Junior took quite a wild ride in today’s Nationwide series race.  I’m hoping he’s in Victory Lane tomorrow for the Daytona 500 instead of the infield care center.

I recommend that you all watch the 4 part HBO series called 24/7 Jimmie Johnson: Race to Daytona.

For NASCAR fans, it gives us a glimpse into the psyche of Jimmie Johnson & Chad Knaus.  Until Dale Earnhardt Jr joined Hendrick Motorsports, I viewed Jimmie as an arrogant driver with way too much good luck.  He still has way too much good luck but I must say that after 4 NASCAR Sprint Cup championships in a row, his & Chad’s arrogance was confidence in what they could obviously accomplish.  (They need to get with Junior and pass on at least a bit of a confidence.  I guess that’s for another entry, though.)

For non-NASCAR fans, it gives you a glimpse at the world behind “racing in circles”.  Let me be the first to say that, if all NASCAR was was watching cars go round and round in circles, I’d be bored out of my mind and would not be a fan.  The goings on behind the scenes at the track and off the track are sometimes much more interesting than who is leading the race.  This series is giving a behind the scenes view of Hendrick Motorsports, Jimmie Johnson, & Chad Knaus as they prepare for the Daytona 500 (which is 2 weeks from today!).  Folks try to explain away NASCAR as not being a sport.  Just watching the first episode demonstrated that the drivers & the crew members work out a lot to prepare for the hard work that is driving a car for 3-4 hours during a race and also accomplishing 12 second pit stops.  Not many sports make a team member lose up to 10 pounds a game/race/etc.  That fact has always made me say Wow! when thinking of a driver’s stamina to race.

By the way…I loved the milk & cookies re-enactment with Rick Hendrick!  Rick always has the best stories to tell.

You can watch the series on Tuesdays at 9pm CST and on re-runs.  There are 3 new episodes left.

Here is the website for the show where you can see several clips of the show.

Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson, Chad Knaus, Hendrick Motorsports, & Lowe’s on their 4th championship in a row!

From Marty Smith (ESPN) on Twitter:

Just asked Johnson to be honest with me about where he stacks up among the greatest ever: “This puts us up there. No doubt.”

Hendrick teammates Mark Martin & Jeff Gordon finished the season in 2nd & 3rd, respectively.

Dale Earnhardt Jr finished the season 25th.  This season has been a bumpy season for Junior & team.  Lance McGrew was finally named the official crew chief (removing the interim designation) a while back.  I really think Lance, Junior, & the 88 team can do great things together.  I’m very optimistic about 2010!

Brad Keselowski’s last race with JR Motorsports was Saturday.  He will be joining Penske Racing & driving the #12 in the Sprint Cup series next year.  Good luck, Brad!  Kelly Bires will be joining JRM next year.  I’m very excited to see how he does for JRM.

Today is the first Arkansas Razorback football game of the season.  The Razorbacks are taking on the Missouri State Bears at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.  Go Hogs Go!

Some Exciting Former Hog News:

• Former Hog baseball player Craig Gentry has been called up from AA Frisco to the majors – the Texas Rangers.  Northwest Arkansas has been fortunate enough to keep up with Craig’s progress through the Rangers organization because Frisco plays the Northwest Arkansas Naturals.  Good luck, Craig!

Brad Keselowski has helped Dale Earnhardt Jr make JR Motorsports a weekly contender in the NASCAR Nationwide series.  Brad has 5 wins in the NW series and got his first Cup series win in April at Talladega.  Penske Racing announced Tuesday that Brad will join them beginning in 2010 and will drive the #12 Penske Dodge in the Sprint Cup series.  Congratulations Brad on this great opportunity!  Just remember that Rick Hendrick & Hendrick Motorsports isn’t out of reach!

The Northwest Arkansas Naturals have 3 games left (with only 1 win needed) and they will have clinched a Texas League playoff spot for the 2nd straight season (in only 2 seasons in existence in NWA).  Good luck Naturals against the Tulsa Drillers this weekend!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oIqkaZU8sY

Carl decided to pull a Ricky Bobby and run to the start/finish line after his car was left unable to do so after its wild ride.

Congratulations to Brad Keselowski on his 1st NASCAR Sprint Cup series win (in just 5 tries).

Dale Earnhardt Jr finished second.  Based on his excitement in Victory Lane with Brad, I think he was very happy with 2nd and ecstatic to see Brad win the race.

Finally, my condolenses go out to the family & friends of David Poole (longtime NASCAR journalist).  I always enjoyed reading the articles he wrote for the Charlotte Observer.  One of my favorite articles I’ve read about Dale Earnhardt Sr was one he wrote about Sr’s lucky penny.

Photo by Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR

Matt Kenseth won the rain-shortened 2009 Daytona 500.  Shortening that race due to rain is very much of a let down.  Number 1 – It’s the Daytona 500!  That just isn’t a race you want to see delayed or shortened because of rain.  Number 2 – If the last 48 laps were anything like the previous 50 or so, there would have been a lot of drama and action still to come.

Photo by Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

I just don’t know what to say about Junior’s performance during the race today.  I know he’s been battling the flu for the past week which might have had to do with the fact that his head just didn’t seem in the game.  He missed his pit stall during the first caution of the race, which sent him to the back.  Then, during a caution on lap 120, he got a penalty for getting service while the car was not completely in the pit stall.  4 laps after this, he & Brian Vickers get a little tangled up which ends up involving 8 other cars (including Kyle Busch, who seemed to be on his way to a win).

“I got a run on him. He saw me coming. I got a big ol’ run on him and I went to the inside,” he said. “I didn’t try to make any late move or some surprise. He went to block me and hit me and sent me down to the grass.

“I tried to recover my car and I got back into him coming back up the race track. I don’t hate it for him, but (I do) for everyone else that got wrecked.”

Only Dale Earnhardt Jr knows exactly what happened in that race car today.  He obviously shouldn’t have hit Vickers but he did.  I have a feeling I’m going to have to avoid all discussions of this incident this week, though, because the “Junior haters” are going to be out in full force.  The media will also, as usual, not let this incident die.  Every driver involved in that wreck will be asked in every interview this week what happened and how they feel right then.  Oh well, I guess I know what fans of drivers like Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon feel like.  By the way…Dale Jr ended up finishing the race on the lead lap but in 27th position.

Here is a rundown of mine (& Penni’s) other noteable finishers.

• Tony Stewart – 8th
• Martin Truex Jr – 11th
• Jeff Gordon – 13th
• Mark Martin – 16th
• Kasey Kahne – 29th
• Jimmie Johnson – 31st
• Ryan Newman – 36th

And…I’d like to congratulate AJ Allmendinger on his 3rd place finish.  He raced his way into the Daytona 500 on Thursday, and deserves lots of kudos on his finish.

The next race is next Sunday evening out in Fontana, California.  Let’s hope for a less drama-filled race, at least from Dale Jr’s perspective.

Photo by Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

NASCAR 2009 has officially begun.  I’m quickly realizing that it is going to take a few races for me to get used to all of the new teams and also who is driving for who and in what car.  Even Hendrick Motorsports had a driver change in the off-season.  Mark Martin is now the driver of the No. 5 Kellogg’s Chevrolet.  (The 2009 HMS team is pictured above with their HMS 25th anniversary cars.)  The new HMS team and Tony Stewart’s new team – Stewart-Haas Racing – are going to make for one great group of drivers in 2009 (and great unofficial teammates at Daytona & Talladega).

Photo by John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR

The first race (albeit a non-points awarding race) was last night.  Kevin Harvick won the 2009 Budweiser Shootout.  I wasn’t able to watch the race last night because my family went out to celebrate my mom’s birthday (which was actually during the ice storm last week).  It looks like Dale Jr finished 18th after a bit of run-in with Paul Menard (actually, PM running into him).  On to qualifying this afternoon, the Gatorade Duels Thursday, and finally the Daytona 500 next Sunday!

What do you think about the race last night?

What are your predictions for 2009?

 ”I’ve been fortunate enough to win this award now for the sixth time, and I can tell you it never gets old,” Earnhardt Jr. said.  “I’ve said it many times before that this award is special because it’s the voice of the fans. 
 
“I think back to over a year ago when I made the decision to go to Hendrick Motorsports, and my biggest concern was whether the fans would support my decision. They did, and I will always be grateful for that.”

At some point yesterday, Junior was asked a question related to this award and the Nextel Cup championship and whether he would trade one for the other.  His answer was classic Junior – straight from the heart.

“Probably not. I don’t think I would,” he said. “That’s a tough question. I would not trade anything that I’ve ever been involved in, or anything that’s ever happened to me for a championship. I want to win a championship, and it’s important for me to win a championship, but I wouldn’t trade anything that’s happened to me in the form of accolades for that.”

Friday was the longest day of my vacation.  We were at the track for 12 hours or so.  Friday included two Nationwide series practices, a Sprint Cup practice, qualifying for both the Nationwide & Sprint Cup series, and finally the Craftsman Truck series race.  Plus, SPEED TV was filming Trackside Live and we watched that for a while.

The photo above is of the tunnel we walked through many times over the course of the weekend to get to the track infield from the grandstand and back.  It is really weird walking through that when cars are driving at full speed overhead.

Jeff Gordon won the pole for the Sprint Cup series race.  The above photos is of his crew pushing the pole winning car into Victory Lane for the Coors Pole Award ceremony.

I couldn’t resist snapping a picture of Junior’s winning banner.  I pass it each time I’m at the track and have, thus far, resisted.

Brad Keselowski qualified on time for his first Sprint Cup race.  He was driving the Hendrick Motorsports 25 GoDaddy.com Chevy.  I’m glad that I was there to witness his first Cup race (more on his finish on Day 6).

Driver introductions for the Craftsman Truck race were a bit unorthodox at Texas Motor Speedway.  Instead of coming out onto a stage to wave to the crowd, the drivers actually came down out of the crowd and onto the track.  As you can see in this picture, track workers led 3 drivers at a time down the stands and then out onto the track into their respective Chevy truck for their ride-around.

Click here to see all of the photos I took on Friday.