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Kevin Harvick survives a wreck filled 75 lap shootout to win Richard Childress Racing their 6th Budshoot Out victory.
Harvick managed to weave his way through wrecks and survived a brush with the wall to be there at the end when it counted. Just look at the side of Kevin's car to see what I'm talking about. He even lost the draft twice. Man.
This race was a good kick off to the 2009 racing season.
I'll have more tomorrow.
Don't forget, this site has moved to http://www.4ever3blog.com/ and I'll only be double-posting for a short while so adjust your link lists and bookmarks.

Well after much owner point trading and buying over the last few days (there's a story in there for sure - maybe later) the final starting field for the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona is finally set.
Here is your starting line up:

No I'm not talking about Jason Vorhees, I'm talking about Jeremy Mayfield.
Jeremy has had an up and down career in NASCAR's premier racing series and now he is back driving his own car with a full-time sponsorship in All Sport.
Yep, Jeremy now has his own race team and he is going Cup racing full-time this year while handling the driving duties as well. He is one of about 12 or 15 newly registered start-up teams that have NASCAR's approval to race this season, but he is the only one with a secure full-time sponsor.

Well, after I single-handily made NASCAR change their Budweiser Shootout qualifying format (ya right) the time is near for the actual race to happen.
(Can't wait, can't wait,can't wait,...)
Here are the contenders, in numerical order of course:
#-Driver-Hometown-Manufacturer-Sponsor-Car Owner
00-David Reutimann -Zephyrhills, FL -Toyota - Aaron’s Dream Machine Michael Waltrip
2-Kurt Busch-Las Vegas, NV-Dodge-Miller Lite-Walter Czarnecki
6-David Ragan-Unadilla, GA-Ford-UPS-Mike Dee
7-Robby Gordon-Orange, CA-Dodge-Jim Beam-Robby Gordon

***MEDIA ALERT***
FANS GET CHANCE TO MEET DALE EARNHARDT JR.
THROUGH ‘ADIDAS HOT PASS’ PROMOTION
First 88 fans to purchase $150 of adidas gear at
Daytona Champs Sports meet Dale Jr.

WHAT:

Two brothers think they have a solution to teams looking for a sponsor: Let fans be the sponsor. With the help of a good friend they have built a web site: www.thefancar.com to hopefully give a percentage of the 75 million NASCAR fans a chance of a lifetime -- becoming a Sponsor for NASCAR's 2009 Daytona 500 and the 2009 Sprint Cup Series.

Look I'm not a Jeff Gordon fan, and never will be, but if he has to the answer any more stupid questions about not winning last year and if he thinks he can this year I'm going to puke.
I feel sorry for him. Really.
Leave the guy alone. He will win again. Man!
The same thing happened when Dale Earnhardt went on a bit of a dry spell back in 1997. He still finished 5th in the points - not too bad for someone who was supposed to be 'washed-up' and would never win again.
What Jeff Gordon went through last year is similar to what happened to Dale and I would expect Jeff to bounce back from this 41 race winless streak quite nicely.

Tommy Baldwin was a guest on Charlie and Steve's radio show, On Pit Row, this week. During the show Tommy stated that one of the reasons why he is venturing into the realm of sprint Cup Ownership is because of the CoT.
Yep, the new car is cheaper to run because you have to run the same body for all of the tracks and NASCAR has limited what you can do the chassis as well.
Technically you can run the same car at Martinsville that you run at Daytona and vise-versa and that, according to Baldwin, is the main reason why he is going racing full-time this year as a car owner.

I just got a letter in the mail today from Michigan International Speedway. I usually do get something from MIS about this time of year reminding me that I once bought tickets from them and they are wondering if I would like to do so again.

A friend of mine at work told me in almost disbelief that the one NASCAR pool that he is in has already handed out their driver lists for the pool. "How can they do that already?" he asks, "There are teams that are still listing drivers for their cars for cryin' out loud!"
Yep I agree. This year's version of "Silly Season" has turned into a Darwinian free-for-all of survival of the fittest which can be dubbed "Survival Season".
I honestly can't remember an off-season with so much driver and team turmoil. I know, its the economy - but still there has been a lot of change.

When I went to the Canadian Motorsports Expo on the weekend I had an interesting conversation with a die-hard Dale Jr fan, he was worried about the economic state of NASCAR.
He asked me about my thoughts on the subject which I coincidentally had already shared with a friend of mine at work just days before.

Ask.com CEO Jim Safka and 2000 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion Bobby Labonte addressed media together for the first time and unveiled the Hall of Fame Racing No. 96 Ask.com Ford paint scheme Labonte will drive in the Daytona 500.

Ask recently announced its position as Official Search Engine of NASCAR in conjunction with announcing it’s primary sponsorship of the No. 96 Hall of Fame Racing Ford in 2009. Ask also will power the fan’s search experience on NASCAR.com.

Former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion Bobby Labonte unveils his 2009 paint scheme alongside Ask.com CEO, Jim Safka and Hall of Fame Racing Owner Tom Garfinkel
[Credit: Harold Hinson Photography]

Bobby Labonte fields questions about driving the

Lately it seems that whatever motorsports magazine or periodical you pick up you will find their expert NASCAR pundit claiming that NASCAR is broken and here's how to fix it.

Ok, being the Devil's Advocate that I am here is what I have to offer - who said it was broken in the first place? Go with me on this one.
Is it the car of tomorrow .. er .. today? Nope. Since the CoT has been introduced the safety factor for the drivers has increased. If you don't believe me just as Michael McDowell and Jeff Gordon who both walked away from some severe hits this season.

... or so I like to think. Hey I can dream can't I?
Back before Christmas I went on a bit of a rant about the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona and how I thought the new rules already needed to be changed even before the first race under the new rules was even run.
Well, apparently NASCAR thought the same too. They must have read my blog and said, "Hey that there boy up in Canada is frickin' right about this whole darn shootout mess. We need to fix it. Whachu think Brian?"
OK I hear you, the whole conversation probably didn't go like that.

AskTM Is Now the Official Search Engine of NASCAR;
Ask.com Proprietary Technologies Will Create Best NASCAR Search Experience on the Web
OAKLAND, Calif., January 14, 2009 – Ask.com, a leading search engine and an operating business of IAC (Nasdaq: IACI), today announced it has entered into partnerships with The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), NASCAR.COM, and Hall of Fame Racing. Under the terms of the partnership with NASCAR, Ask becomes the Official Search Engine of NASCAR, with category exclusivity and a broad set of promotional rights in order to reach the sport’s estimated 75 million loyal fans.