| Daytona Reflections | | Date Created: Feb 20, 2006, 12:49 PM |
It's hard to jump out of bed Monday after Speedweeks with much energy: it saps the life out of you emotionally and physically (and I wasn't even there for the entire 11 day stretch). Several Tylenol seem to have done the trick so far this AM for the headache, but not so much for the spots around my ol' body that feel like random targets for a quick shot or two from a ball peen hammer...
I traveled with the raceday crew and the over-the-wall guys Sunday, and I'll have a full blog breakdown in the next day or two of what these guys go through 38 times a year...
It was a great race for the Bud team: despite some in the media saying 8th place was a disappointment. This was a much more powerful and competitive run than last year's third-place finish in the same race. In 2005, that finish was purely upon the skill of the driver, while this year, the #8 led the most laps, Yes, Junior and the team want and expect to win every plate race, but circumstances weren't there to do so with an engine Junior described as "an old man. Sometimes he wakes up and goes, and sometimes he goes to sleep."
I would not trade the Bud driver for any other on the plate tracks. He passed seven cars on lap 186, and his pass for the lead on lap 86 was classic Junior. "Another one for the highlight reels, boys..." was the only response spotter Steve Hmiel could muster after watching the moves to get up-front....
I sense an optimism from top to bottom among the team, as the pit stops were superb all day, and the extreme bitterness and resentment about last year's crew changes are seemingly a thing of the past...
A much better sign if the Bud bunch is back in championship form: how they fare at Fontana and Vegas...
I thought it was an entertaining race with a wide array of storylines. I plan to spend Monday eve on the couch with the Tivo to watch the telecast. There were some moments that caused the Bud crew to laugh or holler during the race, and most involved Tony Stewart. The first was Tony's miraculous save early in the race when his car slid sideways like a sprint car on dirt, and then when the Kenseth feud continued and Tony knocked his in-car camera lens away.
Side note: Junior once knocked an in-car camera completely off its perch inside the Bud car during a race at Indy. The "over the shoulder" camera was mounted too close to the driver, and he knocked it out completely when frantically waving his right hand to warn the car behind him there was a crash ahead of them. Speaking of waving and signaling, in the Friday night practice for the Bud Shootout, Junior found his new Puma gloves - all black - were nearly invisible to the driver behind him when he made hand gestures. Luckily, Puma had some all-white gloves on site that Junior was able to use during the remainder of Speedweeks...
NASCAR seriously needs to rethink their pre-race show for the 500. The past few years, they've introduced the drivers more than one hour and 15 minutes before the command to fire the engines. This creates mayhem as the large crowd on pit lane fights to get an autograph or close-up photo with the drivers (ours in particular) while we all stand through an endless pre-race ritual of kids in goofy outfits leaping around the grass along the tri-oval. I've asked before, and I'll ask again: WHO wants to see kids leap around the grass? (But, it still makes me laugh to think of the flat-topped Secret Service agent "disguised" as one of the dancers, doing the whirling and gyrations while Dubya campaigned at the race in 2004. As he would leap, the agent's colored sheet would flop into the air, exposing his combat-style pants underneath, obviously packed with lethal weapons of some sort.)
How cool is it to see a top-20 finish for Kirk Shelmerdine? He stayed waaaaaay back all day, but survival is what counts, and he managed to do so...
Though the Bud team is 6th in points this morning (Monday) because of leading the most laps, we may go to Fontana one position higher, as I suspect the 48 bunch will have some major points deducted in the next day or two for the blatant cheating. I have no real info or insight, it's just a hunch. If they aren't penalized further, shame on NASCAR...
In all, a very entertaining 500.
AND, I almost forgot, I am SO thankful I won't have to read or hear "five year anniversary of his father's death" in every single media reference to Dale Jr. |
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