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Race 3: Viva Las “#Winning” Vegas (or the HOW I MISSED TONY’s BURNOUT..AGAIN)

Posted by Amy in General | NASCAR - (1 Comments)

(Yes I know this is late- but I wanted to make sure I gave this entry the attention it deserved. I hope you find it worth the wait-Amy)

The sights of the Kobalt 400 in Las Vegas 2012. Click collage to be taken to Flickr photo set from the race. (Photo Credit: All photos in collage taken by me- Amy K. Marbach)

The NASCAR race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway holds a special place in my heart- it was the first NASCAR race I ever attended (and the first oval track race I ever attended). Las Vegas Motor Speedway was also the first Speedway I ever held a media credential at- so it is a track of firsts for me. (more…)

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Tony Stewart To Run “Honoring Our Heroes” Paint Scheme (and Diecast)

Posted by Amy in General | NASCAR - (2 Comments)

Tony Stewart will be one of several drivers running a special “Honoring Our Heroes” paint scheme commemorating the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the world trade center in 2001.  The #14 Office Depot Chevy will carry a red, white and blue patriotic theme during the September 10th race to be run at Richmond and will look something like this:

Tony Stewart - Honoring Our Heros Diecast (Image Courtesy of Lionel NASCAR Collectibles)

The paint scheme is one of many running under the “Honoring Our Heroes” program which is a partnership with Lionel NASCAR Collectibles and the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation.  A portion of the proceeds from merchandise sales from all of the “Remembering Our Heroes” merchandise will be donated to the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which children who have lost a parent, firefighters, and military who have been seriously injured and sacrifice their quality of life in the line of duty.  Other drivers carrying themes under this banner are: Danica Patrick, David Gilliland, Greg Biffle and Jamie McMurray.

The diecast is already available through pre-orders.  There is a reason I don’t collect diecasts:  I would be the type of collector that would have to have every variation of every paint scheme out there…and my bank account would never have any money in it. EVER.  And Roxy kind of likes to eat.  And frankly so do I.  But with a portion of the proceeds going to a wonderful cause, how can I not add this special paint scheme to my collection? You can too here.

For more information on the paint scheme, other drivers running similar schemes and the partnership between Lionel NASCAR collectibles and The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation visit here.

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Getting The Braces Off and Other Changes

Posted by Amy in NASCAR - (0 Comments)

Ahh if you never had braces you were a lucky ducky.  I work braces for a couple years and getting them finally removed was cause for celebration. No more painful “adjustments” which is orthadontal speak for tightening and no more food restrictions. My particular braces removal celebration included caramel popcorn.  But anyway, NASCAR fans, I digress.  We got our first taste of the new nose on the cup cars without the splitter braces when the cars hit Daytona International Speedway for testing last Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I have to say I LOVE the look of the new nose on the cars.  In my opinion, the new nose adds to the aesthetics of the car and makes it look sportier.  Hopefully the lack of braces on the splitter will keep the cars from collection hot dog wrappers, grass clumps and other debris and make possible overheating less of an issue. 

SHR cars

Look Ma! No Braces! The new nose on the cars for this season is visible here in this picture tweeted by Stewart Haas Racing (@StewartHaasRcng) today.

Many drivers were getting their first feel of the new surface on the speedway as well, as Daytona was repaved during the off season.  Many drivers reported it to be quite smooth and likened it to the newer surface at Talladega.  It should make for some interesting racing that is for certain.  I loved that testing was streamed live on the internet because I could tune in from my side of the states.  Seeing and hearing the cars on the track put a huge smile on this fan’s face.  Why? Because it means soon our season with be on again in full swing.

 Just from the little pieces of testing that I was able to watch it is going to be hard for me to get use to certain changes.  It’s really weird seeing Kasey Kahne in the Red Bull number 4 car.  I did see him race for Red Bull in person in Phoenix at end of last season, and it was weird then. Still weird.   Weirder yet?  Is Harvick in Budweiser red and Kurt in the number #22! It’s all going to take some getting used to that is for sure.  However this nothing new to us NASCAR fans; sponsors and teams change because our sport is dynamic like that. 

Other changes to look forward to or get use to this season:

  1. Ethanol used as fuel in the cars.  Preliminary reports had the cars getting fewer miles per gallon on the ethanol so we will see how much the switch to a “greener” fuel changes strategy on the track.
  2. Speaking of Ethanol- because of the change to ethanol fuel, the gas can needed to be modified. Because of the modifications to the gas can, it was determined that the catch can man was no longer needed.  It is a plus for pit road safety to have one less man over the wall (especially on smaller tracks with cramped pit roads).  While it may be plus for safety though it probably sucks if you were a catch can man.
  3. Drivers now have to declare a series in which they want to run for the championship.  This I don’t like. Why? Because that means my dreams of watching Kyle Busch sweep all three championships one day has died. Yes I am a Tony fan but I am SURE that Kyle could sweep all three series if he put his mind to it.
  4. There is the possible change in the points system that will be most likely announced soon. 
  5. There is the change in the chase format….playfully called the Jamie Mac Chase Clause (JMCC) between Misty and I.  I think its weird use the last two positions of the chase into more wild card spots given to the two non chase contenders with the most wins. I don’t know how that will change the chase…but I guess we will see.

Needless to say there are a lot of changes this season and not JUST to the drivers/teams.  Here we go NASCAR fans. Let’s buckle in for a new season. And to my Tony Stewart readers all I can say is #goTONYgo!

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Also NASCAR fans- be sure to head over to The Fast and The Fabulous and vote in Round 4 of the Hottest Driver contest. This round pits Stewart-Haas teammates against each other. Go vote…

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Race 20: The Brickyard

Posted by Amy in General - (1 Comments)

First I have to preface this by saying I was not watching the Brickyard here at home. I watched it with Misty at HER house with her family as we celebrated her birthday the day before. 

Tony qualified 15th after pulling an early number in the qualifying draw.

INDIANAPOLIS - JULY 25: Tony Stewart, driver of the Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet, looks on from the grid before the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 25, 2010 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR)

INDIANAPOLIS - JULY 25: Tony Stewart, driver of the Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet, looks on from the grid before the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 25, 2010 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Reports on the TV said that he wasn’t happy with the car throughout practices and his numbers seemed to reflect this. He raced hard and the pitstops for the race were flawless as they continually adjusted on the #14 chevy impala driven by Stewart.  

INDIANAPOLIS - JULY 25: Tony Stewart, driver of the Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet, pits during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 25, 2010 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR)

INDIANAPOLIS - JULY 25: Tony Stewart, driver of the Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet, pits during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 25, 2010 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Darian made a gutsy call for two tires at the end of the race. I admit I was definitely skeptical with that call.  But that two tire call got Tony the track position he needed to finish 5th! YEY! Tony remains 9th in series points. Kevin Harvick remains the series leader. Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray won the 17th running of the Brickyard 400.

“Feels almost like a win to be honest. When we finished Happy Hour yesterday, I was in a doom-and-gloom mood. It’s just been a hot three days and I’ve been dehydrated because I’ve been sick. I’m proud of how good I feel right now, to be honest. That’s due to the Clarian Medical Center here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. They’ve worked with me the last two nights trying to get me feeling better and because of that, it got us where we are today.” Stewart, after the brickyard, – credit Team Release.

NOTES ABOUT THE BRICKYARD:

  • I am absolutely loving the Burger King commericals with Tony working at the Burger King. HILARIOUS. Some great stuff there. You can see the extended version at clockedinwithtony.com.
  • I have to admit that I thought we were going to be in for one long Brickyard 400 when there was a huge crash on Lap 1. But there actually weren’t that many cautions thankfully!

BFTP (Bonus Funny Tony Picture)-feel free to leave your humorous captions in the comments:

INDIANAPOLIS - JULY 24: Crew member Shane Church, crew chief Darian Grubb, and Tony Stewart, driver of the Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet have some fun in the garage during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 24, 2010 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)

INDIANAPOLIS - JULY 24: Crew member Shane Church, crew chief Darian Grubb, and Tony Stewart, driver of the Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet have some fun in the garage during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 24, 2010 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)

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Winner Winner…Media Blitz

Posted by Amy in General - (0 Comments)

I had been following Jamie McMurray on twitter (twitter.com/jamiemcmurray) before he won the Daytona 500 but it has been fun following him since the win- telling us what he has been up to.  Who knew that the Daytona 500 winner had so many appearances just because they won the season opener.  My dad would tell you that it’s because NASCAR starts with it’s superbowl race.

This photo was sent to me of Jamie McMurray at his Friar’s Club engagement in NY where Andrew (yes the author of  The Weekend Starts On Wednesday whom also works for NASCAR) says he was giving New Yorker’s advice on driving around pot holes (Ha- loving all the pot hole jokes):

2010 Daytona 500 Winner Jamie McMurray poses with a picture of himself at 10 after winning a Kansas gokart race. (Photo Credit: Andrew Giangola)

I had to post this picture because I think it’s  cute! Congratulations to Jamie McMurray!

Gimme Fuel, Gimme Fire…..

Posted by Amy in General - (2 Comments)

I probably should have picked a different title because I am sure that some NASCAR fans are going to think this entry is about Chad Knaus running Jimmie Johnson out of fuel at Michigan last weekend.  I am not going to go into that. This is about this coming weekend: Bristol Motor Speedway is doing something a little different this Saturday night. When the cup drivers take to the stage before the race for driver introductions, each driver will enter the stage to approximately 30 seconds of a song snippet from a song of their choosing.  As you would probably expect there is a wide variety of songs- however- it would seem that apparently AC/DC is a favorite as five drivers picked three different AC/DC songs:

Mark Martin will be entering to “For Those About To Rock”

Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and David Ragan all picked “Thunderstruck”

and Jamie McMurray picked “Shook Me All Night Long”

Now I like AC/DC quite a bit. When I drove Doris (the black RAV) my favorite song to pull up in front of home was BACK IN BLACK because– I was back and the car was black, so it just kind of fit.  It also helped that BACK IN BLACK was my favorite of the AC/DC albums so it was often in my car.

There are choices all over the musical spectrum from Elvis Presley (Clint Bowyer picked “C.C. Rider”) to Jerry Reed (Joey Logano picked “Eastbound and Down”) and The Rolling Stones (“Start Me Up” was picked by Jeff Gordon).  I will say, and I don’t know WHY, I am surprised that Jeff Burton decided to walk onstage to Guns N Roses classic “Welcome to the Jungle”.

I have to say that the Stewart-Haas boys picked some awesome songs! Ryan Newman picked Big & Rich’s “Save A Horse, Ride a Cowboy” which I absolutely LOVE! Tony picked to walk onstage with “Bawitdaba” by Kid Rock (David Stemme also picked this song).  While I admit I am not a huge Kid Rock fan he does have about three songs I love…and that is the top one. Both I think are excellent choices.

Which leads me to…what if I were being introduced and needed a song snippet. What would I personally pick. I have pretty wide, varied tastes in music that usually depends highly on my mood.  Some days I might be on a country kick and listening to the likes of Toby Keith, Trace Adkins, Blake Shelton, Diamond Rio, Big & Rich and others. Other days it could be hair metal favorites like Cinderella, Poison, Slaughter and Dokken. Then again it could be a bad day when I want to hear nothing but the “hard stuff” like Disturbed, White Zombie, and Metallica.  Then of course there are my broadway show days (wicked, les mis, mamma mia), classic rock days (Heart, Zep, Sabbath) or my “whatever the heck Mr. IPOD SHUFFLE DJ picks for me” days.

Honestly it would probably depend on my mood:

If I were in a rockin’ mood I would probably pick “Fuel” by Metallica.  (Sing it with me now..”Gimme Fuel, Gimme Fire….”)

If I were in a more country state of mind- I would probably go with Toby Keith’s “How Do You Like Me Now?”

What about you? What would you pick for yourself? Or for me? Talk to me people- I know you are out there!

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Love Is In The Air (or Search Engine) and A Swaggerized Question

Posted by Amy in General - (4 Comments)

NASCAR fans want to know about LOVE this week, at least according to ASK.COM’s top ten NASCAR question searches. Four of the ten questions this week are about the love life of drivers, two about Tony Stewart, one about Jamie McMurray and one about Kasey Kahne.

These are the top ten NASCAR questions asked at ASK.COM between 7/27/2009 and 8/2/2009 regarding NASCAR (like last time my smartass replies helpful answers in bold):

1.  Where is Pocono Raceway? Long Pond, PA.

2.  How do NASCAR drivers use the bathroom? Again with this? People they use it the same way we do…just because they are drivers doesn’t mean they sit there with a steering wheel in their hands or make vrrroooom noises and if they do…um I don’t wanna know about it.

3.  Does Tony Stewart have a girlfriend? Is it because he’s the points leader or because he has SWAGGER that you want to know? (speaking of SWAGGER, I have a question regarding Tony’s  pitcrew’s swagger shirts- see below)

4.  Who is Tony Stewart dating? I honestly don’t know- he never tells me these things. Of course he never tells me anything at all. As a matter of fact- he doesn’t know me (nor I him)- sorry to disappoint.  Speaking of dating though, do you think if a NASCAR driver crashes and burns on a date, they pull out a back-up date from the reserves, like they do cars during practice??

5.  What does NASCAR stand for? Not Actually Seeing Cars Around Racetrack? Come on, people, we talked about this one last time too.

6.  Who won the Brickyard 400? Jimmie Johnson won….Juan Pablo thinks it was a stolen victory though because he was caught speeding.  What do YOU think?

7.  How do NASCAR drivers go to the bathroom? Maybe a diaper company should consider a NASCAR sponsorship deal.

8.  Who did Jamie McMurray marry? Hopefully his wife. (I believe her name is Christy if that is what you are looking for).

9.  Who holds the 144.892 mph Cup series race record at Pocono Raceway? I will give you a hint…his name is Rusty and he’s a race reporter for ESPN.

10. Does Kasey Kahne have a girlfriend? If he does I hope she likes Budweiser.

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Ok so the following picture was in the Pocono photo gallery at tonystewart.com (click on it to embiggin).  I can see that the crew’s shirts spell out SWAGGER and that each letter stands for something. So far I have made out S, half of G and R:  S = Smooth, The top part of the first G I think says Girls, and the R is Respect.  Not knowing is killing me…any ideas?

Blatantly stolen from tonystewart.com's photo gallery- it belongs to them not me.

Blatantly stolen from tonystewart.com- this is not my picture!

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