[Fumblerooskies]

...Let's go racing, boys!


Enough of this mundane chit chat about the VMI basketball game, women's hoops, softball, baseball in Charleston, and the spring football game...
...let's talk some NASCAR.

Like everyone else, I'm picking Smoke to win, today...
...and as un-American as it might be, I hope the Toyotas make a good showing.

[SuperJon]

We have a whole thread that's pretty big on NASCAR, but it's from last year.

I actually enjoy watching part of Daytona.

I'm not a huge racing fan, but I somewhat enjoy it. I'm one of those, "Watch the first part, take a nap, wake up and catch the highlights, and enjoy the finish.

[Fumblerooskies]

OK...
...changed the title for 2007. If anyone has DirecTV, they are giving a free preview of the NASCAR Hotpass today.

[timhoughton]

Yea, where is the Nascar thread? Is this the start of one? Tony's on a streak right now, hard to bet against him.
I don't mind seeing Toyota in the sport, I am a bowtie man myself.




SJ, I don't think its possible to be from NC and not be what everyone else would call a racing fan!

[SuperJon]

I always check and see who wins each race, although I don't necessarily watch every race. I've actually never been to one.

[Sly Fox]

I actually rather enjoy attending the races but I'm not into following this sport year-round. But Dyatona is always a great event.

[Fumblerooskies]

Boring race, so far, with 55 laps to go...
...will someone please do a nine flip barrel roll into the infield area and walk away from it shaking his fist at someone.

[SuperJon]

Tony Stewart goes from 1st to 40th back to 1st. That guy is just good.

[SuperJon]

How did I know that would happen...

[Fumblerooskies]

Me and my big mouth...
...Smoke and Kurt get tangled up and eliminates two of my drivers in my YAHOO Fanatasy Team.

[SuperJon]

I had changed the channel so I didn't see what happened. I figured something would happen so that he wouldn't win.

[SuperJon]

There's our decent sized wreck. Nothing special though.

[timhoughton]

I had smoke on my fantasy team also...should've known that would jinx him. And I switched out Mark Martin before the race, dumb move!

[Fumblerooskies]

Where is PAMedic...
...he's a Mark Martin guy, isn't he?

[SuperJon]

Wow.

[Fumblerooskies]

Great finish...
...would have loved for the old guy to win it. I'm glad NASCAR didn't drop the yellow and let them race to the checker, too.

[Sly Fox]

Be glad the geezer finished 10 inches back or we'd never hear the end of the Mark martin crowing from the suburban Philly.

[bigsmooth]

what a finish!! i was pulling for mark martin to get the win, but happy harvick bet him out. i might add that the engine martin had was built by hendrick!! was that martin's best finish ever at daytona?? hmmmm. kidding medic. and of course the 24 had a good run. a great start for the new season. btw....i had the busch brothers, smoke, and stremme in my fantasy league....a bad first week.

[bigsmooth]

from NASCAR.COM

Harvick edges Martin for Daytona 500 title
Leaders Stewart and Busch crash with 49 laps to go
By Jenna Fryer, The Associated Press
February 18, 2007
08:20 PM EST

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Kevin Harvick nosed out Mark Martin in a frantic wreck-filled finish to win Sunday's Daytona 500.

Martin, making his 23rd attempt at a 500 win, seemed to have victory in hand when a hard-charging Harvick barreled along the outside of Martin to earn his second victory at Daytona International Speedway in two days. Harvick won Saturday's Busch race -- his first victory at Daytona.

As Harvick pushed into the lead, Kyle Busch wiggled behind them and bumped into Matt Kenseth to start a melee. Harvick and Martin raced side by side, waiting for NASCAR to call for a caution. When it finally came, Harvick was barely ahead.

"My go-kart experience over the winter paid off, because I didn't let off the floor and we just kept hitting things and the wall and bouncing off everything,'' Harvick said. "But man, this is the Daytona 500. Can you believe it?''

Martin finished second, followed by Jeff Burton, Harvick's teammate, and Mike Wallace, who raced his way into the 500. Fifth place was rookie David Ragan, the kid who replaced Martin when he left Roush Racing this winter after 19 seasons.

It took several moments for NASCAR to declare the winner, finally giving it to Harvick and spoiling what would have been the biggest victory of 48-year-old Martin's career. He's easing into retirement, and just left powerhouse Roush to run a partial schedule with Ginn Racing -- a second-tier team bought last year by a Florida land developer trying to satisfy his love of NASCAR.

The decision was questioned by those who wondered if Bobby Ginn could give the ultra-competitive Martin cars capable of winning.

Boy, did he ever.

"I didn't ask for a win in the Daytona 500, I asked for a chance,'' Martin said. "I let it slip away, slip through my fingers, and I'm fine with that. I am very proud of what this team did for me this weekend.''

It was just the finish NASCAR needed to put racing back in the spotlight after a cheating scandal nearly ruined the Great American Race.

Five teams were busted for breaking the rules during Speedweeks -- including two-time winner Michael Waltrip, who broke the NASCAR code by tampering with his fuel before qualifying and humiliated Toyota in its Nextel Cup debut.

The scandal put the sport in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, and NASCAR ratcheted up its penalty process to prevent its premier event from turning into a joke.

Finishes like this one might fix everything.

Martin led 26 laps and was out front when a five-car accident brought racing to a standstill with five laps to go. It made for an agonizing 11 minutes, 39 seconds for Martin, who sat idly in his car trying to plot his strategy during the stoppage.

When racing resumed with two laps to go, Martin seemingly needed only to hold off Kyle Busch in a sprint to the finish. He weaved high and then low to block Busch's attempts, which may have distracted him from Harvick.

Running in his own high line, Harvick charged hard on the outside and was side-by-side with Martin when Busch triggered the accident. Neither driver let up as they charged ahead waiting for NASCAR to call it.

Before the frantic finish, the race was shaping up to be a fight to the finish between Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch, who combined to lead 130 of the 200 laps. But they wrecked each other while leading the race with 48 laps to go.

Stewart was leading coming out of the fourth turn when his Chevrolet wiggled just a bit. Busch, closing fast, couldn't avoid running into Stewart's bumper, and both cars careened into the outside wall.

Busch, who led 95 laps in his bid to give car owner Roger Penske his first Daytona 500 win, was heartbroken.

"We both got taken out of the Daytona 500 on my mistake,'' he said from inside his car. "I made the first mistake. I apologize to [Stewart], but I know that doesn't mean anything now.''

Stewart, who led early but dropped to the back of the field after a pit road miscue, led 35 laps and he had just surged back to the front when he wrecked.

It dropped Stewart to 0-for-9 in Daytona 500s, a streak he was determined to snap when he reported to Speedweeks intent on adding the race to his impressive resume. After winning the Budweiser Shootout exhibition race and a qualifying event Thursday, Stewart had established himself as the favorite and said he'd trade all 11 of his Daytona victories to just win the 500 once.

It appeared to be his race to lose, and he knew it -- saying on pit road before the start "this is the best chance I've ever had, the best car I've ever had.''

He was surprisingly calm and collected after wrecking.

"It just wasn't meant to be today,'' he said with a smile. "I'm still disappointed, but we've got a lot to be proud of. We had an awesome Speedweeks

[PAmedic]

Still throwing up

and- I whined about this in the OTHER Nascar thread that none of you could find- I'm STILL having issues with my man driving a (puke rising in throat) CHEVY.

I never saw Happy Harvick coming and next thing ya know- he's by the old man.

you can only imaging the words eminating here. Luckily I'm at work and got to take my frustrations out on my patients.




KIDDING

[PAmedic]

best part of the race:

interviews of JJ, Smoke and Little E OUTSIDE THE INFIELD CARE CENTER



yup- I'm an @#$%^&*()_+

[SuperJon]

You weren't kidding.

Tomorrow in the paper there'll be an obituary about an old man who died when a short paramedic was too busy whining about a NASCAR race to give CPR.

[PAmedic]

or refused to get outta the truck cause its cold, late and I'm #!*%y. (Am I allowed to type that on here?) [Edit: No - Sly]

[SuperJon]

Sly will change it to "ticky."

[PAmedic]

he did my thing with the symbols

well, it was fun while it lasted