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Rank: Team Player
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Joined: 9/2/2008
Posts: 382
Location: Boston
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I can't decide whether the bud shootout was boring or exciting...Lot's of close racing, some dominant cars that faded then came back...so i'll err on the side of - it was an interesting warmup
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Rank: Seasoned Campaigner
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Joined: 12/15/2008
Posts: 1,672
Location: Sydney, Australia
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Danica Patrick is going to run the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Daytona this Sunday morning on One-HD, after her solid showing in the ARCA Series race this past weekend.
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Rank: Seasoned Campaigner
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Joined: 12/15/2008
Posts: 1,672
Location: Sydney, Australia
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The Duels were two of the most exciting I have seen since I started watching in 2002. Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson were the two winners, but the racing was intense. Michael Waltrip wrecked in the first race and was in the SPEED studio when it was announced that, due to results in the second race, he would make the race. He cried. It was pretty cool to see the emotion. Mikey is a proven plate winner - he has two Daytona 500 victories and one in the Coke Zero 400 July race. If they get that car hooked up, he might be a player on race day.
Camping World Truck Series race tonight.
Nationwide Series race tomorrow on One-HD. Qualifying rained out. Danica Patrick will start 15th, based on owner points from last year for the car she is driving.
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Rank: Seasoned Campaigner
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Joined: 12/15/2008
Posts: 1,672
Location: Sydney, Australia
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Tony Stewart won the Nationwide Series race at Daytona, for his 5th victory in the last 6 runnings of the 300-mile event. Danica Patrick was caught up in a crash 69 laps in. Her team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr was in the midst of a 10-car wreck later in the race, and from there, Smoke was never really troubled for the lead. Carl Edwards was second.
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Rank: Team Player
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Joined: 9/2/2008
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Location: Boston
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I'm looking forward to the race tomorrow...
As an aside, Nelson Piquet Jnr seemed to run well in the Truck race - finishing 6th. Seems like his path into the NASCAR series might be a bit more sustainable than GoDaddy's resident fame***** Danica...
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Rank: Seasoned Campaigner
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Joined: 12/15/2008
Posts: 1,672
Location: Sydney, Australia
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I was hugely impressed by ESPN's coverage. Jerry Punch is much better on pit road and Marty Reid has the power to NOT put me asleep this season. Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree seem to have found their groove alongside Reid, after three years of having to be race ****ysts and also try and inject the excitement into the broadcast that JP couldn't. Nice changes all around. Even the camera work was good.
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Rank: Seasoned Campaigner
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Joined: 12/15/2008
Posts: 1,672
Location: Sydney, Australia
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The 500 is fast becoming the 24 Hours of Daytona, after two stoppages for track breakup. Second Green-White-Checker here we come!!
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Rank: Seasoned Campaigner
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Joined: 12/15/2008
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Location: Sydney, Australia
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Classic Daytona 500 finish.
Jamie MacMurray comes from nowhere for a surprising but good win. His first run with the #1 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, after Martin Truex Jr. vacated the seat to go over to Michael Waltrip Racing. MacMurray cried in victory lane. It was a good moment. He can barely talk. Dale Jr came from nowhere to finish second. If they had another lap, Jr probably would have won. He was coming. Fast. But then again they'd have had another caution cos the wrecks started again after Jamie Mac took the white flag. Another green flag lap and it would have been Jr.
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Rank: Team Player
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Joined: 9/2/2008
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Location: Boston
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Good for J-Mac. And great for the 88 to get a strong result. It's worth watching Jnr's post race interview on nascar.com - i still think he and Stewart give the best, most personal interviews of any of the drivers.
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Rank: Seasoned Campaigner
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Joined: 12/15/2008
Posts: 1,672
Location: Sydney, Australia
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If I ever hear Darrell Waltrip openly cheer for one driver (outside his brother on the home stretch at Daytona) I think I might actually puke. His "Go Junior," shriek was embarassing, unprofessional and stupid, ending a poor race coverage from FOX. After 3 + hours of red flag coverage, why on earth did they feel the need to slide in a commercial break under green with less than 20 to run?
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Rank: Seasoned Campaigner
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Joined: 12/15/2008
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Location: Sydney, Australia
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Very exciting NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Fontana today. Kyle Busch passed Greg Biffle coming down the final stretch to win the Stater Bros. 300 and give Joe Gibbs Racing its fifth consecutive victory at Auto Club Speedway. Joey Logano lost the lead to Biffle on a green-white-checkered restart and was probably right in thinking he got robbed. Out front at Fontana on a GWC is not a good place to be. Brad Keselowski was third.
Danica Patrick was 31st, 3 laps down to the leader.
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Rank: Seasoned Campaigner
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Joined: 12/15/2008
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Location: Sydney, Australia
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This is gonna be a long season if that #48 keeps winning!!
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Rank: Team Player
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Joined: 9/2/2008
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Kitch wrote:This is gonna be a long season if that #48 keeps winning!! Yes and no. He caught a lucky break on the yellow - I thought Harvick had the better car at the end but couldn't make it stick - which on a track as wide as Fontana is saying something. Word through today is the Hendrick boys are very worried about axle wear given 88's failed and post race inspection showed the 48 and 5 were in serious trouble. I hope Marcos kick starts his year this weekend.
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Rank: Seasoned Campaigner
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Joined: 12/15/2008
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Location: Sydney, Australia
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boston_aussie wrote:Yes and no. He caught a lucky break on the yellow - I thought Harvick had the better car at the end but couldn't make it stick - which on a track as wide as Fontana is saying something.
Word through today is the Hendrick boys are very worried about axle wear given 88's failed and post race inspection showed the 48 and 5 were in serious trouble.
I hope Marcos kick starts his year this weekend. RCR might be back. Impressive race. They look like they are getting back into the position they held a few seasons back, challenging for wins and the championship on a regular basis.
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Rank: Team Player
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Joined: 9/2/2008
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Great to see Marcos lodge a 5th fastest time in final practice - hopefully this is a sign that he'll lock in a top 15 or top 10 tomorrow.
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Rank: Seasoned Campaigner
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boston_aussie wrote:Great to see Marcos lodge a 5th fastest time in final practice - hopefully this is a sign that he'll lock in a top 15 or top 10 tomorrow. Also great to see Kevin Harvick win the Nationwide Series race today at LVMS. Danica was wrecked early. She'll be forgotten about in NASCAR land for a while, now that she's off back to race IndyCars.
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Rank: Team Player
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Joined: 9/2/2008
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Location: Boston
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NASCAR screwed up in allowing the Sprint Cup drivers to compete full time in Nationwide. I know a lot of teams and sponsors want the tier 1 drivers like Harvick, Edwards, Bush and co in their cars - but they are ruining the feeder series.
Let them keep the owners points, but lock them out of the drivers championship
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Rank: Seasoned Campaigner
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Joined: 12/15/2008
Posts: 1,672
Location: Sydney, Australia
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Yawn. Jimmie Johnson. Again. Call me when he retires.
At least Grand-Am Rolex Series looks good this year!!
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Rank: Seasoned Campaigner
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No Nationwide Series this weekend. Kevin Harvick won the Camping World Truck Series race at Atlanta. Kyle Busch was second, Aric Almirola third. Pretty good race, although there are far too many "start and park" trucks in this series. It's a shame to see 1/4 of the field jump off the track after a few laps. ESPECIALLY if, during qualifying, they beat out trucks who would've gone the full distance
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Rank: Team Player
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Kitch wrote:...there are far too many "start and park" trucks in this series. It's a shame to see 1/4 of the field jump off the track after a few laps. Interesting point Kitch. Whilst I share the frustration, I'm not sure there is an easy answer, particularly given the state of the US economy. Whilst many of them do qualify well, the cost and risk profile to do more than a handful of laps is still too great. For many of these teams (like the Sprint and Nationwide teams) the cost of tyres, engines, and crew is too great to do anything more than a few laps so as to pick up the cheque. Dave Newton on ESPN raised a good point early last year where he wondered why NASCAR isn't using their expertise and brand power to bring sponsors into the sport to help these S&P teams. Another thought I had is whether these teams could be incentivised to try harder - much like NFL teams can franchise tag a player, why can't NASCAR tag a team as a S&P and therefore provide incentives to help them make that transition from grid filler to competitor?
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