Sit back, put your feet up, crack open your drivers favorite beverage and get ready for the Daytona 500. I know I said that it is not my favorite race, but it still kicks off the season. Jimmy Johnson tries to become the first driver to win four straight championships. Jeff Gordon tries to rebound and win a race this year. Carl Edwards is the favorite to win the crown in all the preseason rags I've read. For the casual fan, Daytona is probably the only race you know by name. Well even for the die hard fans, the sponsorships of races has made it difficult to remember which race is which anymore. Even though I don't have him on my fantasy team, I am rooting for Mark Martin in the #5 Kellogg's car. He has never won the big race. I am also pulling for him to win the championship. He is with Hendricks Motorsports, which is the team I root for, Gordon, Lil' E, Johnson and Martin.

As I let know in a previous blog, I am a Jeff Gordon fan, well I also root for everyone to take out Tony Stewart. Now that he has his own racing team, which I have found out he is getting his engines from Hendricks (very disappointing), He will not have the money to spend like he did, when he was with Joe Gibbs Racing. It will be interesting if Tony and his teammate Ryan Newman will be able to compete with the powerhouse teams, which took all the spots in the chase for the cup last year. It is tough for the little guys to compete, and now with the economy the way it is, sponsorship money is down, so it will even be tougher for the smaller teams to compete. There have been a lot of teams joining forces together.

Kind of a side note, there will not be a Petty in the Daytona 500 for the first time in over 40 years. Although you could say even though Kyle was in the race, he never had a chance to win. Well, get out your colorful shirts with all the sponsorship tags on them, and wait for the most famous words in racing,"Gentlemen Start Your Engines" good luck to all except for Tony Stewart Racing. Just one persons perspective, Rubba Shoes Corey keeping it real.

billy@wickedpissadude.com

Labels: carl edwards, daytona, daytona 500, Guy - My Fantasy, hendricks motorsports, jeff gordon, jimmy johnsonchampionship, joe gibbs, kelloggs, mark martin, petty, ryan newman, sprint cup, tony stewart

Well, This is my first blog so be easy on me. I am a NASCAR fan. I wouldn't say that I am the biggest, I don't watch every lap of every race, but I do my best to watch as many as I can. I am a #24 Jeff Gordon fan, been one since 1992. That is when I lived in Virginia, while I was in the Navy. The Daytona 500 may have been the sports biggest race, but ever since they put restrictor plates on the cars on the super speedways, Daytona and Talladega, in my opinion they have tarnished both tracks. How can you say that the biggest race in your sport is one that can have one crash take out half the field. Because of this there are two different theories on how to take on these tracks. One is to get in front and stay in front, which is very difficult, because if you get hung out, you can go from first to twenty first in 2 seconds. The other theory is to hang back until less than a hundred laps to go then make your move. Well, neither has proved to be the way to go. That one mistake by someone that doesn't have a chance to win, can take out all of the top competitors. Then you have a bunch of nobodies racing for the biggest prize in racing. How can this be the Superbowl of NASCAR. For me, I would take either race at the Bristol, Tenn. track. Those are my two favorite races of the year. Well, that's all I have for now. Don't even get me started on our local track, Louden may be the most boring track on the circuit. That's just one persons perspective. I'm Rubbershoes Corey keepin' it real.

billy@wickedpissadude.com

Labels: 1992, Amazing race, daytona, daytona 500, jeff gordon, nascar, navy, restrictor plates, rubbershoes, Super Bowl, talladega, virginia tech