PIR, snapping winless streaks and tempers

Phoenix International Raceway. PIR. Second race of the season. Strange, I know, seeming we were just there last November. With the changes to the schedule, NASCAR finds themselves in Arizona once again. Fresh off his Daytona 500 win, Trevor Bayne didn’t have the weekend he wanted. He crashed his primary Cup car and for the first time in his career, he had to go to a back-up car, which he crashed in the race. The Nationwide race didn’t go over as well either. While running seventh, Bayne’s tire blew, wrecking the car and ending his day. Now, let’s…

Sweep.

What does this word mean to NASCAR? How about: when a driver wins all three races at the same track in the same weekend. Or: when a driver wins both races at the same track in one of the touring divisions. Think really hard. Who did this (the first one)? I’ll give ya a hint. 18. It’s not his age or the number of times they were asked if they wanted the Senior Citizens discount at the grocery store. It’s his car/truck number. That’s right Kyle Thomas Busch. Mr. Rowdy Busch. He did it at Bristol last year and it looked like he was going to do it again, until the…

24.

Again not his age or the number of times girls ask them to marry him. It’s the number that has been on his car longer than the 2011 500 champ has been born. (that’s 20 years for those of you who can’t count or are too lazy to.) Jeff Gordon! The original Boy Wonder, who is now sponsor by AARP. He snapped a 66-race winless streak for the 39-year-old driver. He survived the wreck fest, that may have made new…

Feuds.

Love this word. Feud. We’ve seen a lot of this since NASCAR said, ‘Have at it Boys.’. I think those were the drivers favorite words, except for ‘Gentlemen, start your engines’, being said by a busty blond who probably doesn’t know how to turn a regular car on let alone a NASCAR car. Anyways, back to the feuds. I’m going to throw four names at you. Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, and Brian Vickers (Leprechaun!). Can you put the right names together?………..I’ll make it easier for ya and do it. First: Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch. Is there or isn’t there? Kyle gets lose and gets passed by Rocket Man Ryan Newman and I think he may have gotten a little pissed at hit Carl, sending him down into the grass, bringing him back up and collecting some of the other drivers. I don’t know what exactly happened there, but I don’t think there is a few going on between those two. BUT! I think Busch should stay away from Edwards at LVMS. Second: Matt Kenseth and Leprechaun, I mean, Brian Vickers. This one is GOOD! The two of them get together. Just a little. The piece of sheet metal sticking out on Kenseth’s car looks to have cut down Vickers tire. Vickers spins, making 12 other cars kind crash into each other. While being interviewed, Vickers blamed Kenseth for racing him too hard. Kenseth came over the radio and said he didn’t touch him. Everyone makes…

Mistakes.

Like this one. The front tire changer on JIMMIE JOHNSON’S car dropped a lug nut, making him lose about 6 spots on pit road. Nice going. The weird thing about it was, Chad didn’t seem angry, just a little upset. Weird. I was expecting Chad to go Carrie on them and kill them with his mind and then somehow set something on fire, further killing him. What wasn’t a mistake was that Kasey Kahne, yes Kasey is being mentioned it here (yeah, big surprise, NOT!) stay OUT of trouble at PIR to come home with a 6^th place finish, his first since the fall of 2006, where Kevin Harvick swept both Cup races. I guess, all these tracks with older racing surfaces are worried about…

Repaving.

Yes! Another track is being repaved, BUT, PIR is being reconfigured. The dog leg, what ever that really means, is being made different. I don’t know how, but it is. So, PIR will never be the…

Same.

Will the chase contenders be different this year or different? With new faces in the top 12, will it be a different year. Or, since we are only 2 races into the new season, just sort itself out and we will see the cream rise to the top? This is where it gets tricky. New points system makes it a little harder to catch up to the leaders. With the guys who are normally at the top at the bottom, will they have a chance to rise to the top, or is it already too late?

Next blog will take your opinions and hopefully get some answers!

Trevor Bayne wins Daytona 500 in his second career Cup start

Yes, you are reading the headline right. Trevor Bayne, 20, did indeed win the 2011 Daytona 500. The youngest driver to win the race, surpassing Jeff Gordon, who did it at 25. He had just turned 20 the day before, a teenager no more. Trevor is only scheduled for 17 races this season and right off the bat, Trevor finds himself in Victory Lane in the Cup series before the Nationwide series. This is the first 500 victory for the Wood Brothers since 1976. Trevor wasn’t even born yet. The whole day was full of two-car drafting and wrecks. Two big ones, collecting Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, David Reutimann, Michael Waltrip, and many others. Kevin Harvick, sporting the new sponsor Budweiser, lost his engine only 20 laps in to the 500, his teammate Jeff Burton’s engine expired 73 laps later, giving all the drivers with ECR (Earnhardt Childress Racing) engines something to worry about. The race saw records. Record number cautions, record number lead changes. A true Cinderella story today. No one would have thought that Trevor Bayne would have beat Cup Champions, former 500 winners to win the DAYTONA 500! I didn’t. I knew he could do very well in the sport, but to win the Daytona 500? Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable.

Trevor said on twitter: ‘Sayyyy what! I’m blown away at how amazing God’s plan is! 500 winner J can’t believe it!’ Trevor, God is behind you 100% in your life and career. By the way, you are the Daytona 500 CHAMPION! What we saw on pit road after the race kind of reminded me of a day about 13 years ago, when a man named Dale Earnhardt won his first Daytona 500 after 20 years of trying. Seeing all of those crew members standing on pit road, waiting to give Earnhardt a high five or a hand shake. I can tell you that Trevor was trending on twitter for about 4 hours after the race and quite a bit during the race.

“He's just got a tremendous awareness, I guess, in the car” one of the Wood brothers said of Bayne. “The great ones are like that. I've listened to a lot of drivers on the radio. He reminds me of the great ones. He will be a great one. I told somebody the other day that I felt like he just might be the next big deal, and I think he is.”

“The job the kid done today, I mean, you couldn't ask for anything else,” Wingo, a veteran crew chief, said. “There at the end, he hadn't had the lead all day or [gotten] pushed. [But] there at the end he did what he needed to do.”

“If you just watch the way he races, the biggest thing [with] these new guys coming in now, a lot of them can go fast, but they still struggle racing,” Wingo said. “He don't put himself in a bad position. I just think he adapts so well to certain situations. Just the racing part of it, he catches onto the racing part and don't put himself in a bad position. That's the sign of a good racer.”

“He was very calm,” Wood said. “Whoever he was pushing, he was relaying back to our spotter, to their spotter, how he needed it to be done … if he needed to be the guy to drag the brake or come back a little more, and he knew how to go fast.”

“That's what I noticed in him right off the bat. He knows how to do this,” Wood said. “I was talking to Richard Petty earlier in the week. We were talking about how well he did in the qualifiers and how do you do that your first time at doing it.

“We decided that he didn't know how to do it wrong. It's new to him. It's all brand-new. So however he did it was correct. He caught on to the way that everyone else was doing it.

“We were on top of the hauler during the first qualifier. He watched Matt Kenseth pull out to the right. He said, ‘You know, I think I'm going to do that.’ He went right out there and did it.”

“I have no idea other than the fact that we had a fast race car and everybody wants to be hooked up to a fast race car. When we qualified third, it kind of sparked everything. They were like, ‘Wow, maybe we need that 21 car pushing us.” Bayne said when asked how he became the best pusher in the field. “I don't want to say it's anything I did any different than any other rookie. We were just fast. I can't thank Jeff and those guys enough to put the trust in me.

“… All those guys that helped me along the way today, their trust in me showed other people could trust me. Jeff Gordon taking that first step showed everybody that, hey, they could work with me and we're here.”

(more quotes here: http://www.scenedaily.com/news/articles/sprintcupseries/The_next_big_deal_Trevor_Bayne_fulfills_promise_flashes_star_potential_with_huge_victory_at_Daytona.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter)

This is a big win for not only rookie Trevor Bayne, but for the Wood Brothers also, this being their 5^th Daytona 500 win in their 58 year career in the Cup series. Miss the race? Here’s a quick run down: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm7GGnQ7hmU

Trevor Bayne interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdzV4-TJRE4

Congratulations to Trevor Bayne and the whole Wood Brothers Racing team. You did an extraordinary job today and I am glad that you guys went with Trevor Bayne.

What are your thoughts about the race? Please comment!

TREVOR BAYNE IS THE 2011 DAYTONA 500 CHAMPION!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU DESERVE IT!

Kurt Busch wins Bud Shootout, Denny Hamlin black-flagged; Dale Jr. nabs Daytona 500 pole

NASCAR racing is finally back with some great racing at Daytona International Speedway. What we saw in the Shootout was a little different than what we usually see. Instead of seeing drafting packs, we saw two-car break aways, getting a whopping 20 miles an hour faster than the other cars, turning about 9500 RPMs, a dangerous number for racecars. The qualifications for the Shootout changed. The top 12 in points, past champions, whoever won a points race at Daytona, and former Rookies of the Year. Here was the line-up:
1. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

2. Tony Stewart
3. Carl Edwards
4. Denny Hamlin
5. Kasey Kahne
6. Bobby Labonte
7. Clint Bowyer
8. Ryan Newman
9. Derrike Cope

10. Michael Waltrip
11. Greg Biffle
12. Jeff Gordon
13. Juan Pablo Montoya
14. Jamie McMurray
15. Jeff Burton
16. Kevin Conway
17. Kurt Busch
18. Kevin Harvick
19. Matt Kenseth
20. Mark Martin
21. Kyle Busch
22. Joey Logano
23. Jimmie Johnson
24. Regan Smith

The night before, Dale Earnhardt Jr. pulled the pole for the Shootout, but was taken out in a wreck in the second segment, along with Carl Edwards, Joey Logano, Regan Smith, Juan Montoya, and Kevin Conway. Kasey was out early with engine troubles. All night we saw two cars draft, getting more RPMs than single cars or cars in a bigger draft. Now, for the big ‘controversy’. last lap, coming to the checkered. Denny Hamlin pushing Ryan Newman. Jamie McMurray pushing Kurt Busch. This is where it gets interesting. Denny Hamlin, going for the win, is forced down below yellow, passes Ryan Newman, crossing the finish line before Kurt Busch. Denny Hamlin wins right? No. Kurt Busch does. Denny Hamlin is black-flagged for illegal pass, crediting him with a 12^th place finish. That was Kurt Busch’s first Daytona win.

Results:

1 Kurt Busch

2 Jamie McMurray

3 Ryan Newman

4 Jimmie Johnson

5 Greg Biffle

6 Jeff Gordon

7 Kevin Harvick

8 Jeff Burton

9 Clint Bowyer

10 Bobby Labonte

11 Tony Stewart

12 Denny Hamlin

13 Matt Kenseth

14 Derrike Cope

15 Michael Waltrip

16 Kyle Busch

17 Mark Martin

18 Joey Logano

19 Dale Earnhardt Jr.

20 Juan Montoya

21 Carl Edwards

22 Regan Smith

23 Kevin Conway

24 Kasey Kahne

　

Now, on to Daytona 500 qualifying. 48 entries. 48 qualifying cars. 96 qualifying laps. 192 tires. 240 miles. Top qualifying speed was given by Dale Earnhardt Jr., turning a lap of 48.364 seconds (186.089 MPH). Jeff Gordon turned a lap of 48.396 seconds (185.966 MPH). Cup Rookie Trevor Bayne, driving the legendary 21 Ford for the Wood Brothers, turned a lap of 185.445 MPH, the third fastest lap. He was good throughout practice, being fourth fastest in the final Daytona 500 qualifying practice, mirroring RCR driver Jeff Burton. The Gatorade Duels are on Thursday to determine the rest of the field.

Line-ups.

Gatorade Duel #1

Gatorade Duel #2

NASCAR 2010: What do you remember the most?

The 2011 NASCAR season is fast approaching. 100% of all race fans have been wanting more racing since Homestead. I know I have. I actually sort of filled the void of no NASCAR with a little football, seeing my favorite team lose one of the worst games I have ever seen and seeing my home team, the Green Bay Packers, win the Super Bowl. Now, that football is over, we can get all of our minds back on racing. A while ago, I took a poll. ‘Who do you think is going to win the Daytona 500?’. Most people said Kasey Kahne. This blog post isn’t really a poll. It’s just me wondering something.

Everyone has their favorite moments in NASCAR. Dale Earnhardt finally winning the Daytona 500 in 1998, Kevin Harvick winning at Atlanta after Dale Sr.’s death are some of my favorites. When you look back at the 2010 season, there were so many moments that stuck in race fans minds. Jamie McMurray winning three of the biggest races of the season, Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick feud, Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton going at it, and Kasey Kahne leaving RPM early. I asked people ‘What was your favorite moment from last year’s NASCAR Cup season?’. I wasn’t seeing which moment was the most popular, I just simply wanted to know. I have to say, watching Jamie McMurray cry in Victory Lane at Daytona made me cry. It was so emotional for him. His dad had left the track before the race ended, so he wasn’t there. Some of the big headlines of the season made my list. ‘Kasey Kahne released from RPM early, goes to Red Bull Racing to finish the season’. Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick get into it at Pocono after Kevin spun Joey out to get a position. I have to wonder, what is going to happen in the 2011 season? Are we going to see more ‘Have at it, Boys!’? Are we going to see someone break into Victory Lane? Are we finally going to see someone beat Jimmie Johnson in the points? Action starts with the Bud Shootout, Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on FOX!

(Picture: Jamie McMurray crying in Victory Lane after winning the Daytona 500)

Kasey Kahne a favorite to win the 500?

With about a month left until the Daytona 500, everybody has been wondering. Who is going to win the 500 in 2011? Who is going to be the first driver to win the first points race of the new season? The Daytona 500 is one of those races that NASCAR drivers want to be able to check off ‘running in the Daytona 500’ off their bucket lists. Can everyone think back to 2009? Rookie Joey Logano was making his first Daytona 500 at the age of 18. He’s been the youngest driver to start a Cup race from that day to November 7^th, 2010 when Trevor Bayne made his Sprint Cup debut. Two more rookie drivers will race in their first Daytona 500, Trevor Bayne and Steve Wallace. Who is most likely to win the Daytona 500? Jimmie Johnson? Jeff Gordon? Dale Earnhardt Jr.? Surprisingly, none of them won the poll. Red Bull Racing’s one-year driver Kasey Kahne won the poll. I was completely surprised. Kasey won in a land-slide, a whopping 14 votes from the 47 total votes cast. 17 drivers were nominated.

Results:

Kasey Kahne: 14

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: 5

Jeff Gordon: 5

Denny Hamlin: 4

Kyle Busch: 3

Tony Stewart: 3

Kevin Harvick: 2

Jamie McMurray: 2

Ryan Newman: 1

Carl Edwards: 1

Clint Bowyer: 1

Mark Martin: 1

Brian Vickers: 1

Bobby Labonte: 1

Jimmie Johnson: 1

Michael Waltrip: 1

Jeff Burton: 1

I got everyone from Jimmie Johnson to Michael Waltrip (Who both got a vote each), Mark Martin (my vote) to Kyle Busch. Yeah, I voted for Mark Martin. Me, a die-hard Kasey Kahne fan, voted for Martin. Out of all the drivers that her nominated, 7 drivers (Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman, Jimmie Johnson, Michael Waltrip) have won the 500 before. In the last nine Daytona 500s, there have been nine winners. Will someone who hasn’t won yet (Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch) win or will someone who has won win it? There is only one thing to do! Check out the Daytona 500 February 20^th, on FOX. Good luck to every one!

Jeff Gordon, Trevor Bayne, Austin Dillon top Popular Driver polls

After this year’s ridiculous Most Popular Driver vote, I was appalled that Dale Earnhardt Jr. won for the eighth time in a row. So, I decided to see for myself if he was really the most popular driver in NASCAR. Why just stop at the Cup Series? I did a poll for all three top touring series. The Cup results surprised me, but in a good way. Nationwide didn’t surprise me at all and the Truck series didn’t as well.

The Cup Series poll threw me for a loop. Jeff Gordon flew passed everyone, even the so-called Most Popular Driver for eight years running.

Cup:

Jeff Gordon- 6

Joey Logano- 3

Bobby Labonte- 2

Dale Earnhardt Jr.- 2

Ryan Newman- 1

Kevin Harvick- 2

Tony Stewart- 2

Kasey Kahne- 3

Carl Edwards- 2

Denny Hamlin- 1

Trevor Bayne blew everyone out of the water in the Nationwide poll. How did he not win Most Popular Driver?

NNS

Robert Richardson- 1

Kyle Busch- 1

Trevor Bayne- 10

Kenny Wallace- 3

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.- 1

Steve Wallace- 1

Joe Nemechek- 1

Austin Dillon rocked the Camping World Truck Series poll. Again, how did he not win the title?

Truck

Austin Dillon- 7

Ron Hornaday- 3

Mike Skinner- 1

Matt Crafton- 1

Todd Bodine- 1

Ricky Carmichael- 3

James Buescher- 1

What does this tell you? People are not voting right. If you want to see your favorite driver win, you have to vote. That’s what I did. I voted for Kasey Kahne and Trevor Bayne like crazy, but it didn’t matter because other fans like me weren’t voting. Let’s make a change for next season. Let’s take away the Most Popular Driver title away from Dale Earnhardt Jr. and give it to someone who deserves it! When voting starts, vote, vote, vote!!

Colin Braun: NASCAR driver

As the years go on, NASCAR drivers are coming into the sport fairly young. 18, 19, 20 years old. Colin Braun, 22, is no exception. Signed by Roush Fenway in 2007, Colin has slowly become a household name. He won his first major NASCAR race on June 13^th, 2009 (Michigan 200)(my 18^th birthday). In 2010, Colin made the jump from the Truck series to the Nationwide series, piloting the #16 Conway-Freight Ford, joining fellow Rookie Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Nationwide Series Champion Carl Edwards. Colin made 24 starts this past season, earning 5 top 10’s, but also 7 DNFs. You can say that Colin’s rookie season was a rollercoaster, especially when he was benched for a select races. Then, on December 1^st, Colin was released from his contract with Roush Fenway Racing because of sponsorship issues.

This piece of news rocked Twitter land, almost as much as the release of Trevor Bayne from DWR, or Kasey Kahne being released from his contract with RPM. The released raised some questions. What happened? Why did it happen? What was behind the split? It’s like a celebrity relationship, it happens. Sometimes, it doesn’t have a reason.

You’re probably wondering how I got Colin Braun to answer some questions. I have no clue, really. I tweeted him hoping to get a response, and I did. What comes to mind when you hear Colin Braun? Talented? Roush Fenway? I even got the answer of ‘surprisingly low water bill’ from the Nationwide series commercial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cayG6MjjUqM). Everybody is wondering, Who is Colin Braun?

How did you get into racing? My dad was an engineer for a race team so I grew up with the sport.

How old were you when your first raced? I started out in quarter midgets at age 5.
Who got you into racing? My Dad

What were your emotions when you found you that your were going to drive for Roush Fenway? I was really excited to take my career to the next level

What is the best experience you have had since starting? Wining the Michigan truck race!

Who help you the most in your racing career? Definitely my Dad

When you won your first Truck race, what were you feeling? Really excited!

Who is your biggest supporter? My family

Were there any people that thought you wouldn’t get to where you are now? Yeah there's always doubters of course, but I just stay focused on what my goals are and continue to learn what I can do better.

Do you have any idea of where you may be next season? Not yet. Still working on the details but I'll keep everyone posted!

What do you doing during the off-season? I work at my personal shop and try to go karting.

If you weren’t racing, what would you be doing? I love working on stuff and tinkering. I'd have to say I'd be a maintenance man!

What do you think about Jimmie Johnson making history? Pretty cool

Do you see yourself in the Cup series sometime soon? Hopefully! That's the goal!

Pre-race rituals? Superstitions? Nothing really. Just try to keep a clear head.

Do you do any charity work? I try to do as many autograph signings and charity events as possible.

Anything else you want your fans to know about you? Crazy habits? I love to mow my grass!

As you can see, Colin Braun started his racing career early, he has the support of his family, and he loves to mow his grass. Colin is a great driver, a great person, and full of talent. He great to his fans. He just needs a chance to show off his talents.

Colin can be found on twitter: www.twitter.com/colinbraun

You can find me on twitter: www.twitter.com/SamRaeBayne