Historically my favorite race – though the last few have left a bit to be desired. It has been an exciting weekend of racing so far. The ARCA series kicked things off with a bizarre action-filled race. For reasons beyond my understanding Chad Hackenbracht pushed Brandon McReynolds to the win. So Larry Mc’s spawn has his first ARCA win. I guess Chad Hackenbracht owed Larry Mc money. Debt paid, I hope. The race itself was really strange. Lots of wrecks and some strange wrecks. There were so many cautions throughout and the race itself was just strange. I love this series though. Too many money teams showing up these days and stealing the spotlight, but I still like to watch.
The Nationwide race was a 50/50 race. For a while it was rather quiet and they just drove around single-file for dozens of laps, then it got weird. There were a few thing that happened that could have been predicted, but as the cautions kept falling, the action got weirder and scarier. In the end Joey Logano beat KyBu across the line for the win and a fun finish. A nasty wreck toward the end resulted in Eric McClure getting airlifted to Birmingham Medical Center. His wife tweeted on Sunday that he was stable and hoped to be released on Sunday. The wreck was ugly. He hit the inside wall – with SAFER barrier – with the throttle wide open. Mike Joy called it a vicious hit and that it was. I was beside myself with frustration though as we watched work on Danica Patrick’s car, which received a little damage in the incident, while the workers were gathered around McClure’s car. A real driver is injured, not getting out of a car, and we’re stuck watching work on a dilettante’s car. GIVE ME A BREAK!!! Finally we began to get helicopter shots of McClure’s car. I don’t have a wide-screen HD television, so it was like watching ants scurrying. The announcers would occasionally begin a sentence with, “You can see….” and I would yell at the television, “I can’t see anything!!!”. I would imagine NASCAR’s/FOX’s director and technical director were attempting to be circumspect to avoid showing bloody remains, but it would be nice to actually see the scene from ground level. They need to work on the balance a bit better and remember not everyone has a gi-normous tv. I was aggravated throughout the race when they would put up graphics on the left side of the screen and the left side of the graphics were off screen completely for me. Everybody doesn’t have a massive screen and some accommodations should be made. McClure is still hospitalized (on Sunday) and expected to stay another night, but his condition is stable. Best Wishes for Eric McClure and his family.
Unfortunately there was rain which delayed the start of the race. That’s unfortunate because when there’s rain, there’s tentative racing to follow. Understandable on one hand, boring on the other. The race begins under overcast skies and engines start to blow up almost immediately. It was surprising, which is a nice change. The previous races have had few surprises of any kind. If we could also throw in a few tire issues… Ask and it shall be given, tire issues have arisen during the race causing unforeseen consequences. Goody! It appears the powers that be are dialing a little drama back into Sprint Cup races. Keep it coming. By the way, I miss the wing. Just saying…
Lap 62 of 188 Jimmie Johnson blows up. BUMMER!!! Though this is NOT the finish I wanted for my driver, I’d rather have surprises than the same ole same ole week after week. Quite a few engine issues for this race – a bummer, but not critical. It just means the engineers need to go back to the chalk board/laptop and come up with something better!
Big wreck in the back collects Big Daddy, Carl Edwards, Martin Truex Jr., Aric Almirola, Joey Logano, and several others.
Pooh is bummed her driver, Carl, is out. She’s still booing Jeff Gordon though, even though he says he’s going to watch from the sofa.
Until we hit about 20 to go there was lots of left turns and lots of follow the leader. Pooh is snoozing. Can’t blame her.
Talladega used to be a gorgeous race, fast with lots of action, lately its become a snooze fest until then end of the race typically. They don’t do much besides “settle in” for 150+ laps. Then they suddenly all start racing, and typically, because they’ve been settling in, the A.J. Allmendingers are in the mix and the trouble begins.
Smoke is astoundingly whiny these days.
So, after miles and miles of boredom, we’re in a for a green white checker in the Cup race.
Another Race of Attrition with no action until the end… They’ve got to get better about racing throughout the race and not just taking off from a restart, then settling in for dozens of laps.
Keselowski wins. I’m glad Kenseth and Biffle didn’t win, but I was hoping Kasey or BooBoo (Dale Jr) would’ve come from the back and win. Jimmie was sitting on Dale Jr’s box watching the race. I like that Keslowski in spite of himself. Good on him for apologizing to Kurt Busch for their altercation. I don’t think it will make a difference to Kurt in the end and I’m guessing payback is coming. A.J. is certainly angry. He’s such a poopoobaby. If his talent came anywhere near his imagination he would be impressive. I would imagine though, if his self-perception ever matched his talent I guess he’d have to go get a job.
I’m thoroughly tired of races that bore you until 20 or 30 to go. The spoiler was changed for this race and it seemed to change the racing a little, but it also seemed to make the drivers more tentative. I completely understand making the Chase is very very important, but it’s beginning to kill the regular season. They are so intent on the Chase they are holding back too much during the regular season. Last season the only reason Smoke raced balls to the wall was because he had nothing to lose and everything to gain. I applaud NASCAR for trying to consistently improve the product for the fans and the safety for the drivers, but they also have to help the drivers really seize the reins and go all out every race. It seems the sponsors are putting a stranglehold on the drivers, though I don’t have any idea how to fix that. The complicated, but necessary relationship between the money men and the powers that be and the men that own and their drivers would probably have to be blown up and started from the top.
Overall, this was a better Talladega Race weekend than the past few.