I had purposely removed myself from all thing racing.  Why you might ask?  A couple of reasons.  First and foremost, I was helping my lovely wife produce her podcast titled “Spooktalkular“.  But mostly because, I simply had grown disgusted with the state of racing today.  At the end of last season, I was so disappointed that I decided to just walk away.  I pretty much left the site untouched since right before Christmas.  Sure, this was supposed to be an exciting time for someone who loves the sport.  I just couldn’t bring myself to watch.  Well, that’s changed.  I sat down yesterday and succumbed to the urge.

I realized that it was Sunday.  And, Sunday equaled raceday in the past so I quickly cruised over to www.nascar.com to look for the TV schedule.  Damn, I missed Fox calling the race so I was stuck with NBC.  Damn, Damn, Damn.  I really dislike NBC’s coverage of NASCAR but, I decided to go ahead and watch it on TNT anyway.  Double Damn, it’s in New Hampshire, one of my least favorite tracks.  I wonder, could this be a sign from above to stay away?  Yep, probably but I’m not smart enough to pay attention so I decided to go ahead and watch anyway.

I felt awkward, like an ugly kid at a dance.  It had been so long since I had watched, I didn’t know who was driving what.  Tony Stewart’s leading the points?  Wow, I’ve got to go back and delete that article that I did last year about this being a huge mistake and how he was going to struggle.  I wonder if anyone noticed it….?  It felt weird, but good. 

It looks like Daytona is next weekend with it being July 4th and all so I think I’ll watch again.  Who knows, I may really be back for good.  And if so, God help us all…

jc

NASCAR has some great releases that they create in-house and this is one of them.  It’s a quick look at the Chase.  I just had a thought.  Wouldn’t it be cool if Tony Stewart won the Sprint Cup this year?  If he did, he would have a Winston Cup, a Nextel Cup and a Sprint Cup.  Highly unlikely I know but still, it would be cool!

I tried to get this working the other day without success.  Here’s the current standings going into the Chase.

Racing at Richmond never disappoints.  Especially the late summer race at Richmond since it’s the last chance drivers have to get in the chase.  This year was no exception.  After rescheduling to avoid hurricane weather, the Chevy Rock and Roll 400 was an excellent watch. 

I’ve mentioned before that no one covers the races like Fox but, ESPN didn’t do a half bad job.  First of all, props for covering the rescheduled race live.  I was afraid it was going to be a 2:00AM run that was edited down to one hour.  ESPN HD is very nice especially since, sadly, my local Fox affiliate isn’t HD on my cable provider.  

Until the Richmond race today, it was pretty easy to dismiss David Reutiman.  He’s only run 53 races with an average finish of 26th.  Up until Fontana, he had only led a total of 6 laps in his three year career in Nextel/Sprint Cup racing.  He pretty much stays out of the way and runs his own race.  That is until Fontana, where he grabbed his first ever top-ten finish. 

I am a firm believer in the power of bounce.  We see it all the time in the sport.  Sometimes, all a team needs is a win or even a good run for a shot of confidence to spring them forward.  That’s why we see so many winning streaks or at least back to back wins.  The #44 UPS team may be just experiencing a bounce from their 9th place finish in Fontana but I don’t really think so.  For the second week in a row, they’re inside of the top-ten.

It’s relatively easy to grab a couple of lead laps.  Just stay out on a caution for a couple of laps and grab the bonus points.  When a driver is able to stay out front for 104 laps in a 400 lap race, that’s a different story.  That’s what Reutimann was able to do today at Richmond.  I was very impressed with the #44’s run today.  For a bit, I even thought he might just pull off his first Cup win.  Mark my words, this teams win is coming.  I’m not sure it will be this season but I’m betting that by this time next year, Reutimann will have a win or two under his belt.  That would be incredible for Michael Waltrip Racing.  Off the top of my head, I’m not sure if they’ve ever had a win.

I was so impressed with the #44’s run today that I even dedicated a forum to David Reutimann fans which, if he keeps running like this, should keep growing every week.  If you want to check it out, it’s our first real racingfaces.com forum.  Even better than checking it out, jump in and post.  During the off season this year, I plan on doing a lot of work with the forums to get them ready for next season.

Well, we’re just a few hours away from the start of Richmond.  Since qualifying was rained out on Friday, the starting order was determined by championship points.  Bill Elliot used the past champions provisional to get the Wood Brothers  entry in the field.  Tony Raines in the #34, Sterling Marlin in the #09 both missed the field.  Also missing the field was Joey Logano in the Home Depot #02.  This was to be his Sprint Cup debut. 

Those three are all listed as DNQs but it doesn’t seem quite right listing them that way since they were unable to turn a lap.  I would imagine that as a team member, this would be frustrating.   I mean, if you work your tail off, you’ve done the best that you can do and miss the field by qualifying, that would suck but at least you know that you did what you could to get in.  Setting the field by points would just be tough on morale.  Again, you’ve done everything that you could.  You think you’ve hit all your marks but no one will ever know because you didn’t even get to run a lap.

At some time in the near future (probably over the off season), I’ll probably do a rant on the whole qualifying system and how it could be improved but we’ve got much better things to talk about this week.  Here’s how the starting grid lines up this week.

I just checked the National Weather Service and here’s the updated Richmond, VA area forecast.

Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 89. Calm wind becoming northwest between 5 and 8 mph.

Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 65. Calm wind.

Looks like, at least for now, the Sunday rescheduled day for the Sprint and Nationwide races should be good.  I just posted the updated ESPN and MRN schedules for both events.  The good news is that both will be covered live. 

Personally, I’m not a big fan of Sunday evening races due to the Monday morning day job but a Sunday evening races beats a Monday afternoon race anytime in my book.

CONCORD, N.C. (Sept. 5, 2008) – MRN Radio will provide live, flag-to-flag coverage of both of Sunday’s postponed NASCAR races at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway.

Air time for the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 Sprint Cup Series race is 12 p.m. (EDT).  It’s the final chance for drivers to secure spots in the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup that will crown the 2008 champion.  Later Sunday, the Emerson Radio 250 Nationwide Series race will air live on MRN Radio starting at 6:30 p.m.

“Although the weather has dramatically altered the schedule in Richmond, we want our many loyal listeners to know that they won’t have to miss a single lap of either event,” said MRN Radio President David Hyatt.

And there will be racing on MRN Radio Saturday.  The network is scheduled to air live coverage of the Camping World 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race from Madison, Ill.  Coverage will begin at 2 p.m. (EDT).

Although competitors in both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide series were able to practice some on Friday in Richmond, Tropical Storm Hanna settled in over the speedway and forced the postponement of both Friday’s and Saturday’s race.  Qualifying for both series also was washed out, putting a pair of Joe Gibbs Racing drivers on the pole in their respective events: Kyle Busch in the Cup Series and Joey Logano in Nationwide.

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ABOUT MRN RADIO

MRN Radio – now based in Concord, N.C. – is a division of International Speedway Corporation and the primary source for NASCAR stock car racing and related radio programming.  Its award-winning play-by-play coverage of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is delivered via satellite to over 700 radio stations nationwide plus the American Armed Forces Radio Network.  This makes MRN Radio the largest independent sports radio network in America.

*****************

MEDIA CONTACT:
John Singler
News Production
The Motor Racing Network (MRN Radio)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 5, 2008

ESPN Networks Will Have Live Coverage of Rescheduled NASCAR Races from Richmond

ESPN will have live coverage of the rescheduled NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Chevy Rock and Roll 400 Sunday from Richmond International Raceway. The telecast starts at 1 p.m. ET.  The race was postponed to Sunday due to effects from Tropical Storm Hanna.

ESPN2 will have live coverage of the NASCAR Nationwide Series race from Richmond that will be run Sunday night. The telecast begins at 6:30 p.m. with NASCAR Countdown, with the race to start at 7 p.m. The race was originally scheduled to be run Friday night.

Visit www.espnmediazone.com for ESPN’s latest releases, schedules and other news, plus photos, video and audio clips and more.

About NASCAR on ESPN:
ESPN and ABC have comprehensive, multi-platform coverage featuring telecasts of the final 17 NASCAR Sprint Cup races, including the 10-race “Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup” on ABC. Additionally, ESPN2 is the home of the NASCAR Nationwide Series all season. All programming is produced totally in high definition. ESPN’s comprehensive, multimedia NASCAR coverage extends to ESPN.com, ESPN Deportes, SportsCenter, ESPN the Magazine, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, ESPNRadio and ESPN International, among other ESPN platforms. ESPN aired 262 NASCAR Cup Races over a 20-year period starting in 1981 and returned to NASCAR coverage in 2007. The network’s award-winning, live flag-to-flag coverage on ESPN has been honored with 18 Sports Emmy Awards, as well as many industry honors. It is widely credited for helping to popularize the sport nationwide. NASCAR races have appeared on ABC for decades, beginning with broadcasts on the award-winning Wide World of Sports program in the 1960s.

-30-
 
Contacts:       Andy Hall
                George McNeilly

NASCAR has released a revised schedule for Richmond.  Thankfully, they opted not to subject fans to misery tomorrow during the storms trying to wait out events.  Check and adjust your TiVo’s accordingly!

RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY 2008

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES

REVISED SCHEDULE as of 5:45 PM, 9/5/08

Friday, September 5TH

  NNS QUALIFYING (TWO LAPS, ALL POSITIONS) LINE UP SET, PER THE RULEBOOK

5:45 PM  NNS DRIVER/CREW CHIEF MEETING (TENT)
6:05 PM   NSCS QUALIFYING (TWO LAPS – ALL POSITIONS) LINE UP SET, PER THE RULEBOOK
6:00 PM  NNS REGISTRATION CLOSES
6:00 PM  NSCS REGISTRATION CLOSES
7:00 PM  NSCS GARAGE CLOSES
  NNS RACE (250 LAPS, 187.5 MILES) POSTPONED UNTIL SUNDAY

Saturday, September 6TH

ALL TRACK ACTIVITIES ARE POSTPONED DUE TO TROPICAL STORM HANNA

Sunday, September 7TH

7:30 AM  NSCS REGISTRATION OPENS
8:00 AM  NSCS GARAGE OPENS
9:00 AM  NSCS SELECT PITS
10:00 AM TRACK SERVICES MEETING
11:00 AM  NSCS DRIVER/CREW CHIEF MEETING (TENT)
12:00 N   NSCS ** HOT PASS IN EFFECT – UNTIL ONE HOUR AFTER RACE **
12:30 PM   NSCS DRIVERS INTRODUCTIONS-SECURITY – CLEAR PIT ROAD
1:00 PM   NSCS RACE (400 LAPS, 300 MILES)
2:00 PM  NSCS REGISTRATION CLOSES
3:00 PM   NNS GARAGE & REGISTRATION OPENS
6:30 PM   NNS DRIVER INTRODUCTION-SECURITY –CLEAR PIT ROAD
7:00 PM  NNS RACE (250 LAPS, 187.5 MILES)
8:00 PM  NNS REGISTRATION CLOSES
  
9/5/08   ALL TIMES ARE LISTED IN EASTERN

Whatever it is, they’re doing it in Richmond about right now.  As prep begins for qualifying and ultimately the Chevy Rock and Roll 400.  If a Saturday night race gets rained out, do they still wait until Monday to run it or can they run it on Sunday?  I can’t remember that happening before although, I’m sure it has.  Here’s the Richmond forecast from the National Weather Service starting today, Friday September 5th.

Today: A chance of showers after 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 86. East wind between 6 and 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Tonight: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. Low around 70. Breezy, with a east wind 9 to 12 mph increasing to between 17 and 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between one and two inches possible.

Saturday: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. High near 81. Windy, with a north wind between 20 and 28 mph, with gusts as high as 39 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between three and four inches possible.

Saturday Night: A chance of showers before 2am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 66. North wind between 5 and 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.

Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 90. North wind between 6 and 8 mph.

Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 64.