You all can go to hell, and I will go to Texas...

...Motor Speedway! Woot!

Found a good deal on some preferred seats high up in Turn 4 for the AAA Texas 500. Should be able to see the whole track, and we will have seats, not just bleachers...

I will take plenty of pics!

And kudos if you know who said that quote originally.

That's awesome Sim!! Have a great time.

Sounds like a blast. I've been meaning to hit up Iowa, maybe next year...

Have fun!

WOW! What a race! Watching it all on TV is NOTHING like being there.

And you won't hear him say it on TV, 'cause he's a pro, but Brad was PISSED after the race. We had our scanners tuned to him. Wolfe congratulated him on doing well, and Brad's response was "it's hard to win when they keep handing the race to someone else."

So true. There were little things throughout the day, but the worst thing in my mind was the All-Hendrick wall rubbing that brought out a yellow with less than 20 laps to go. Brad had a huge lead over JJ, who was in second, but having to battle Kyle Busch.

Had the race stayed green, Brad would have won. Wolfe was telling him to let off, Kes was saying he was, and he was still running .3 seconds faster laps than JJ and Kyle every single lap, they were all slowly running slower. Brad had a super fast car, even on just two tires, (Which he had tested out earlier in the race.) and was increasing his lead despite the sand-bagging.

And even then, on the restart, Brad was able to grab the lead and started to walk away from JJ once he got in the clean air and could run his line. Of course then there was the contact on the front stretch with Mark Martin. Yet another questionable incident.

But the most glaring issue of the day?

The final restart.

We couldn't see this aspect of it from our seats, but JJ actually crossed the line about 1 foot front of BK. This is clearly a rules violation, and JJ should have been forced to serve a drive-through penalty, but needless to say, he was not penalized. With 27 cars on the lead lap, JJ would have dropped to the 20th spot or lower very easily, and BK would have a very, very nice points lead in the Chase.

I don't want to see officials dictate the outcome of a race - but I do want them to enforce their own rules - and here they clearly did not.

It's on to Pheonix now, and I'm sure JJ will be favored again, but you can bet that Bad-Ass Brad will not be going anywhere. This Chase will be decided on the 1.5 mile oval in Homestead, and Brad has shown time and time again that he has the combination of guts, brains, and machine that it takes to win on these tracks.

(Pics to come later.)

Oh boy. Another JJ, HMS conspiracy theorist. No one would wreck teammates intentionally. Watch the replay. Biffle took the air off the rear of the 24, he chased it up the track into the 5. It's funny when people don't get their way. Some take it well, others don't. Brad jumped a restart before the 48 with no penalty, Jimmie did by a cunt hair on the last one, gave the spot back, then pulled away between 1 and 2. I thought you were there? Maybe the TV showed it better. Fickle fans can't seem to enjoy a great race when it smacks them in the mouth. That may or may not be you Sim, but you should hear the clowns on Nascar.com. After EVERY, and I mean EVERY Jimmie win, there's someone crying foul and here you are doing the same. If that "foot across the line" was so important, why was the 2 dead even with the 48 going into turn one? And why did the 48 win by 5 car lengths? Don't forget, Brad and Paul chose two tires on the last stop, he used his car up.

Not a conspiracy theorist, but when the same players are involved in the same coincidences over and over, it just seems funny. Biff, Gordon, Kayne, had run like that all day with no incident. They just happen to lightly tap Kayne (just enough to bring out the caution after almost 3/4 of lap) into the wall as BK starts to pull away from JJ. HMR has alot riding on JJ, so a little cosmetic damage on the #5 is expendable.

It's Penske vs. Hendricks. You wouldn't see this if it was Gordon vs. JJ.

I was in Turn 4, so I couldn't see all the action in Turn 1. I did see the 2 kick up grass/dirt in Turn 1 on the restart. Jimmy wasn't giving him any room - after bitching at Brad on the track about crowding him. And Brad didn't jump the restart at all - he was well within the line on the track (we were right next to that section) for restarts. And Wolfe commented on it on the radio that he had double-checked with the bosses and all was well.

Jimmy's a damn good driver, and had a damn good car - maybe better than Brad's, but the biggest thing JJ had at Texas that Brad didn't was a team behind him.

Gordon pushing him while he was trying to save fuel? Well, atleast 'til he had his little issue. There is no Gordon for Brad to rely on in cases like that.

And no, he hadn't used his car up. When he got up the speed, even on 2 tires, he was faster than JJ on 4. He had proven that twice before during the race. He got pinched in 1, couldn't get up to speed, and lost the drag race down the backstretch becuase of it.

I guess all I'm trying to say is that if you're going to make the rule, make everyone play by it, and enforce it. If Brad jumped, penalize him too. If you're not gonna penalize anyone, get rid of the rule.

There were other things that hurt Brad too. He went too deep on his second pit stop, and Danica backing up in hers didn't help that. The first pit stop though, was similar, and it shouldn't have been. Wolfe came on the radio, said to stop short, which Brad did. Not only did Danica not drive deep into hers like her crew chief said she was going to, buty she was at a 45 degree angle blocking him in... That didn't help. Danica drives who's car, again? Oh - and they're affiliated with which major racing team???

That's A LOT of coincidences...

Ok. Then don't perpetuate conspiracy theories. Kahne did NOT have cosmetic damage. He nailed the wall. Expendable? He's one of the next closest in the Chase up to that point. As I said, watch the replay. Gordo wouldn't do that, Kahne wouldn't allow it. Face it, you're upset Brad lost. And IF Brad was faster at the end, HE WOULD HAVE WON! Pinched down, ok, great move Jimmie. That's racing. And yes, two tires can affect the car, especially after how hard they were racing before that. Tires fall off, Jimmie had four fresh ones with an equally fast car. Before that caution with about ten to go, Brad was in the lead, Jimmie was in second. Brad's gap however wasn't growing after Jimmie passed Kyle. You can't say what WOULD HAVE happened. He got beat, deal with it. This is what close racing between professionals is all about. If it went the other way, I say oh well, great race!

It's Danica's fault now? LOL. Brad makes a mistake, and it's Danica's fault? You must not watch alot of stock car racing. Pit road games are part of the race. Hey, if Bad Brad would have qualified better, he wouldn't have to deal with that. That's racing.

It's funny. Still the same arguments. As if the 48 has nothing but luck. Get real. He was real lucky in race one at Daytona. Wrecked on lap 2. You say, "well he got the 25 points back". And he would have made the Chase without them. EVERY single racer gets breaks and has bad luck. The great ones know how to avoid some of the bad, and capitalize on the good. I know, it's a tough pill to swallow when someone else does the very thing better than who you're rooting for, but that's competitve sports. Let's not forget Dover a few weeks ago. If NASCAR wanted the 48 to win, you would have seen a caution late so fuel mileage didn't win the race. The 48 was the fastest, but still managed a fourth place finish. Where were you then? Did you see the fortune then for your beloved Dodge? I say, great job Brad, you're fantastic at saving fuel and being fast. That's racing. Talladega, Brad luckily sneaks through the big one, Jimmie gets collected by no fault of his own. That's racing. You can split hairs all day, Brad got beat at Texas. That's racing.

C'mon, Tux, I know you like JJ, but calm down.

I didn't say Brad didn't goof on the pit stop, but Danica didn't make it any easier. She was the only one all day that pitted at a 45 degree angle. And on top of that, she backed up, despite having no need to.

And yes, Brad's lead was increasing - even after JJ got past Kyle. I was watching the intervals on the tracker/scanner.

And yes, being pinched is racing - but whining about it happening to you, then going out and doing it yourself is childish. If you whine about it, don't do it yourself. If you don't whine, fine, push back. Just don't do both.

And I'm not perpetuating anything. Kahne (who's not really in a position to do anything in the Chase) didn't hit the wall that hard, and Gordon hardly touched him. There was never any visible debris in Turn 4 (I was sitting there.), though there were two cautions for that. [I do understand that it might not be big debris, but even the broadcasters didn't know why they called it.]

You're right about it being close racing, but like I said, that's a whole lot of coincidences - and they seem to happen over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and...

Sim you are so un objectively biased. I know you are a bleeding heart Mopar guy but so am I and I freakin loved the race. Tux and I were jacked the last 50 miles for what we knew was gonna be an epic dogfight and we saw just that. There was no fucking way Nascar engineered a JJ win. That crap is absurd. Brad on the last 2 restarts was spinning the tires and on the final restart it bit him cause Jimmie nailed the hell out of the restart with 4 tires that was better than Brads 2. Period!

Sim, I'm not calmed up. Danica not making it easier is part of stock car racing. Whining about that is a bit childish. JJ passed Kyle what, like 2 laps before the caution, the gap was not getting any bigger and there were about ten to go. It's funny you talk about whining and in your first post you mention Brad complaining after the race. And mentioning the Kahne incident as if it happened on purpose is just that, perpetuating conspiracy theories. The caution didn't come out for debris, he was below minimum speed, those are the rules. Caution rules don't change. Sometimes it helps you, sometimes it hurts you.

You mention these lucky coincidences. In fact you said "over" six times. Can you name me six coincidences that helped ONLY the 48 in past 8 races? I'll say it again, if the shoe fits wear it. Your shoes look those of a conspiracy theorist. Again, not calmed up, just don't let your bias blind you to how things really are. And before you say it, yes Jimmie catches breaks sometimes, and so do the other 42 drivers.

The debris comment was for the two cautions earlier in the day, not the Kahne incident. (That happened in Turn 2 anyway...)

Brad didn't drive his car up beside Johnson after the race, like JJ did to Brad after the restart. That's the whining I'm talking about.

I'm not saying NASCAR is doing anything - I'm saying Hendricks is using his team of drivers. It's underhanded, but it's not NASCAR's doing.

NASCAR should eliminate the gray areas of the rules. If we have rule that states that the leader should be the first one to reach the start/finish line on a restart, then he should be the first. If not, do away with the rule and the let drivers drag race.

And does "calmed up" = "riled up?" Never heard that before...

I'll provide you with more coincidences earlier. I have homework to do at the moment...

You told me to calm down. Just sayin', not calmed up. It's just a funny comeback. A guy I work with says that.

I'll let footage do the talking. 5:50.



You saw one hell of a race Sim!

Guess I ought to upload a few of the shots I took at TMS:

Here's my (unfortunately for the moment) fat ass early in the day after we found our seats. I ended up having two extra tickets, so the g/f and good friend of mine from school (you all know him as JohnnyB) got to tag along.



Some of the pre-race spectacle: They had a concert, a carnival, a race on the 1/5mile track the stage is set up on, and, oh yeah, a NASCAR race all in one day.



Best. Golfcart. EVER!!!



The view (during driver introductions).



It's time to go racin'!!!



First Caution and pit stops.



Coolest hat I've seen...



Setting up the final battle. (2nd to last restart.)



Jimmie's victory burnout.



I would have taken more, but I was a little too excited to take photos all the time. And I just have a point and shoot. I really needed a DSLR, 'cause my camera couldn't keep up with the cars as the moved around the track. The pictures were too blurry...