Partly cloudy on race day in Indianapolis. Always a pleasure to hear Mary Hulman George give the command. I don’t know why, but she’s my favorite Indy tradition. It’s the 20th anniversary of NASCAR at the Brickyard. The hype has been big – though nothing compared to the insane hype for the Mudsummer Classic. It absolutely DID NOT live up to the hype. Heavy trucks, driving realitively slowly on the mud. As Dave Blaney said the Dillon boys had the advantage with specially made trucks for the event, so, of course, Frankenstein won. 
Boring race. Disappointing outcome. I just hate to see money override talent. The Blaneys, Kenny Wallace, Ron Hornaday, and even Norm Benning have as much or more talent than Austin Dillon but they don’t have his grandfather’s money building them cars and giving them everything they need to have an advantage before the engines fire. Sigh! Such is life.
The Nationwide race yesterday at Indy was rather boring – mediocre at best. There was a nice run at the end of the race between Joey Logano, and Kyle Busch with a little input from Brian Vickers and Brian Scott. But an end of the race you cheer for doesn’t make up for a tedious race. KyBu ended up winning.
Clouds appear to be gathering, but relatively slowly. I don’t think it will affect the race. Overall it’s been a little better than a typical Indianapolis race – a little better.
Newman wins the race after starting on the pole with a new track record. Jimmie finishes second. Kasey finishes third. Smoke finishes fourth. Dale Jr finishes sixth and Jeff Gordon finishes seventh. Great day for Hendrick engineering.
In NASCAR news this week:
- The Camping World Truck Series ran the inaugural race at Eldora on mud. There were quite a few ‘dirt track specialists’ in the field. Norm Benning was a popular winner of a transfer spot from one of the heat races. For me, it was a boring race and I am not looking forward to next year’s event. The hype was phenomenal. The racing slow. The kids with money behind them ruled the event, which made it less than delightful. It would’ve been fantastic to see a truck series regular with experience and without funding win.
- NBC will air NASCAR races in 2015. No More TNT!!! That’s the good news. The bad news is no more ESPN. I totally dig Alan Bestwick and Andy Petree and will miss them tremendously. Doc Punch is the best pit reporter in the business. I can’t imagine NASCAR without him. Nicole M. Briscoe has become a wonderful presence on the desk. I enjoy Ray Evernham thoroughly and I hope he will move to NBC. Both Dale Jarrett and Rusty Wallace get on my nerves – just too hyper for me – but I don’t mind watching them. The only good thing about the end of ESPN is the end – I hope – of Brad Daugherty on a desk.
- Frankenstein is coming. RC is going to try 4 again. Last time he had four cars the results were pitiful and Clint ended up going to Michael Waltrip Racing. This time he’s going to have Burton, Menard, Frankenstein (who is SO not ready for this series) and Happy Harvick’s replacements (supposedy either Kurt Busch or Ryan Newman). That doesn’t sound like a winning formula to me since all of his time and energy will mainly go toward grooming Frankenstein. Burton’s contract is the only thing keeping him in his ride at this point. Now I believe his performance would be better if he had an owner who was concentrating on drivers other than his grandsons. I believe his and Menard’s mediocre performances are both due to RC’s neglect. That’s why I can’t image adding another team will make a significant improvement, though Kurt Busch has proven he can win and place well without a strong owner.