Logano Wins His First One
Logano Wins His First One
Joey Logano had luck on his side when he cycled into the lead on the final round of pit stops just before the rains fell on the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at Loudon, New Hampshire.
Becomes Youngest Winner in NASCAR History
Logano was declared the winner shortly thereafter as the rain continued to fall.
Logano was nowhere near the fastest car, but as they say, the fastest car doesn’t always win. The race looked like it would come down to a shootout between Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch had the rain held off.
Busch and Truex Tangle
Kyle Busch didn’t make any friends out of Martin Truex Jr or Brian Vickers today. Both drivers blamed Busch for the big wreck on a double-file restart on lap 175. Truex was so angry that he nearly threw his helmet at Busch, but pulled the throw at the last moment.
“Kyle just lost his head like he usually does when something bad happens,” said Truex.
Kyle Points Finger at Junior
But Kyle pointed to the 88 car ahead of Truex – saying Dale Jr spun his tires to cause the wreck.
Dale Earnhardt Jr had one of his best runs, climbing as high as third in the race. I look for Junior to continue to improve and be back in Victory Lane soon. Junior runs well on the superspeedways, and NASCAR is headed to Daytona next.
What did you think of today’s race?
Road Course Race Tops
Road Course Race One of the Best
Road courses aren’t exactly my favorite style of racing. I would usually tell you to get rid of the 2 road courses, along with Pocono and some of the cookie cutter mile and a half tracks and add a few more races at bull rings like Bristol and Martinsville, or another race at Talladega – but the race at Infineon was one of the best races of the year.
The Shootout Style double file restarts really kept everything interesting in the final laps.
I couldn’t believe Kasey Kahne could hold off a skilled road racer like Tony Stewart for that many restarts. It looked like Kahne had his car dialed in – and some serious horsepower under the hood.
It was good to see Richard Petty back in Victory Lane for the first time in a long time, too.
So what did you think about road course racing, Kahne’s and Petty’s win and everything else going on in the race?
Kyle Claims More Popularity than Junior
Kyle Busch Says He’s more Popular Than Dale Jr
Nate Ryan over at the USA Today had an interesting story about Kyle Busch today where Busch claims he is really NASCAR’s most popular driver — not Dale Earnhardt Jr.
According to Ryan, Kyle thinks Junior is not as popular as he is. “They should change it to most loved driver,” said Busch as he was quoted in the paper. “Everyone loves Junior, so he’s going to get it. But I’m the most popular with the media and the fans talking all the time, whether they say good or bad things.”
Ryan thinks Busch is growing in popularity due to the way he refuses to talk when he loses — and he says Kyle’s guitar smashing performance in Nashville upped Kyle’s fan base a little bit.
Kyle seemed oblivious to fan reactions. “A lot of people hated it and I guess those are the ones with 88 tattooed on their arms, or maybe still 8,” said Busch.
So, will Dale Jr lose any sleep now that Kyle Busch thinks he is more popular? I doubt it.
Danica Patrick in Dale Earnhardt Jr’s Car
Should Danica Patrick Drive Dale Earnhardt Jr’s Car?
Dale Earnhardt Jr has said he is ready to take his JR Motorsports team Cup racing. With Danica Patrick threatening to
bolt from the IRL when her contract expires at the end of this year to go NASCAR racing the rumor is she could land in a Sprint Cup car fielded by Dale Jr.
GoDaddy.com currently sponsors Patrick in the Indy Racing League. They also sponsor Dale Jr’s No. 88 Nationwide car driven by Brad Keselowski – and they have sponsored Keselowski in some Sprint Cup runs for Hendrick Motorsports. A Dale Jr / Danica Patrick sponsorship deal by GoDaddy would be a perfect fit.
But I’m sure that GoDaddy would not be the only one interested in that deal. The marketing potential of a Patrick – Earnhardt partnership would be pretty big.
Danica Patrick would be good for NASCAR. She would bring more fans, sponsors and media coverage to the sport.
She’s already proven that she can win in an open wheel car. Stock cars are different, though. Indy car stars – with the exception of Tony Stewart – haven’t seen a lot of success in NASCAR recently.
Danica may do better starting in the Nationwide series while learning how to drive stock cars. That’s okay; Dale Jr has a Nationwide car available too.
So will Danica Patrick really make the jump to NASCAR? The last time she was in contract negotiations she also expressed an interest in moving to NASCAR, but wound up staying with the IRL. Is all the NASCAR talk just a way to get the best deal on her IRL contract, or is Danica really interested in making the switch?
