Happy Friday.  Habbajeeba, we made it through the week!  

Today In Nascar History

March 13, 1988: Jeff Burton, 20, makes his first NASCAR start, finishing last in the 200-lap Miller Classic Busch Series race at Martinsville. Twenty-eight cars start the race, and Burton's engine fails after two laps.

Quote of the Day

When I get in my car and put the helmet on and flip the switch, there's only one thing on my mind.

-- Jeff Gordon

Comments from the Peanut Gallery

From Jack

And a happy TURSDAY to you!   I'd like to go back briefly to the tire episode and the gas can handler.  I really feel badly for that guy.  My take is that since it was a green flag stop the cars would still be at race speed.  Maybe his thoughts were that if he didn't stop the wheel it could have ended up causing a humongous crash.  After all, it was well across the infield grass, headed for the tri-oval. One thing for sure, he will never do that again.

Smilin' Jack

Yea yea yea, Jack…u just wait ‘til I catch you with an oops!  I’ll crucify you…LOL

Bits and Pieces

Goodyear Tire test at LMS March 17-18: Goodyear is scheduled to hold a tire test at Lowe's Motor Speedway with four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams representing each of the series manufacturers next week in preparation for the track's May races, including the 25th NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race on May 16, and the 50th running of the Coca-Cola 600 on May 24. Drivers scheduled to test at #9-Kasey Kahne (Dodge), #48-Jimmie Johnson (Chevy), #47-Marcos Ambrose (Toyota) and #98-Paul Menard. During both days of the Goodyear tire test, Lowe's Motor Speedway's frontstretch grandstand will be open free of charge from 9am - 5pm and fans should enter through Gate 5A, located next to the main ticket office. Additionally, NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race and Coca-Cola 600 ticket holders will have access to an infield grandstand on Wednesday, March 18, from 10am to 5pm, and can participate in a special fan forum featuring all four drivers from 12 - 1pm. Ticket holders for Lowe's Motor Speedway's May Cup races will need to check in at the speedway's ticket office to receive verification of their ticket purchase before entering the infield at Gate 26.(LMS PR)

ISC issues smaller bonuses to top two execs: International Speedway Corp. issued smaller bonuses to its two top executives in 2008 than it did in 2007. According to its 2009 proxy statement filed Wednesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, ISC Chairman Jim France's total compensation was $1.04 million in 2008 - $48,000 less than what he made in 2007 with his bonus about $28,000 less than a year ago. ISC President Lesa France Kennedy's bonus was more than $25,000 less than a year ago, and her total compensation was $768,454, down from $814,159 in 2007. Executive Vice President John Saunders and Senior Vice President Roger VanDerSnick did receive higher bonuses and overall compensation. Saunders' total compensation was $639,450 in 2008 compared with $632,944 in 2007, while VanDerSnick made $507,345 in 2008 compared with $457,002 in 207. As of March 9, the France Family Group owned 68.91 percent of the voting stock in the company. Jim France, brother of the late Bill France Jr., is listed as owning 46.23 percent of the voting stock, while Betty Jane France, Bill France Jr.'s widow, owns 20.57 percent. Lesa France Kennedy, Bill France Jr.'s daughter, owns 2.66 percent, and Brian France, Bill France Jr.'s son, owns 0.23 percent. All are members of the France Family Group, which also includes their children.(Scene Daily)

Earnhardt Ganassi still searching for #8 sponsorship: Earnhardt Ganassi Racing has sponsorship for Aric Almirola for the upcoming NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Bristol and Martinsville and will definitely enter him April 5 at Texas, but his schedule beyond Texas is still pending sponsorship, EGR President Steve Lauletta says. Dale Earnhardt Inc. had intended to run Almirola the full 2009 season, but after the partnership with Chip Ganaasi Racing was formed last November, Almirola's situation has been cloudy with no full-time sponsor. Almirola has 22 career Cup starts, and the #8 team currently is 36th in the owner points. Lauletta confirmed that Almirola will have Champion on the car for Bristol and then Guitar Hero: Metallica for Martinsville, but he wouldn't elaborate on those companies' plans for future events. He said the team still needs sponsorship to get past Texas.(Scene Daily)

Michael Waltrip tapes episode of My Name is Earl: What does a Sprint Cup driver do on an off weekend? If he's Michael Waltrip, driver of the #55 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota, he's headed to Hollywood! The two-time Daytona 500 champion, who is known for his comedic personality, is appearing in an episode of the NBC sitcom, My Name Is Earl. Waltrip's opportunity to be on the show came shortly after the airing of an Auto Club Speedway commercial he appeared in with actor Greg Germann. The speedway's President Gillian Zucker, who has many connections in the entertainment industry, recommended using Waltrip to her friend, Greg Garcia, the creator and executive producer of My Name is Earl. "This experience is going to be a lot of fun for me," Waltrip continued. "I play myself and I help Earl and his brother Randy get out of a big jam." Waltrip will be in California through Saturday. The episode featuring Waltrip is scheduled to air on Thursday, April 30 at 8 p.m. ET - which happens to be Waltrip's 46th birthday. (Michael Waltrip Racing PR)

Gordon learns life is different with baby on board

Reid Spencer, Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

Three-time Cup champion Darrell Waltrip admits that the birth of his daughter Jessica in 1987 made him less of a risk-taker behind the wheel.

“I drove differently,” Waltrip wrote in his autobiography, “DW: A Lifetime Going Around In Circles.” “I was more cautious because up to that point I never believed I had much of anything. … I never thought about getting hurt, but then after we had Jessica, I thought, ‘Man, if I get hurt … what would (wife) Stevie and this little baby do?’ It changed the way I drove.”

Jeff Gordon doesn’t think the birth of his daughter, Ella, in 2007 has changed the way he drives, but there have been some major adjustments to his lifestyle. Gordon talked about those changes with Sporting News.

By Jeff Gordon, as told to Reid Spencer:

I may sound like a terrible father, but when I start the engine and I put the helmet on, I’m not thinking a whole lot about family at that time. I’m thinking about winning the race. But I can tell you that the second that checkered flag was waving (after the first Duel at Daytona), the first thing on my mind was that I can’t wait to see Ingrid and Ella in victory lane. Maybe it’s just that switch that’s up there for me. There’s no doubt that being a parent has changed me–not how I drive or my focus on driving–but I’m not used to getting up at 6:30 in the morning. It’s taken me a year to really get into that mode. I think a lot of it’s because I’m interacting with (Ella) so much more now that she’s talking. And as she’s growing, I see my role as a father becoming more and more involved, and I love it.

I don’t think I ever said last year that it didn’t take a toll on me, that it wasn’t affecting me. It just wasn’t what everybody else thought. Everybody thought, “Oh, well, you’re just being more conservative; you’re not being as aggressive.” That’s not it. That’s not it at all. It’s that I’m not sleeping. I’m showing up at the racetrack trying to hold my eyes open because I’m sleep-deprived, and she was up crying at 3 in the morning, and I’m trying to be a good husband–not necessarily just a good father–and play my part, play my role.

I think now here we are 20 months into it, and both me and Ingrid have a better understanding of the routine. Just like yesterday, I spent the night in the bus because I knew that it was important to me to get a good night’s rest. I learned that last year. At Texas, the worst race that we had, the first Texas race, we’re like, “OK, she’s sleeping now through the night, so we’ll bring her with us to the racetrack”–and she was up all night.

I knew my car was not where I wanted it to be, and I knew that Texas was a challenging track for me already, and I had the worst day I could ever imagine. It was because I didn’t get any sleep. It wasn’t because I was not wanting to run it loose. I think we learned a lot from that week–the way our travel habits played a role–and so, this year, those are some things that are going to help me focus.

Gordon focused on task at hand

By Ed Hinton/ESPN.com

Jeff Gordon admittedly is terrible at multitasking. And that is why he is leading the Cup standings again, running consistently at the brink of winning again, and will break through any Sunday now and probably keep on winning.

Multitasking is of course all the rage -- and the scourge -- of this society.

You read and hear constantly, from The New York Times to CNN to NPR, that psychologists and neuroscientists have determined that multitasking is just a terrible idea -- always inefficient, often dangerous, sometimes disastrous.

But these are not new findings. The Atlantic magazine a while back quoted a Roman slave, Publilius Syrus, in the first century B.C.: "To do two things at once is to do neither."

Gordon and I got onto this topic recently, in a conversation in his hauler, when I was asking a broader, harder question: Are you thinking about it?

"Thinking about it" is the undercurrent term among NASCAR insiders for a driver who has developed such wealth and happiness that he is at or approaching the point of too much to lose, should he be badly injured or killed.

The HANS device, the SAFER barrier, the Car of Tomorrow and cocoon-like seats make catastrophic injury far less likely than even eight years ago, when Dale Earnhardt was killed.

But the very scientists who developed all those devices will tell you that there always looms the possibility of an accident that is unforeseen. Gordon's hard hit where there was no SAFER barrier at Las Vegas last year is an example, although the HANS and the COT did their jobs against the bare concrete.

"Thinking about it" was not so much of an issue for early NASCAR drivers, who didn't make enough money, have enough time with their families or have enough opportunities outside racing to ponder life beyond the tracks.

It became more of an issue as drivers such as Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip hit the big money and the big exposure.

Waltrip was thinking about it as early as the mid-1980s when he said, "I want to win as many races as I can, going as slow as I can."

After Earnhardt got upside down at Daytona in 1997, and then got hit horrifically on his roof at Talladega in '98, one of the savviest observers ever in NASCAR told me, "He's thinking about it. He's got too much to lose now."

Earnhardt privately acknowledged that quitting was much on his mind. If nothing else, the hits against the concrete walls had become just too painful.

Even at the moment he died, he surely appeared to be concerned with the future of his company -- he was blocking, keeping onrushing drivers off his own two cars, driven by his son Dale Jr. and Michael Waltrip, so that one of them could win the Daytona 500.

When Rusty Wallace decided to quit, he was thinking about it -- mostly because of Earnhardt. Wallace had seen his dear friend build a fortune and an ideal lifestyle, and then not live to enjoy it.

I reminded Gordon of all this, at the time in his career the question must be asked: Are you thinking about it?

His answer was elaborate.

"When I get in my car and put the helmet on and flip the switch, there's only one thing on my mind," he said. "Now, if you ask me has my schedule changed, have my sleeping habits changed, do I try to spend as much time as I can with my daughter and my wife, heck yeah. Absolutely. ...

"But it doesn't affect me any more than when I was single and had all the time in the world to focus on racing, and then I was off looking for a girlfriend and hanging out with my buddies and going on vacation. ...

"And of course I'm always thinking of the future. I'm always thinking of investments and making the most of the opportunities I've been given. I've been thinking about that ever since I won my first championship. ...

"So of course I think of that now, and I think of my family and those responsibilities.

"But when I get in that race car, and I'm talking to Steve [Letarte, crew chief], I'm sorry, I'm your pretty typical guy.

"I'm one-track minded, and I'm not a multitasker. My wife will tell you the same thing."

All that training, most of his life -- he first climbed into a quarter-midget at age 4 -- blocks out a multitasking world when the green flag drops.

To watch him in the first four races of this season, especially his second-place run at Atlanta on Sunday, is to be sure there is no multitasking going on inside that car.

On tires with a structure and compound he couldn't begin to understand, slipping and sliding all over one of the fastest tracks in NASCAR, there was not a moment to multitask. He made totally focused, fearless run after totally focused, fearless run with only one task in his head -- beating Kurt Busch and winning the race.

Gordon came up short only because Busch's crew had hit upon a slightly better setup than Gordon's crew had.

It was the peak of Gordon's proof so far this season that inside the car, he is not "thinking about it."

"I'm just as passionate," he said, "and I'm just as competitive, and I feel like I'm just as good."

There is no arguing with that. Not this spring, anyway.

There is only waiting out the old NASCAR truism that when you keep putting yourself in position to win, week after week, then sooner or later -- probably sooner -- you will win.

And winning in NASCAR is a singular task.

It's too early to give up on Martin

by Larry McReynolds/foxsports.com

If you simply look at the box scores from the first four races and looked at Mark Martin's numbers in that No. 5 car, you probably would be shaking your head wondering why they are so bad. However, if you watch closely, it is very deceiving. His performance is light-years ahead of his results.

Martin had a respectable Daytona but then blew up the next weekend at California. Then he blew up at Las Vegas the following weekend ... sat on the pole and led laps last Sunday at Atlanta but then had problems late in the race.

I still think Mark Martin can win races. I think he shows it week in and week out. I think he has as much bounce in his step at 50 years old as he has had in a long time. I am a firm believer that you make your own luck, but the racing gods just aren't shining down on that No. 5 car right now.

I know Mark pretty well and I can almost promise you that there aren't any regrets for giving up a part-time race schedule to go all out in 2009. The reason I say that is he is running well. He still has 22 races left before the cutoff for the 2009 Chase. Sure, he has probably used a pretty good amount of his mulligans, if not all of them. But at the end of the day, he simply has to be in the top 12 in points when we leave Richmond Saturday night Sept. 12. Remember, it doesn't matter if he is 680 points behind the leader. All that matters is being in the top 12. Like DW says all the time, we have a 26-race regular season and then a 10-race playoff.

I don't think you can count anybody out yet, including the No. 5 car. Do they have work to do? Sure they do. The good news is they are running well, like I mentioned earlier. Look at Ryan Newman. He and his team have also had bad luck like Mark, but the difference is that Ryan really isn't running that well.

Mark runs well everywhere and has won races at about every track we go to. We know he will be good at Talladega because he is in a Hendrick car. He runs awesome at Phoenix, Richmond, Pocono, Dover and Lowes Motor Speedway. Bristol and Martinsville might not be the best tracks for him compared to the others. He runs well on road courses, too.

When we get down close to the cutoff for the Chase and a team has cars already locked in, you might experiment and try some things with them. Once the Chase is here and you have cars that aren't in it, then you might also try some things to gain an advantage for your teammates that are in it. That's where Penske Racing got ahead of the game. They didn't make the Chase, so they really worked with and on that new Dodge engine and I think right now they are reaping the benefits of it in 2009.

I think that kind of philosophy is even more critical in this day and age because of the testing ban for 2009.

Hate the Busches? Respect them too

by Jeff Hammond/foxsports.com

If you are a fan that studies and appreciates talent, you have to be very respectful of what the Busch brothers have accomplished.

I had the privilege of working with Kurt Busch when he first came on the scene. His ability and dedication to what he was doing when he first started in Cup was unbelievable. I was delighted to work with such a young talent. Early on I could clearly see that here was a guy that could win a championship. Had I not been in the midst of making the transition from crew chief to working in TV, I would have loved to have stuck around and continued to work with Kurt. He was and is such a talent.

His brother Kyle, well Jeff Gordon summed it up best when he said, "I would love to have his talent when it comes to driving race cars." Both these kids and yes, since I am older, I can say that — they both have as much talent behind the wheel as anyone I have seen in my entire NASCAR career. They are just that good and fun to watch.

Kyle definitely likes to let it all hang out. Kurt showed Sunday at Atlanta that he has really good car control and doesn't get rattled when it doesn't work perfectly.

To try and compare the two probably isn't fair. Kyle is definitely the more flamboyant one. He plays to the crowd. He likes to challenge the fans. He likes to get them stirred up. He just has a lot of fun with it. Whether you love him or don't, you have to admire him for it and you have to respect his ability.

There's a difference between personality and talent. Even folks who are not fans of either of the Busch boys have to at least respect their talent and what they can do behind the wheel of a race car. They are making it happen on the racetrack. I am sure it makes some fans ill when Kurt or Kyle beat their favorite drivers, but that's what makes our week-in and week-out battles so exciting. Sometimes beating the most popular driver isn't that popular to the majority, but you simply can't ignore the talent it takes.

At this point in time I have to say the Busch brothers are the best brother combination we have seen. The Allison brothers, Donnie and Bobbie, are the ones probably that remind me the most of Kurt and Kyle. Bobbie and Donnie used to wage some pretty fierce battles against each other. Donnie didn't quite get the opportunities that Bobby did, so for that reason his record doesn't reflect that compared to Bobby's. The Flock brothers were another amazing set of brothers who all accomplished so much behind the wheel. Their success was phenomenal and it just showed the talent that ran from brother to brother to brother.

We head to Bristol next weekend and that should make for some fun racing between Kurt and Kyle. Kurt has been so dominate there in the past and Kyle can be so exciting there. I just think we have a perfect scenario there for a family feud, in a friendly way.

The other interesting point about Kurt and Kyle is that they both drive for what could be considered mega-teams. Even when Darrell and Michael Waltrip were racing you didn't have that. Michael drove for some good teams at times, but never for that mega-team like DW did with Junior Johnson or Rick Hendrick.

Kurt and Kyle definitely have an opportunity to go head to head on an equal playing field.

Tom Higgins Scuffs

Tom’s favorite moonshine tale

By Tom Higgins

Surely by now most stock car racing fans have heard or read of the arrest of former driving champion Dean Combs on charges of manufacturing illegal liquor.

Combs, 57, was charged by N.C. "revenooers" last week when a large, elaborate still was found on his property in Wilkes County, once known as “The Moonshine Capitol Of The World.”

The personable Combs won five championships and 60 races in NASCAR’s long-defunct series for sub-compact cars, once known as the “Baby Grand National Division.”

The multiple charges against Combs, lauded by officers for his co-operation (Dean even used his tractor to help agents haul the still to a field to be blown up) has been a subject of much discussion around the Tar Heel State for several days.

One avid NASCAR follower asked me to tell him my favorite moonshining story.

There’s no contest.

Not surprisingly, it involves the legendary Junior Johnson, who drove to 50 victories in NASCAR’s elite division, now the Sprint Cup Series, and took six championships as a team owner.

Junior almost certainly ranks as the most famous bootlegger of all time.

He started hauling hooch from his father’s stills at age 14 and transferred his driving talent to the fledgling NASCAR sanctioning body in the early 1950s, becoming known for his hard-charging style.

Junior told me this amusing anecdote in 1998 during an interview for the authorized biography, “Junior Johnson: Brave In Life,” which I co-wrote with my pal Steve Waid:

In 1955, Junior and his friend Gwyn Staley had a haul planned to “thirsty” sailors at Newport News, Va. The stash of booze had been moved across the Brushy Mountains to a hiding place near Taylorsville, N.C.

“We changed the location of the stash regularly to keep the law from finding it,” explained Junior.

“Me and Gwyn went over there to load up in our high-powered hauler cars. We were going to gas up back in Wilkes County and then high-tail it to Virginia.

“Coming around a sharp curve on the mountain we saw skid marks on the highway and a car turned over in the woods. Steam was coming out of the car and two men were wandering around it real stunned.

“We couldn’t just go by and leave ‘em there, so me and Gwyn stopped to see if we could help.

“Damned if the two men weren’t the high sheriff of Wilkes County and one of his deputies.”

Junior chuckled and his eyes sparkled at the memory.

The two who had wrecked had liquor on their breaths and lipstick on their collars.

“They were so drunk they couldn’t hardly stand up,” continued Junior.

“The sheriff said, ‘Junior, you’ve got to help me out. I’ll get thrown out of office if this incident gets public. Get me back to the courthouse and I’ll never chase you again.’

“I said, ‘Hell, man, I’ve got a load of liquor in my car, and so does Gwyn.’

“He said, ‘I don’t care about the liquor. Just help me get out of this.’

“So me and Gwyn rearranged the cases of white liquor we had in our cars to make seats for the sheriff and his deputy. We drove 'em to the courthouse. The man kept his word. He never gave me any trouble again.”

However, N.C. revenue officers weren’t so obliging.

In 1956 Junior went to a still in the woods during predawn hours to fire up the operation for his father, who was ill. Agents had discovered the still and staked it out. Junior tried to outrun them, but got tangled up in a barbed-wire fence.

He was arrested.

“They got me on foot, but never on the highway,” said Junior.

In November of ‘56 Junior was sentenced to two years in federal prison.

He was released on parole from the pen at Chillocothe, Ohio, after serving 11 months and three days.

Junior resumed racing and became what the great author Tom Wolfe called “The Last American Hero” in a memorable Esquire Magazine article in the early 1970s. The article was turned into a movie starring Beau Bridges.

Johnson, winner of the 1960 Daytona 500, was pardoned for his moonshining activity on Dec. 26, 1985, by President Ronald Reagan. He is the only individual in U.S. history to receive a presidential pardon in person in the Oval Office.

Sadly, Gwyn Staley, Junior’s fellow hauler that night in the Brushy Mountains, lost his life in a crash during a NASCAR event at Richmond on March 23, 1958.

I asked Junior what ever happened to the sheriff he chauffeured to the Wilkes County Courthouse while the lawman sat on a case of moonshine.

“I see him every once in a while on the sidewalk up in North Wilkesboro,” Junior replied with a laugh. “I just wink and ask, ‘Have you been across the mountain lately?’”

Six things we've learned so far in '09

By David Poole/charlotteobserver.com

The season's first open weekend for Sprint Cup teams comes after just four races, but that doesn't mean we haven't already learned a little about 2009. Here's a six-pack of things at least worth thinking about:

1. Jimmie Johnson is 'struggling'

Jimmie Johnson has finished 31st, ninth, 24th and ninth in the first four races and is 13th in the standings so far. That's not awful, but it's certainly not up to the three-time defending Cup champion's standards.

But while it is true that Johnson has had some spectacular early season results in his career, it's also true that last year he was 13th after four races with 467 points. He has only 10 points less this year.

2. Clint Bowyer is underappreciated

The preseason tea leaves all pointed toward this being a transitional year for Clint Bowyer. After making the Chase the past two years, he moved from the No. 07 to a new No. 33 team at Richard Childress Racing with a crew chief new to Sprint Cup, Shane Wilson, and a new team.

Yet here we are four races in and Bowyer is second in points looking very, very solid. His worst finish was 19th at California on a day that all of the RCR cars struggled badly and he had the best day of the four drivers. His other finishes are fourth, second and sixth.

3. It IS how you start

People have caught on to how important a good start is in the Chase format, but right here is where you first read about that. We noticed it two years ago and the trends have not changed.

Of the 54 drivers who've made the Chase in its first five years, 50 have been in the top 20 after four races. Forty-four have been in the top 15. And 72 percent, 39 of 54, were in Chase position after four races (the top 10 in 2004-06 or the top 12 the past two years).

The four drivers in five years who have come from outside the top 20 after four races to make the Chase were Matt Kenseth and Jeremy Mayfield in 2005, Kevin Harvick in 2006 and Martin Truex Jr. in 2007.

4. Mark Martin is in a deep hole

Blown engines at California and Las Vegas and a blown tire at Atlanta have Mark Martin in some trouble. He's 35th in car owner points with just one race left before this year's standings start determining who has to get in on time.

A lot was expected out of Martin in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports ride. If he does turn things around and somehow comes from 34th in the driver standings to make the Chase, it would be historic.

Kenseth had 339 points after four races in 2005 and still came back to make the top 10. No driver has made the Chase with a lower four-race points tally. Martin has just 286 points so far this year.

5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. might not be that bad off

Dale Earnhardt Jr.' team has made mistakes and has had some bad luck, but NASCAR's loop data suggest the No. 88 car is running better than it's finishing.

Earnhardt is 24th in the standings after four races, but he's 15th in average running position and driver rating and, perhaps most interestingly, third in a statistic called "fastest late in a run." That ranks drivers based on their lap speeds in the last 25 percent of laps run since a pit stop. That means the No. 88 car has been pretty solid on long runs, which is something every team tries to shoot for.

6. There's (a little) more for everyone

There has been a lot of talk about there being more parity in Cup so far this season and the statistics bear that out - but only marginally.

Fourteen different drivers have had top-five finishes so far this year. That's the highest total in the past five seasons, but only by one over the 13 we had in 2008 and 2006. There have been 24 different drivers with top-10 finishes so far. In three of the past four years that number through four races has been 23. It was also 24 back in 2006.

On the other hand, if you take the average points total for each multicar team that has more than one car to make each of the season's first four races, things are still pretty tight:

Richard Childress Racing, 484.

Roush Fenway Racing, 480.

Hendrick Motorsports, 444.

Joe Gibbs Racing, 440. Penske Racing, 437.

Michael Waltrip Racing, 423.

Richard Petty Motorsports, 423.

Stewart-Haas Racing, 423.

Red Bull Racing, 367.

Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, 349.

Yates Racing, 326.1

Is Brad Keselowski cursed?

By Lee Montgomery/scenedaily.com

The Lee Montgomery Curse appears to have struck JR Motorsports. Sorry, Brad Keselowski. But I did warn you.
For those of you who haven’t been around since 2006, I’ll explain. During my first year at NASCAR Scene, I began work on a feature on Mark McFarland, then JR Motorsports’ driver in what is now known as the Nationwide Series. While working on that story, I branched out and did a feature on all the Earnhardt relatives working at Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s team.
Not long after both stories appeared, McFarland and the team parted ways. Ouch.
A year later, Shane Huffman was driving the No. 88 Chevrolet, and I began working on a Huffman feature. Included in that work was a trip to Gulfport, Miss., to the Navy’s Seabee base, where Earnhardt Jr. and Huffman were making an appearance.
I remember asking Earnhardt Jr. about Huffman during that trip, and he said Huffman was doing fine. Less than a week later, Huffman was out.
Eventually, Huffman was replaced by the upstart Keselowski in the No. 88. Keselowski ran pretty well, earning respect from Earnhardt Jr. and a full-time ride for 2008.
It appeared the Curse was broken when I did a story for this Web site – www.SceneDaily.com, so click often – and Keselowski didn’t slow down. In fact, he kept running well, winning two races last year and landing a part-time Sprint Cup gig.

That led to a Keselowski feature that ran in our preseason issue of NASCAR Scene, one which Keselowski had the kindness to personally thank me.
I wonder what he thinks now. Since the issue came out, Keselowski has finished 22nd, 27th and 27th in the first three Nationwide races of the season.
And for good measure, he failed to qualify for the Daytona 500 Sprint Cup race for Phoenix Racing and was 38th at the Las Vegas Cup race for Hendrick Motorsports.
Keselowski was supposed to be a contender for the Nationwide title – heck, I even picked him second – but he’s buried 22nd in the point standings.
Before the start of the 2008 season, I happened to mention the McFarland and Huffman stories to Keselowski.
“Don’t write a story on me,” Keselowski smartly replied.
Bet he wishes I had listened.
 

Well, that's all for today.  Until the next time, I remain,

Your Nascar Momma

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"

his list is authored by:

Sandra Monacelli
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