Did you watch “Shaq Vs.” last night? I did! As I’m sure you all know by now, this was the season premiere for the show that pits Shaquille O’Neal against the best sports stars outside of Shaq’s basketball comfort zone. He’s gone up against swimmer Michael Phelps, pro beach volleyball stars Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh-Jennings and now NASCAR’s own Dale Earnhardt Jr.

*Spoiler Alert* (more…)

I’m kidding! Calm down Roush Fenway Racing supporters. I was just making a funny.

But seriously, super huge congratulations to Jamie McMurray for winning the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway yesterday. Kudos to him and his team for winning a race that further cements a place for him in NASCARs history.

Now, can I talk about Victory Lane or Winner’s Circle at Indy? It’s really lame. It seems like a complete afterthought, like they finished making the hugh jass pagoda and then were all, “Ohh, where are we gonna do Victory Lane? Let’s wedge it over there since we made the stage for the anthem and the command to start engines needlessly large and round.” (more…)

It’s become an age old question: What do you do during a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series off-weekend? Well, it’s never really and off-weekend, there’s always some form of racing on television and this weekend is no different. There’s the Nationwide Series, the Camping World Truck Series and that other racing league, the IZOD IndyCar Series. They all offer something different and fun, but it’s not quite enough. I guess we’re spoiled in that sense, we want it all, all the time.

Anyway, I thought it’d be fun to brainstorm some other activities you could partake in in the regular, non-racing world while you wait for Sprint Cup Series action to return:

1.) Write a screenplay for a NASCAR drama starring your favorite actors and actresses. I started thinking about a film with Ben Affleck as the super hot and cocky veteran driver on a losing streak and Robert Pattinson as the super hot and young rookie who’s made the jump from Formula 1 to NASCAR and is on a hot winning streak. There would of course be their love interests, Ben’s wife played by me Angelina Jolie, is super supportive but has grown tired of his ego and is on a mission to show him what it means to be a winner on and off the track. Robert’s character will be single (of course!) but will nurse a crush on the hottest female driver in NASCAR, whose already won one Nationwide Series title and is looking to score big in the Cup series, played by Blake Lively.

Clearly I’ve got the synopsis ready all someone needs to do is pay to me to finish it and we can start filming! Yee!! Actually, now that I just wrote that out I really want to see this film happen. I’d be particularly interested in the casting process. Maybe we could get George Clooney to play a team owner?? Hmm. (more…)

First, I must address the most amazing “Gentleman, Start Your Engines” ever PERFORMED on national television. That’s right, performed! Actors (and comedians) Kevin James and Adam Sandler were the Grand Marshals for the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 at Michigan International Speedway and the didn’t fail to deliver what I knew would be the most entertaining command to start engines since I don’t know when. (Off topic right now but this photo, left, is the best photo of Denny Hamlin I’ve seen in quite some time. Just sayin’)

Can we get Kevin James out to every race to do that little dance? Freaking hilarious. If you missed it, video of Sandler and James giving the command is below. They’re promoting their new movie “Grown Ups” which, of course, looks very funny.

My only question about this race is why didn’t Denny Hamlin pick up the giant fake tub of Heluva Good! Sour Cream dip that was sitting on top of his car in Victory Lane? That would of been great, especially if they’d had a giant bag of chips to go with it. (more…)

To answer Melody’s question from my previous post, I was in Tony Stewart’s hauler for all of 5 minutes. It was luxuriously air conditioned and I didn’t see the back lounge area. Plus Tony wasn’t there he was out practicing but it was very cool to be inside a hauler for any reason and any amount of time.

Sunday was of course the Coca-Cola 600 and on my drive in to the track I couldn’t get over the amount of tailgating that was going on seemingly EVERYWHERE. Every blade of grass surrounding the track was filled with trucks, tents and people with barbecues. Even the parking lots of commercial office buildings had groups of people crowded together. It was so neat to see. There’s tailgating at the California races but nothing to the degree of what I saw outside of Charlotte Motor Speedway. It’s something that you have to witness for yourself.

I got to the track in time to attend a tweetup organized by SBNation’s Jeff Gluck. I went to meet up with ‘Fabulous’ readers Tara S. and Penni. It was really cool finally getting to meet them in person. I seriously adore the women that read my blog, you guys are the bestest! This is the perfect time to thank you all for the sweet comments about my interview with Tony Stewart. I really appreciate the encouragement.

As I alluded to in the title of this post, the Coca-Cola 600 was really all about Bradley Cooper and his hotness visiting a NASCAR race for the first time. He was there with three of his other cast-mates to promote their new movie “The A-Team.” I thought Brendan Fraser’s presence at Chicagoland a couple of years ago was a big deal but Bradley really brought out the ladies. Media and PR people alike make it a point to be in the media center for the cast’s press conference. As soon as Bradley walked into the media center people were requesting to have their photo taken with him (as you can see at right, that’s not me, unfortunately), which he happily obliged. (more…)

– Tonight SHOWTIME® is airing TOGETHER: The Hendrick Motorsports Story at 10:30 PM ET/PT. The documentary style film is narrated by everybody’s favorite couch jumping hottie, and Hendrick family friend, Tom Cruise.

– Carl Edwards will make his 200th Cup start with Roush Fenway Racing this weekend at Phoenix International Raceway. He’s just the fifth driver in the 23-year history of Roush Fenway to do so.

– Did you know that Dale Earnhardt Jr. opened another Whisky River location? Well he did and it’s in Jacksonville, Florida. Kelly Bires will be driving a special Whisky River Jacksonville paint scheme on the No. 88 for the Bashas’ Supermarkets 200 at PIR this weekend.
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