On This Day

April 29, 1951:
The late Dale Earnhardt Sr. was born in NC. His father, Ralph Earnhardt, was a short track racer and a factory worker. He followed his father's footsteps in dirt racing, and rose to NASCAR's most presigeous series: The NASCAR Winston Cup (now known as Nextel Cup). In 1979, Earnhardt received Rookie of the Year honors, and followed that up with a NASCAR WC championship, the first driver to do so. Earnhardt went on to win 74 races, 7 championships, and a Daytona 500 win in 1998.

Sadly, Dale Earnhardt died on the same race track that he won on 3 years before, killed in a crash on the last lap on the last turn on the race track. He was 49 years old. May his soul rest in peace.

Denied

James Finch's Appeal Denied, Fine Raised to $25,000.

On April 25, 2005, the National Stock Car Racing Commission heard and considered
the Appeal of James Finch, Johnny Sauter and Joel Shear concerning three
penalties assessed by NASCAR relative to the No. 1 car following the NASCAR
Busch Series event at Texas Motor Speedway on April 16, 2005.

I am just curious, what is your opinion of the Board raising the fine?

Phoenix Recap

Congradulations to Kurt Busch on his first win of the season. That win moved him up the points standings from 4th to 2nd. Now, onto the recap:

NNC: As noted in the beginning, Kurt Busch won the Subway Fresh 500, the first in the season. He started in 2nd place, so only an improvement of 1 spot from where he started, but then, you can't get higher than first, can you? :P The pole sitter, Jeff Gordon, finished 12th. The points leader, Jimmie Johnson, started 12th, and finished 15th, ending his string of tho 10 finished at 13. DEI finished 2nd and 4th with Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr, respectively. A surpise finish for Brian Vickers, who started 5th and finished there. Well done. Bobby Labonte finally finished a race, 6th place. His first finish since California, the 2nd race of the season. Tony Stewart, who suffered a 1st degree burn on his right elbow and a 2nd degree burn on his right thigh in Texas after his engine crashed and burned, started 6th but was involved in a pit row incident with Greg Biffle and eventually crashed out, finished 33rd.
Finishing Order Subway Fresh 500
Now, I'm just curious: why is it that they go 500 kilometers at Phoenix, by use miles at everywhere else?

I am going to lay off the BGN recaps for a while, probably return to it after Talladega. So, here are the results of the Bashas' Supermarkets 200.

There were no penalites steming from this race, yet.

The next race will be at Talladega (NNC & BGN) and Gateway (CTS).

Texas Results

Well, I am tired and such, so y'all agre going to have to read the results Here (NNC) and Here (BGN). Sorry for that.

Penalties
Format: Crew Chief, Driver, Penalty, Reason.

BGN:

1. Joe Shear Jr, Johnny Sauter, 4 race suspension, unapproved carburetor;
2. Kevin Manion, Martin Truex Jr, $1,000 fine, crew member entered car servicing area without a helmet;
3. Gregg Mixon, Mark Green, $1,000 fine, unapproved final gear ratio;
4. Dan Glaus, A.J. Fike, $500 fine, unapproved jackbolt

Johnny Sauter was disqualified for the unapproved carburetor.

Next race: Phoenix (my home town, sorta).

Also, because they will be at my home state, I was thinking about doing a live blogging of the NNC race there. Just curious. What do you all think?

Caption This: NASCAR Style Pt. 1

For those who do not know about this, I'll post a picture here, and you, the readers, come up with witty, funny, or interesting captions in the comments section. If a caption gets my attention, maybe I'll post it after my race recaps here. Hopefully, you guys can make better captions that what I make up. Well, let's get this party started: A B&W pic of Bobby Labonte that I found.


How the Hell did "Fatback" get under THERE? 

Martinsville Review

Ugh, Bobby Labonte just can't catch a break in NNC. Maybe Bobby should go to the CTS, since he is better there.

NNC: Jeff Gordon took the win in the Advance Auto Parts 500, with Kasey Kahne in tow. It is Gordon's 71st win of his career, only three away from the late Dale Earnhardt's wins (74). Mark Martin finished third, Ryan Newman 4th, and Rusty Wallace rounded out the top 5. Gordon came from three laps down to win, and Jimmie Johnson managed another top 10 after having a tough start. Tony Stewart led the most laps, but was forced to finish 26th after the right front tire on his Home Depot Chevy came off -- wheel, hub, rubber, all of it -- and ended his day with about 20 to go or so. Bobby Labonte was a top 10 driver until his engine gave out on him WHILE HE WAS LEADING!!!! Bobby finished 33rd.
Advance Auto Parts 500 Finish.

CTS: Bobby Labonte became the 12th driver to win a race in each of NASCAR's top three series, and the first time a driver did that at the same track (NNC: 2002, BGN: 1992). Following Labonte was Ricky Craven, driver for the 99 Superchips Ford. Rounding out the top 10 are Ron Hornaday, Todd Bodine, and Chad Chaffin.
Kroger 250 Finish.

Congradulations to all the winners this week. Next: Texas.

Bristol Recap

Well, I missed the Busch series race on Monday because I was at school at the time. So, here is the top 10 finishers of the race:

1. 29 Kevin Harvick
2. 21 Jeff Burton
3. 41 Reed Sorenson
4. 17 Matt Kenseth
5. 40 Sterling Marlin
6. 64 Jeremy Mayfield
7. 60 Carl Edwards
8. 25 Ashton Lewis
9. 20 Denny Hamlin
10. 66 Greg Biffle

Now, the NNC:
Congradulations to Kevin Harvick for his first win of the season. Harvick spanked the field, winning by about 4 seconds. Whether this shows that his team has overcame the penalty at Atlanta, we'll see at Martinsville. The top five finishers were: Harvick, Elliott Sadler, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Dale Jarrett. The biggest notable in the top 10 was Kyle Petty, finishing 8th in that race. What a comeback for the Petty Enterprises team.

Well, the next race is at Martinsville, yet another short track. See you then.