The Official NASCAR Thread

[HPLabonte]

Will Kenseth be the first driver since Jeff Gordon to win the first 2 races of the year?

[n4sc4r]

Will Kenseth be the first driver since Jeff Gordon to win the first 2 races of the year?

I'm gonna be honest here and admit that i doubt it.

One thing I'm curious to see this year is how well Martin Truex Jr. does. He made the chase two years ago, and was in contention last year before the penalty. He had a fairly strong speed weeks, though his finsih wasn't as well as I had hoped. I think he's gonna have a pretty good season. This could be biased by the fact that he's one of ym favorite drivers, though...

I'm also curious to see if "Wild Thing" Kyle Busch can keep up the winning spree. He kind of slowed down last year when it got late in the season. I believe that Chevy, Ford, and Dodge kind of caught back up to Toyota as the season went on, and now it's fairly even again. I think this season won't be nearly as good as last season for Kyle. The only reason he does so good now is because these cars can take harder hits than the old cars...

I also hope that A.J. Allmendinger makes the next 4 races and gets in the top 35, but as I remember it he's not a very good qualifier, so I'm not getting my hopes up.

Also, it has come to my attention that Ron Hornaday was penalized after the Truck race. I'll edit that in the OP. Also, 3 crew chiefs in the Nationwide Series were fined.

With all of that out of the way, I shall make my race winning prediction for sunday. I'll probably get a bit of flack for this, but I'm going with Dale Earnhardt Jr. He's usually been decent here, and got screwed last year, wrecked during the sunday part of the race that was postponed because the track had leaking issues (which caused the wreck). He didn't have that great of a fall race, but if Tony Eury can keep his car handling well, he's known to be well at tracks like Fontana and Michigan. Also, he's got a lot to prove after the different headlines buzzing this week due to the wreck in the Daytona 500.

Now then, my dark horse pick is the guy I mentioned earlier, Martin Truex Jr. He's done well in races like this pretty consistently, and even brought his car home in sixth place last year in this very race.

Some other guys to watch are Tony Stewart, Joey Logano, and Kyle Busch. Tony's gonna be put to the test now as they see if Stewart-Haas Racing's cars are up to snuff in the normal kind of races. I'm curious to see how he and Ryan Newman do.

"Sliced Bread", the nick name coined an young Joey logano by Darrell Waltrip. Joey was looking pretty good during speed weeks after a very shaky Bud Shootout, and was pretty confident. Sadly, he was taken out in an early wreck and finished in 43rd. After a rough week like that I'm very curious to see if he can rebound and get his season started in the right direction. Also Scott Speed has to do the same thing.

Now then, Kyle Busch. Why did I put him on here? Well, he had a great season last year and a great car in the 500, but was taken out in a wreck. Many know that usually the first month or two of the season is a strong indicator of how the rest of the season will go. Kyle had a very strong Daytona 500 last year, and then followed up the next few weeks. This helped build momentum that would cause the amazing winning spree later in the year. But now, with a bad Daytona 500 finish, can he manage to rebound and get his season going the right way?

[Jerome85]

It wouldn't surprise me if kenseth wins cali cause he runs well there, but I don't think that's gonna be the case this weekend. He's gonna have to outrun the 99 and the 48 to do it, and the way they dominated cali last year it's gonna be hard.

I think rowdy busch will be alright this year. him falling off at the beginning of the chase last year really wasn't his fault as a driver. you can hate the dood all you want but you know he's gonna be in the hunt for the win each and every week. as for the championship...who knows..they say you gotta lose won to learn how to win one.

now for junior, after daytona, he better come out swinging in cali. He didn't finish in the top 10 or lead a lap at either race last year. I see junior getting a top 10/top 15 this sunday. I don't see him winning but i would love to proven wrong though. who doesn't wanna see junior win?

smoke is my favorite driver so im always rooting for him. newman had a bad 500 id like to see him get a good finish in california. logano got a good 190 mph welcome to the sprint cup wall shot in daytona, it will be interesting to see if he can live up to the hype for the rest of the season. i think were all curious to see how well mark martin does this year. gordon has a new slick paint scheme, maybe we'll see it in victory lane a few times..i have no idea what 09 is going to bring, but im f*cking glad the season is here

[HPLabonte]

"Sliced Bread", the nick name coined an young Joey logano by Darrell Waltrip.

One of the best nicknames I've heard, up there with "The Onion" Todd Bodine, and "The Fabulous Flourescent" Paul Menard

[HPLabonte]

Vickers on pole, engine change, has to go to the back of the field, so McMurray will be polesitter at Cali. Allmendinger, Mayfield, Nemechek, Kvapil make the race, Raines, Bodine, Marlin and Garvey amongst the guys who go home.

GO 96!!!!!!

[HPLabonte]

Busch won two races yesterday, the first time that's ever been done. Lets see if he can win all 3 races this weekend

[n4sc4r]

Busch won two races yesterday, the first time that's ever been done. Lets see if he can win all 3 races this weekend

Those wins were extremely dominant. It kind of makes me wonder... No offense to Kyle, but he isn't -that- good. Either the setups were just outstanding or there's something sneaky going on. I'm gonna hope it's not the latter.

I'll try to update everything after the cup race. (Gotta go to my nephews birthday party today. I bought him Mario Kart DS, hope he likes it!)

[HPLabonte]

Those wins were extremely dominant. It kind of makes me wonder... No offense to Kyle, but he isn't -that- good. Either the setups were just outstanding or there's something sneaky going on. I'm gonna hope it's not the latter.

I'll try to update everything after the cup race. (Gotta go to my nephews birthday party today. I bought him Mario Kart DS, hope he likes it!)

To say Kyle isn't that good is definitely not true, I am not a fan of the kid, but he runs well every week, probably shoulda won the 500, he just dominates, he's ridiculously talented. He's still a jerk, and I still hate him, but I know those two wins were legitimate.

[iamtheddrman]

My fantasy team is kicking butt right now

[HPLabonte]

mines doin horrible!