2011 Sprint Cup Champion Tony Stewart with the Sprint Cup. (photo credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images North America)

This year marks a year of great change in NASCAR and for fans trying to navigate these changes. The first change is a new qualifying procedure that has multiple cars on the track at any given time- deemed “Knockout Qualifying.” Next the whole 2014 Chase format has been changed (think of the NASCAR Chase as being a championship playoffs if you are new to NASCAR).  Instead of 12 drivers (what it has been in seasons past)- the Chase has been expanded to 16 spots- where drivers are subsequently knocked out of the chase in three three-race rounds- eventually narrowing the field to four cars for the final race in Homestead-Miami. That right there seems like a lot of change right?

But what seems to be causing a lot of the confusion right now is HOW a driver qualifies for that Chase. Somehow- the idea that if a driver wins a race in the “regular season” (defined as the first 26 POINTS PAYING races of the NASCAR season) that driver is qualified for the 2014 Chase for the Sprint Series Cup.  This has been mentioned by national media on TV as well as by drivers.  Because of all the confusion, I decided to go back to the original NASCAR release announcing the new Chase format (which also address exactly HOW a driver qualifies for that chase) and read over it several times.

Let me answer some questions as I understand the new rules: (more…)

The crew works on the #14 Code 3 Associates/BassPro/Mobil 1 chevy of Tony Stewart during the race on Sunday 2014 (Photo Credit: Tony Stewart Official Store Facebook Page)

It seems that whenever I pick Tony Stewart as my lead in my Fantasy League- he has a terrible day. So I can be assuring you all that I will not be picking him as my lead driver anymore. Sigh. I was so optimistic that Tony would have a good run at Martinsville.  He was running the Code 3 Associates paint scheme and the last time he ran that- he won the race (Pocono). Plus he qualified 7th! Whoo! That was awesome. (more…)

I absolutely hate April Fool’s Day. I am notoriously gullible which makes me a prime target. An example: at college another student and I had the same backpack. I inadvertently took hers from a bookstore cubby and didn’t discover the err until my next class. I ran back, made the exchange and thought nothing of it. Until later that week when my dad called me to tell me the police were at the house looking for me- something about a stolen backpack. I may or may not have been in tears by the end of the joke.

Anyway- I love this video of drivers talking about the best and worst pranks. Check it out!

April Fool’s Day: NASCAR Style

Drivers sit down and talk about some of the best pranks they have seen over the years.

Sponsored by: NASCAR inGEAR

If you know me- you know I love to take pictures. If you know me you also know that I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to those pictures so I can come back from any given event or outing with 300-3000 pictures and only find maybe 50 that I actually like (sometimes more- occasionally less). Here are some of my favorite pictures from the Kobalt 400 Race:

I don’t know why but I love this one of Tony Stewart’s number 14 pulling out of his garage stall- which happened to be directly under me at the time:

Tony Stewart pulls his #14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Chevy out of his garage bay at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, 2014 (Photo Credit: Amy K. Marbach)

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Tony Stewart at Martinsville 2013 (Photo Credit: Tony Stewart Official Facebook Page)

“One thing about Martinsville is there is no lack of excitement. I don’t care how flawlessly your day goes, you’re going to bump into somebody at some point, even on a perfect day. You put 43 cars on this half-mile track and it’s always going to be exciting. You will never have a race there where you don’t have some sort of drama during the day. I think every driver will say they will have some drama at some point. When you have 43 drivers with 43 dramatic moments, that’s a lot of action going on.” — Tony Stewart, 2014 Martinsville Team Release

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*TQMS= The Quotable Mr. Stewart

#14in14 #GoTonyGo #StandWithSmoke

Talk about completely out of order- here it is almost two weeks out from the annual Vegas Racecation and I am just now getting the post up. Urg…forgive me!  This year the Vegas Racecation included some new experiences I hope that you will enjoy hearing about! Be warned- this is LONG but rewards you because it’s photo rich!

Misty and I picked up our credentials at Las Vegas Motor Speedway during her lunch on Thursday from her day job! This  was a harrowing feat because Misty works by McCarran Airport which is probably about 30 miles from the track.  We were able to make it back and forth however, between Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Misty’s work (which is blocks away from McCarran Airport) within the hour without breaking traffic laws- so YEY us.  I picked Misty back up after work so we could head directly to South Point Casino so that we could go to an autograph appearance where several drivers were appearing. So we rush over get parked and go into the Casino and can not FIND the autograph appearance…anywhere.  We were all over that place. We gave up and went to Steak N Shake for dinner since it was right there.

Friday morning saw me getting to the track insanely early and alone- Misty had to tie up some important work business and would join me later in the afternoon.  When I first ventured out of the media center and into the Neon Garage area- it was still fairly early and not crowded at all- so it was no wonder that a Pee Wee Herman impersonator riding his bike through the lower level caught my eye:

A leisurely ride through the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Neon Garage on Friday morning for Pee Wee. (Photo Credit: Amy K. Marbach)

Only in Vegas right?!

During first practice I hung around the upper level of the Tony Stewart garage trying to catch a picture of Tony Stewart or Chad Johnston.. Luckily I caught Tony arriving to his pit stall with business manager Eddie Jarvis:

Tony Stewart arrives at his garage bay at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. (Photo Credit: Amy K. Marbach)

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Tony Stewart as Bandit in Smoke IS The Bandit by Mobil 1 (Photo Credit: Mobil 1)

Well the sixth installment of Smoke IS The Bandit really is just a compliation of all the webisodes into one.  I think it’s even more entertaining to watch all at once. For your viewing pleasure- what I like to call Smoke IS The Bandit: The Whole Enchilada:

Also I got this in my email and I thought you all might be interested: Mobil 1 synthetic oil is giving you the chance to win a Corvette Stingray. Four randomly selected entrants will win a trip to the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY (yes THAT one- where the hungry earth opened up and swallowed up 8 beautiful Corvettes)- each of those winners gets an awesome prize package that includes a key. One of those four keys opens the door to the Stingray.  There are also other prizes so even if you don’t win a trip to see The National Corvette Museum- you might win some great Mobil 1 or Corvette swag! You can’t win if you don’t ENTER! Good luck. Hopefully I will see you in Bowling Green KY. And if I do- no hard feelings but I hope my key starts the Stingray.

The #14 pit crew services Tony Stewart’s Rush Truck Centers Chevrolet. (Photo Credit: Tony Stewart’s Official Facebook Page)

Before we get into Team 14 and their run- we need to address the tire situation. I know that Goodyear claims that the teams were at fault for the tires but I have trouble with that. Why? Because multiple teams experienced issues across manufacturer platforms. Every 25 laps or so there were a rash of tire failures.  To me that speaks of an issue with the tire compound.  Yes I know that Goodyear brought the same compound as they brought last year and that there wasn’t a problem before- but the cars have a different rules package that affect down force this year. The engineers at Goodyear maybe should have thought of that and either brought a different compound or at the very least issued some sort of bulletin to the teams.

Let me tell you why I care about tire failures beyond the fact that they are dangerous: Auto Club is consistently ragged on for being a boring race- that it should have it’s race taken away and given to another track. This year, from my seat, the racing was GOOD! The cars were moving around and passing and it was just exciting. Many drivers were able to recover from problems and make it back up towards the front (I am looking at you Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart) over the course of a race.  To have that interrupted so much by cautions due to tire failures was FRUSTRATING for me as a fan.  That is not fun- to watch your driver over come something like a wickedly handling car (Tony Stewart- which we will take about later) or a pit road speeding penalty (Jeff Gordon) and make it back towards the front. (more…)