't you say at Daytona and a couple of other races that none of the set-ups from last year were going to be good for this year with the new car? Somebody must've caught the gaff so they went to commercial on Lap 221. When they returned 6 laps later, Caution #8 came out when both of Kasey Kahne's right side tires blew. Gotta love those tires blowing and the Booth Buffoons keeping their mouths shut and not saying anything bad about them. Once they came off of pit road, Jr. was still in the lead, Mark Martin was 2nd, Hamlin was in 3rd, and Mr. Happy was in 4th. Since we had some excitement, it was time to go back to commercial on Lap 230.
Somebody must've messed up because they returned on Lap 233 for the restart and didn't get in the usual 6-7 laps of commercials. Jr. pulled away a little and there was a brief scuffle between Martin and Hamlin. Robby Gordon was the 1st car a lap down and was trying to stay that way. Once they got to Lap 238, Jr. and Martin had pulled away from the rest of the lead lap cars, all 20 of them. On Lap 242, they gave a Top 5 interval and mentioned Kahne going to the garage. The next lap, Larry Mac said there were battles going on all over the place. They had 3 screens showing 2 cars in each and they didn't look like much of a battle. When they showed the replay of Kahne's car going to pit road, you could see parts coming off of it. I was surprised there wasn't a debris caution for it. After all, any bit of debris, real or imaginary, is a reason for a caution and more commercials. As we got to see some racing, it was time yet again for more commercials on Lap 246.
When they came back on Lap 254, Nothing much had changed in the first 4 positions. Jr. pulled away from Mark Martin on the restart. Mark's car seemed to have been a little bit loose. By Lap 256, we were down to 19 cars on the lead lap. JJ Yeley had returned to the track. On Lap 260, we got to hear Mike Joy be the shill when he asked if they had 39 laps of the official fuel left in their tanks. On Lap 267, Mark Martin had caught Jr. so they went to commercial. When they came back, they showed the replay of Mark Martin passing Jr. Kasey Kahne had returned to the track at some point while they were away, but they didn't bother mentioning it.
On Lap 278, Hamlin and Johnson both passed Jr. The next lap, we got an in-car audio with Mark's crew chief asking him to save some fuel. Then we got once of the best in-car audio's of the night between Chad Knaus and Jimmie Johnson. "I sure hope they don't throw a bogus caution". Now if the drivers and crew chiefs know they're bogus cautions and we're hearing about it during the race, how long will it be before somebody comes forward once again like Tony did last year and calls Faux King Brian and his merry band of morons on it? Any bets Johnson and Knaus had a little talking to after the race?
On Lap 282, we got another shill from the pits about a splash of the official fuel in the 48. On lap 286, the Booth Buffoons announced that Mark Martin was one lap short of making it to the end on fuel. Then on Lap 292, the Booth Buffoons made the pronouncement that Mark Martin needed to stop for fuel. The next lap, Larry Mac donned his Hendrick Cheerleading skirt and shook his pompoms and said that the 48 was the best car out there. On Lap 296, Hamlin hit the pits for fuel and 2 tires. This prompted Toyota's head cheerleader in the announcing booth to question the Toyota gas mileage. 2 laps later, Truex Jr. hit the pits for fuel and 2 tires. No comments about his gas mileage out of the Commentating Clowns. On Lap 300, several cars pitted. After getting fuel and tires, Tony Stewart stalled his car and he lost a lot of track position. On Lap 301, Mark Martin pitted and then all of the second guessing and decision questioning came from the Booth Buffoons. "He should've stayed out, he should've gambled". When Johnson pitted on Lap 302 for a splash of gas, there was no second guessing. It was a smart move on his part. Mr. Happy came in on Lap 305 after running out of fuel and had a hard time getting the car restarted. Bowyer had moved into 2nd on Lap 306. On Lap 307, we got a Top 5 graphic. There was several in-car audios of Johnson being told to slow it down to stretch out the gas. There were also more comments about Mark Martin, the positions he lost pitting, and how he could've won the race. When the checkered flag flew on Lap 312, Johnson crossed the finish line first after taking a gamble on gas and winning a fuel mileage race. Good thing for him it wasn't a GWC finish.
We didn't get to see much of the cars crossing
the finish line and as it was way after midnight,
I decided to call it a night. A note to Faux King
Brian and Fox. Races that finish after 11 pm
Eastern lose a lot of viewers.
Next weekend the Cup guys are off and it's the
Busch teams heading for the annual financial
loss trip south of the border. Don't be surprised
if you see field fillers from south of the border.
After they had announced they wouldn't be going
to Mexico, Team Rensi will be there with Boris
Said driving their car with his No Fear
sponsorship on it. This could also be a good
chance for Marcos Ambrose to have a good shot at winning after last year's disaster in Canada.
A word about annual physicals. Folks, they are a necessity. I just had mine and found out I have a nasty little hernia. I don't have any pain from it. It's just there and is something I have to keep an eye on. So get yourselves checked out. Even if you feel great, better to err on the side of caution. You could find you may have something much worse than a hernia.
Let's not forget that while our troops are busy overseas fighting bad guys, they've got friends and families here who could probably use a little help. So if you've got some neighbors who have a member deployed overseas, see what you can do to help them out.
Motherhood, Apple Pie, & John Wayne
Mad Mikie
Curmudgeon at Large
Want to chat with other race fans about this article and other NASCAR stuff?
Gotta comment, question or want to say hey there...email Mike here
Go visit our home page, called appropriately The Pits & check out our photos & pages. Our most popular page; Race Recon is where you get all the info you need to go to the races including local camping, hotels, bars, restaurants, tracks, golf & other important race weekend information. We also have attending a NASCAR Race tips, tailgating tips & recipes, stories, trivia, quotes & more! While you are surfing see if you are a REAL RACE FAN. Be sure to read the Fan Fables, LAIDBACK RACING’S adventures with the tailgating race fan at NASCAR tracks.
