I take great exception with Shawn Courchesne at the Hartford Courant and his latest headline.

“Intimidator Spirit Lives in Kyle Busch, Not Dale Earnhardt Jr.”

That’s a load of bull.

Courchesne says this:

A cursory search of Youtube on Sunday evening would turn up a plethora of replays showing the two drivers making contact in the corner while fighting for the lead, Clint Bowyer going below both to take over the lead and Earnhardt spinning off toward the wall while Busch kept on going in second place.

Some of the titles on those videos?

“Dale Earnhardt Jr. gets screwed out of a win”

“Kyle Busch spins out Dale Jr. ON PURPPOSE”

It begs the question, when did Earnhardt Jr. become the biggest sympathy case of the Sprint Cup Series?

The answer is that he never did. People would say the same thing if Kyle had been the one to be spun out. I am a huge Dale Jr. fan and if it had been Denny Hamlin that was spun out I would say he got screwed too (and he actually was because of his blown tire).

There are always people out there that are going to take things to the extreme and always believe that everyone is out to get their driver. But I would like to believe that most people know that in this instance that wasn’t the case. He was screwed, but that’s a part of racing.

To say that Dale Jr. is becoming a charity case is absolutely ridiculous. To say that about any driver is insanity. We all know that no one is going to hand over a race to anyone and we wouldn’t expect them to do so. Dale, just like all of the drivers out there every weekend, is doing whatever he can to win.

Oh and Courchesne has this little nugget to add:

Earnhardt Jr. fits much more the mold of the average modern day Sprint Cup Series driver than his father ever did. Like so many of his contemporaries in the Sprint Cup Series today Junior seems much more marketing monster than hard nosed racer.

Using Dale’s popularity and marketing power against him is a weak way to go. If he’d never won a race he would of never had the ability to make those deals, and to say that he’s only about that (or imply it) is lame.

Ya know, maybe Kyle Busch does have a little bit of the Intimidator’s spirit in him, but Dale Jr. wouldn’t have been in the position to get spun out if he wasn’t a hard nosed racer in the first place.

So I was watching the final laps of the Dan Lowry 400 on Saturday pacing around the living room saying “come on Dale, come on Dale, come on Dale” over and over. If you saw me in those moments you would have thought I had obsessive compulsive disorder or something. I was trying to do all of those good visualization exercises they tell you do to, so I kept imagining Dale Earnhardt Jr. in victory lane.

And then he was wrecked.

It was so disgusting and I couldn’t believe it, like I seriously couldn’t believe it was happening. Two years, seventy-one races and it was so close and then gone just like that.

I think I used every curse word in the book, including that one particular word involving someones mother. I said it over and over and over and over again.

I am a rational person and I understand that that’s the way it goes in racing sometimes, but it doesn’t lessen the hurt. That was absolutely heartbreaking and if you saw Dale’s post-race interview you could hear it in his words and see it in his face. It’s one thing to come close and then maybe finish 2nd or 3rd, but he had to finish 15th with a car that should have won.

I don’t want to talk about Kyle Busch. I am so done with him, so done, it’s so over.

And then Denny Hamlin leads the most laps and ends up 24th, that sucks, but uh, what was up with staying out on the track and causing the caution??? He knew he had a tire down and he waited out there until the caution came out to go down pit road. That doesn’t sit well with me; I didn’t like that at all.

On the other hand I wasn’t sad to see Clint Bowyer win the second race of his career. He’s a good guy and I like him. It’s a great win for him and Childress Racing. If only Mark Martin could have passed Kyle for second place, that would have been awesome, at that point I was all about Kyle finishing as low as possible.

Ugh… This racing stuff is going is wear me out.

Clint Bowyer and his team celebrate winning the Crown Royal Presents The Dan Lowry 400 at Richmond International Raceway. (Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Tony Stewart won the Nationwide Series race at Talladega on Saturday and I’m starting off with him because this photo is too adorable. Plus Tony has been the subject of a ton of talk and speculation about if he’s going to stay with Joe Gibbs Racing when his contract is up. I for one have no idea anything is possible. I think we should all forget about Silly Season, ’cause Silly Season is all year long these days.

About the race on Sunday: You know I’m not happy, so I’m not even going to pretend. As the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega began, I decided that Talladega couldn’t be my favorite race track. You would think that it would be since Dale Earnhardt Jr. has won there 5 times in his career so far, but that doesn’t seem to help.

The tension, apprehension and anxiety I feel watching it are so overwhelming I can’t stand it. I’m so afraid of something going wrong that it kind of takes the fun out of it for me. The anticipation of “The Big One” happening at any moment is so nerve-racking. Okay, I’m making it sound a little worse than it really is, but not by much. Don’t get me wrong I think the races at Talladega are awesome; they’re some of the best in the schedule. But it’s been two freaking years since Dale won a race and I can’t freaking take it anymore.

So Kyle Busch won the race and at the end I was basically begging for anyone to win the race but him. No such luck. I thought the crowd’s reaction as Kyle crossed the finish line was pretty telling. You could hear a pin drop it was so quiet. During the race when Dale Jr. surged to the front to lead the race for the first time the crowd was cheering like he had already won. People were standing, waving their hats like crazy. Kyle Busch ends up winning and you’d think everybody was waiting for the opening ceremony to start.

Oh and hey Fox Sports don’t think I didn’t notice that you cut to a commercial when there were only 4 laps left in the race. That’s 10 demerits!

The most fun he’s had with his clothes on. Yeah, that’s what Carl Edwards said after the Corona Mexico 200, a Nationwide Series race, in Mexico City on Sunday.

After seeing Carl without his shirt on during the pre-race show I had to take a few minutes to digest that comment. Honestly I’d never thought about him in that context before, ya know the whole no clothes and having fun kind of thing and now that I have it’s kind of jarring. In a good way, I think, I guess I just wasn’t expecting him to say that.

His body is ridiculous. Just ridiculous. David Ragan didn’t look bad shirtless either.

I was seriously disappointed that Scott Pruett couldn’t pull out the win yet again, and that Kyle Busch of all people had to be the one to ruin it for him this time. But whatever, he did all he could. My heart also went out to Boris Said who was spun out by Marcos Ambrose late in the race. Boris was pissed and rightly so, it’s hard to watch someone you’re pulling for leave the race for something that was totally out of their control.

I don’t know if anyone watched the race but didn’t it seem like everyone calling the race had the hardest time saying Colin Braun’s name? Sometimes they’d pronounce his last name as “Brown” and then other times I’d hear people say it like “Brawn” so which the heck is it?

I was at Barnes & Noble this weekend picking up a copy of the latest Jennifer Weiner book (So far so good!) and I stopped to check out the magazine stand. I came across the Official NASCAR 2008 Preview and Press Guide. I was flipping through it and I happened upon Kurt Busch’s profile page. One small tidbit of information caught me by surprise.

It said that Kurt Busch was single.

This is interesting because it’s common knowledge that Kurt has been married to his wife, Eva since July of 2006. They may wanna fix this for next year’s issue.

The photos were taken with my camera phone so they’re kinda blurry but you get the point.

It’s no secret that I don’t like Kyle Busch. While I respect his talent and I can appreciate his drive for winning, I still find him to be the most annoying and obnoxious driver on the Sprint Cup circuit to date. Even when he wins he can’t help but complain or take a jab at someone. I think it all stems from insecurity and immaturity but whatever, maybe he’ll grow out of that.

And now for some random fabulousness:

– I interviewed Washington Post sportswriter Liz Clarke a little while ago and I would love it if you’d read our conversation. I only point it out because I’m really proud of it and I think you could get something out of it. I’m just sayin’.

– If you’re new to my blog or are a regular reader please take a second to fill out my reader survey. It’s nothing fancy and I’m not selling the information I receive, so it’s all just for my knowledge. I’ll be your best friend, ok, not really but you know what I mean.

– My mom will be mad at me if I don’t mention the fact that on Sunday while we were watching the race we saw a commercial for Domino’s promoting some special NASCAR deal. We called our local Domino’s restaurant and the manager had no idea there was such a deal available. He’d never heard of it apparently and then my mother proceeded to ask him what kind of manager he was and then he hung up on her. Yep, that’s my mom. Anyway, we ended up getting pizza from Round Table, where, I might add the guy went out of his way to find a coupon for us to use since we didn’t have any. Good job picking up the slack Round Table!

– Do you read The Onion? Well you should because they’re hilarious and they write the funniest stuff. They decided to make fun of Carl Edwards and his backflip tradition. Ya gotta check this out… Carl Edwards Does Mournful ‘Did Not Finish’ Backflip (Onion Sports)

– If this doesn’t work I don’t know what will. In an attempt to secure a sponsor for the Yates Racing No. 28 car driven by Travis Kvapil they’re running a special “11 Million” paint scheme at Bristol this weekend. The “11 Million” stands for the average number of people that watch the race coverage on FOX each day. Of course it goes without saying, if I had the money I’d totally sponsor this team. Can’t you just imagine “The Fast and the Fabulous” Ford zooming around the race track? hehe. Maybe Travis and the guys at Yates are glad I don’t have the money.

The 2008 NASCAR TV season is already off to a great start with an average of more than 11 million people per race day watching the No. 28 Yates Racing Ford during FOX’s coverage. This three-race average doesn’t include the 33.5 million viewers that watched the Daytona 500. With TV ratings up, and the No. 28 team still looking for sponsorship, it only makes sense to highlight one of the many benefits of a primary sponsorship with Yates Racing and the No. 28 team by placing “11 Million” on the hood of the Ford Fusion. Driver Travis Kvapil thinks it’s a unique approach to attracting sponsorship and hopes that he can get his No. 28 “11 Million” Ford to the number one position this Sunday at Bristol.

“I think it’s pretty creative,” said Kvapil. “When you stop and think about it, that’s a lot of eyeballs watching you every weekend, and this is just a fraction of the coverage that we get each week. I can’t imagine what the number would be if you added up all the media coverage along with the practice, qualifying, pre-race and post-race shows. That’s huge.”

Sponsorship opportunities are available; please contact Kevin Thomas with Yates Racing at 704-706-2120.

– Speaking of Yates Racing, be on the lookout for my interview with Michelle Gilliland, wife of David Gilliland who drives the No. 38 FreeCreditReport.com Ford. I should be posting it in the next few days.

I’m posting this because I think Connie Montoya’s dress is super cute! That is all.

(Left to right) Felix Sabates, NASCAR CFO R. Todd Wilson, Chip Ganassi, NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France, Connie Montoya, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kyle Petty and NASCAR Foundation Executive Director Sandy Marshall traveled to Colombia to raise awareness for the Montoyas Formula Smiles program and Petty’s Victory Junction Gang Camp. (Photo Credit: Special to NASCAR)

Scott Speed is one colorful dude.

Guenther Steiner (R), the technical director for Red Bull Racing Team, talks with Red Bull Racer, Scott Speed (L) a few hours before his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race. (Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Martin Truex Jr. qualified third for Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. (Photo Credit: Marc Serota / Getty Images for NASCAR)

After the track was dried, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series got in a final practice. In his quest for three consecutive Atlanta wins, Jimmie Johnson turned the eighth-fastest lap. (Photo Credit: Marc Serota / Getty Images for NASCAR)