Tony Stewart Wins The Duck Commander 500 Pole (photo credit: Tony Stewart Official Store Facebook Page)
What do I have in common with Tony Stewart? That is easy- I also drove 500 miles on Monday. Of course his drive took far less time than mine did, but in my favor- Tony didn’t get to take potty breaks. I was an hour and a half into my drive when the Duck Commander 500 started and well- lets just say I still had about two and a half hours left in my drive when it ended. (more…)
(Here are links to Celebrating A NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion…Vegas Style Part One and Celebrating Part Two)
First off I wanted to let you know that you can see all of our pictures from Champions Week over in our Sprint Cup Champion’s Week 2013 flickr set (all pictures no commentary) so I hope you enjoy those.
Here are my favorite (often times silly and possibly only funny to us) “outtake” moments from this year’s NASCAR Champion’s Week celebration:
1. That the only part of Tony Stewart Live that Misty and I managed to catch (since Tuesday was my travel day) was Jimmie Johnson saying that Chad Knaus was aging in dog years and he didn’t know how much more he had in him. (For those not in the know- Misty’s favorite driver is Jeff Gordon- but Chad is her favorite crew chief). Okay- well maybe only I (Amy) found that hilarious- am pretty sure Misty didn’t find it too funny but don’t worry- she gets me back in this department with outtake 3. Needless to say “aging in dog years” became the catchphrase of the week.
2. That time Robin Leach (yes he of the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous fame) photobombed Misty’s picture of Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano and Matt Kenseth during The Victory Lap (and all three of the drivers were smiling- not an easy thing to catch):
Thanks for the photobomb Robin Leach. (Also from left to right after the photobomber are: 6 time champion Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano and Matt Kenseth). (Photo Credit: Misty Bethany)
Misty and I have been attending NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Champion’s Week celebrations since they started having them in Vegas. I can NOT encourage you to go enough if you can at all swing it! Attend Champion’s Week! Seriously. It’s one of my favorite events of the year!
The fan events usually start with Fan Fest- which is usually held on Wednesday. They started out having fan fest at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the infield. I loved it there because I enjoyed being at the track when it was “quiet” and I loved watching the fighters from Nellis Air Force Base fly around as we waiting for the red carpet event. Eventually they moved it out to the Fremont Street Experience – since the speedway is off strip quite a ways. Unfortunately it’s usually cold under the awning that covers over Fremont Street and this year was no exception. I was certain there would be less fans- because it was COLD and I mean COLD. I must have momentarily forgotten the tenacity of my fellow NASCAR fans (after all I was out there in the cold wasn’t I? And my driver wasn’t even there). Here are some of the sights from Fan Fest this season: (more…)
Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, celebrates in Champions Victory Lane after winning the series championship following the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 17, 2013 in Homestead, Florida. (November 16, 2013 – Source: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images North America)
On Sunday November 17th, 2013 Jimmie Johnson was crowned NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion for the the 6th time in 8 years.
I KNOW I am not in the majority here but I think what Jimmie and the 48 team has managed to do is historic- possibly bordering on- wait for it: legend-ary. We are witnessing one of the greats in NASCAR- and I am interested to see just how many championships Jimmie can amass. Yes I am a diehard Stewart fan- but I can appreciate what Jimmie and Chad and the rest of the Lowes racing team is doing. They obviously have a little something more than the rest of the field. I don’t know if it’s more dedication, more drive, more talent, better engineering, the fact that their crew chief openly admits he has no life outside of work. Whatever they have- they have just a wee little bit more- and have had it six times now. Misty mentioned that she didn’t understand why Jimmie and team are so widely despised. I told her “Haters just hating on success…they are just jealous.”
Of course you can be dang sure if he was running up against Tony Stewart for that championship I would have been all sour grapes about number 6- that is just the way I am- and I freely admit that. (more…)
As I mentioned I was gone to Phoenix last weekend- for the race and other fun with Misty. It’s a trip we’ve made at least once a year since…what? 2009? Anyway- this year’s annual 1700+ mile road trip was fun as it always is. I drove 500 miles from here (central coast of California) to Vegas and spent the night with Misty and Ronald her adorable dachshund puppy. Now what you need to know about Ronald is that he is an excited pee-er. So when he is excited he pees and luckily for me he finds me very exciting. So when I am about 20 minutes out or so- Misty usually tries to take him for a walk hoping to alleviate any possible peeing (on me) marathons when I get there. Anyway, I turn into Misty’s neighborhood to see Misty and little Ronald walking up one of the nearby streets. I stopped and said hello and little Ronnie of course wanted to race the car- let me tell you he put his little legs and heart into trying- but he is a mini-doxie and as the shortest legs I have ever seen on a puppy. I beat them to her house so I was waiting for her to turn the corner and as I watched Misty (the ardent Jeff Gordon fan) walk up her little street I noticed something. Let me show you a picture and see if you notice it too:
Misty in her yard when I arrived at her place in Vegas. (Photo Credit: Amy K. Marbach)
Mark Martin drives the #14 Bass Pro Shops / Mobil 1 Chevrolet during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on November 3, 2013 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo Credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images North America)
I am going to be the first to admit I was a little distracted during the race in Texas for multiple reasons but mainly I had been running around on Saturday trying to get all the stuff I needed done and taken care of because I am heading off for Phoenix Wednesday so during commercials I was doing exciting things like laundry.
(This is a cool view isn’t it? –amy) The crew of the number 14 services the Bass Pro Chevy piloted by Mark Martin in Tony Stewart’s stead. (Photo Credit: Official Stewart-Haas Racing Facebook Page- Click Picture for the original)
And wouldn’t you know it the one day that I decide to forgo listening to the scanner that the 14 has a fairly decent run! (more…)
Tony Stewart drives the #14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet through the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Samuel Deeds 400 At The Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 26, 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images North America)
Qualified: 5th!
Finished: 4th!
Race Winner: Ryan Newman!
Points After Indianapolis: 11th- one point out of tenth, and 182 points out of first! We are still currently in wild card position and knocking on the door of the top ten again when it comes to the Championship Chase standings!
My Mood After Indianapolis: Pleased it was a good points day for Tony! Pleased that it was a good day for Stewart-Haas Racing because Ryan Newman won! I think you could just say pleased all around!
This is apparently the post of the exclamation points so you will have to excuse me for that.
Apparently I inadvertently gave Ryan Newman good luck last night by posting about him the fact that he not only was on the pole for his home track race but that he did it with a new track record. I also happened to mention his partnership with Oral B Built In The USA and Oral B’s pledge of $100,000 to Hope For The Warriors. So of course the only reason Ryan won was because I happened to post about him on the night before he had raced his obviously already screaming hot Chevy. Hey don’t burst my bubble! (more…)
A little over a year ago I posted a #NASCAR Bucket list of sorts- prompted to do so after reviewing the book 100 Things NASCAR Fans Should Know And Do Before They Die because based on the title I thought the book would be a jumping off point for creating such a list (I found out it wasn’t- if you want to know why you can go back and read my review). For some reason unbeknownst to me, I have been ruminating on that original bucket list lately. I decided that it needed to be revised a bit. So here is my NEW #NASCAR Bucket List: (more…)