Week 19 Commentary

Brad Keselowski dominated the weekend at New Hampshire International Speedway, becoming the first racer to sweep the weekend.  His performance in his Red Apple Ford in the Cup race was most impressive.  Certainly, the Penske Racing Ford team has to be considered a favorite for The Chase.

Jimmie Johnson has a horrible day, his day having ended after a single car crash as a result of a blown tire.  Kevin Harvick ran out of gas, continuing issues with his crew, while 72 year old Morgan Shepherd, some 15 laps down, collected Joey Logano and ended his day.  Logano was running second at the time, and was not pleased.  Racers with those guys did not score well.

Smoke's Fury and Blue 7 tied for the checkers this week, posting blistering scores. in the draft,  Blind Squirrel Racing, FLYNC5 and KDog Racing tied for third.

Glynn chose a few of drivers mentioned above, and lost first place to Team Taser.  Glynn settled in at second place, with Smoke's Fury moving up to third, No Ones Beatch and KDog Racing rounding out the top five.

With all the good teams with poor finishes, you may have expected some big moves in the standings.
However, only a handful represented, with FLYNC5 and Blue 7 Racing moving up several and OShea Racing, Team Hot Stuff and Fitz Racing finding themselves in the garage area.

The Sprint Cup Series if off this weekend, the last break of the season.

A week from Sunday, the Cup teams will be in Indianapolis for the running of the Brickyard 400 presented by Crown Royal.  Coverage moves over to ESPN, with Allen Bestwick, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree in the booth.

Here is your first look at the Brickyard 400 Chevy SS Pace Car.

2014 Brickyard 400 Chevy SS Pace Car

Who will kiss the bricks?  We will find out a week from Sunday.

Week 18 Commentary

Welcome race fans; back to the Daytona International Speedway for the running of the 2014 Coke Zero 400.  Junior nation was hoping Dale Jr could sweep the Daytona races in 2014 and many local FSU fans were excited to see the #55 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota driven by Brian Vickers honoring the Florida State Seminoles 2013 College Football National Championship.

 

Brian Vickers #55 FSU Dream Machine Toyota Camry

Race day was met with a rather unusual weather pattern on Saturday, as late afternoon rains failed to dissipate as normal and continued to soak the high banks.

Team Hot Stuff, driving the drivers around after driver introductions, found the track soaked amidst intermittent rainfall.

 

The wet track conditions for driver introductions.

2000 NASCAR Champion Bobby Labonte peeked through the window, wondering if there may have been room to come in from the rain.  It would be hard to wave to the drenched fans from inside.

 

Bobby Labonte nothing but wet in the bed of the truck.

 

The race cancelled until Sunday with the hope of better weather.  The early morning looked great, and two time Daytona 500 champ Michael Waltrip gave the thumbs up to go racing.

 

Micheal Waltrip gives the thumbs up!

In honor of the retiring Barney Hall of MRN Radio, we turned the field loose shortly after 11AM on Sunday.  Perhaps it was urgency to the potential of bad weather once again, but we had some real dicey racing going on early.

Of course, we had the big one.  Two of them.

Ricky Stenhouse got loose to cause the first one, which took out Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harivck.

Twenty-six cars were involved in the second crash, leaving only six cars who did not have some sort of damage from one of the wrecks.  What a mess it was.

The race was called after rain showers engulfed the speedway in mid afternoon, much to the dismay of many.  As such, UCF grad and Tampa native Aric Amirola got his first win in Richard Petty's famed 43 Ford. 

The win came 30 years to the weekend Petty got his 200th and final win in his STP Pontiac with President Ronald Reagan in attendance.

Aric Amirola celebrates first win in Coke Zero 400/NASCAR.com

Brian Vickers

Finishing second to Amirola was the aforementioned Brian Vickers in his FSU #55 Toyota. This was the best finish of the season for Vickers and his best ever at Daytona.  Go 'Noles!

Many media members, inclusive of seemingly the entire staff at The Orlando Sentinel, are letting NASCAR have it about scheduling this race in rainy season on July 4th weekend.  It seems the folks over there place little value on traditional events, such as the old Firecracker 400.

In the Conway NASCAR League, there was a tremendous amount of carnage.  Smoke's Fury won going away, with his nearest challenge, from BAHL, twenty points in arrears.  Twenty-two points back from that found Blind Squirrel Racing in third, 88AMPS fourth and Team Wolf fifth.

No racers saw big moves, but those gaining more than three spots were Smokes Fury, BAHL, 88AMPS, Team Wolf and Blind Squirrel Racing.  SPC Racing, Blue 7 Racing and WTC all found lost ground on the wet and wild weekend.

Glynn remains the leader, with Team Taser and No Ones Beatch holding spot in second and third.  Smokes Fury moves to fourth, with KDog Racing in fifth.

This concludes the thrid box set.  The winners for this segment were as follows:

Smokes Fury 1412, Glynn 1393 and O Racing with 1373.

Smokes Fury leads in wins with 3.  ORacing and Glynn are the only drives with over 5 top five finishes, while BAHL and Glynn are the only drivers with double digit top ten finishes.

THE BOXES HAVE CHANGED as we head to go racing at New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon.  The Chase is getting closer, and time is running out for drivers to secure a spot.  Therefore, I think we can expect the running of the Camping World RV Sales 301 to be every exciting.

Jeff Burton is back in the 66 Toyota this week, and Morgan Shepherd is in the #33 Chevy.  Brian Vickers is your defending champion.

They expect to place the field under green at approximately 1:15PM on Sunday.  Good Luck.