I don’t have much to say in regards to the race at California this past weekend. It didn’t seem to be that interesting, either that or my lack of excitement about the race could be the result of being back at work, after having 4 luxurious days off.

I have thoughts about the third episode of NASCAR in Primetime which I finally watched (thanks to Tivo) on Friday. The fan commentary that they feature on the show is just ok. It’s more relevant to me when they talk about fan things, like the camping area at Talladega. I know that I shouldn’t be, but I’m shocked that women are showing their boobs to random strangers for plastic beads. It looked like a weird mash-up of Mardi Gras and Woodstock.

Previously I wrote about California Speedway’s marketing attempts to get more butts in the seat for the race this weekend. Their party at Hollywood club Avalon did get attention, but I don’t know if it was the kind they wanted? There were a couple mentions in some celebrity gossip blogs. The mentions were about the pop/r&b singer Rihanna. You know her, or at the least her song “Shut up & Drive” that ESPN loved to play all the freaking time. Anyway, she was the only celeb of note because she was the only one that the Associated Press took the time to photograph coming down the red carpet and she was the only one that garnered these small mentions in the blogs IDon’tLikeUThatWay and PerezHilton.com.

I’ve heard that NASCAR drivers besides Jeff Gordon attended this party but I have yet to see any photographic evidence suggesting proving that to be true. Next year California Speedway should step up their celebrity quotient for the party, because from what I can see they managed only D-list celebs, if you can even call them that.

In other news…

– I know this will surprise you, but Kurt Busch, and his wife Eva, got a new dog. A black & tan Norwich terrier named Lola. The only reason I’m posting this is because the dog is adorable.

– Dale Earnhardt Jr. gives the best quotes:

What do people expect me to say when they keep asking me about the point standings? I check the standings right after each race and then I forget about it. I know we’re a long way back (from 12th-place Kevin Harvick), and even though we have a mathematical chance to get into the Chase, we’re going to worry about things within our own control.

– For all you soap opera fans get your Tivos ready — Jamie McMurray will be on an episode of “Passions” airing September 26th on NBC. Jamie filmed his scene last week in L.A.

When the lights were up and the cameras were rolling, it only took McMurray one shot to nail his lines.

We only had to take the shot one time, which is typically how they shoot those soap operas. They practice once and take once. I guess when your show is on five days a week you really have to be quick in learning the lines and making sure you don’t mess up. Overall I had a great time and really enjoyed meeting the entire cast and crew of “Passions.”

And now for photo fun time…

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I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend.

I gotta thank everyone that has left comments and/or emailed me regarding my last post about my plans for next year. I really appreciate it. It’s very encouraging to me and it lets me know that I’m on the right path with this. It’s my favorite thing to think about these days. I relish the thought of getting to be at the track every week and possibly getting to meet all the people that read my blog. Wouldn’t that be cool?

Ah, ok, so enough of that — for now — I have to talk about Bristol and how boring the race was. I’m not afraid to admit that I did in fact fall asleep during this race. I woke up in time to find out that Carl Edwards had won and that Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 5th. It sucks that we can’t enjoy that 5th place finish more because of this whole Chase stuff.

More than anything I want that guy in the Chase but it won’t be the end of the world if he doesn’t make it. I want that guy to win a friggin’ race. Gah! I am happy that Clint Bowyer looks to be set for the Chase and I really want him to succeed — and win a race too! Those two guys are so due for one it’s ridiculous.

I think someone needs to sit down with the folks at ESPN and talk to them about their race coverage. It’s getting to the point now where I don’t even want to watch the pre-race show. I mute them! They’re killin’ me! Too much stuff is repeated. I couldn’t believe they actually had analysis on Junior’s motives for not wanting people to talk smack about his step-mother. Could it just be that he’s a nice guy? And that people calling her names isn’t going to change anything?

I usually long for Darrell Waltrip after Fox’s NASCAR coverage is over, but I’m going through some serious DW withdrawal right now. There’s nobody like him and Rusty Wallace makes me roll my eyes like fifty-million times throughout the race. Maybe he’s just trying to hard, I dunno.

And now for some photo fun:

A sky diver holds an American flag as he descends into Bristol Motor Speedway prior to the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Sharpie 500 on August 25, 2007 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Do you think Jack is happy??

(Photo by John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson (left) and Casey Mears (right) talk out on pit road prior to the start of the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Aug. 25. (Hendrick Motorsports/Autostock)

Finally a sponsor that matches the driver…

Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 5 Hot Shot Chevrolet, out on pit road during NASCAR Busch Series driver introductions at Bristol Motor Speedway on Aug. 24. (Hendrick Motorsports/Autostock)

I can always count on Kyle Busch to give a good quote.

At the press conference announcing his arrival at Joe Gibbs Racing on Tuesday he dropped this little gem when asked if he was misunderstood.

I’ve done a very good job of tricking everybody. I show them the bad side, I don’t show them the good side. Why
show the good side? Then I’d be Carl Edwards or something. No! I’m kidding! Maybe with all the money J.D. is paying me, I’ll have to pay some more people to polish me up a bit … soften up my edges.

Charlotte Observer writer David Poole wrote in his blog that NASCAR doesn’t need 25 guys that are all like Carl Edwards, nor do they need 25 of any one type of guy. I agree, but here’s the thing. Fans are not asking for all of the drivers in NASCAR to be the same. I think we all know that that would be incredibly boring. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with expressing our displeasure with someone who seems to whine all the time, even when he’s gets what he wants. I don’t think that fans want Kyle to not be himself or to be more like Carl; we just want him to be a better man, to take the high road from time to time.

The thing that bugs me the most is when people talk about “bad guys” like Kyle or Barry Bonds and they say “but he’s such a talented driver/player” So what? I think it’s safe to assume that anyone who is playing professional sports today is talented. You have to be; you can’t suck and play in the big leagues. Just because someone is super talented doesn’t mean they get a free pass to be a tool or a prima donna.

Kyle is 22, and I’m sure as each year passes he’ll gain more and more maturity. If he wants to look to someone as an example, just look at Jeff Gordon after last week’s race at Watkins Glen. After the race he waited 45 minutes before speaking to the press. I’m sure he used that time to cool off and compose himself. It was obvious he was upset with his performance. If he had spoke to people immediately following that race he probably would have had a shorter fuse and said something he’d later regret.

After all of the hubbub surrounding the events in the final laps of the NAPA Auto Parts 200 last weekend it seems that Robby Gordon will come out of it all smelling less like a rat and more like a rose.

In what I think is the best peace offering you can get in NASCAR, Gordon offered Marcos Ambrose (the dude that spun him out and then Gordon spun him out in retaliation) a Cup ride in his Robby Gordon Motorsports No. 77 Camping World Ford Fusion for this weekend’s race at Watkins Glen. Ambrose has accepted.

I think it’s a great, fitting ending to this semi-dramatic series of events. I’m not adding Robby Gordon to my list of NASCAR bad guys just yet.

But I can tell you what team is quickly becoming a hub for guys in the “big tool” club. That would have to be Joe Gibbs Racing. As much as I would like for that to not be the case it just is. You’ve got the founding member, Tony Stewart, and now Kyle Busch. Ech. I’m sorry that J.J. Yeley must leave JGR to make way for Busch. That must suck; ya gotta give up your ride for that nerd? Sad. Anyway, Denny Hamlin has managed to stay pretty humble and still has a gleaming halo above his head. But ya never know, all that egotastic arrogance in the shop at JGR could start spilling over to the No. 11 team.

If you can’t laugh at my artist rendering of the future team that will be Joe Gibbs Racing then you have no sense of humor to speak of… hehe

In other news…

If you’re a fan of Dale Earnhardt Jr. then you should already know Matthew Good. He’s a musician and Dale Jr. has been a fan of his for quite some time. Good’s latest CD titled “Hospital Music” is out now. You can get it for only $7.99 on iTunes. Plus for the past week, I think the promotion ended yesterday (sorry), iTunes had the song “Born Losers” available to download for free. It’s good music, kinda reminds me of Ryan Adams, and I recommend you check him out.

Are you shocked? I’m not. There are worse things he could do.

And now I give you some things that you might want to know:

– If you’re a San Francisco Bay Area IndyCar fan you’ll be happy to know that Fior d’Italia Restaurant is giving $25 gift certificates to the first 40,000 fans that enter Infineon Raceway for the Motorola Indy 300, presented by Jackson Rancheria Casino & Hotel on Sunday, August 26. So make sure you get there early!

– NASCAR driver Ryan Newman will be a guest on the “Best Damn Sports Show Period” live from Lowe’s Motor Speedway on August 7th to announce the finalist for Kodak’s “Ink Ryan’s Ride” contest.

– Walk the track with Kurt & Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon and Ernie Irvan at Pocono Raceway on Saturday:

Kurt will join brother Kyle and four-time Cup champ Jeff Gordon in Saturday’s LAPS Walk with Ernie Irvan at Pocono Raceway. Irvan, Gordon and the Busch Brothers will unite with NASCAR fans, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) survivors, and the Pennsylvania Army National Guard for a walk on the racetrack to raise awareness and needed funding to conquer TBI in America. The LAPS Walk festivities will kick off at 2:15 with a Q&A session and presentation to the top fundraiser of a signed helmet to recognize his/her outstanding effort for TBI awareness and prevention. Following the Q&A session, all participants, including Irvan and Kurt & Eva, will move down to the track where they will be joined by members of the National Guard for the opening ceremonies and a walk on the racetrack. For more information, please visit www.lapswalk.org or call the Brain Injury Association at 800.772.4323.

– I find this quote from Jimmie Johnson to be very interesting indeed. It’s about the resetting of the points once the Chase kicks in for the final ten races of the season.

It certainly looks like I’ll be a big beneficiary of it (resetting the points) and with the way that it is, I’ll take that forgiveness the way the point system is structured right now and try to capitalize on it. But when you look at Jeff’s (Gordon) point situation and how strong he has been, deep down inside there is still a part of me that says, ‘Man, the guy’s had a great year and deserves to be the champion and have it re-racked with everybody on top of him again probably isn’t fair.’ But it’s the way it is. The Chase does a lot of positive things for our sport. I’m in a position where I could capitalize on a tough summer. So you deal with the situation, as it exists. Just falling back on the way racing has always been and the way we’ve all raced through the season and had every point add up to equal a champion, if Jeff doesn’t win the championship I’m sure he’ll have a lot of heartburn over it. And I think us racers, deep down inside, might not think that it’s exactly right. But it’s different racing today than it was years back.

– Greg Biffle will be running a special “Dog the Bounty Hunter” paint scheme on his No. 16 Ford Fusion at Pocono. Uhm, yea, I’ve got nothing.

– All I can say about this is that I hope either A.J. Allmendinger or Brian Vickers can make it into this race or else this visit will be kinda awkward and embarrassing. I got my fingers crossed for ‘em!

Two members of the New York Red Bulls, the MLS team that plays its home matches at Giants Stadium, will make the 90-mile journey from East Rutherford, N.J., to Pocono Raceway to absorb the sights and sounds of NASCAR racing.

Midfielder Joe Vide and midfielder/forward Clint Mathis will get a true taste of what stock-car racing is all about. They’ll hang out on the grid and in the pits, and the fleet-footed duo will meet Red Bull Racing’s two drivers for lunch Sunday morning.

So here’s more thoughts & things from the Pepsi 400 at Daytona last weekend, and some stuff leading up to Chicago this weekend.

– This exchange between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his crew chief (and cousin) Tony Eury Jr. is just funny, so I felt like sharing:
Running 26 laps behind the leaders, the team needed one more stop for fuel to make it to the finish. The yellow flag flew on lap 116.
Eury Jr.: “Pit the second time by. We’ll just take fuel and we’ll be good the rest of the way.”
Dale Jr: “You ain’t gonna give me tires?”
Eury Jr: “You only have four laps on those.”
Dale Jr: “Well, if you like this set so much, you can take them home with you. I need tires. This place is like Darlington now.”
Eury Jr: “Alright, we’ll pit for four tires, second time by.”

As for Chicago, I think Junior is right:

“I’m beginning to think I should just not slow down when I see a crash in front of me. I hope that theme doesn’t continue. We’ve been taken out of two chances to win a race this season by getting hit from behind while trying to avoid a wreck (at Texas in April and last Saturday evening in Daytona). I keep saying that we’re due to have the breaks start going our way, and when they do, we’re going to enjoy it.”

– Are you like me and a need a new laptop? Well here’s the perfect contest for you to enter. You can win Carl Edwards‘ laptop. An autographed Toshiba Notebook. Go to www.officedepotracing.com for details.

– Another note about Jamie McMurray’s win last week at Daytona. After the race, while Jamie’s crew chief Larry Carter was being interviewed he looked as if nothing happened. The look on his face was priceless, he did not look or sound like a man that had just won a Cup race. In fact he looked like he had lost the thing. All of that changed, a little, once he was in victory lane with Jamie and the rest of the team. He finally cracked a smile! I counted at least 2 or 3. Maybe he just needed to be there in the winner’s circle before he could relax and enjoy it.

– After this weekend’s race at Chicagoland Speedway drivers Reed Sorenson, David Stremme and Juan Pablo Montoya will attend a Chicago Cubs game at Wrigley Field. The game on Monday, July 16th is against the San Francisco Giants. Sorenson is supposed to throw out the first pitch (don’t mess it up Reed, you’ll never live it down) and then go sing “Take me out to the ball game” with Stremme and Montoya during the seventh inning stretch. Uhm… Interesting. If you can’t make it to the game in person it’ll be broadcast on ESPN.

– Try on this quote from Kyle Busch’s crew chief Alan Gustafson:

“There’s been a lot of speculation about the equipment we’re getting and what Kyle is getting. I’d like to set the record straight that there is no discrimination as to who gets what at Hendrick Motorsports. It’s the same as it’s always been. We finished second last week — I’d say we were the best car out there. We are here to make the Chase and win a championship. That goal won’t change regardless what the 2008 plans are. I expect the Kellogg’s/CARQUEST team to win this weekend. We’re right on the brink, like we were last year at this time. We have a lot of momentum and I think Chicago is as good a place as any for another win.”

Uhm… Where did this come from? I’m just thinking out loud here, but has he talked to Kyle about this? ‘Cause I think he’s probably the one that started all of the speculation.