For some reason I'm feeling much better today than I was on Monday, May 7, 2012.
That Monday last year was the conclusion of my bachelor party - started in Biloxi, MS and ended in Atlanta, GA w/ a road trip to Talladega thrown in the middle.
Hard Rock - Biloxi, MS
Talladega Superspeedway
I'm willing to bet
Brad Keselowski was feeling better that Monday morning as well. It was the first time I had ever seen Brad win a race live (26th race I had been to).
Brad Keselowski wins the 2012 Aaron's 499 @ Talladega
After this year's race, he was a tad aggravated w/ NASCAR and their handling of the last restart. Per his tweet below, he felt NASCAR had lined he and David Ragan up incorrectly - which NASCAR came back to defend when asked.
This is the restart order per Bob Pockrass:
Aside from Brad's aggravation, we had:
-Denny Hamlin back in the car after a 4 week hiatus
(I was hoping to see him back last week @
Richmond -
see you in Richmond, Denny)
-Ricky Stenhouse causing a wreck that took out his girlfriend, Danica
(added because broadcaster
Mike Joy thought it was important enough to talk about "speed dating")
-Ryan Newman letting the fans know we could figure out who "they" means
"getting their heads out of their asses"
-Kyle Busch admittedly causing a wreck involving 16 cars
the first Big One
-
NASCAR on Fox coverage of the race where we saw more commercials during green flag racing than the 3+ hour red flag delay
Denny Hamlin was back in the car for the first time since his crash at Auto Club Speedway in March. Thank God he switched out w/ Brian Vickers when he did, saving him from being involved in the first Big One.
I think Danica is great for the sport and wish her nothing but the best. These broadcasters seriously need to get back to race coverage and leave the "Stenica" - "Ricky's girlfriend" - "speed dating" comments up to TMZ and the tabloids.
Ryan Newman gets a ton of respect from me for letting his family know he was alright and then voicing his issues w/ the second Big One at Talladega. As an aside - Ryan's car did prevent Kurt Busch's car from continuing it's side over side rolling similar to that nasty Joey Logano crash at Dover in 2009.
Kyle Busch caused the first Big One on lap 43 of the race - way too soon for something like that. In his tweet, he stated that his and Kasey Kahne's cars don't get along at plate races. He did man up and apologize. I would love to know what his apologies mean to those drivers affected. Every time I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, he goes off causing wrecks or spewing BS from his mouth. The guy can drive but his attitude takes so much away. Maybe he likes pissing fans and drivers off to the point of fans saying he "sucks" or drivers wanting to take him out (see the 2008 Bristol night race).
I can't bring myself to believe he actually likes pissing the fans off considering he blocked me on twitter for making comments like #BuschSucks and...
Kyle, I admit that was a nasty tweet and I apologize if that hurt you. I'm a lover not a fighter. I want to have respect for you as a driver but I just can't with that bad attitude. Maybe your apology to those 16 drivers is a start in the right direction. Best of luck to you on what I hope is a new path in life.
I really don't have too many words for the Fox coverage of yesterday's race. Commercials is the first that comes to mind and I understand those are what makes live NASCAR races available to us fans but someone over there needs to put together a new plan of attack. Fox coverage is what makes me appreciative of being able to see so many races live.
and oh yeah - Congratulations to David Ragan for winning the race!!!
Back to regularly scheduled programming - 2013 Toyota Owners 400 @ Richmond International Raceway is up next.
Warm-Up Tailgating (my wife and our friend Amy)