ESPN on ABC’s Countdown pre-race show could have been oh, I dunno, about 45 minutes shorter than its scheduled full hour. I am an ESPN fan, truly, but I can’t take the pre-show anymore. The only useful things are the 5 second driver interviews and that’s about it.

There are no features, no special interviews, nothing. Why does it need to be an hour? I don’t wanna see a recap of the last race I saw it already. And if I didn’t see it on TV I caught up on it online. So there’s no need to rehash the whole thing. And please, for the love of God, stop asking Rusty Wallace his opinion on who can win the Championship. I’m sure he’s a very nice man, and obviously he has a lot of NASCAR knowledge but sometimes I don’t know where he’s coming from. (more…)

If you guessed England you’re correct! I know, how random right? Well it was all a part of a yearly event called Festival of Speed held this weekend at Goodwood Estate in West Sussex, England.

The three day event, hosted by none other than an actual Earl, the Earl of March to be exact, celebrates all forms of racing. This year the festival featured a 1.16-mile hill-climbing competition for all classes and types of race cars and motorcycles, plus a 2.5-kilometer course for historic rally cars. (more…)

Do you hear that noise? It’s the sound of a big creaking door shutting out my heart. Okay, I’m being a little bit dramatic but sometimes you have to be in order to drive a point home. I think I can honestly say without a doubt I would rather be in Phoenix at this moment, more than anywhere else in the world. If I think about everything that I’m missing… Well it just sucks.

Anyway, I caught the Nationwide Series coverage on TV today and I’m against Carl Edwards winning the Nationwide Series Championship, but I’m totally for him winning the Sprint Cup Championship. Why? Because he won the Nationwide Series Championship last year and I really want it to be Clint Bowyer’s year this time around. We already know how I feel about Jimmie Johnson winning the Sprint Cup for the third straight year, so there ya go.

It’s great that the points have been tightened up between Clint and Carl going into Homestead next weekend, but I’m really pulling for Clint to stay on top.

Oh! One thing about the ESPN coverage today, why is it that it always seems like Ray Evernham is seated just a little bit too far away from Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty? It just seems like there’s this big gap, he’s too far to the right. I’m always wishing he’d just scootch over a little bit.

In other news…

– This is really what you’re reading this post for isn’t it? You want to see what Carl Edwards’ wedding invitations are going to look like. Well you don’t get to see the finished product but you can see that paper they’ll be printed on at least. In a gracious gesture to stay true to his current sponsor Carl and his fiancée Dr. Kate Downey have chosen their wedding invitation stationery from their local Office Depot store. The couple is planning to wed in January.

The big newsy news of the day is that Casey Mears‘ first child was born yesterday. According to a post by Casey’s mom Carol on the Mears Gang message boards Samantha Mae Mears was born yesterday at at 12:42pm, weighing in at 8lbs. 7oz.

Congratulations to Casey and his girlfriend Trisha!

In other news…

– Do you ever wish that there was one place on the web were you could find all of the top headlines about racing? Well there’s no need to look any further than Alltop. It’s a site the pulls in website and blog feeds (including The Fast and the Fabulous!) from around the web in what they’re calling a “magazine rack” approach. It’s worth checking out.

– Here is a fun quote from Mike Skinner about Scott Speed who will make his Sprint Cup Series debut next year:

“He’s a really funny guy. He acts so goofy on the outside. But when he puts on that helmet and gets in that race car, he does a great job. He gives good feedback, and I think the kid’s got a bright future. Red Bull is really, really high on him. Heck, he’s already won in ARCA few times, he’s won in the truck series, he was second-fastest at the Charlotte test. I hope to be his friend for a long time and help him any way I can.”

– The Third Annual Jamie McMurray Foundation Golf Tournament will take place on Monday, October 13th in Mooresville, North Carolina. The Jamie McMurray Foundation raises money for austism awareness and research:

“It’s hard to believe the golf tournament is really next week,” said McMurray. “We’ve put a lot of work into this year’s tournament to make it nothing short of first class. There are a lot of people that made this event what it will be, but nothing would have been possible without the help of our sponsors. Crown Royal stepped up as the primary sponsor, along with Stanford Group, Coca-Cola, Aflac, Sprint, Motorsports Authentics and a ton of others. The list goes on and on, and it’s really those sponsors who have made this all possible.”

Joining McMurray for an afternoon of golf are his fellow Roush Fenway Racing teammates Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle and David Ragan, along with Denny Hamlin, Rusty Wallace, Elliott Sadler, Reed Sorenson and others.

“I really can’t thank those guys enough for taking time out of their schedules to come out and support our foundation and help raise money for such a great cause.”

The JMF was formed in May 2006, and since has provided more than $200,000 to Autism Speaks and other autistic foundations throughout the United States.

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

Here is some very, very cool news: Tomorrow (Tuesday, July 22) I’ll be a guest on the ON PIT ROW radio show. I’ll be a part of their “around the NASCAR net” segment and I’ll be discussing some of the current headlines in NASCAR. Now you’ll all get to hear what I sound like and hopefully that won’t be a bad thing.

You can listen to the live broadcast online tomorrow at OnPitRow.com from 5pm – 7pm EST (or 2pm – 4pm PST).

In other news…

– Did you not get enough of Brendan Fraser at Chicagoland? Well then you have to check out the awesome photos (and video) from the great people at Kodak. Their flickr account has some great shots too.

– So I didn’t watch the ESPYs but I did check out some of the photos from the red carpet. I was hoping for more racing related stuff but all I could find was this one of IndyCar’s Danica Patrick. Cute dress and all but I’m not sure how I feel about her hair.

– This is not at all racing related except that I wish that it was. Former NFL quarterback and The Bachelor bachelor Jesse Palmer is an on-air talent guy for ESPN’s show College Football Live and he’s so freaking hot. I really think ESPN should institute some sort of broadcaster exchange program. Maybe we could swap Rusty Wallace with Jesse for a weekend or two?? I’m just sayin’ it could be fun.