Nascar at Las Vegas

Here it is a day later than usual, because I started watching on Sunday and finished last night.

Sunday
3:05 PM
Krista Voda's got her mojo working on filling her airtime with as many gambling references as she possibly can. I don't get why she thinks this is cute or funny, but that never stopped anybody, including yours truly, from saying silly things.


3:07 PM
I was going to keep track of all the gambling references, then I remembered this is pre-race, where they spend all their time yammering about nothing and the mute button brings blessed silence.


3:09 PM
24 commercial.

Is it just me, or is the whole 24 shtick completely worn out? Keifer Sutherland doing the trademark Jack Bauer Yelling is old and tired. Until this year, I used to watch 24, including slogging through the last one 2 years ago when nobody on the show cared anymore. I saw an episode a few weeks ago that had Tony Almaeda, who was supposedly killed 2 seasons ago from a bomb, then from some being poisoned, not to mention taking a bullet in the neck 3 or 4 seasons ago. I noticed in the promo that, unless I've got the wrong actor, Agent Curtis is back and I know that Bauer shot him in the neck in the last season, supposedly killing him. The show has become ridiculous.


3:16 PM
That was an odd conversation with DW and Jeff. They both looked uncomfortable to me. It looked very forced.


3:25 PM
And I can't take the yammering anymore and I hit the mute button.


3:43 PM
Instead of counting gambling references during the pre-race, but I decided to just do it during the race.


3:45 PM
"Understanding the race" segment.

At the Daytona 500, Larry went through this "understanding the race" piece and never mentioned it again. Did he do this segment and reference it at anytime during last week's race?


3:48 PM
Keselowski with a flat tire. That boy looked like he thought they were running a World of Outlaws race the way he was going through the corner with that flat tire.


3:50 PM
I have to say that Kenseth is having a problem, but I won't believe he's done until I see a shot of that car in the garage.


3:53 PM 3/1/2009
Ok, Kenseth's done.


4:06 PM 3/1/2009
Jimmie Johnson driving me to work would be cool if he could drive like he was driving the actual race car.


4:09 PM
Is it just me, or did they never mention how hot it was at Las Vegas until the race started? It was like, oh wait, the temperature does make a difference even though we never mentioned it until we think it started making a difference.


4:16 PM
What would you like your analysts to do? Before the race starts, they all talk about who could be good. Should they be coming up with names of people who really are going to be good, or should they just mention the usual suspects and pretend that's analysis? They never once mentioned Jamie McMurray and then, once we see that he's passed more cars than anybody, they talk about how great he ran in practice and suggest that they clearly knew he was going to be fast. Anybody can say after the fact that a guy is going to have a good day. If you want to impress me, predict before the race starts that somebody starting in the back, like Jamie McMurray, is going to be good.


4:38 PM
Here's Larry's chance to talk about how pit stall location is so important. After commercial, I think he'll mention it.


4:40 PM
I couldn't tell who was who with helmets on, so I just hit em all. Heh.


4:49 PM
Interesting that Larry didn't mention pit stall location, because I do remember him saying something about it during the pre-race. I think Larry's pet theory is that pit road location is more important than pit crew performance and I think he's completely wrong. Couldn't watch the rest of the race and I taped it from here.


Monday
9:28 PM
Picking up the race at lap 100.


9:35 PM
Want to know another cliche that deserves to die a slow, painful death?

"{Driver A} is running a typical {Driver A} race."

It usually means that some driver, whether it's Matt Kenseth, or Bobby Labonte, or, in this case, Mark Martin, is running in the Top 5 or Top 10 early, then they make some adjustment to the car that lets them lead later. They think this is by design, but I don't think it is. I think that if a certain isn't leading, it's because his car isn't good enough to lead. It's hard for me to believe that every driver out there would lead every lap of the race if they could. The Fox guys need to stop pretending otherwise.


9:40 PM
It wouldn't be a race on Fox if Larry didn't tell us how important pit stall location is for somebody, Jimmie Johnson this time.


9:45 PM
So, it was a 2 tire stop for Jimmie Johnson, not pit stall location. Larry must be so disappointed.


10:02 PM
Jeff Gordon passes Rusty Wallace, yet again, in some category, this time being number of laps led in his career.

Speak for yourself, Larry. Some of us fully realize that Jeff Gordon has been in Cup racing for a long time. 17 years to be exact.


10:07 PM
Since you don't actually speak English, Larry, could you cool it with even mentioning ask.com? We have enough ask on this broadcast as it is.


10:08 PM
Crank it up. I think cranking it up is the best part of the races on Fox. Can you guess why? More please.


10:09 PM
I have to say that both races at this place since it was reconfigured have been better than any race prior to reconfiguration.


10:12 PM
Interesting about the cars breaking loose. The teams have figured something out about making these cars easier to turn, and too easy to turn, because I can't think of one race in 2008 where the cars got loose like this.


10:14 PM
Interesting theory by Jeff about the low air pressure tires. I wonder if they'll follow up on this and mention it at Atlanta. I doubt it. There's a definite issue with Fox's Nascar team about not following up on things they mention on-air.


10:18 PM
Next week is one of my favorite tracks, Atlanta. The Atlanta Motor Speedway is about the only thing I like about Atlanta. Just thinking out loud here, but, now that we live 6 hours closer to Atlanta than we used to, going to a race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway just might be the first Cup race I go to. My in-laws live no more than a half hour away from the track, which would save me a good sum of money. Hmm...

Did you guys know that the Sprint Cup will be racing at Atlanta on Labor Day? In a night race? It's not Darlington, but it's not California either.

I did not know this.

Sorry, I have no idea what's happening with the race. The wheels are turning on going to Atlanta on Labor Day.


10:29 PM
I know the scenarios aren't the same because Jimmie had totally overshot his pit stall, but note that they took the time to get the car back into the stall and work on it, unlike the #88 team at Daytona who continued to work even though the official told them they were out of the box. Make of that what you will, but I know what I think about it and it isn't good. It comes down to this. Smart teams do smart things.


10:36 PM
That's a great story about Kyle Busch saying he had to make it as a race car driver because he had nothing else to fall back on. Historically in Nascar, it's been guys with motivation like that who have made it big in racing. For example, the Pettys raced all the time in the early days of Nascar because that's all they ever did. Richard Petty raced so hard because that's all he had. Dale Earnhardt would get a loan on Friday and raced his guts out on Saturday to pay off the loan on Monday.

I haven't followed any racing boards this year. I rarely do. I am curious, though, what people think about Kyle Busch so far in 2009. Is he as hated this year, so far, as he was last? I think he probably isn't and, if so, it confirms what I said last year that the Fox team's constant overhyping of Kyle Busch did a great disservice to him. People hated him for no reason other than they were rejecting the sucking up and blatant stupidity of statements like comparing Kyle to Tiger Woods.


10:50 PM
I've listened to it 3 times and I can't figure out what was said that was so funny when Kyle passed Clint Bowyer. I just think these guys sound like idiots rooting for drivers like they do. I don't care whether it's Junior, Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards or Kyle Busch, they all sound like idiots rooting for drivers.


10:59 PM
DW: Jimmie hasn't had good luck at Las Vegas.

You're right, Darrell, except for those 3 consecutive years where he won this race, Jimmie has terrible luck at Vegas.

BTW, Jimmie Johnson's race did go pear-shaped after the pit road incident, so it's not like they don't make mistakes, but working on the car when the official says push it back isn't something they've done in the past, or will do in the future.


11:01 PM
Kyle wins and the President of the Kyle Busch Fan Club is just getting ramped up in fulfilling his duties this year.

 

I vote for Digger not being quick enough to get back down in his hole as the pack comes storming into turn 3.


I've also heard that TNT is hiring Carl Spackler for the job.

 

Here's the problem. I missed the start of the Shootout because I refused to watch the prerace show and it didn't last as long as I thought it would. In the future, it will be on, but muted.

Tom, maybe you didn't catch what I said about Atlanta. My in-laws live there. As in, my MIL lives there. Need I say more?

:tonofbricks:

I think I do too, because Digger's only on for a couple of minutes, while DW's on for 3 hours.

/fixed

 

What's so surprising about hating Jeff Gordon? I have the same rooting interest as padre in that when Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon race together, I want them both to lose. :thumbsup:

You don't have enough to go around? Can I pass you a cup or 2 of my Haterade, padre? Because not only do I have enough delicious Haterade for Jeff Gordon, I've still got enough left over to hate Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Robby Gordon, Tony Stewart and Rusty Wallace. :laugh:

 

Exactly, padre.

 

Nothing turns around thoughts about a driver quicker than seeing them take a hard hit, or seeing something happen that's just patently unfair and unjustified.

The greatest thing that ever happened to Darrell Waltrip's relationship with the fans was when he got turned in the 1989 All-Star race by Rusty Wallace and then when he took that hard hit at Daytona the following year that broke his leg. The greatest thing that ever happened to Dale Earnhardt's relationship with the fans was when he was in that terrible wreck at Talladega in 1996, the one that One-Eyed Irvan started. I'm not sure why that is. Maybe they're not seeing as the cocky, young ba... um, guys anymore that used to do things that grated on the fans. I don't really know.

It's not only Nascar drivers that go through this, too. Superstars in other sports who were reviled in their prime suddenly become revered as they get closer to the end of their career.