RaceBud

It looks like lap 125 of the 2009 Daytona 500 will be with us for a while.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brian Vickers got together and caused a wreck-fest, the Big One, if you will. Whether it’s ultimately remembered as the Lap 125 Caffeine Crash, Red Bull vs. Amp Energy Drink, or just another no-brainer dumb move by the driver of your choice, remains to be seen. Continue Reading »

The 51^st running of the Daytona 500 is counting down to the green flag. In spite of the economic crisis, a very prolonged silly season, and a mad scramble of teams trying to buy their way into the Top 35, the Great American Race will go green as scheduled on Sunday.

At no time in modern racing has the 500 seen such a scrambling of drivers, owners, sponsors and manufacturers. It’s almost as if the racing gods put all the players in a box and shook real hard. Predictably, race programs will be a big seller at the track, for what could well be called the “Who’s Running What for Whom 500.” Continue Reading »

RaceKat is a long-time NASCAR fan, driver and car owner. She is a charter member of the Turn 3 Race Team, and has taught many a driver to fear her racetime activity of getting the knives after them. This is her first guest article on RaceBud.com.

Well Race Fans, it’s just a couple of hours before the race at Las Vegas and I am still upset about last week’s race in California. How about you?

What happened to NASCAR starting a questionable race on a questionable racetrack under a yellow caution for 15 to 20 laps to work the track in? If they would have done that, they might have avoided the two cautions and the five wrecked race cars last Sunday. They also might have gotten half of the race in, instead of sitting for an hour and a half while they were clearing the track.

Instead, five cars lost very valuable points, and the fans had to come back on Monday for both races. And, unless they had everyone change seats for the Nationwide race, those fans really lost out. Denny Hamlin lost 16 spots in the points race. Junior lost 15 places, Sam Hornish lost 19, Reed Sorenson 12 and Casey Mears lost seven. Continue Reading »

We’re finally home from what was probably one of the best Daytona 500 SpeedWeeks we’ve had the chance to experience. We’ve been to Daytona in February for the last 14 years, and it has always been a cold experience. Fry on Friday and freeze on Sunday, is the norm.

This year the weather was fantastic. The racing was close and exciting. The gala was spectacular. And, did I mention the weather ?

Dale Jr. was the toast of the town, and on Sunday, all eyes were on the 88 car. The big question was whether or not the Hendrick tsunami would keep inundating the rest of the field.

Dale Jr. did his best to make history happen, but with just a few laps to go, and a caution to bunch the field, Jr. was running out of help. Continue Reading »

Restating complex, sometimes technical, information to the media and the public in an understandable way is a common challenge in government public information offices. The spokesman of a state agency I once worked for was always trying to explain muddled public policy to the media the same way he would explain it to his neighbor.

Coincidently, my neighbor, dad of the twins, gave me a review of this site the other day. He says he wants to see more articles about Dale Earnhardt, Jr, the open wheel drivers that are new to NASCAR, and items of interest to the casual NASCAR fan.

So, John, here’s an attempt to explain Daytona qualifying. Continue Reading »

When he started the September 16 race, Clint Bowyer was a very likable guy who had never won a Cup race. He had a good enough season to make the last place in the Chase, but was not considered a viable championship contender. Vegas odds-makers had him finishing the season in 12^th place, last among the Chase contenders. And his fan base was definitely outside the top 12.

But he won the Loudon race. And four races later he is one of only three drivers still in the running for the series championship.

To be truthful, I wasn’t wearing my Clint Bowyer t-shirt that day.

Continue Reading »