Loved it. LOVED IT!

How can anyone who watched the Sprint Cup race from Infineon Raceway in Sonoma yesterday say anything but that it was an interesting and exciting race from start to finish? From the drop of the green flag there was passing and there were various strategies being played out. Also, interesting driver story lines were being explored, such as:

Marcos Ambrose. The road racing specialist and immensely likable Aussie qualified 3rd but had to start from the rear due to an engine change. Would he be able to make it through the field and vie for the win?

Jeff Gordon. King of the road for so many years as he dominated Sonoma and Watkins Glen, but would his back troubles keep him out of contention?

Kyle Busch. Swept both races in in ‘08. Would the driver most fans “love to hate” be able to pull off a third road course win in a row?

And how about the track?

OK, I’m going to say it. MORE ROAD COURSES!! The MORE the BETTER!!! There, that felt better.

Seriously, I would much rather watch races like I saw yesterday over the yawners we’ve been seeing lately on 1.5 and 2 mile ovals. Did you see anyone “riding” yesterday, just clicking off laps waiting till the final pit stop so that they could actually “race”? Maybe, but not many.

And…the DOUBLE FILE RESTARTS. So many people, including several drivers, were concerned about double file re-starts at a road course, but this proved to be one of the most exciting parts of the race. Especially at the end when Kasey Kahne had to fend off Tony Stewart and Marcos Ambrose time after time.

I think there were 34 cars on the lead lap at the finish. 34! I know it’s a road course, but that is truly amazing for any track.

Don’t get me wrong. I am old school. I love the history of the sport. I know that ovals are NASCAR’s foundation and the majority of its current structure. But, look…we have a new car. We have new manufacturers (and more on the way, more than likely). Why not more road courses?

I don’t want to ditch the ovals we have now… (well maybe a couple), but can we possibly look to a future where we don’t go to some of these tracks twice in the same year? In my opinion, that would open up the possiblity of more exciting race action such as we saw yesterday.

I start my new job with NASCAR Media Group today. It’s very exciting for me, as I have dreamed of working in the broadcasting side of NASCAR for a long time now. I really feel like it is what I am meant to do.

I will be working in the Digital Assets department. Basically, that is where all the video footage of NASCAR races from the modern era (1972 - present), as well as older race footage, is archived.

The people I have met so far are really great and I look forward to a long and successful tenure at NMG. It’s not everyday that you get to work at something that you are so passionate about. I can’t wait to get in there, dig in, and learn all I can.

I appreciate everyone at NMG for giving me this opportunity.

My two girls were out of school for spring break last week and on Tuesday, I decided to take them around to some of the race shops in our area.

I first drove to one I had visited back in 1991, the former shop of Alan Kulwicki. Though vacant now, it still sits off “Victory Lane” with a view of the backstretch of Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Around the corner is the building that once housed Bobby Allison Motorsports that is now occupied by the Richard Petty Driving Experience.

Next we made the short drive over to Hendrick Motorsports. It amazes me that such a multi-gazillion dollar facility is still accessed by a bumpy, narrow road. On the other hand, it’s a pleasant reminder of the fact that many of these mega-shops started very small and unassuming.

Hendrick has a very nice museum/store, containing many famous racecars from years past, as well as current rides of Gordon, Johnson, Martin and Earnhardt Jr. The highlight for me was seeing the #24 Dupont Chevy that Jeff Gordon drove to his first victory at the Brickyard in 1994.

From there we went up to the actual 24/48 shop (and identical building next door houses the 5 and 88). It’s quite nice with a small viewing area where you can look in and see the crew working on the cars. I think the girls enjoyed it.

Next we drove over to Roush/Fenway Racing. We viewed their museum which was very nice and we purchased some small diecast cars in the gift shop for the girls.

As we walked next door to Yates Racing, we heard pit stop practice going on nearby and some of the crew members were jogging around the property. Although Yates doesn’t have a fan viewing area, there is a #98 Ford Fusion of Paul Menard in the lobby.

A short drive from Roush/Fenway is Earnhardt/Ganassi Racing. It’s a nice facility with a very good viewing area. As we walked into the lobby, I noticed Kerry Earnhardt and his son, Jeffrey coming down the stairs. Honestly, I hate to bother drivers for pictures, but I thought I would ask so that my girls could meet a real racecar driver. Kerry couldn’t have been nicer, chatting with my girls and not acting inconvenienced or rushed at all. He even told me about the Nationwide deal which has him splitting seat time with his son later this season. I was very grateful for his time and kindness.

He made two new fans that day, I’m sure of that.

Julie and Aubrey with Kerry Earnhardt

(Yes that’s a tatoo on Aubrey’s neck. I have no idea why!!)

I observed some of the first day of the Goodyear tire test at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Tuesday. This test was to select the tire compound for the upcoming All-Star race and the 50th running of the Coca-Cola 600. One team from each manufacturer was represented: #48 Jimmie Johnson (Chevrolet), #9 Kasey Kahne (Dodge), #47 Marcos Ambrose (Toyota), and #98 Paul Menard (Ford).

With the lack of testing this year, being involved in a tire test certainly should be a benefit to these teams.

Daytona - California - Vegas.

How far we have strayed from the days when The Daytona 500 led to races at Rockingham and Richmond instead of places much further west. Teams could stay close to their home base and work of their efforts for several races before having to venture out to faraway places such as California.

Looking back at some past schedules (say over the past 15-20 years), it was usually June before teams had to leave the eastern 1/3 of the US.

Now it’s the Daytona 500 and then a couple of weeks out west before returning to the area where NASCAR was birthed.

This is not to gripe about the new schedule and new markets. That was all hashed out, for the most part, a few years ago. I’m just reflecting on whether or not this is a good thing for the teams…especially in this economic climate..

I like California and Vegas. I think the facilities are awesome and the racing has gotten better. But, as a long time fan, I just enjoyed Daytona, Rockingham, Richmond, etc. a lot more.

Fans older than me would point out that Riverside, California used to proceed Daytona back in the day.

I guess it’s all in how you look at it. I just think it would make sense to save these teams a boat load of money in travel and other expenses incurred by shipping cars, equipment and personnel across the entire country right at the beginning of the season.

My two cents.

Come on, Fox.

Do we really need this cartoon character running around the screen every time you show the view from the camera embedded in the track? The camera shot is so cool, but in my opinion the effect is ruined by “Digger” and the announcers comments about him.

Look, I know lots of kids watch the races, but can we please stick to the racing? Do we really have to develop a whole persona and animated environment for a stupid cartoon character??

Overall, I was unable to watch the pre-race show for the Daytona 500. I muted the sound and busied myself with other tasks, all the while waiting, waiting, waiting for the race to start.

I look up and there is Digger, the animated rat, running around the Fox broadcast compound with many of his furry friends. This went on for many minutes.

I’m all for catering to the younger fans and for DW’s right to sell T-shirts. But please, for Pete’s sake…

No more Digger! PLEASE!!

I can’t help but weigh in on the Earnhardt controversy issued forth from yesterday’s Daytona 500.

First, let me say that I am happy for Matt Kenseth and his DeWalt team. There is not a harder working team in Sprint Cup Racing. It’s Matt’s 10th Daytona 500 and he was in position at the right time to win when it counted. I’m also happy for Ford Motor Company who claimed its first Daytona 500 victory in many years and for Jack Roush who claimed his first win in the race after many years of dedication to this sport.

OK…Earnhardt. Junior. The guy who a large majority of fans show up at the racetrack to see. Yeah, I get it. But, you know you have a problem when the announcers are almost at a loss for words to describe what just happened and are wondering out loud what NASCAR would do about it.

It was the perfect storm. An almost duplicate incident which got Jason Leffler a hefty 5-lap penalty in Saturday’s Nationwide race for “rough driving”. Now it was Junior who was (allegedly) guilty of the same act.

With rain imminent and Dale a lap down, he gets a run on Brian Vickers on the low side trying to make it to the front and, hopefully, get the free pass back onto the lead lap.

Turns out, not everybody is happy to be passed by Junior.

Vickers turned left to block, which is was restrictor plate racing has morphed into. It’s become a test to see who can block the best so as to get a car behind them with a run to push them to the front.

Instead of rolling out of the throttle slightly and tucking in behind Vickers safely, Junior turns right and hits Vickers in the left rear causing a huge crash at the front of the field.

Now, look…I’m far from one of these black helicopter conspiracy theorists who think that NASCAR “fixes” races and “wants” certain drivers to win. Not at all.

What I would like, though, is fairness.

Jimmy Spencer said it best on NASCAR Victory Lane on Speed last night.

“It was wrong. Wrong! They should have penalized him five laps!” said Spencer.

ESPN’s Marty Smith said today that NASCAR’s stance was that they deemed Leffler’s move on Saturday “intentional” and Earnhardt’s move on Sunday “not intentional”.

Really?

Junior was obviously hot as a firecracker with rage after first missing his pit box completely early in the race, then being assessed a 1 lap penalty for pitting with his right front tire on the line (it was the right call and I applaud NASCAR for making it).

Then, in my opinion, they (NASCAR) completely contradicts themselves by allowing Junior to get away with a move that essentially took out 10-12 cars at the front of the field, including arguably the strongest car in the field, the #18 of Kyle Busch.

The comments after the race were interesting to say the least.

“I got a run on Vickers and the guy he was beside,” said Earnhardt. “I went to the bottom of him. Vickers drove me below the line. He ran in to me and sent me below the line. …

And of possibly getting a penalty for his actions, he added, “Penalize me? For what? I got ran in to and sent below the line. What the hell? I don’t want to go down there. I didn’t aim to go down there. I got sent down there. What the hell am I supposed to do? Then what am I supposed to do? Stay down there? No. I got to get back up on the racetrack.”

Vickers saw it differently. “To wreck somebody intentionally like that in front of the entire field is really kind of dangerous. That’s my biggest problem with it, but apparently he wanted a caution pretty bad.”

When Earnhardt heard Vickers comments, things got personal.

“If he wants to come by the bus after the race and get his ass whooped,” Earnhardt said. “I’ll do it.”

Rain and the 17 team canceled what might have been even more controversy. After the incident, Earnhardt made his way back onto the lead lap when Jeff Burton and Paul Menard got together on the backstretch.

What if Junior had won?

Paul Menard, Travis Kvapil 2009 Daytona 500 Race Previews

Daytona International Speedway
Daytona Beach, Fla.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Gatorade Duel 1, Gatorade Duel 2

Thursday, February 12

2:00 PM Eastern TV - SPEED
2:00 PM Eastern RADIO - MRN
Paul Menard No. 98 Menards / Quaker State Ford
Travis Kvapil No. 28 Golden Corral Ford
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Daytona 500

Sunday, February 15

3:00 PM Eastern TV - FOX
3:00 PM Eastern RADIO - MRN
Paul Menard No. 98 Menards / Quaker State Ford
Travis Kvapil No. 28 Golden Corral Ford

Yates Racing Fast Facts:

Paul Menard

# In three starts at the famed Daytona International Speedway, Menard has completed every lap (522 of 522 laps)

# In his last start at DIS in July 2007, Menard earned his first career pole award.

# Following a 12th-place finish in Saturday night’s Budweiser Shootout, Menard will make his first Yates Racing points race start on Sunday in the Daytona 500.

# Also on board the No. 98 Menards Ford Fusion will be Quaker State with an iconic green hood.

Travis Kvapil

# After posting the eighth fastest time during qualifying on Sunday afternoon, Kvapil and the No. 28 Golden Corral team locked themselves into Sunday’s Daytona 500.

# Kvapil has six starts in the Sprint Cup Series at Daytona International Speedway with an 11th position best start and a best finish of 19th.

# In five starts in the Camping World Truck Series at Daytona International Speedway, Kvapil has started in the top-10 each time on the track.

# If Kvapil finishes in the top-10 in Sunday’s Daytona 500 – children under the age of 12 eat for free at participating Golden Corrals.

# Kvapil and Yates Racing won the pole at Talladega in 2008; a superspeedway much like Daytona.

Menard on racing at Daytona International Speedway in the Shootout:
“I think we learned a lot from the Shootout that we’ll be able to apply in both the Duels and the 500 later this week. I think Saturday night’s race was a great chance for myself and the guys to get some extra practice on pit road and a chance to knock the dust of the winter off.

“Although we couldn’t really tell much from the single car runs last weekend, we do know that we have a lot of power in the Roush/Yates engines. On Wednesday we’ll be able to see how the car handles in the draft and we’ll go from there.

“It should be a good weekend for us. If we can get the handling just a little better and avoid the wrecks out there, it should be a good race.”

Crew Chief Larry Carter on racing at Daytona International Speedway in the Shootout:
“I thought the guys did a good job last weekend on pit road. We had a couple slower stops, but that’s one of the advantages of being in the Shootout. I thought we had a pretty fast car during qualifying on Sunday, and based on how this car handles on Wednesday, I’d say that we have pretty good shot at this weekend’s 500. Paul is a great drafter and as long as we can get the handling underneath him, it should be a good race for the No. 98 Menards team.”

Kvapil on racing at Daytona International Speedway:

“Locking ourselves into the race on Sunday was a huge deal for the No. 28 team. I knew that Doug (Yates) and Ben (Leslie) would bring a fast car this weekend, and I know they were both really excited when we made the race on Sunday. We have Golden Corral on our car this weekend, which is great for all the kids out there, because if we finish in the top 10, all kids eat for free on Monday.

“Since we weren’t in the Shootout, I don’t know exactly how this car is going to handle when we put it in the draft. We’ll work on a little drafting and the handling of the car on Wednesday and then try to have a safe race on Thursday. The goal on Thursday is to see what you have in terms of handling in the draft and then to make sure you don’t get in any wrecks or mess up your car in anyway.”

Crew chief Ben Leslie on racing at Daytona International Speedway:
“I think locking ourselves into the race on Sunday was huge for all the guys on this No. 28 team. They’ve done a great job over the last couple of weeks putting together this program and making sure that our car was fast on Sunday. Now that we’re in the race, we can go out there the rest of the week and work on handling and seeing what we can’t find to make our car just a little faster in the draft.”

Admittedly, I have not always been a fan of sports car racing. Thankfully, I discovered a few years ago the great racing offered by the Grand Am Rolex Sportscar Series. About the time the Daytona Prototypes were introduced into the series, I began to take notice. They were unique looking and, most intriguing for me, part of the 24 Hours of Daytona.

This year’s Rolex 24 was nothing short of amazing. After 22 1/2 hours of grueling competition which saw, among other things, Ford engines failing in several of the Daytona Prototypes as well as a record number of cautions, the race came down to four cars representing three teams. Juan Pablo Montoya was leading in his #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley ahead of the famous red, white and blue Brumos Porsches, #58 David Donohue and #59 Joao Barbosa. Fourth was Wayne Taylor’s #10 Suntrust Ford driven by Max Angelleli.

Donahue, whose father Mark won the 24 Hour race 40 years ago, made a dramatic pass on Montoya to take the lead and held off JPM to the stripe, to win an unforgettable Rolex 24 at Daytona. Montoya finished 2nd for Ganassi and the other Brumos car came home third. Announcer and former driver David Hobbs commented that it may have been the most exciting 24 Hour race in history.

What an incredible start to Speed Weeks 2009. Let’s hope what follows is half this good.

The unofficial entry list for the Daytona 500 shows #28 Travis Kvapil as a car that must make the race on speed (or through one of the qualifying races, of course). Starting at California, the team will have to qualify for each of the next four races on speed and hope to finish well enough to get the team inside the top 35 and stay there.

What?

This is a team that, without full-time sponsorship last year, ran solidly and kept that car in the top 25 most of the year. He got a pole at Talladega and had some really good runs….especially during the first half of the year.

But, that’s not enough to sustain teams today. In a lot of cases, drivers must be able to bring sponsorship dollars to the table in order to wheel Cup cars on Sunday. Enter Paul Menard and the money from his father’s company. Good guy, solid driver and…he has the sponsor.

I don’t blame Yates Racing. Doug Yates and Max Jones must do what they have to in order to make their company stronger. I just wish that it wasn’t at the expense of all the hard work by Travis and that team last year.

Paul Menard will now be the beneficiary of all that effort by the 28 team in 2008, with the point swap between the 28 and the newly formed #98.

The #98 (was #28) will team up with the adopted #96 of Hall of Fame Racing (with new sponsor ask.com), all under the Yates banner. Kvapil’s #28 will essentially be brand new, with no points, and right now is only slated to run a handful of races in 2009.

The outlook is even worse for David Gilliland. He also stayed in the top 35 all of last season, but his team’s points went over to the fully funded #96 for 2009. The #38 is not expected to run this year.

Moderate success in the Cup Series is no longer something that will keep a driver in a seat. The performance has to be exceptional.

Or he better have sponsor money in his pocket.