Have you read Rolling Stone’s article about Tony Stewart? It’s in their latest issue (the September 4, 2008 one to be exact) and it’s sort of eye opening and sort of nauseating at the same time. Let’s just say that some of the stuff about Tony’s sex life made me roll my eyes more than once. I was going to post some of the quotes but it’s better if you read it all together within the context of the complete story.
In other news…
– On Saturday Richard Childress announced that Casey Mears was joining his organization, taking over the No. 07 Jack Daniels Chevrolet from Clint Bowyer who would be taking on the new 4th RCR team, the No. 33 Cheerios Chevrolet. During the Bristol telecast it was said that Clint wouldn’t get to keep his crew or crew chief Gil Martin, and that they would be staying with the 07, which totally makes no sense to me at all. I hope that turns out not to be true because I don’t understand why you’d break up an established relationship that doesn’t suck. Oh and another thing, they better get this points thing sorted out because I think it’s really shady to take away the points that Clint and his team earned this year. There’s talk of Childress buying another team’s car to get the points that way. Whatever, just make it right! 
Actually that’s kind of messed up too. ugh.
Richard Childress (center) announces that Casey Mears (right) will join RCR in 2009 and drive the No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet. Clint Bowyer (left) will move to a new fourth RCR team, the No. 33 Cheerios Chevrolet. (Photo Credit: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
– I’m off to Los Angeles tomorrow so that I can be at the Auto Club Speedway all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Friday morning. Yay!
– There’s still time to enter to win one of five Kevin Harvick autographed “Americans for a Gunk-Free Nation” hats! The contest ends on September 30th, 2008. Enter today!
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
So apparently Ryan Newman is set to be announced as the second driver for Stewart Haas Racing. The official announcement is supposed to happen tomorrow. This is yet another one of NASCAR’s worst kept secrets. I really want someone to send me a NASCAR secret so that I can blab it to everyone.
In other news…
– I’m going to the Pepsi 500!!! I’ve got media credentials again and I’m super excited about attending this Labor Day race weekend at the Auto Club Speedway in Southern California. The Sprint Cup race falls on my birthday (August 31st) and do you know what the greatest present would be? Well, besides winning the lottery, the best present would be if one of my guys would win the race. So I’m putting David Gilliland, Travis Kvapil, Clint Bowyer, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. on notice.
– And now for some random photos that I haven’t had the chance to post before today:
Oakland A’s pitcher Brad Ziegler gets a ride to his game on Wednesday from former IndyCar driver Davey Hamilton in a two-seat IndyCar. Hamilton drove the pair to the Oakland Coliseum from downtown Oakland, the drive was a promotional event in advance of the PEAK Antifreeze & Motor Oil Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma County at Infineon Raceway, August 22-24, 2008.
(photo credit: Chucke Walkden)
Motocross star Travis Pastrana took in the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Pocono back in June of this year. He recently won the gold medal for Rally Car racing at the Summer X Games in Los Angeles.
Travis Pastrana in Pocono, June ‘08, (c) David Vaughn (Courtesy of Red Bull Racing Team)
Here’s a rundown of various bits of information I’ve been meaning to share with you all:
– All of the women out there with their Allstate Safe Driver checks might wanna put them towards bidding on a one-of-a-kind Kasey Kahne Signature Edition Dodge Hemi Truck. After all it is considerably cheaper than sponsorship and all of the proceeds of the auction will go to the Kasey Kahne Foundation. Oh and if getting the truck wasn’t enough, you’ll also get the opportunity to meet Kasey himself at Talladega. The auction is open now and ends on August 18th.
The signature Kasey Kahne Dodge Ram has an estimated value of over $60,000, and bidding will begin at just $25,000 through eBay Giving Works. The custom truck features the legendary 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 motor and many of the best names in the automotive accessory business. The add-on features are just as impressive, with a MOPAR appearance package; drop kit, custom dual exhaust, high performance wheels and tires and a custom-designed audio system.
Visit www.ebay.com/kaseykahnetruck to see photos, learn more details, and to pre-qualify to bid.
As if winning this one-of-a-kind truck wasn’t special enough, the winning bidder will also be rewarded with a complete Dodge Racing experience, which entails four Hot Passes to the October NASCAR race at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama and a meet & greet session with Kasey Kahne!!
– So remember when I told you that Carl Edwards used to be a substitute teacher back in his hometown of Columbia, Missouri? Well I guess Carl wanted to keep his teaching skills sharp and headed over to ESPN The Magazine to give the staff a lesson in NASCAR. He takes a fun jab at Clint Bowyer.
– Before Carl visited the folks at ESPN he was in New York on the Fox and Friends show (I’ll try to not hold this against him), where he ran into former New York City mayor Rudy Guiliani:
Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Office Depot Ford, bumped into former New York City mayor Rudy Guiliani on the set of Fox and Friends on August 7th in the Big Apple when both were guests on the national morning show program. Edwards, who was a substitute teacher in Missouri before his NASCAR career took off, spoke about Office Depot’s “Back To School” initiatives and his belief in the importance of education on the show.
– Maybe you’ve noticed the promo widget on this website for the movie is called “The Number 2 Car.” It’s a documentary about Rusty Wallace — a year following him on and off the track. You can watch the whole thing online for free! Go to SnagFilms.com
I caught the majority of qualifying today and Jimmie Johnson walked away with the pole for Sunday’s race at Pocono, but the really cool thing is that David Gilliland qualified third! You could have knocked me over with a feather. I’m sure the Gilly Gang is super stoked about this development!
It’s truly great for him; I hope he can turn it into something awesome. I don’t want to say exactly what I want him to turn it into but ya know what I mean. Everyone would freak out and I seriously can’t wait for that day to come. Momentum my friend, momentum!
So here are a few other things I learned while watching the ESPN qualifying session telecast today:
1.) Clint Bowyer doesn’t know much about the Olympics (summer or winter).
2.) Kasey Kahne is a dude and he likes watching chicks in bathing suits. Shocker, I know.
3.) Jimmie Johnson proposed to his wife Chandra on the side of a mountain while they were snowboarding, when she least expected it.
In other news…
Just found this video of Michael McDowell driving on a precision course that cops use for training. He, uh, does some damage.
After the fun ESPN tour I headed into the Sprint Cup garage. I walked down one row and then another and stopped at the stall for the No. 55 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota. I took photos and then noticed Michael Waltrip walking towards me. As he passed by he smiled and said “Hello” to me and the guy taking photos next to me. He got into the car and strapped himself in.
Here’s the thing, I knew that the practice sessions were set to start soon, but I didn’t realize exactly how soon. So here I am walking down the garage right in front of the car stalls stopping at each one to take a photo. I started to see a pattern that all of the drivers seemed to be in their cars with their helmets on all at the same time. It didn’t dawn on me that they were minutes from racing out of the garage and onto the track until I got to the end of the row and noticed that nobody else was as close to the stalls as I was and drivers were looking at me as I took their photos like “What are you doing? Who are you? Don’t you know I’m about to run you over?!” It wasn’t that serious, but it was really, really, eerie.
I mean, really eerie. It’s this extreme calm before the storm. They were all just sitting there waiting for the go ahead. As soon as I caught on that they would be racing out at any moment I decided to walk faster and get to a corner where I could get a good view of the cars as they pulled out and stay well out of everyone’s way.
Once practice was over it was time for the drivers & crew chiefs meeting before the start of the Nationwide Series race. First I must say that I love the way the infield area of Chicagoland is laid out. The media center is smack dab in the center of everything and it’s closed off so the fans, even those with pit passes, are kept well away from it. The Sprint Cup garage is to the left and the Nationwide garage is to the right, and the tent for the drivers meeting was behind it.
So back to the drivers meeting, I went to tent area and stood with the security stationed outside of it to keep the fans at bay. Since it was the Nationwide race after all there weren’t that many people waiting with me, maybe like 3 or 4? If that, I’m not entirely sure but I know it wasn’t anything near all of the people that were there the next day for the Sprint Cup drivers meeting. They had to put up steel barriers for that one. But I digress. So I’m standing there and drivers start to trickle in. I snapped Tony Stewart, Brian Vickers and Matt Kenseth.
And then there was Clint.
Clint Bowyer walks up, all alone and I hold up my camera to take a photo and he looks in my direction. Now, I had no idea if he was actually looking at me or just in my general vicinity. I had no idea what expression he was making and honestly I didn’t want to know. I feel totally fine about taking pictures of people if they’re not looking at me while I’m doing it. Plus he’s seen me directly taking shots of him at Las Vegas and Infineon and now Chicagoland. So I didn’t dare look up from my camera for fear that he might be frowning or something. I don’t know. He went into the tent and that was that.
Later on I looked at the photo in its full size and I cracked up because he is in fact staring straight at me with this weird expression that looks kinda like he’s pissed. But I love this photo. It’s my most favorite photo to date. The look on his face is priceless; he’s like “What??” Hmm. Note to self: No more photos of Clint Bowyer, at least for the next race. Or at least not when he’s looking.
Sprint Cup cars roll out to the track for a practice session at Chicagoland Speedway on Friday, July 11, 2008 (photo credit: The Fast and the Fabulous)
Tony Stewart heads into the drivers meeting before the Dollar General 300 at Chicagoland Speedway on Friday, July 11, 2008 (photo credit: The Fast and the Fabulous)
David Ragan (far left), Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth leave the drivers meeting before the Dollar General 300 on Friday, July 11, 2008 (photo credit: The Fast and the Fabulous)
This photo (below) is awesome and here is why: Clint Bowyer is holding the Lowe’s edition of Pole Position magazine from earlier this year. His right hand is holding the magazine next to the big “The Fast and the Fabulous” logo on the cover. Okay, so it’s not monumental news but it’s still neat.
And speaking of the word “neat” what is up with all of these NASCAR drivers using that word to describe stuff? There are a million words out there besides “neat.” It just makes me think of the Beaver and Wally. Golly.
But, back to the photo, I did not put this fan up to this, I don’t even know him. What I do know is that he, Al Brown, met Clint at a Jack Daniel’s event at the Hard Rock Cafe in Tampa, Florida. I’m sure Clint was happy to know he was a cover boy (for a fabulous magazine that you should all read).
