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Heading into bye week ‘Happy’ Harvick leads the way |
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Editor’s Note: We are pleased to welcome Colonial Beach resident and NASCAR loyalist back in this week’s Journal. Now that spring is almost here and NASCAR interest is high, readers won’t miss getting the real scoop on items of interest on the NASCAR races.
Kevin Harvick has ridden consecutive runnerup finishes at California and Las Vegas to the Sprint Cup Series points lead heading into the first bye week of the season. He also came ‘oh so close’ to winning his second Daytona 500 in the season opener. He led the most laps and seemed firmly in control most of the day, only to get shuffled back to seventh place in the mad scramble during the final laps. After four weeks of racing, the resurgence of Richard Childress Racing looks like the real deal. In addition to Harvick leading the points race, teammates Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton are a solid fifth and sixth place, respectively.
In addition to his strong start in the Sprint Cup series Harvick, captured the win in the Nationwide series race in California and the Camping World truck race last Saturday in Atlanta.
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Danica Patrick takes first laps around Daytona in a stock car |
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Make way for the lady; it’s an equal opportunity world. Since 1950 when Ann Slaasted and Ann Bunselmeyer each entered one Grand National race, 27 women have driven in NASCAR’s top two series. Most, like Slaasted and Bunselmeyer, have been one-time entries or, at best, they entered just a few races with modest efforts and mostly locally promoted efforts to help boost the box office at a particular event. Only a small handful of women have driven in more than a few races, or have attained any measurable success.
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Kyle Busch Motorsports to field two Toyota Tundra teams in 2010 |
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We keep hearing news about how bad the economy is. Race teams are laying off employees and sponsor dollars are disappearing. Last year, when Tony Stewart announced he was leaving Joe Gibbs Racing to become part owner of Haas CNC Racing, a lot of people questioned the wisdom of the move in such bad economic times. However, Hass seemed to have no problem coming up with the additional funding needed to turn the perpetual back marker team into one that consistently ran up front.
The economy is still far from robust and shotgun mergers continue to be a tool for survival — witness the ongoing Richard Petty Motorsports-Yates Racing merger. Still, there seems to be funding available if you are a marquee name and have the right connections. Last week Kyle Busch became the latest top-tier driver to announce the formation of his own race team, Kyle Busch Motorsports.
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The move to Vegas is a big hit with the NASCAR community |
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The first Champions Week in Las Vegas culminated with the annual Sprint Cup Series Awards Banquet last Friday evening at the Wynn Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. The week was a packed one for four-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson who started off the week in his home state of California before coming to Las Vegas for the festivities that began with Wednesday’s landmark photo shoot.
Despite the numerous appointments, Johnson said he enjoyed them all, and said this Champions week was completely different from his previous three that took place in New York City.
“I think I was much more relaxed,” Johnson said. “We didn’t have to commute across town; getting around was much easier. I had a blast. Everyone across the industry just had fun together. We were hanging out with people from different teams across the sport every night. It was a lot of fun. This has been a much better experience.”
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NASCAR takes over Las Vegas for Championship Week’s activities |
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After 26 years of holding its annual season-ending awards banquet at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, this year NASCAR has moved the Sprint Cup Series Awards ceremony to Las Vegas. The banquet will be held Friday night and will be broadcast live from the Wynn Hotel and Casino on Speed TV, beginning at 9 p.m.
Comedian and impressionist Frank Caliendo, well known for his weekly appearances on the Fox TV NFL pre-game show, will serve as the host of this year’s telecast. Serving as the event’s emcees will be two people highly recognized by NASCAR fans, Mike Joy and Krista Voda.
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I think that really SUCKS< Even Thou-The Cem...
