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!

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.”

I took over 600 photos while I was in Michigan at the NASCAR races.  The gallery of the best of these photos can be found here.  I wanted to post a special entry explaining some of the photos and to use some of them to explain more about the weekend.  Feel free to ask questions about any of the photos if you’d like more information than I give here or on the photo’s caption in Flickr.

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.

(more…)

Or is it…Brad Keselowski loves Tennessee?

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