Comments on Daytona

Even though I had to be in at Riley on Sunday, I did get off in time to watch the Daytona 500. A pretty good race and they never had "the Big One". As a Stewart fan, let me state my position on his driving during the race.

Incident #1 w/ Jeff Gordon - Gordon got a run and tried to pass, then came up the track into Stewart. Gordon slid up and never fully cleard Tony. Stewart could have backed off and made it a moot point, but Stewart rarely to never backs off. If the roles were reversed, Gordon fans would have said it was all Stewarts fault for sliding up the track (a bit of a double standard). My view: the incident was Gordon's fault, but Stewart didn't try to avoid it and made a dumb comment afterward toward Gordon.

Incident #2 w/ Matt Kenseth - Plan and simple, Stewart was an idiot. I never saw the Kennseth bump of Stewart a few laps before. Stewart simply ran Kennseth off the track. It was dumb and inexcusable. No room for argument. My view: A very sad move by Stewart.

Incident #3 w/ Kyle Busch - Same situation above only flipped. Busch ran Stewart off the track to the apron. Stewart came back unto the banking and slid up the track (as one is inclined to do when going from a flat surface to a banked one at high speed) and bumped back into Busch. The bump might have been more forceful than needed, but this was plainly Busch's fault. My view: Busch was an idiot and Stewart did a great job not to spin out.

I believe that Jimmie Johnson should send a "thank you" note to Casey Mears. I truly believe that if Mears follows Newman on the last lap, Johnson doesn't win, but Mears pulled out and then dropped right back behind Johnson. It was a good race and Johnson ran up front all day. I know we are going to hear about Stewart's miscues, but only the Kennseth incident holds much water in my book. Stewart is much better when he drives smart and doesn't open his mouth. Kasey Kahne (my other guy) had a good run, but got shuffled a bit at the end (finished ~12).

There you have it. Only 33 races left until a champion is crowned. With racing and bowling, my Sunday afternoons just got busy.