NASCAR is BACK!!! Finally!!! It’s been FOREVER!!!!! I’m so excited!!! NASCAR Live is on!!! Hoooorrrraaaayyyyyyyy!!! John Roberts! Yaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy!!!! And then it went downhill from there as the D squad showed up faster than anyone. Unfortunately Petty Kyle is back, and Stuck-in-a-Rut-ledge, Clueless Matt Clark and Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time-or-Race-Time-Nicole Trotta. And she’s back to doing her scary ‘tv voice’. Ick!!! Where are the real NASCAR folks? And NO Dave Despain does NOT count! Wendy is there and Dillner, so that gives me something to watch/listen to. We introduce everybody then its on to a truly LAME ‘feature’ the off-season in 2 minutes. STOP TRYING TO BE FUNNY!!! YOU’RE NOT!!! Leave the humor to the professionals – they aren’t much better, but at least they’re paid to be funny. CAN WE PLEASE hire some talent (at least Wendy Venturini/Bob Dillner quality or BETTER) PLEEEEAAAASSSSEEEE!!! Welcome back Wendy, Dillner, Yoakum, and Byrnesy! Good to see and hear you guys telling us what’s going on in the garage.
This show seems unimportant when SpeedTV can’t be bothered to have their best announcers and analysts on the show, but instead the D team is on the desk and in the pits (with exceptions). Consistently it feels like SpeedTV isn’t interested in producing quality television anymore, just cheap television. My Mom used to say, “You pay peanuts; you get monkeys”. SpeedTV apparently bought a peanut farm.
FINALLY!!! Mike Joy!!!! HOORAY!!! Darrell Waltrip!!!! HOORAY!!!! Larry McReynolds. Expected misery. At least its good to know the A team is in attendance and on the job!
17:12 wreck 1. Kenseth and KuBu fighting over who will draft with KyBu. Too bad, so sad, a bunch of cars torn up on lap 8 of practice. 8 1/2 minutes into first practice. Carl Edwards, Mark Martin, KuBu, Kenseth, JPM, and a few other folks either fixing cars or using their backup cars. The 48 is sporting a lovely yellow Chevy SS today. According to Mike Joy it is a color used on the 1969 Corvette. The color was familiar to me – one of the few yellows I like. Corvette has had the most shades/hues of yellow I like. Kenseth said a wordy durd in the process of explaining what happened in the wreck. I missed it at the time, but Mike Joy apologised for it when they went back to the anchor desk. Kenseth’s explanation indicated he was just not doing what he should and looking where he should. According to Bob Dillner these cars allow more visibility, but the drivers have to learn where to look in the new cars. Chris Osborne is Kenseth’s new spotter and where Kenseth was on the track was a difficult place for the spotter to see, but Kenseth took full responsibility for turning down on KuBu’s frontend. The 78 team has sent their car to N.C. to have Richard Childress Racing repair their car so it can be used as a back. Wow.
By race time I might be able to remember the Sprint Unlimited’s race name. It’s been the Bud Shootout for a while now and I think of it that way. Sprint Unlimited is just not sticking. I like the name ‘Sprint Shootout’ so that makes the name change a marketing department decision. Marketing Departments always have ideas, but rarely good ones or sensible ones or user-friendly ones. The name change would most likely work with one of their schemes – and since we’re seeing a lot of those beep-beep commercials, the walkie-talkie like phones – sprint connect or whatever – I imagine its a tie-in. But as a NASCAR fan with a different wireless service the name means nothing and results in my calling it the Shootout.
It’s always weird that the announcers make such a big deal about some drivers not participating in the Shootout. Brad Keselowski and Clint Bowyer aren’t in. Who cares? It’s not the first time the race has happened without their participation and it, most likely, will not be the last. Brad is the 2012 champion. He didn’t do what was necessary to get into the 2013 Sprint Unlimited. Okay. So what? Clint Bowyer gained the second position (aka ‘1st loser’) in 2012. Okay. So what? The only difference if Bowyer was in the race, the media would harp on possible revenge against Jeff Gordon. That is a less than invigorating notion. Gordon’s action was long past due. Since Clint didn’t get in the fight, he missed the chance to validly defend his racing masculinity. Whatever! That was 2012, the past. 2012 is gone, 2013 is here. In some ways it feels like 2012 has extended into 2013, but I hope racing will make it feel like a new year, a better year – the best year yet!