All Sports All The Time

It was a relatively quite night as Bristol Motorspeedway, well as quite as it can be with 170,000 screaming fans and 43 high powered race cars. With Btirstol known for its hard driving and less than patient racing, this particular race will go down as one of the most ho hum Bristol races. Not that the fans at the track would be disappointed in the race they saw. but I would imagine there are plenty of race fans that were left a bit disappointed after watching it on television.

I for one am far from disappointed, my driver had a great race, Dale Earnhardt Jr. ended up in 3rd place and actually moved up in the points standing with only 2 races to go. He only needs to survive California next week and Ricmond in the final race, the week after.

After starting the race way in back after a horrible qualifying session, he managed to get to the front and actually lead a bunch of laps (not sure exactly how many). He was able to pull off that feat thanks to smart pit strategy by the team. One of the early cautions brought them to pit road deep in the pack and crew chief Tony Eury Jr. made the call to put on only right side tires and sent Dale Jr. back on the track with the lead.

Even though he didn’t remain in the lead for a long time, that move allowed him to stay in the Top 10 for the remainder of the race and he ultimately finished in 3rd. The winner of the race was Matt Kenseth and with the win, he swept the Bristol race weekend since he won the Busch race on Friday night. Baby Busch was trying to make a run to the front of the field, but he fell on position short and came in 2nd in front of Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Both Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson have at least clinched a spot in the Chase for the Nextel Cup and Kenseth actually has pulled to only 7 points behind Jimmie Johnson in the points standings. The final 8 spots will have to wait until after Richmond to be finalized. I was really nervous before the race started, being a Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan and him starting in 40th position, but that soon gave way to excitement at the possibility that he might improve his position in the Chase after he actually lead some laps and looked like he had a pretty stout race car.

There was plenty of shake up in the points standing after Saturday nights race, but no one dropped out of the Top 10 as a result. The biggest loser in the whole thing was Mark Martin, he lost 6 spots, dropping from 4th in points down to 10th. He is 90 points ahead of 11th place Kasey Kahne fighting for that 10th and final spot in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

Top 10 Finishers

1.	M. Kenseth	4	Ford
2.	Ky. Busch	19	Chevy
3.	D. Earnhardt Jr.	40	Chevy
4.	S. Riggs	23	Dodge
5.	J. Gordon	13	Chevy
6.	D. Hamlin	6	Chevy
7.	C. Edwards	39	Ford
8.	R. Newman	21	Dodge
9.	J. Burton	2	Chevy
10.	J. Johnson	18	Chevy

 

Heading into California this weekend, Dale Earnhard Jr. only needs to be concerned with big picture racing and so much fighting for a win. He can move up only 4th in points if he has a spectacular race a the drivers ahead of him don’t, but he could also drop out of the Top 10 with a less than stellar race and Kasey Kahne pull off a win or Top 5.

It looks like NASCAR wasn’t really interested in showing Carl Edwards that he was wrong in go back on the track and slamming into the side of Dale Earnhardt Jr. car on Saturday. They also overlooked the fact that he went after Dale Jr. and grabbed his firesuit near Victory Lane trying to show him that he wasn’t happy with the bump on the track. This was all quite obvious when NASCAR announced the so called penalties that they handed down to Carl Edwards; he received a $20,000.00 fine a was placed on probation for the remainder of the season.

He should have at the very least lost 25 driver points in Busch Series and he actually should have been parked for the next race. That is exactly what NASCAR did to Kevin Harvick when he had an off the track incident with a fellow competitor in pits after a truck race on Saturday afternoon. NASCAR immediately decided that he was going to be parked for the remainder of the weekend and that meant he had to miss Sundays Cup Series race.

So, I am really not sure what it would take for NASCAR to hand down another punishment like that, but if anyone deserved it would have been Edwards. After all, first he raced down pit road to slam into the side of Dale Earnhardt Jr. car and then he goes after him and grabs his firesuit because he was still mad at him. Where is the deterrent, what exactly is to keep Edwards from doing it again? All he got was a joke of a fine and probation.

This is the second time less than a month that Carl Edwards has used his car to retaliate against a fellow competitor for an incident on the track. A couple of weeks ago, it was him spinning Tony Stewart going into pit road, which was in retaliation for Stewart causing a wreck that took out Edwards car. He obviously didn’t learn anything from that punishment and I seriously doubt he will learn anything from this one either.

With two laps to go at MIS, Dale Earnhardt Jr. bumped Carl Edwards from behind after Edwards car got loose coming out of turn 2. The spin propelled Dale Jr. into the lead followed by Casey Mears (#42 car) and Robby Gordon (#88 car). Carl Edwards, pulled one of his familiar retaliation moves by veering off of pit road right into the side of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s #8 car. After the race Carl Edwards said he was just trying to tell Dale Jr. that he wasn’t happy with him for bumping him with 2 laps to go.

I fully expect NASCAR to penalize Edwards like they did when he spun Tony Stewart a couple of races ago in the Nextel Cup Series. But, with NASCAR you can never be sure of them giving out penalties. However, NASCAR called Earnhardt, Gordon and Edwards to the NASCAR hauler for a talk, regarding the incident with two laps to go.

Despite the incident that was clearly caused by the contact from Dale Jr., NASCAR declared Earbhardt the winner. When Earnhardt arrived at Victory Lane and got out of the car, he was greeted to a mixture of cheers and boos, but mostly cheers.

Carl Edwards, who was visibly upset when he got out of his car, but he handled the post race interview. He really doesn’t have a whole lot of room to talk, he himself has bumped competitors out of his way to win a race. Now, I am not saying he doesn’t have the right to be upset, but he needs to do a better job or remembering what he has done in the past.

It looked liked Robby Gordon was going to get collected up by the spinning Carl Edwards, but fortunately for Gordon he was able to gather the race car and finish third just behind the hard charging Casey Mears. The spin put Carl Edwards back into 23rd and it caused Edwards to drop one spot in the Busch Series points standing.

Kevin Harvick, who is the current points leader managed a 8th place finish and is 484 points ahead of Denny Hamlin and 486 points ahead of 3rd place Carl Edwards.

Robby Gordon, a fill in driver for JR Motorsports #88, after Mark McFarland was pulled from the car after last weeks poor finish. Shane Huffman will be driving the #88 car for the rest of the season, but because he wasn’t cleared by NASCAR to drive on Super speedways, he wasn’t able to race this weekend at Michigan International Speedway.

Top 10 Finishers

1.	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevy
2.	Casey Mears	Dodge
3.	Robby Gordon	Chevy
4.	Matt Kenseth	Ford
5.	Mark Martin	Ford
6.	Denny Hamlin	Chevy
7.	Reed Sorenson	Dodge
8.	Kevin Harvick	Chevy
9.	J.J. Yeley	Chevy
10.	Jeff Burton

I recently learned that the original creators of the blog traffic exchange Blog Soldiers has put it up for sale. It didn’t take long for them to receive an offer that they felt was worthy of consideration. They accepted the offer and the new owner took ownership of Blog Soldiers over the weekend.

The new owner John Bambenek, he also owns Pentax Net, Inc. and he is a current member of Blog Soldiers. Since purchasing Blog Soldiers, John Bambenek has been busy planning some additional features to help attract new members and to make things better for current members. In a recent email I received from Mr. Bambenek, he outlined several points that he has implimented to help increase membership in the traffic exchange. here is a list that was included in the email.

1) 50 referral credits for all new members you refer.
2) 50 bonus credits on surfing 50 sites for new members who join.
3) Surfing Contest for the month of August, the Top 10 surfers will receive up to 500 credits for having the most pages surfed between Aug 15 and Aug 31. Top surfer gets 500, 2nd gets 250, 3rd 150, 4th and 5th get 100, 6th-10th get 50.
4) Membership contest.  In ADDITION to the referral bonus, the member with the most sites referred will get 500 credits with the same bonus structure as above.
5) REDUCED PURCHASE PRICE FOR CREDITS!  I have reduced the price on purchasing credits for THIS MONTH ONLY!  It is now $8 - 1200, $14 - 2500, and $24 - 5000.

Kevin Harvick was able to take the lead from Tony Stewart with three laps to go and went on to win. It looked like it was over for Harvick, but he didn’t give up and just waited for his break and he took it. He was able to simply power past the #20 car in one of the few passing zones on the road course in Upstate New York.

With the win, Harvick finds himself in the 3rd positions in the Nextel Cup points standing with only four races to go. Things didn’t go so well for a couple of drivers that were in need of good finishes to help them get closer to the Top 10 before the Richmond.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was able to stay in the Top 10 thanks to his 18th place finish and Kasey Kahne’s last lap spin that saw him finish 22nd. That actually helped to expand the distance between Dale Jr. and Kahne. I found myself hoping that kahne would somehow have a bad finish and when I saw that he spun in the track I knew that it was exactly what I was hoping for and with Kahne slipping back to 22nd, it was enough to help put a little more distance with four races to go before the Chase for the Cup begins.

Top 10 Finishers

1.	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet
2.	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet
3.	Jamie McMurray	Ford
4.	Robby Gordon	Chevrolet
5.	Carl Edwards	Ford
6.	Scott Pruett	Dodge
7.	Elliott Sadler	Ford
8.	Ryan Newman	Dodge
9.	Kyle Busch	Chevrolet
10.	Denny Hamlin	Chevrolet

Other notable finishers

18.   Dale Earnhardt Jr.

13.   Jeff Gordon

17.   Jimmie Johnson

Are you looking to bring more people to your blogs? I am always looking to share my opinions with as many people as I can. I found several of the popular sites for increasing traffic like, BlogMad and Blogexplosion. but I also came a cross a few not so popular ones that I find very easy to use; one of those is Blogadvance.

It only takes a few minutes to join and you can immediately start earning credits. They are currently offering 1.5 credits for every blog viewed until Sunday, but the normal ratio is 1:1. Click on the picture and it will take you to the home page where you can join!!!

New head coach Rod Marinelli seems to be happy with his new team after they won their first preseason game. They were playing the Denver Broncos at home at Ford Field, in downtown Detroit. I know most people would say that I shouldn’t get excited over a dumb preseason football game, but when you are a Detroit lions fan, who hasn’t had a lot to be excited about over the past decade or so, you tend to get excite about any win.

All three QB’s played in the game and they all had fairly decent success; Jon Kitna, Dan Orlavski and Josh Mckown. Jon Kitna started the game and led the Lion’s to a field on the opening drive and looked pretty good. He was followed second year QB Dan Orlavski, who didn’t a have a great start (INT on his first pass) but he recovered well and through a TD pass. Josh McKown came in a finished up mid way through the third quarter and he had a pretty good game.

I am just hoping that the offense picks up with new Offensive Coordinator Martz and whichever QB that gets the nod for the starting job in game #1. I am not going to get overly optimistic and say that we will win so many games, but I will say I am encouraged after the first preseason game.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. came into the race at the Brickyard outside of the Top 10 with 6 races to go and he needed a big boost after two straight 43rd place finishes. Before those two races he was sitting 3rd in points and comfortably in the Top 5, but disaster struct and in 2 short races he fell 8 spots down to 11th in points.

Things weren’t looking very good for Dale Jr. all race, the team just couldn’t get handling of the car right and he was mired back between 22nd and 37th most of the race. It was looking really bad for Dale Jr. and I am sure frustration was setting in for crew chief Tony Uury Jr. and and Dale Jr.

The laps were counting down and it was going to take a miracle for Dale Jr. to salvage a good finish. The miracle came in the form of a late caution flag and just about all of the lead lap cars came in for fresh tires and Tony Eury Jr. made the call of the season, he told Dale Jr. to stay out. They were going to roll the dice and hope for the best. A few other teams made the same call including Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman and they restarted the race with less than 20 laps to go.

I was actually just hoping that Dale Earnhardt Jr. would be able to hold on and finish in the Top 10. As I said in the beginning of this entry Jimmie Johnson was able to over take Dale Jr with 10 laps to go. Fortunately for Dale Jr. the story didn’t end there and he only passed by four other cars and he finished in 6th place.

With the 6th place finish he was able get back into the Top 10 (10th place) just behind Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon. Jeff Gordon reached deep into his bag of tricks (not meant to be derrogatory) and he recovered from a near disasterous start to finish 16th. Gordon fell 3 or 4 laps down due to a mechanical failure (broken bolt on the front sway bar) and with a couple of quick cautions he was able to get the laps back, but he still found himself one lap down for a very long stretch and I am sure he had to be wondering when his luck was going to change.

He finally got the break he needed and got back onto the lead lap and he clawed back and finished in the Top 20 (16th) and was able move up one spot in the points to 8th position just barely in front of the resurgant Tony Stewart.

Top 10 Finishers

1. # 48  Jimmie Johnson

2. # 17  Matt Kenseth

3. # 29  Kevin Harvick

4. # 07  Clint Bowyer

5. #  6   Mark Martin

6. #  8   Dale Earnhardt Jr.

7. #  5   Kyle Busch

8. #  20  Tony Stewart

9. #  99   Carl Edwards

10. #11   Denny Hamlin

The Frence lab that completed the testing on urine sample A of Floyd Landis after he was declared the winner of the Tour de France a couple of weeks ago, has determined that Landis’s sample B also contains high levels of synthetic testosterone.

Landis still denies that he has done anything wrong and his defense team has offered a couple of explanations, from dehydration to cortosone shots that he takes for pain (he has a very bad hip) and also thyroid medication.

The final decision on the punishment will come from the UCI and then he will be able to appeal what ever punishment is handed down, the expected punishment would be a 2 year ban from the sport. Unfortunately, the biggest disappointment will come when the Tour de France victory is taken away. The Tour de France officials wasted no time, in taking steps to declare the second place finisher the winner of race.

The race director Christian Prudhomme said runner-up Oscar Pereiro, would be declared the winner and he was contacted by Tour de France officials.

Landis’s racing team Swiss-based Phonak reacted very abruptly by firing Landis, who was the team captain only 45 minutes after learning of the results from the sample B testing. Despite the fact that they stood behind another former team member, Tyler Hamilton for two years while he fought allegations of doping.

If Landis ultimately loses all of his appeals he will become the first person to be stripped of his Tour de France victory for doping in races 103 year history.

Guillen hits for the cycle Carlos Guillen nearly hit for the cycle a couple of games ago, but this time he accomplished the feat Tuesday night against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He became the 10th Detroit Tiger player to do this in the teams history.

He had an RBI triple in the second, a solo homer in the third, a single in the sixth and a double in the eighth. The Tigers won the game 10-4, thanks in a large part to Guillen. At the same time Guillen was accomplishing his great feat, Jason Verlander won his 14th game of the season to become the first 14 game winner in the majors this season.

The last two Tigers to hit for the cycle was Damon Easley in 2001 and Travis Fryman in 1993 and before them George Kell hit for the cycle back in 1950. With this win last night the Tigers matched their win total of last season and they improved their league leading record to 71-35.