Drivers apologize to fans for traffic

When the post race press conferences rolled around there were the normal questions about the race, but most members of the press wanted to know about the traffic issues that have by far plagued the Kentucky Speedway’s inaugural Sprint Cup race.

“It’s disappointing. I mean, the SMI group knows racetracks and does a very good job at all the racetracks they own. It's unfortunate we were unable to look ahead and see where these potential problems were,” said five-time champ Jimmie Johnson after Saturday night’s Quaker State 400.

A look down Ky 35, full of race fans

Denny Hamlin was caught in pre-race traffic. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver thought he was going to miss the driver’s meeting at 5:30 p.m. From the gridlock he tweeted, “Good news bad news/bad news is I'm prolly not gonna make the drivers meeting in 3 hrs because I'm in this traffic with everyone else.”

“This is such a great market,” said Johnson. “So many fans are enthused to come and want to be here. To not get them all in the door is kind of a bummer. Knowing Bruton, he'll get it fixed for next year and unfortunately it happened this year.”

A question came down from the press box to race winner Kyle Busch during his post race press conference.

“Kyle, did I hear you say in Victory Lane you're staying overnight and heading out tomorrow?” one reporter asked.

Busch and Crew Chief Dave Rogers

“That's right,” the race winner responded.

“That makes you not only the fastest man on the track, but the smartest man,” commented the reporter.

“I had this planned long ago not thinking about what transpired here tonight,” Busch replied. “Seems like I'm pretty smart, I guess. I'm just falling into the lucky category.”

Many drivers, including Michael Waltrip, tweeted to the fans their sincerest apologies for the traffic issues in the Bluegrass State.

“I can't say sorry enough to the fans who went thru traffic issues..we all understand that without fans coming to races...we have nothing,” tweeted Elliott Sadler, who ran the Camping World Truck Series race and the Nationwide race at Kentucky.

Brian Vickers took to his twitter account to issue this message: “Thx 2 all the great fans 4 coming out tonight. I apologize on behalf of our sport 4 all the traffic problems, It was unexceptable (sic) bullshit!”

And even though the traffic was bad, and drivers reached out to fans, they could rave enough about how awesome the crowd was at Kentucky.

“Hats off to this area, the racing, people in this area, everybody that was here, everybody that couldn't get here,” said Coach Joe Gibbs, owner of Busch’s car. “We appreciate being here. I think it's a huge deal. I appreciate NASCAR and everybody, Bruton, everybody that helped us get to this part of the country to race.”

They all hope that there are no issues heading into next year’s race at Kentucky. And I’m relatively sure everyone else is in the same boat.

19 Days until graduation

Welcome back to the countdown, which will be very short, sweet and to the point today. With 19 days until graduation we celebrate a former No. 19, Elliott Sadler, who piloted the No. 19 car from August of 2006 until the end of last season, as well as the reigning National League MVP, from your Cincinnati Reds, Joey Votto.

And I’d be considered a bad intern if I didn’t rep FOX19 on the countdown, a place where I’ve spent the past year as a sports intern.

19 days and counting until graduation.

Advertising break: NASCAR commercial time

Each year Super Bowl advertisements are scrutinized more than any other form of television. Or so it seems. Companies and corporations spend millions upon millions for 30-second commercial slots during the big game. (I think this year it's around $3 million for a 30-second slot)

Although most are ingenious and pretty funny (that E-Trade baby is one of my favorites) I still contend that NASCAR commercials are just as good as Super Bowl commercials, if not better.

Here’s a look at a few good NASCAR ads from the past few years.

“Her name is Amanda Brookman, and she is my destiny…”

One day I tweeted this (by the way, if you’re not following me, shame on you, and click that little button on the right side of the screen that lets you do so!) and a few of my friends actually thought it was real. Had to link the video to make sure they knew Amanda Brookman wasn’t my destiny, but that of the young man making his car.

If you don’t get a kick out of Denny Hamlin and David Reutimann’s exchange at the end of this commercial, you need to check your funny bone. It might be missing.

Hamlin: “Who doesn’t love love?”
Reutimann: “I love love.”

Classic, and good stuff from Toyota.

“Crazy old man”

I think Mark Martin fans informally voted this as their favorite commercial of all time when it came out. With some help from “Fernando,” Mark Martin pulls off one of the best stunts of all time.

Carl Edwards’s response: “Crazy old man,” is just fitting.

“Who doesn’t love kittens, bunnies and little baby seals?” along with “I choose Joey Logano as my avatar”

Please tell me you fall off your chair laughing at these commercials too? Seriously, that scene where the young Logano stands there in front of Michael Waltrip and Martin Truex Jr., is absolutely priceless…especially whatever that is that Mikey is wearing.

Hilarious. More props to Toyota for another good one.

“I’m gonna need it!”

Elliott Sadler and Jimmie Johnson in another old-time Nextel commercial here, and it’s a good one. As much as NASCAR fans hate on Jimmie Johnson, I’d be hard pressed to find one that doesn’t at least find that exchange between the now five-time champ and Sadler at least a little funny.

It’s especially good at the end when Sadler, defeated, just walks away, “Good talk Jimmie.”

“That was slight of hand”

That was magic.

Jamie McMurray and Kasey Kahne combine for yet another great Nextel commercial from way back when.

“Who’d you expect?”

Bob Dole? Anyone else want to go back to the days of Mark Martin Viagra jokes? Good, I don’t either. But this one was hilarious.

“When are you gonna stop wearing diapers?”

Pretty bad memory here for Mark Martin fans (the ’07 Daytona 500) but the “Chad on the Couch” segment here from FOX was pretty funny at least. “Mark, when are you going to stay retired?” he asks. Then Mr. Martin drops some knowledge on the youngster.

I hope everyone enjoyed the diversion day today and I hope next year I can find some more good commercials to run here. Two weeks and the wait will be over. Enjoy the Super Bowl this evening and we’ll be back tomorrow with a look at Tony Stewart and Stewart-Haas Racing.

19 Days ‘til Daytona: Sadler not in Cup Series in ’11

Elliott Sadler won’t be driving the No. 19 car this season, a move that might shock some long-time NASCAR fans who have become accustomed to seeing the 35-year-old from Emporia, Va., competing against the best in the sport.

Instead, Sadler will drive full-time in the Nationwide Series for Kevin Harvick Inc. Sadler signed a two-year contract and has a legitimate shot at the Nationwide Series title this year due to the new NASCAR rule that makes drivers choose which title they will run for.

“I feel like I'm rebranding myself, because I feel like I've lost a little bit over the last couple of years of who Elliott Sadler really is—of the race car driver that he really is, the love of the sport that he really has,” Sadler said last Tuesday during NASCAR’s preseason media tour.

Sadler also said he wants to have fun driving the racecar. His average finish at RPM was 24.8, and Sadler hasn’t won a Cup race since 2004 at California.

“If you're not in the right equipment, if you're not with the right situation, it's not worth it,” Sadler said. “It’s not fun going out there and not feeling like you have a gun in a gunfight every week. So if you're not in the right situation, why go put yourself through that? I'm a racer at heart. I don't have an ego. Everybody knows I'm a laid-back guy. But first I'm a racer, period.

“I wanted to get myself in a situation where we talk about racing. I go to the shop, I talk to Kevin on the phone, we talk about racing. We don't talk about any of the other stuff that some people like to talk about. That's our focus this year, and I've had a lot more fun, I can promise you.”

Aric Almirola, who will compete against Sadler in the Nationwide Series this year has been down this road as well. In 2009 he took over the once- esteemed No. 8 car at Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing. After a few races his ride was shut down due to lack of sponsorship.

At Kentucky, while running the Truck race that July, Almirola told me about his roller coaster of a year. He was driving for Billy Ballew, and, as he said, “Just going one race at a time and kind of playing it by ear.”

Almirola knows what it’s like for Sadler, and he knows that it could come down to the two former Cup drivers duking it out for the Nationwide title. “He's got a lot of experience, and he's a really good race car river. Kevin Harvick Inc. did a really good job with their new car. They were really competitive right out of the box with it. ... I think it would be tough to bet against [Sadler].”

We’ll see how the battles shake out in the Nationwide Series as the year rolls on, and hopefully I can cover this story more in July at Kentucky.

There’s only 19 days until the Daytona 500. It’s now February, one of the most anticipated months of the year for me, and all of you loyal NASCAR fans that read this. Thanks and have a great day.

Friday Flashback: 2002 Daytona 500

One year after the untimely death of NASCAR’s biggest star, Dale Earnhardt Sr., the sport returned, hoping for a better start to the 2002 season.

Argue all you want, but I got a huge kick out of the 2002 Daytona 50 post-race interview. I’ve searched high and low for the interview with the winner, but all I could get was this Daytona 500 recap by Ken Squire.


Ward Burton, who might be better known in the NASCAR world for being Jeff’s brother, won the Daytona 500 that day, beating out Elliott Sadler in a mad dash to the finish line.

With a few laps remaining in the season opener, Ward Burton was running second to Sterling Marlin. In the days before the “green-white-checkered” finishes, NASCAR did its best to finish under green. After a wreck, NASCAR halted the field on the backstretch.

What happened next was almost unthinkable.

With cameras trained on his car, Marlin got out and went to assess possible damage on his right front quarterpanel from when he bumped Jeff Gordon out of the way. Marlin leaned down and gave the sheet metal a tug, all caught on FOX’s cameras. NASCAR determined the Marlin worked on his car under the red flag, a huge no-no in NASCAR’s rule books. Marlin was sent to the back of the field, and Burton assumed the lead.

Burton held off the challenges from Sadler over the final few laps and took the biggest win of his career.

It’s tough to say if any Daytona 500 produced a more surprise winner, but if there’s one thing we’ve learned about Daytona, it is one unpredictable race.

And that is just one of the many reasons we all watch.
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Have a good Friday afternoon. I’ve got lots of work to do over the weekend, and I’m sure a blog or two will be up as the weekend progresses. Enjoy.

Smoke, Rowdy make mess on final lap of Coke Zero 400

With rain steadily falling in Cincinnati the fireworks were tough to see—if not impossible. So, when the weather doesn’t cooperate I know the TV will. And, although the steady stream of fireworks watchers at the place we were kept giving those of us watching the race that all so familiar look, (NASCAR fans, you know what I’m talking about) we kept watching.

But, as it turns out, I only needed to watch about ten minutes of the race to find out all I needed to see. More on the first caution flag of the night a bit further down though. Daytona is a race of chance, a race where big wrecks often mar the race, and oftentimes a last lap pass for the win provides all the drama needed for TNT’s “Wide Open” coverage.

And, although the opinion pieces on restrictor plates are going to pop up once again, I’m just glad Kyle Busch was able to walk away from his car. I listened to the closing laps on MRN, but once I got home the VCR was whirring and I saw the lick Kyle took. Twice. Kasey Kahne may have to count himself (or his-self if you prefer Larry Mac’s version) lucky as well. The hit he put on the green #18 car was just as violent.

As Carl Edwards said just over two months ago, “I guess we’ll keep doing this until someone gets killed.” For more on the Firecracker 400 (aka the Coke Zero 400) please read on. More on the Brickyard 400 will come tomorrow.

1. “Smoke gets in your eyes”-Stewart’s second win signifies he’s the favorite to win the Cup this year
If I haven’t officially said it, I’ll say it now; Tony Stewart is going to win the Brickyard 400, and right now, it looks like no one will even come close to touching him in the points. Until the field is reset after Richmond, that is. Stewart’s second win of the year comes at the time when in 2005 he was just getting heated up on his way to a second Cup title.

The only man to win a Cup title under the old points system and under the new “Chase” system is also the last guy not named Jimmie Johnson to hoist the Cup in Homestead. As NASCAR fans we’ve seen this from “Smoke” before, and I think we’re all getting ready to watch the part-owner, all-driver take another stab at the title.

2. The “Big One” (or two) made a few changes to points
My favorite video game, NASCAR Thunder 2003 for the PS2, had a challenge mode where you had to complete various real life simulations. One was the “Big One” at Talladega from 2002. The MRN radio call that day involved the turn reporter saying, “Oh, here we go, here we go, cars spinning and crashing all over the place.”

A gaggle of sheet metal and smoke normally takes place once or twice a race at restrictor plate tracks like Daytona

It’s the nature of a restrictor plate track. The “Big One”—a large wreck so familiar at plate tracks that the name should be trademarked—was bound to take out a few good cars on Saturday evening. On lap 77, a 13 car incident, which started when Kasey Kahne got together with the #00 car of David Reutimann really could have affected the points tally.

All it did was move Reutimann further back in the amount of points he has to make up to get into 13th, from 12 points to 74 points. Clint Bowyer lost a spot in the standings to RCR teammate Jeff Burton, and Kahne actually moved up a spot because…

3. Mark Martin falls outside the Chase
…Mark Martin wrecked early in the race. It took all of 13 laps for the #5 car to fid the inside wall on the “Superstretch.” Martin took the blame for the incident. “Matt ran the top side there and got a run up off the corner, and I was trying to keep it down and leave us room and I just pinched him,” Martin said. “My front wheels were cut and it just didn't turn quite enough. It's really slick out there. It's my fault.”

Martin's car nearly escaped hitting anything, but seconds after this shot, his car touched the inside wall, crumpling the front hood and ending any shot Mark had at a good finish

Martin now sits 65 points behind Kahne in the standings, but there is very little to worry about if you’re a Mark Martin fan. At the next 8 tracks—races which will decide the final 12 drivers in the Chase for the Cup—Mark has an excellent record, and has run well at the tracks NASCAR is re-visiting. More on that later in the week or later this month.

4. Sadler and Smith have strong finishes at Daytona
Regan Smith has yet to not finish a race in his 51 race NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career. Elliot Sadler wishes every race the Cup Series ran was at Daytona. Sadler came home in 10th while Smith finished 12th.

These two gentlemen rarely run up front, and it’s been awhile since Sadler has visited Victory Lane. Regan Smith, if you’ll recall, had won the fall race at Talladega last season, but had the win revoked because of NASCAR’s ever so sketchy yellow line rule. Both ran well last night, kept their noses clean, and came out of Daytona with a shot of confidence.

Sadler (in the #19) has had an extremely good two races at Daytona this season

Also of note, Marcos Ambrose finished 6th, which means he did a great job of avoiding wrecks. He’s really made a name for himself this year in the Cup Series. At the halfway point in the season Ambrose has three top fives, five top tens and sits 18th in Cup points. He’s known for being a road course king, but two of those three top fives came at the last two restrictor plate events. Maybe Ambrose should become a restrictor plate track “ringer.”
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Well, I hope my incessant ramblings have shed some light on the race from yesterday evening. Tomorrow I’ll continue the countdown to Indy. Today is the three-week mark.

In just 21 days I hope to be on the track or in the garage area at Indianapolis, covering the second greatest race on the Cup schedule. I’m sure I’ll shed more light on why I believe this is so in the next three weeks. As always, thanks for reading, don’t forget to check back tomorrow, and enjoy your day!