Capital City 400 Race Preview
We’ll be live at the Capital City 400 in Richmond International Raceway, covering the Sprint Cup Series race and providing news and notes from pre-race in the garage, and from the press box during the exciting short-track race action. Follow all the action on RotoExperts Twitter.
If anyone can be called Mr. Richmond, especially lately, it is Kyle Busch. He has been dominant at the track, and won the spring run here. In fact, he also won the Trucks Series race and Nationwide Series race that weekend, too. But certainly don’t discount Virginia native, and local favorite, Denny Hamlin, who is coming off a victory last weekend in Kansas. It’s also a bad idea to overlook Kevin Harvick for Fantasy purposes. While this isn’t his strongest track, he was able to win the fall run in 2011, and he has managed an 11.5 average-finish position in 22 career starts.
Danica and Dale are Not the Real Stars
If you do not watch the NASCAR Sprint Cup series regularly, you may assume that Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Danica Patrick are the sport’s biggest stars. You may know about Jimmie Johnson too, because he won all those championships recently.
Of those three, though, Johnson is the only one that gets the attention he truly deserves. Danica and Dale are the problem with NASCAR right now. The sport’s most notable stars are not their best drivers. Heck, in the case of Patrick, she’s not even good.
Before you paint me as some sort of chauvinist, though, keep in mind I believe Patrick and Earnhardt are highly overrated. I am all for a female driver, but she better be good, and earn her place. But she does not belong anywhere near the Sprint Cup series. She has ONE career victory on all the circuits she has raced on. In 27 career races in the Nationwide Series, she has only one top five finish and three Top 10s. If her name was Dan Patrick, no one would know who she is. She’s a novelty, and maybe not even the best one. Can we find a better female driver? If you want to find a better-looking one, I’d go with Milka Duno of the IRL, too.
Some Things in Sports Never Change
The Knicks fell to the Celtics for the 11th consecutive time in Boston
We interrupt your regularly scheduled sports reading to remind you that in the sporting world, no matter how much some things change, they always stay the same. The past weekend was proof of that axiom, or whatever you want to call it.
The biggest example of how certain trends always seem to follow the same suit was in Boston, where the New York Knicks fell to the Boston Celtics yet again, 115-111. Boston beat New York for the 11th consecutive time at home, and sixth in its past seven meetings. Despite some fourth-quarter heroics by Carmelo Anthony, Paul Pierce threw a major dart at New York again when it counted most, nailing a key three-pointer with just under five seconds remaining to send the game into overtime, where Ray Allen’s five-point burst that included a three-pointer and a layup put the game away for good.
Pierce has long been a Knicks-killer, and yesterday, he conjured up memories of Larry Bird ripping their hearts out when it counted every time. While New Englanders must face the facts that the Giants own the Patriots, they can bask in the knowledge that the Celtics will always own the Knicks, until further notice.
Jeff Gordon, Richard Petty Hall of Fame Q&A
Jeff Gordon and Richard Petty sit down for a Q&A at the NASCAR Acceleration weekend...
Even if you’re not a die-hard fan of NASCAR, you still recognize the names Jeff Gordon and Richard Petty. Don’t feel bad, as Gordon didn’t always follow NASCAR growing up in California, and then Indiana.
At the NASCAR Acceleration weekend, in conjunction with the Hall of Fame inductions in Charlotte, both Jeff Gordon and Richard Petty sat down for a Q&A session with members of the media and fans, hosted by Gordon’s friend and former teammate, Ricky Craven.
Here is a little trivia for you, too. Did you know that Jeff Gordon’s first Cup Series race in the Fall of 1992 in Atlanta was the last career race for Richard Petty? Gordon reminded the Hall of Famer Petty that he is just one of a handful of current Sprint Cup Series drivers who have competed against Petty on the track.
2012 NASCAR Hall of Fame Class
On a chilly, rainy night in Charlotte, the devotion of NASCAR fans was on display in full force. Amazing fans, dressed in ponchos and racing gear, lined Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. downtown, swapping racing stories and waiting for the morning to get their wristbands for autograph sessions with their favorite drivers.
EVERYONE was there over weekend, too. If you’re a fan of the sport, or even just a casual sports fan, Charlotte was the place to be. And in true North Carolina style, there was a monster truck rally in town, too, at the Time Warner Arena.
The 2012 NASCAR Hall of Fame class features the late Richie Evans, Dale Inman, Darrell Waltrip, Glen Wood and Cale Yarborough. Evans was killed in an accident in Martinsville in 1985. He was 44, and was represented by his wife Lynn, and former crew chief Billy Nacewicz.
IRL – Well done, Wheldon!
Ever since I was a little kid, I can remember watching the Indianapolis 500 on television. In 1989, I visited the track and actually got to ride around on a tour and view the bricks close-up.
That being said, I am not a die-hard open-wheel racing fan. I watch the big races, such as the Indianapolis 500. Like many, I was turned off to the sport by the huge CART/IRL split. Lately, the most open-wheel racing I’ve watched is the mediocre movie Driven, cheering for Joe Tanto, Beau Brandenburg and Memo Moreno.
For whatever reason, I can recall that Gordon Johncock’s hometown is Coldwater, Mich. I remember that because I always look up cities I’ve never heard of. Back in 1982, Johncock had a healthy lead over Rick Mears before his lead shrank to .16 seconds at the bricks, one of the closest finishes and most memorable Indy 500 runs of all-time.
That is, until the 100th running Sunday.
Royals Manager is a Fantasy NASCAR King
Every time Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost brings out a lineup card or makes a trip to the mound, the number 3 is apparent on his jersey. It’s a not only a tribute to a sports legend, but a close friend. Yost, who is a major NASCAR enthusiast, was good buddies with the late, great Dale Earnhardt.
According to previous accounts of their bond, Yost befriended Earnhardt when he was a coach for the Braves. They met on a hunting trip, and Yost spent some time in the pits with Earnhardt’s crew during the baseball strike of 1994. They became hunting partners, and Yost shared champagne showers with the legendary driver in Victory Lane.
Yost has spent memorable times with the sport’s biggest icon, so it’s only natural that he has great knowledge of the Sprint Cup Series. Not only does Yost oversee one of the upstart teams in the American League, he also runs the Royals’ Fantasy NASCAR “pool”, as he calls it. It includes many Royals staffers, such as front office people and clubhouse personnel.
I Heart Kevin Harvick
I was very disappointed that I missed seeing the Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in person for the first time since moving to North Carolina in 2008. Saturday’s race had a little bit of everything.
First off, congratulations to Furniture Row Racing driver Regan Smith, who held off Carl Edwards and his fresh tires for a thrilling Green-White-Checkered finish. Smith even clapped the wall on the final lap, but he was able to keep his car in front of the Sprint Cup Series leader for his first career win among the big boys. It was the equivalent of Appalachian State upsetting Michigan in college football, or Buster Douglas slaying Mike Tyson. Generally, we only see wins from teams like Joe Gibbs Racings, Hendrick Motorsports, Roush Fenway Racing, Richard Childress Racing, etc.
Getting Your Talladega Fix
On Sunday, I was sent scrambling to a sports bar in Wake Forest, N.C., as the severe thunderstorms and tornadoes in the metropolitan Raleigh/Durham area knocked out my cable/internet. I didn’t realize how bad things were without access to the news, and I had to get my Talladega fix.
As a Tar Heel, who continues to deepen my roots in the great state of North Carolina, my first thought was obvious sadness for those affected. It turns out my family was very lucky, as we got golf-ball sized hail, and were less than 10 miles from one of the hardest hit areas, but we escaped with minimal effects. Many are homeless, still without electricity and/or dealing with death of family or loved ones. Keep all of those families in the Southeast in your thoughts, as these storms scarred the land from Oklahoma to the Carolinas and Virginia, the heart of NASCAR country.
NASCAR: Much More Than “Left Turns”
NASCAR is the one sport that my entire family watches together. Myself, my wife and my son all diligently follow the Sprint Cup Series. Being more in the public eye, though, I often hear the general, blanket criticisms of the sport. “It’s a million left turns” or “it’s not much more than going fast on the highway.”
Well, for those of you who submit the tired “left turns” line, it’s time to get a new schtick, and also watch a race on a road course. You can dumb down any sport if you want to. The NBA is useless until the final two minutes, football is just a bunch of guys diving into piles, etc. There’s much more going on at high speeds than meets the average eye. Heck, NHL players go in circles all the time, if you want to be that “caveman basic.” Through each one of those laps, there are tons of strategies being executed and planned every second, and a tremendous amount of teamwork goes into every move a driver makes. All that happens at ridiculous speeds, with 40-plus cars to dodge and maneuver around in tight quarters with every move you make. No one is actually competing on the highway, and not at those levels of intensity.
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