Nascar at Joliet

6:54 PM 7/12/2008
I know, it's called Chicagoland speedway, but I live a couple of hours from Joliet and, AFAIC, Joliet is on the outer edge of Chicagoland. I think they called it Chicagoland to get the Chicago big city association. However, it's not like those of you outside of Illinois haven't heard of Joliet from The Blues Brothers.

I really don't know how well I'm going to do tonight. Yesterday, on my last day of work, I was sick. I left early, and had planned to do so by working extra hours early in the week, and it's a good thing. If it were a full day, I would have only made it to noon. Friday was misery.

Earlier in the week, knowing that I was leaving Illinois for Tennessee, I figured this was my last chance to get over to Joliet to watch the races. I looked up the ticket cost and $195 for the 2 races was a bit too much, I thought. Then, I wound up getting sick, and wouldn't have made it over there and would have wasted the money.

Anyway, enough nonsense about me. The only reason I really started this is because I wanted to ask why Bill Webber is pronouncing the ch in Chicago like the ch in church, when everybody else in the entire world pronounces it like "Shicago". And, before you ask, no, I have no clue why it's Shicago and not Chicago. I used to know why the state was pronounced Illinoy and not Illinoise. I used to laugh at my cousins from Indiana who pronounced it Illinoise, but if you're not from here, you might not know better, so, yes, I was being mean to laugh at them.

This just in. Sometimes I'm mean.

Now that I've asked the question, I'll be going... oh, well, since I'm here, might as well keep going.

6:59 PM
Myth: Drivers used to drive in the Busch series races because they were trying to learn something for the next day/night's Cup race.

Myth or Fact?

Well, now that the cars are completely different, and Cup drivers still compete in the Busch, now Nationwide, series, I'd say this myth is busted.

7:01 PM
Major audio problems with the goofy looking guy singing the national anthem. The only time I can hear him is from the echo. And he stinks. Not that I can smell him from here, but he's very bad. Can he possibly sing it any slower? I wish I had timed it, because he's got to be pushing 3 minutes. This one rivals the little girl screeching the national anthem at Vegas in '99 as the worst national anthem I've ever heard. Let's put this one at #2.

7:09 PM
Nice job on GSYE by Brendan Fraser.

7:10 PM
I have to say, this is one of the worst times for me to get sick. I needed to be spending the day getting stuff out of the crawlspace and attic of my house, not sitting around being miserable. I also have very mixed feelings about leaving this house. It's just too small for 5 people, but this house is where my babies were babies. Oh, right, yes, there's a race on.

7:15 PM
BTW, that Wally's World piece that Wally and Kyle did was excellent about how the nose on the old car would push air under the rear of the old car.

7:23 PM
This doesn't have much to do with anything right now, but I think the interview with Kyle Busch, and finding out that he's hearing some cheers, is interesting. What it tells me is that DW and the Fox team owe Kyle Busch an apology. They fawned all over him so much that Kyle received a backlash from fans. Please name 1 thing that Kyle Busch has done to earn the hatred that he's received. Ok, he got into Dale Jr at Richmond while they were racing for the win. You can be annoyed over that. I know I was. But, any Earnhardt fan, especially an Earnhardt Sr fan, who hates Kyle Busch because of that is racing-retarded. I believe the hatred of Kyle Busch came from the backlash against the fawning of the Fox team, highlighted by the absolutely stupid comparison to Tiger Woods. Without the fawning over Kyle Busch, I don't believe he would be as hated as he is.

DW, Dick Berggren and others owe Kyle Busch an apology for what they did to him.

7:28 PM
Right on, Bill Webber. Carl's pacing himself because he can't catch Kyle. Excellent call.

7:36 PM
Ha! On the drivers looking at the gauge. Wally: What should it be? Give me a range. 220 on the water? Yeah, that's what it is.

7:39 PM
No, TNT, 16 windows of pit stops is not a good idea. Too much. Sensory. Overload. Can't. Process. CPU failure imminent.

7:40 PM
Commercial showing the guys working on a car at night. Working on a car at night is not my idea of fun. More like misery.

8:14 PM
Why would I celebrate Jared losing 200+ lbs? I'm not the one who lost the weight. Jared can celebrate all he wants, but I'll be over eating a pizza. :wavey:

8:18 PM
Interesting. I never would have guessed that somebody would get nailed by lug nuts by cars leaving pit road. I mean, it makes sense, but you just never hear about it.

8:44 PM
Kyle: You know why that hasn't been seen on a TNT broadcast before? Because nobody in the booth cares.

Ha!

Larry McReynolds, The Master of Silliness

I don't get the point of that and I hope we don't see dumb things like that ever again.

8:49 PM
TNT showed us the Gordon/Kenseth incident. Sorry, Gordon fans, but there's no way that was anything but a spin to win.

9:15 PM
Spent the last 25 minutes talking to my wife, so I hope what I missed wasn't important.

9:17 PM
Maybe it's because I can't see the shirt and tie up close, but that tie Kyle's sporting looks hideous with that shirt. And, in case you're wondering, my wife has never said, "You're wearing that?" to me.

9:18 PM
Did you just see that little thing in the bottom left hand corner? Kyra Sedgwick just came out and took a bite out of a bagel or something. Come and watch Kyra Sedgwick eat a doughnut! It's The Closer on TNT! We know drama.

And doughnuts.

Mmmm... doughnuts.

9:19 PM
Oh, one other thing I just thought of about that Kyle Busch interview. I loved how Kyle went out of his way to say that they could have won at New Hampshire, but didn't want to win that way. Arrogance. It's arrogance that says, "I can't win that way. It's beneath me."

Mark it down. If there's one thing that's going to keep Kyle Busch from winning a championship this year, it's his arrogance. You just don't give up points and/or wins because you think winning a certain way is beneath you. And, if that's not why you did that particular strategy, then just say so. Nobody will think less of you for it.

9:29 PM
That was a power move there by Carl passing Kyle on the outside.

9:48 PM
I think Carl would have won without the tire issue, but the Kyle Busch Show rolls on.

9:51 PM
A debris caution that's actual debris. Huh. Weird.

9:56 PM
I know how good Jimmie Johnson is on these shootout kind of finishes, but I think Kyle's going to win.

10:05 PM
Jimmie took his line away. Huh.

10:13 PM
In the past, I've said that pound for pound, Jeff Gordon has the best restart in Nascar. Well, Jimmie's very good on restarts also.

10:14 PM
Uh, did y'all (I'm practicing my y'alls y'all) take a good look at Tony in that Subway commercial when he gets out of the car before he climbs the fence to the moon? Tony Stewart's a fat boy. I'm not sure Tony's the right spokesman for Subway.

10:17 PM
Except this restart. That win was 90% Kyle Busch and 10% Jimmie Johnson getting the worst restart in the world. Sorry, Wally, but Jimmie didn't get a good restart. It was terrible. But, the Kyle Busch Show rolls on.