Joey “Sliced Bread” Logano isn’t someone I usually blog about.  I am taking the same attitude towards Joey as I am towards Danica (I said it…the D word) and that is very much a “wait and see” attitude because pretty much I decided that you don’t just jump in a stock car and know everything about everything- no matter where you cut your racing teeth.  I do keep tabs on where Joey …just out of habit if nothing else- 10 years following an orange 20 car…I can’t help but occassionally wonder where they are at (although I am now awesome at being able to pick out Tony’s new color – even up against other red cars like Kasey Kahne or Bobby Labonte).  Anyway,  I can’t resist blogging about Joey today.

In case you didn’t know, Joey won his first NASCAR SPRINT CUP pole today.  Exciting right? He SHOULD be excited.  Winning your first pole has got to be a good feeling.

However Joey is not receiving the usual Coors Light Pole award.  Why? Because Joey is only 19 years old.  You might remember me mentioning both last year and this year during the Budweiser Shoot Out position draw that Joey’s crew chief, Greg Zipadelli, would draw Joey’s bottle (the position numbers for the Shoot Out are drawn by picking a bottle of Budweiser containing a flag with the starting number on it).  This was due to the fact that Joey is underage.

So instead of the Coors Light Pole award, Joey gets the 21 Means 21 pole award.  I just find it kind of funny.  I can only imagine that Joey can not WAIT to turn 21 so he can pick his own Bud Shoot Out bottle and that they don’t have to change the name of the pole winner award so he can accept it.

It was also pointed out to me that Mark Martin was going for his 50th pole award (and if I remember correctly there was something about him tying or beating a record from Cale Yarborough too) at Bristol.  And it’s pretty damn ironic that Mark Martin is old enough to be Logano’s father….

Anyway congratulations to Joey and the Home Depot team on their first pole…no matter what they call it.

So Rutledge Wood custom painted a helmet for Tony…this is freaking laughs! I thought you would all enjoy it as much as I do:

So not only was there a lovely time change last weekend – it was one of those rare “OFF” NASCAR weekends where they don’t race.  I hope the drivers and crews got a chance to do a little something for themselves whether it be spend time with family, hang out with friends, sleep in, do something they enjoy.

I myself found myself with extra time on my hands this weekend as I wasn’t glued to a TV for several hours watching the race.  So I used my time to get out and get creative.  If you know me you know I love to take pictures.  Right before I left for Vegas I actually bought myself a new camera.  A Canon Rebel t1i.  Did I get rid of my 20D? No!!!  I just wanted something new. All of my dSLR cameras have been hand-me-downs from my dad as he as moved up  (his newest is a Mark 5d or something like that- I know I always want to call it a MARK 5 as in the Lincoln so…it’s something like that). We do our version of a photowalk which is really just my dad, me and sometimes my mom where we go somewhere and just walk around and take pictures.

During the off weekend we went to Pebble Beach, CA.  An exclusive community where if you aren’t a resident or there to play golf you have to pay nearly 10 bucks for the honor to go down there. We paid.  It was a great day though and I got some great ocean shots:

(Photos After The Jump)

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The following is a day-by-day account of the great annual Vegas RACECATION. It includes race pictures, lots of words including a detailed account of what was going on in my head before and during our Tony Stewart Interview!!! as well as some choice Tony and Ryan quotes from their appearance at the Q&A at the Lagasse Stadium at The Palazzo, and did I  not mention race pictures? I am putting a jump in here because this entry is really LONG but I couldn’t bear to break it up.

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It’s been awhile since I talked NASCAR commercials.  This year has given us a fair share of new ones to consider…and I am prompted to post this entry that has been rolling around in the cargo area that is my brain for about a month now by an email from NASCAR.COM announcing that the winner of their Daytona Commercial Showcase was the David Ragan UPS Three-Wheelin’ Ad (Seriously?? That one?? Did my votes not count because that commercial did nothing for me).

Since I don’t agree with the winner, I am going to tell you Amy’s favorites of the newest round of NASCAR commercials:

1. The Coca-Cola Drivers Commercial. First off you HAVE to give these guys props.  They are race car drivers NOT singers- but there they are putting it all out there.  I have seen the behind the scenes video and it shows that our favorite coke drivers are singing it themselves.  I can’t imagine doing that and then having it broadcast on TV. I LOVE to sing, especially in the car (because I am alone and who can complain except except on the rare occasion I have the sunroof open).  I also like that the commercial incorporates some of the crew chiefs like Darian Grubb and Greg Zipadelli. By far a favorite. (By the way you can hear your favorite coke family driver sing the whole commercial alone if you want just go to MyCokeRewards.com/Nascar and scroll your cursor over the driver you want to hear.  I say Tony and Elliott Sadler are the best).

2. Second  place is a tie but it goes to the same company- Toyota. I can’t decide which I like better Denny Hamlin asking, “Who doesn’t love love?” Or Kyle Busch driving the car with kitties, bunnies and little baby seals. That is some funny stuff…especially the look on Kyle’s face as he is driving, with his head in that kitty cat helmet…Oh I chuckle just thinking about it.

3. My third favorite is the UPS Delivery commercial- I don’t know why but the fact that Santa gets all aggro and tries to climb the fence while Mercury and some of the other delivery guys try to keep him from going over cracks me up.

Now for my least favorite commercials:

Hands down my least favorite is the Martin Truex Jr. Napa commercial.  Mainly the part that bugs me the most are the two Napa guys at the end.

But the Sprint Jimmie Johnson commercial bugs me too…for two reasons. Reason 1: why is Jimmie playing golf in a bathrobe but he’s got full on pjs on underneath the bathrobe? Who does that unless they are in the artic? Reason 2: Wouldn’t everyone they call be “the real Jimmie Johnson” and not just Jimmie Johnson the race car driver? Just sayin’.

I wasn’t going to discuss the roe between Carl and Brad more than I did on my previous post.  I was, literally, all set to publish my next entry (about NASCAR -related commercials if you are curious) when I found out that Carl Edwards was given a three race probation for his antics with Brad Keselowski at Atlanta on Sunday.  So I have to interrupt my own regularly scheduled post to rant a bit.

Now, I realize that NASCAR is trying to loosen the reigns on the drivers so that the drivers can feel free to be a bit more aggressive with their driving.  I get that and frankly I agree with it and am all for it.  But wow…this wasn’t a little bit of aggressive driving gone too far. This was a blatant attempt to take out another driver- revenge style. This was not a bump and run,  this was an all-out crash and burn.  Add that to the fact that national broadcast commentators told us several times during the race that Atlanta is THE FASTEST track (because of restrictor plates being used on the super speedways) right now in the series- it’s really scary! It’s one thing to bump a guy’s bumper to make a point or rub some fenders making a pass. It is a completely other thing to take a 3400 pound race car at speeds of 190+ mph and purposely aim for another guy also in a 3400 pound car, also going 190+ mph, for two laps.  That is not being an aggressive driver- that is being a vigilante.  While neither Brad nor Carl are favorite drivers of mine I don’t want to see ANYONE get hurt. Do I want to see some exciting racing? YES. Do I want to see ANY driver or fan (or crew member, track official etc) maimed or killed? ABSOLUTELY NO!

A huge part of me wants to bring up the whole Kurt Busch/Tony Stewart Bud Shootout practice from 2008. That really didn’t put anyone in danger. That was expressing some frustration.  The bumping was fairly low speed; neither Kurt nor Tony were pointing their cars at each other going 190+ in front of a grandstand filled with spectators. Yet if memory serves correct Tony got put on probation for an entire year (and there may have been points and monetary fines as well I don’t remember honestly- it was a long time ago and my brain is nearly filled to capacity).

I mean I know that I am kind of comparing apples to oranges in a way since the Kurt/Tony incident happened two years ago before NASCAR adapted their looser stance on penalties. But let’s be honest here…what the heck is probation going to do? Nothing. Just make Carl mind his p’s and q’s for a couple races? That’s like slapping a kid’s hand for getting in the cookie jar- then giving them a cookie– in my opinion (obviously you can probably tell by my analogy that I am not a parent).

Mostly I guess I just was using this post to try to work through why NASCAR would do a 180 and be so lenient. As always comments are totally welcome….

Wow is all I can say there.  The main story at Atlanta is the fued between Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards. Only they know if this is carry over from last season at Talladega, something else completely or what? But wow. In my opinion the first incident looked like it was actually Carl coming down and trying to squeeze infront of Keselowski where there wasn’t room. Whether Carl misjudged or his spotter failed to warn him or what was going on.  Either way- I am glad that no one was hurt. I must admit it would be interesting to hear what goes on in the NASCAR trailer during a meeting like that…but I wouldn’t want to be the cause of why the meeting was happening.

Tires also seemed to be an issue but only for certain teams which makes me think that it was more set up than tire compound- because if it were a problem with the compound the tire was made out of more teams would have had problems. 

So technically? I think that the race was pretty good for Stewart and his OfficeDepot/Old Spice crew.  And yes I was watching the same race you were all watching.  Seriously though- you have to consider that Stewart started at the rear of the field because of the engine change.  There were times he was running as high as fourth! I mean that is a pretty awesome recovery from starting pretty much last.  The real shout out actually goes to the Office Depot/ Old Spice pit crew.   They seemed to be having pretty awesome stops- often times gaining Tony 2 or three spots in the pits alone!  I can only think of one pit stop where they come out negative positions from their scheduled stops. 

Unfortunately Stewart’s car was one of the cars plagued with tire problems during the Atlanta race- so he had to make a couple of unscheduled stops to keep from blowing the tire.  Having to come in two separate times to change tires because of issues put Stewart down to 25th but then there was the first attempt at the green-white-checker (overdrive? whatever the heck they are calling it these days). There was the wreck which wiped out several cars in front of Steward bringing him up to 18th for the second and final attempt at a green flag finish.  He was able to in the span of two laps work his way up to 13th.  Unofficially this puts him at 8th in the points standing 136 points out of first.

Teammate Ryan Newman seemed to have more problems earlier in the race with tires.  Newman also got tagged once by Jimmie Johnson during the race.  He finished the race in 17th position which puts him 29th in the series standings after Atlanta.

Notes About Atlanta:

• Ok- I don’t know if it was DirecTV or our local Fox affiliate but the whole popping out of the race during the beginning of the race? Was really annoying.  I think I saw the stupid FOXSPORTS logo more than the race for a bit there.
• Census 2010 car? Really? That has to be one of the most bizarre sponsors I have ever seen on a car. Boy it really makes me wanna run out and get myself counted. (Yes- that is me being facetious).
• It really bugs me sometimes how much Darrell Waltrip seems to favor Dale Junior.  I don’t know why but it really bugs me.
• What also really bugged me is that they were going over the big movers and shakers of the field sometime after the third caution and absolutely NO one mentioned the fact that Tony had at time gone from 43rd to 9th. I mean seriously? That seemed like a pretty big deal to me- granted I AM a Stewart fan…but even if I weren’t- Tony had to have had one of the biggest improvements in position over the race.

Remember next week is an off week..which is great because it will give me time to give appropriate attention to the RACECATION RECAP post from the Vegas weekend!!

First off, I wanted to thank you all for the incredible response to my call for questions! I mean I was getting questions thrown at me left and right. I was getting them in the comments section here, in my facebook, on twitter, emailed to me, im’d at me and well I think you get the idea.  My dad even offered up some questions.   I received lots of great questions! I was  surprised to find out that many  people wanted to know more about Tony’s charity work.  So the first person who asked a question about the Tony Stewart Foundation was awarded the Tony Stewart Office Depot Standee (congrats @KevinMBoots77).  However-even if you didn’t win the standee, you may find that I also used your  question in the interview…because they were that good.

Anyway, this is our first interview so we are kind of proud of that fact.  Of course,  deciding to do our first interview and having that be none other than Tony Stewart is kind of like deciding you want to try to get into football so you decide to go to the Superbowl.  Anyway,  enjoy it- I know we did:

Amy: Do you think there is more fan involvement now that champions week is in Las Vegas and do you like that?

Tony: I definitely think so. when we did the lap down the strip the amount of people that turned out for that- it was awesome. It was nice not having to be out there wearing winter jackets and all that. But I thought it was a good turn out. You know, New york is cool but you kinda have to really be into being in New York. Everybody loves going to Vegas so it’s a lot better deal for us to be out here.

Misty: Now was the plan for that everyone was going to get to do a burn out and Jimmie blew it for you or what?

Tony: No actually he was the only one who was allowed to do the big show at the intersection and then he blew it up. It was like, man why couldn’t we have got him to that during one of the last ten races instead of waiting until champions week to do it.

Amy: If you could go back in time, what decade would you be a racer in?

Tony: Oh man. I would say….probably the sixties and seventies. It was a pretty cool era in the sport because there wasn’t all the technology involved. It was really about car owners that sat there with a piece of paper and came up and drew ideas. There weren’t the computers to create the ideas for them. Just racing was a lot simpler then. I mean guys would race Indy and run Daytona. To get to race with someone like AJ Foyt and Mario Andretti and guys like that would be pretty cool.

Amy: Is there one factor you can pinpoint in your success during your first year as an owner/driver?

Tony: Good people. That’s really the biggest key to it. Having the right people in the right places is very instrumental in us having the success that we have had. We have been really fortunate.  It was bad timing to one degree but good timing for us on the other side when the economy turned because there were a lot of really good crew members that became available and that is the hardest part of the process is trying to hire the right people for your group. So that really was an advantage for us- that we were able to get really good people and that has definitely ,no doubt about it in my mind, been the key.

Amy: Do you feel long red flags hurt your momentum during a race?

Tony: No. I mean I have been racing 30 years so when you go back you’re ready. Its not as big a deal as it would seem. There’s days we’ve gotten in the cars and had red flags because of rain and not even got the chance to do it again until the next day. You’re just use to it. When it comes to get in the car and time to fire it up you kind of go through that whole sequence of getting ready.

Amy: Do you have a specific sequence when you get in the car?

Tony: When I get in the car I buckle in exactly the same way. Everything I that put on is in order and it’s the same way every time. It’s almost second nature, you don’t even think about it anymore. It’s just very routine for us how we do it.

Amy: Your foundation works with many different charities, is there one charity that is closest to your heart?

Tony: Well, I think it still, on the children’s side of the foundation, is the Victory Junction Gang Camp. I mean Kyle and Patti Petty are really close friends of mine.  I didn’t know Adam very well but I knew Kyle and Patti very well. To see obviously how much it hurt when they lost Adam and it would have been easy for them to just walk away from everything there but they really pushed forward to make Adam’s dream happen and that’s something that we’re really proud to be a part of helping them realize that dream for him. You know any of the animal charities we do- it doesn’t matter WHAT it is. Those are a really big deal to us. I’m a big animal lover which ruins my bad reputation but it’s worth it. I just love animals and I always have. It doesn’t matter if it’s the Friends of Ferdinand program that we have with the horses or the ICAN Program with the trained dogs. You know any time that animals are involved is pretty cool.

Amy (left), Tony Stewart, and Misty at the Office Depot in North Las Vegas. (Photo Credit: Edelman)

So there you have our interview with Tony Stewart. It was an amazing experience and I am sure I will write more about it when I do the annual “Racecation Recap” later this week. I just want to thank Lisa and Jessie for making it happen.  And of course Tony for taking the time out of his schedule for us.