Congrats to first time parents Kasey Kahne and Sam Sheets on the birth of their son Tanner Lee Kahne!<\/p>\n
Atlanta Motor Speedway announced, this week, they will offer a ‘perfect weather guarantee’ and lower ticket prices. The guarantee will provide a credit to fans – with caveats, of course – if the temperature does not reach 50 degrees or if on-track activities are pre-empted by inclement weather. Also they announced top ticket prices will be $99. Okay. Nice try at enticing fans back to the Atlanta race. Personally, as a native Georgian, 50 degrees does not make me think of great weather for outdoor activities. The Atlanta area tends to be quite windy. So while the air temperature may be 50 degrees, the winds may blow 20-40 mph resulting in a wind chill of 40-43 degrees which is definitely not conducive to enjoying a day in the grandstand. And that’s just about the best case scenario. Alternately it may rain, sleet, or snow and there’s always a chance of severe thunderstorms or tornadoes. January – April are just not the best months for races in Atlanta due to the volatile weather. Weather-wise, Labor Day was a good choice, overall, but there are several large events in the area that weekend complicating the travel and accommodations situation. The weather wasn’t really the biggest issue resulting in the dwindling crowd – the racing was. Yes the Sunday night race was rained out one year and held on Tuesday. I sat in the rain for hours on Sunday before they finally called the race and watched the end on television at work on Tuesday. I was quite disappointed, but attended the race the following year. The first year I didn’t attend was the year I was unable to find a hotel room for the weekend eight months before the race. The rooms are typically six to ten times more expensive that weekend, apparently that’s typical around race weekend. But to be unable to reserve a room in January for a race in September was disheartening. With the treacherous traffic situation one encounters when attempting to reach the track from the city of Atlanta on race day – did it twice and learned my lesson – spend the weekend near the track, therefore I deal with the highway robbery prices to secure a room, so the lack of room availability eight months before the event resulted in my missing the race that year. Of course the loss of the Atlanta truck race that weekend, the previous year’s boring racing, and the major shrinking of the midway left me feeling a bit ripped off anyway, so it wasn’t as painful as it would’ve been a couple of years prior. Strangely I seem to be experiencing a similar issue attempting to find accommodations for the Darlington race. All the hotels I saw were sold out for the 2015 race when I checked in March. So I decided to begin earlier for 2016. When I checked in late September, a couple weeks after the 2015 race, all of the hotels are listed as sold out for 2016. I don’t buy tickets to the race until I have a place to stay and a this rate it appears I’ll have to travel elsewhere to find a race that has available hotel rooms.<\/p>\n
In general the Kansas race was a typically dull race. One of the drivers mentioned a lack of passing. We seem to see a lot of that these days. The leader gets out front in turn one and then its game of follow-the-leader until the next restart. That’s just not that interesting. I believe part of the issue is the coverage. There may be more interesting racing further back in the field.<\/p>\n
Joey spun Kenseth out on lap 262 of 267. Kenseth was doing his usual blocking and Joey decided it was in his best interest to get into the left rear of Kenseth and spin him out. Another disgusting display by the Penske punks.<\/p>\n
Joey Logano crossed the finish line first.<\/p>\n
Jimmie Johnson finished third, Kasey Kahne finished fourth, Kyle Busch finished fifth, Ryan Blaney finished seventh, and Jeff Gordon finished tenth. Congrats to those guys, especially Ryan Blaney! Great run Rookie!<\/p>\n
In NASCAR news this week:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Congrats to first time parents Kasey Kahne and Sam Sheets on the birth of their son Tanner Lee Kahne! Atlanta Motor Speedway announced, this week, they will offer a ‘perfect weather guarantee’ and lower ticket prices. The guarantee will provide a credit to fans – with caveats, of course – if the temperature does not … <\/p>\n\n
Next Race: Talladega<\/h3>\n
GO 48!!!!<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"