Another One for that Crazy Old Man

Trixie radioed...

It was the first time the Craftsman Trucks raced at Talladega and it turned out to be quite a finish.

I woke up (my back meds make me drowsy) and saw that Todd Bodine was being penalized for gaining position after going below that yellow line. He felt that Mark pushed him below the yellow line. From what I saw Mark was racing and he gave Todd room to come back up on the track to regain his spot. Of course that didn't happen. This is one these things that is open to interpretation by the NASCAR officials. If you go below the yellow line and you gain position, you are penalized. However, if you are forced down and you have no choice, the driver is not penalized. If you go below the yellow and you don't gain position and you go back to your line, no penalty. Now is that right? We all know how Dega can be. Sometimes it is difficult to see what really happens especially if the drivers are 3, 4, or 5 wide like the ending of today's truck race. It will be interesting to see how tomorrow's Cup race works out.

Well...Congratulations to that Crazy Old Man. I told Postman that if he wasn't here Mark would win and I was right. Did you hear that Postman??? I WAS RIGHT!!!! I am a little sad that Mark will not be racing the #6 truck next year for Roush. You could tell from the interview today after the race he LOVES driving that truck. What was Roush thinking? As I said yesterday, I sill think there is more to this story than we all can see. How can someone just let Mark go? Mark is one of those rare individuals that everyone wants to call a friend. He has tremendous respect from his fellow drivers and fans. I don't think I have ever heard an unkind word about Mark. I am sure there are people out there who don't like Mark as a driver, but I haven't met any. I for one will miss him in the #6 next year.

More news from Dega today...
Smaller restrictor plates for the boys to slow the speeds of the cars.

Kevin Harvick's primary sponsor will change to Shell Oil. His car will be yellow instead of the Earnhardtesque black.



Prior to the inaugural truck race at Dega was Cup qualifying. When I looked up to see who had the provisional pole I saw the #38 was first. That's right, Elliott's old ride was leading the pack at qualifying. Just to review, this is a newbie to Cup who took over the #38 midseason from Mr. Sadler. After all the smoke clears...he held on to win the pole today. And who will start next to him tomorrow??? Mr. Jarrett. The defending race winner from last year. Qualifying first and finishing first are two different things, but I have to give major props to Mr. Gilliland. Way to go rookie!

In other non-NASCAR news...after beating Texas A&M last week in great fashion, they lose tonight to Missouri 38-21. At least state pride was defended today. Texas beat Oklahoma 28-10.