I took this photo at JR Motorsports last October when I was in Charlotte for the fall NASCAR races.  Brad Keselowski drove this car at Fontana, CA Labor Day weekend last year.  Well, I guess I should say “wrecked” instead of “drove”.  Brad was asked about this car this past weekend in Cali.

“Dale’s got it out on his property there,” said Keselowski, who lives in an apartment on Earnhardt Jr.’s property. “Every once in a while, we’ll get in a golf cart or a four-wheeler and drive by it and see it.”

“It’s a good conversation piece,” Keselowski said. “It’s actually out back in the woods. It’s on a hill and there’s vines and stuff growing through it. It’s cool because Dale left it completely intact. Every single piece other than the radio is in it. It’s really cool to see.”

The Bobby Petrino era began for Arkansas Razorback football Saturday night.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t the best start.  Arkansas did win (28-24) but it was a horrible win to witness.  While my last post on this topic didn’t have a score prediction, it did predict a pretty win for Arkansas.  I would say the first 3 quarters of Saturday’s game were anything but pretty.  The Hogs did get in the rhythm during the last quarter, though, which has me hopeful for the rest of the season.  I had to take the following picture after the game was over.  Who would have thought we’d see so many passing yards by the Razorbacks?  With our offense being all about the run the past few years, and especially the past 3 seasons with Felix Jones & Darren McFadden, 300+ passing yards seemed crazy.  That’s why I took photo evidence.

The Razorback blogosphere has been buzzing the past couple of weeks about a Razorback logo being painted at midfield.  Without further ado…

Four A-10 Thunderbolts provided the pre-game flyover.  There’s something about a flyover that makes me feel even more patriotic at the end of the national anthem.

I purchased the same set of season tickets as last year so I’m in the same seats.  They are up in the nose bleed section but right at the 50 yard line, which makes up for the leg cramps I get after walking up the ramp to the top.

Here are pictures of the band during the alma mater, the traditional Arkansas ‘A’, and the GO HOGS spell-out, all done by the Razorback Marching Band.

You can see a slide show of all of the pictures I took before, during, and after the game here.

Up Next: Arkansas vs Louisiana-Monroe, War Memorial Stadium, Little Rock, Sat Sept 6, 6 pm, Pay-per-View

Here is a rundown of the shows I’m most interested in this fall.  I can tell my DVR is going to be working overtime in some cases.  (I obviously won’t be watching both shows if there are 2 on at a time, and I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to watch TV as much as this schedule requires me to.)

Sunday:

• Brothers & Sisters - ABC, 9 pm - Premieres 9/28

Monday:

• Dancing with the Stars - ABC, 7pm - Premieres 9/22
• Jon & Kate Plus 8 - TLC, 8 pm
• One Tree Hill - CW, 8 pm - Premieres 9/1
• The Hills - MTV, 9 pm - Premiered 8/18

Tuesday:

• 90210 - CW, 7 pm - Premieres 9/2
• House - FOX, 7 pm - Premieres 9/16
• Dancing with the Stars - ABC, 8 pm - Premieres 9/22
• Law & Order: SVU - NBC, 9 pm - Premieres 9/23

Thursday:

• Grey’s Anatomy - ABC, 8 pm - Premieres 9/25

What about you?  Any shows I’ve listed or didn’t list that you can’t wait to start back up or officially premiere?

Michigan International Speedway is location in Brooklyn, Michigan.  It seemed quite literally in the middle of nowhere.  There was a town closeby and the track had neighbors but nothing major and there was not really a major highway going in and out of the track.  (Oh yeah…Speaking of the road…A lot of people complain about traffic in & out of Texas Motor Speedway being some of the worst.  We don’t ever have problems at TMS.  MIS was much, much worse.)  Because the track is so close to Canada, there are a lot of Canadian NASCAR fans that come down for the race.  The track flies, not only an American flag, but also a Canadian flag.  Plus, we listened to both the Canadian and United States national anthems.

As I mentioned in my last post, we had weekend pit passes.  These allowed us to be on pit road during qualifying & practice plus there was also an area back behind pit road that drivers passes by when going to & from the garage and their motorcoaches.  Here is a shot from pit road during the Nationwide series qualifying on Saturday.  The 2nd photo is of Regan Smith signing autographs along the fence of fans behind pit road.

Speaking of the fence of fans…Some drivers stop along the fence and are nice enough to sign some autographs.  I got 5 autographs on Friday standing there.  I got the following autographs on Friday.

• Michael McDowell, Driver, Michael Waltrip Racing #00
• Sam Hornish Jr, Driver, Penske Racing #77
• AJ Allmendinger, Driver, Red Bull Racing #84
• Regan Smith, Driver, Dale Earnhardt Inc #01
• Mike Helton, President, NASCAR
• Jeff Hammond, Former Crew Chief & Current Co-Host of NASCAR Trackside

Another advantage of our pit pass was that we were able to be on pit road before the Sprint Cup race on Sunday.  We got to get on the track at the start/finish line.  We were also able to walk along pit road and see the pit boxes & signs for each Sprint Cup team.  Here are shots of Dale Earnhardt Jr’s pit box and pit sign.

On Saturday during Nationwide qualifying, I stood at the front of the line of cars with the JR Motorsports #88 Navy Chevy until it went out for its qualifying laps.  David Stremme (driver of the Rusty Wallace Inc #64 Dodge) decided to take a closer look at the Navy car while waiting his turn to qualify.  I’m almost surprised he didn’t hop in the car.  Maybe that would have made him too obvious, though.

There were a couple Nationwide series cars with paint schemes that I thought might interest a couple of my readers.  Tony Stewart was the driver in Michigan of the Joe Gibbs Racing #20 Old Spice Toyota, and Jason Leffler drove the Braun Racing #38 Great Clips Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus Toyota.

I took this photo during the national anthem prior to the NASCAR Sprint Cup 3M Performance 400.  I’ve always thought it was cool how the drivers, crews, and officials line up on pit road.

We sat across from the JR Motorsports #5 pit during the Nationwide series race.  Rick Hendrick (owner, Hendrick Motorsports) sat up there during the entire race.  Landon Cassill was also up there.  I think he was working for the team in some capacity.  Here is sequence of photos I took during the team’s first pit stop.  (Mark Martin was driving this car in Michigan.)

Carl Edwards won both of the races in Michigan.  His tradition, after winning a race, is to do a backflip off of the car.  Here are the two shots I got of him doing so.

I don’t think attending a NASCAR race will ever be the same if I don’t have a weekend pit pass.  A pit pass allows you to get so much more closer to the cars, drivers, and on-track action.  I took over 600 photos in Michigan and got half a dozen autographs that I really wouldn’t have gotten without the pit pass.  Here is a picture of me prior to Nationwide qualifying on Saturday in front of the JR Motorsports #88 Navy Chevy.

I’m going to post another blog entry explaining some of my photos.  (There’s a story to every photo, you know?)  If you want to go ahead and see the best photos I took in Michigan, click here.  (Clicking on the thumbnail will take you to a larger version of the photograph.)

Brad Keselowski won his first NASCAR Nationwide series race in Nashville, TN on June 7, 2008.  He won his second on Friday night in Bristol, TN.  His Bristol win, besides being the second of his career and this year, is the 4th win this season for JR Motorsports.

Around the Web:

• Foxsports:  Late bobble costs Bowyer, lists Keselowski
• NASCAR.com:  Keselowski uses Bowyer’s slip to capture win at BMS
• SceneDaily.com:  Bowyer’s Bobble Boosts Keselowski to Nationwide win at Bristol
• SI.com:  After starting 37th, Keselowski wins Bristol Nationwide
• SpeedwayMedia.com:  Keselowski Scores 2nd Win of Season at Bristol, Closes in on Points Lead
• ThatsRacin.com:  Offered Penske’s No. 12 Dodges in Sprint Cup, Keselowski Declines

A week from today begins the 2008 Arkansas Razorback football season and the Bobby Petrino era.  We’ll open our season hosting Western Illinois.  This should be a nice victory to start the season/era.  From there, we might not be so lucky.  We travel to Texas for week 3 and then our SEC (which has to be the toughest conference to be in) schedule starts with a visit to Fayetteville by Alabama.  I think 2008 is a great way to repeat as Alabama State Champions.  What do you think?

Did you know there is a debate going on about the most obnoxious fan base in SEC football?  Evidently, Arkansas either ranks 5th most or are practically tame.  Take your pick. Our fans are crazy (watch your cell phone usage) but I think we are polite fans that are crazy about our beloved Hogs.  Maybe I’m bias.

Speaking of the Arkansas Razorbacks…Congratulations to former hog Veronica Campbell-Brown who won gold for Jamaica in the 200-meter event in the 2008 Beijing Olympic games.

I had a great time in Ohio & Michigan.  (Although, Monday didn’t quite go how any of us had planned or wanted.)  I got several autographs and took over 500 photos at the track.  Penni & I have decided that attending a race without a weekend pit pass just won’t be the same.  Besides seeing Penni again and officially meeting Sarah & Andi, I also got to officially meet Hilary.  She came into town last night and we (me, Penni, & Hilary) went and had supper together.

I feel like I could sleep the day away once I get home today so, if I do, you probably won’t hear from me much the rest of today.  If I get home and am awake, I’ll start working on photos and blog entries about my trip.

I’ll, of course, be taking my laptop with me.  (We should have internet access in the hotel room.)  Whether or not I use my laptop, I’ll have my cell phone and will be twittering along the way.  Feel free to follow along with me this weekend.  I’ll have lots of stories and photos to share when I return, I’m fairly certain.

Who’s gonna win this weekend?  Well, I’m rooting for one of the JR Motorsports teams - #5 driven by Mark Martin or #88 driven by Brad Keselowski - in the Nationwide series race on Saturday.  On Sunday, I’m rooting for the #88 driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr.  All of these teams have a great shot at a win.  (Junior actually won the June race in Michigan so I’m sure he can defend his win.)

Photo by Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR

At this point in 2007, Jeff Gordon was leading the Sprint Cup standings (and was 344 points ahead of 2nd place).  He & Jimmie Johnson were tied for the most wins so far with 4 a piece.  After today’s race, Kyle Busch leads all drivers this year with 8 wins and is leading the standings by 242 points.  Both of those stats are alarming to me.  First of all, I expected Kyle to do ok in his first season with Joe Gibbs Racing.  I figured he’d have 1 or 2 wins and probably make the Chase.  Instead, he has 8 wins and is a sure thing for the Chase (if not the championship).  The 242 point differential between Kyle and 2nd place is a big surprise to me.  Jeff Gordon had 4 wins at this point last year but was farther ahead of 2nd place than Kyle is with 8 wins.  This makes me think that it may be any one’s ballgame once the Chase starts.  Kyle has definitely had some great finishes this year (very reminiscent of Jimmie Johnson at times in 2006 & 2007 when nothing seemed to stop the team from a top 5 or win).  Unfortunately, he has a handful of very poor finishes (including Martinsville, which is a Chase track).  He will more than likely need no stumbles (or bad luck) in the Chase to keep his roll going and end up 2008 Sprint Cup Champion.

Until today, Dale Earnhardt Jr was 2nd in the Sprint Cup point standings and had been gradually shrinking Kyle Busch’s points lead.  Unfortunately, a 22nd place finish dropped him to 4th in the standings behind Carl Edwards and teammate Jimmie Johnson.  Junior isn’t known to be a great road course racer so I’m happy with the finish.  I’m just a little upset he lost all of the points he had been gaining.  The series is on to Michigan next weekend where Junior won the spring race.  Did I mention I’m going to be there in person?  I’m hoping for a repeat performance of his win in June. 

A belated congrats to Ron Fellows.  Ron was driving a JR Motorsports car last weekend in Montreal and brought home the 3rd NASCAR Nationwide series trophy for JRM in 2008.  (Mark Martin & Brad Keselowski have both taken home trophies this year.)  Now, it is Landon Cassill’s and Junior’s turns to win one for JRM.