There’s been a lot of press leading up to today regarding wait times and long lines for voting. Here’s a tip for you, move to the suburbs in the San Francisco Bay Area. I went to my polling place, which is right behind my apartment building, and there was no line and the only thing that took a long time was remembering how I wanted to vote on all of the propositions.

Anyway, on to more relevant things like Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway.

First, I would like to thank Carl Edwards for restoring a little bit of drama to The Chase. I loved the fact that his team took a gamble on their fuel mileage and came out on top. Even if it didn’t work it still would have been cool. What did they have to lose anyway? All in all it was a great call and it made a pretty much boring race exciting in the end.

Ok, so there was that incident between David Gilliland and Juan Pablo Montoya. So David spun Juan out and ended up wrecking both of their cars. NASCAR parked David and I think that’s the first time I’ve ever seen NASCAR take such swift and decisive action with someone before. I mean, I know they’ve done stuff like that before but I guess I was never around to see them park somebody during a race. What David did wasn’t good but I still like him. Hehe. I want that guy to win and I want him to get more attention but not from stuff like that.

His actions impacted the race and The Chase in the grand scheme of things, but I think that’s what NASCAR is all about. You have to be strong enough to weather the race, and your fellow racers, to be a champion. As much as racing is about being prepared, talented and having great equipment, it’s also about fate and luck. Kyle Busch didn’t all of a sudden become a big loser and forget how to drive a racecar once The Chase started, he just ran into some serious bad luck. And that’s what I love about the sport, there’s so much that is left to chance.

In other news…

– If you’re interested in donating directly to the Sam Ard Fund, go to his website for more information on where to send your check. If you haven’t already, read this great article by Jenna Fryer of the Associated Press regarding the impact of Kyle Busch’s $100,000 donation to the Ard family.

Jamie McMurray, driver of the #26 Crown Royal Ford, stands on the grid during qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on October 31, 2008 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Jimmie Johnson (right), driver of the No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet stands with his car chief Ron Malec (left), started seventh and finished 15th in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup event at Texas Motor Speedway. (Courtesy Hendrick Motorsports)

Is she not the cutest little girl ever??

Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, started from the pole position and finished second in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup event at Texas Motor Speedway. Here he is prerace with daughter Ella Sofia. (Courtesy Hendrick Motorsports)

NASCAR Nationwide Series pole-sitter Carl Edwards meets television host Rachael Ray on pit road Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway before the O’Reilly Challenge. (Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)

This photo cracks me up, I love it.

Clint Bowyer (L), driver of the #07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet, talks with ESPN’s Brad Daugherty (R) on the grid during qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on October 31, 2008 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo Credit: Robert Laberge/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Welcome to The Fast and the Fabulous! This is a blog based on one woman's thoughts, opinions and experiences involving NASCAR and IndyCar.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my feed with your favorite feed reader or have the latest posts sent directly to your email address.

Thanks for visiting!

Kyle Busch won the NASCAR Nationwide Series O’Reilly Challenge today at Texas Motor Speedway, his tenth win in the Nationwide Series this year. Kyle tied Sam Ard’s record and in victory lane pledged to give $100,000 Sam and his family. How cool was that? I was genuinely proud of Kyle in that moment.

Sam Ard is a former Nationwide Series Champion who once won 10 races in 1983. In only three seasons, Ard accumulated 22 wins, 24 poles, 67 top five and 80 top-10 finishes. Instead of battling for wins these days he’s faced with Alzheimer’s disease along with financial woes and his wife Jo has a degenerative eye disease that is slowly taking her vision.

I encourage you to check out the online auction for the Sam Ard Fund that is going on now through November 17th, 2008. Visit www.nascar.com/foundation

Last week at Atlanta Motor Speedway Kevin Harvick donated the van that was used in the Shell commercials to Sam Ard:

“Sam Ard has been a huge part of NASCAR and an inspiration in my career,” said Harvick. “A lot of people don’t understand how hard those guys raced and how different it was back then. Those guys spent everything they won on racing and I am just happy that we are able to help Sam because none of us would be able to do what we love to do if it weren’t for guys like Sam Ard.”

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet, presents a minivan to Robert Ard, the son of former Nationwide Series Champion Sam Ard, while DeLana Harvick and Jim Hunter, Vice President of Corporate Communications for NASCAR join them outside the Media Center, prior to practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday. (Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

With the economy being as insane as it has this year I think it’s time to take a step back and start thinking outside of the box when it comes to sponsors. I think we need to bring some new blood into the NASCAR sponsorship family. And so to that end I’ve created a list of some companies that could gain some new customers from the super loyal NASCAR fan base and bring a new, younger, cooler profile to the NASCAR image.

Here’s the list in no particular order:

1.) Macy’s — Macy’s has everything you could possibly need from clothes to furniture to make-up and cutlery. Macy’s should have a car in every NASCAR race, if only to have Martha Stewart to show up and do cooking demonstrations trackside.

2.) Microsoft — Times have been tough for Microsoft ever since they launched Vista and all of its so-called issues. So what better way to get some good PR than to sponsor a NASCAR race team? Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates can come out and go for a ride in a racecar for a commercial, it’d be great!

3.) Lucky Brand Jeans — Okay, so this one is kind of personal for me because I love Lucky! Let me just say that the people who work at my local store are very familiar with my purchases and me. Plus I think NASCAR nation needs to know that there are other jean makers out there besides Wrangler.

4.) Kettle Brand Chips — Have you had these things? They’re super addictive, I am obsessed with the Salt & Fresh Ground Pepper flavor. They’re great for tailgating, need I say more?

5.) Yahoo! / Google — Since Google and Yahoo! both basically run my web life it only makes sense for them to get involved with NASCAR too. Both companies reach a ton of people and have a buttload of money so why not take the opportunity to extend the reach of their brands?

6.) MySpace / Facebook — Uh duh! NASCAR needs a little web 2.0 in its life. What a great way to engage fans and bring in new ones through established social networking sites.

7.) Barnes & Noble / Borders — NASCAR fans do read ya know!

8.) Tivo — Probably the greatest invention created in my lifetime! Everybody should own one and NASCAR is a great way to spread the word on the brilliance that is Tivo. Plus I Tivo races all the time when I can’t watch them live, so it would behoove the people at Tivo to get themselves in front of people who are more likely to need their product.

9.) Major League Soccer — Is anyone watching soccer these days? They need some help. I’m just sayin’.

10. ) Starbucks — Oh how I wish Starbucks would sponsor a race team. I cannot tell you how much I’d freak if this happened. Even if they sponsored Kyle Busch, I’d still root for that team — and that is really, really, really saying something. I go to Starbucks pretty much every day and I know there are millions of other NASCAR fans that do the same, so really Starbucks get on this!

Waking up this morning and realizing that there will be no NASCAR on today is a little disconcerting. I hardly know what to do with myself. It’s kind of like that commercial about quitting smoking where it shows people not knowing how to do regular things, like put their clothes on or get in their car, ’cause they haven’t had a cigarette. I’m having trouble watching football without thinking the flag on the play means there’s debris on the field.

Anyway, last night’s race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway was just OK. Well, at least for me. In the beginning it was exciting because I was wondering what would happen if Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick got together on the track, but then that idea was tossed overboard when Carl’s car had ignition problems.

It seems lately that when I watch a race it’s only a matter of time before everybody on my I’d-Like-These-Drivers-To-Win-Please list slowly gets weeded out and runs into trouble. Ugh. So for their sake and mine I am throwing away the list and just watching without expectations.

That being said I am truly happy for Jeff Burton and the No. 31 AT&T team. I’m glad they won. I hope that their win signifies a change in The Chase — a change that brings more drama and a close finish for the Sprint Cup Championship. And by more drama I mean on the track, not in the garage. While it did tickle me to hear about the tussle between Carl and Kevin it’s not something I’d want to see every week, not like that.

I have to talk about Jessica Simpson and her rendition of the National Anthem. I like Jessica and I have all of her CDs — except this latest one — to prove it, but I don’t know why she seemed to be trying so hard last night. I think she’s constantly trying to prove that she has a great voice and in doing so she added all these weird and unnecessary runs in the song. And she missed words too. It’s “home of THE brave” not “Home of brave.”

Photos after the jump! (more…)

I was in my favorite grocery store the other day when I happened upon a display for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s candy bar Dale Jr.’s Big Mo’ in Creamy Caramel. Of course I was happy about this because I hadn’t been able to find the candy bar in my area until this point, and luckily it was on sale!

So in terms of taste I think it’s good stuff. It’s not trying to do too much ya know? It’s just simple milk chocolate and caramel. There’s also a milk chocolate and peanut butter version.

In other news…

– Did you know that you can win $25 in free gas from me?? You’ve got from now until October 31st to win one of three $25 BP/Amoco gas cards.

– Check out the first in a series of videos for the Americans for a Gunk-Free Nation campaign. Kevin Harvick makes an appearance:

– On Tuesday Kyle Busch went down to Texas to take on the media in a game of paintball. This was all in promotion of the upcoming Dickies 500 weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, of course. And as usual Kyle dominated:

And much like his NASCAR season, he piled up some victories. Busch went undefeated against his media counterparts in three games and in the process walked away unscathed. Releasing some of his aggression against the media was quite rewarding and entertaining for the 23-year-old Las Vegas native.

“I let off a little steam, especially against the media so that was fun,” Busch said. “It was pretty fun there at the end. I think I knocked out the last three on the other team (in the final game). I’m not bragging, but I’m saying that was cool to do it.”

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star Kyle Busch signs his name with the paint splatter on the prize — the Dickies 500 trophy — after he and his team defeated the local Dallas/Fort Worth media in paintball warfare for a Texas Motor Speedway media event Tuesday, Sept. 30, at Fun On The Run Paintball Park in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo By Tom Pennington/Getty Images for the Texas Motor Speedway)

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star Kyle Busch takes a break during paintball warfare for a Texas Motor Speedway media event Tuesday, Sept. 30, at Fun On The Run Paintball Park in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo By Tom Pennington/Getty Images for the Texas Motor Speedway)

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star Kyle Busch (immediate left of trophy) and Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage (immediate right of trophy) stand next to the Dickies 500 trophy and the participants in paintball warfare for a Texas Motor Speedway media event Tuesday, Sept. 30, at Fun On The Run Paintball Park in Fort Worth, Texas.

So I’ve been meaning to post these photos for the past couple of weeks and now I finally have the time to put ‘em up. NASCAR drivers and team owners visited with soldiers at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C.

It’s no secret that NASCAR has a deep respect for those that serve our country, you can see evidence of that at the racetrack each weekend, but I think it means so much that NASCAR takes the time to bring themselves to the people that have given up so much for all of us as Americans.

(Left to right) NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Busch and former NASCAR champion Darrell Waltrip visit a soldier at Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s Military Advance Training Center in Washington, D.C. NASCAR made its annual visit to the facility to salute the troops on Thursday. (Photo Credit: Larry French/Getty Images for NASCAR)

(Left to right) NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Scott Riggs visits a soldier at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. NASCAR made its annual visit to the facility to salute the troops on Thursday. (Photo Credit: Larry French/Getty Images for NASCAR)

A soldier at Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s Military Advance Training Center in Washington, D.C welcomes, from left to right, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Travis Kvapil, NASCAR President Mike Helton, Yates Racing GM Max Jones and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver David Gilliland. NASCAR made its annual visit to the facility to salute the troops on Thursday. (Photo Credit: Larry French/Getty Images for NASCAR)

(Left to right) NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Greg Biffle signs an autograph for a soldier at Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s Military Advance Training Center in Washington, D.C. NASCAR made its annual visit to the facility to salute the troops on Thursday. (Photo Credit: Larry French/Getty Images for NASCAR)