Looking for a good Daytona finish

As a Ryan Newman fan, I'm excited about the upcoming race at Daytona.

I know, I know; Newman's past performances at Super Speedway tracks--except for one stellar performance when all the stars finally aligned for him at Daytona in 2008, have not earned him bragging rights. But he has little control over drivers banging him into the wall or flipping him into the infield or parts of his race car simply giving up.

I noticed a change at Louden. Newman and his entire team really stepped up their performance, with every lap being noteworthy. The speed is there. The desire is there. Newman fought for every inch on the track last week. I have every reason to be hopeful about this weekend's results as well.

Being just 15 points out of the top 12 has to be an incentive to alter past events that have marred Newman's super speedway stats.

Newman has momentum on his side. Stemming from his recent win in the Whelen Modified series and pulling out a sixth place finish at Louden, and even finishing 16th in a compromised race car at Sonoma, Newman has been on top of it. I have every reason to believe this will be a good weekend for him. Besides, he will get extra practice when he drives in the Nationwide event Saturday. Love that double duty driving.

Ryan Newman got robbed in All-Star race

From a fan's perspective, it appeared to me that Ryan Newman was trying to emulate the name of his sponsor--the tornado with its furious winds, speed, and potential devastation in the last laps of Saturday night's All-Star race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Newman was acting out the slogan from tornados--Bold is how we roll! Unfortunately, that was until NASCAR and its not-so-precise rules stopped him dead in his tracks.

Newman could smell victory. His foot had to be mashing the pedal with untold pressure as he tried to eke out every bit of horsepower from the car that seemed to have a mind of its own and had given him fits during the entire race. But in those last laps, Newman was charging toward the front. He went from seventh to fourth when Jimmy Johnson spun in front of him. There was no caution at first, so he kept charging. Then the yellow flag flew. When the field was reset, NASCAR positioned Newman in seventh position, behind Bobby Labonte, the #71.

That doesn't seem right to me, because if my memory serves me correctly, when Newman started the lap, he was behind Matt Kenseth, the #17.

Understanding the green-white checker rule, like so many of NASCAR's rules, has eluded me since it was instituted. Don't get me wrong; normally I like it. It brings excitement. But it has to be fair.

First, why did Labonte advance to his position but Newman didn't? It doesn't seem right that as the field advances, and there is a yellow flag, the entire field would revert to previous positions without restarting the entire 10-lap shootout. But that isn't what happened.

Furthermore, if the field was going to revert, why not just put Johnson back in third where he was running before he spun? Ah, because he pitted. Can we have it both ways? Johnson's current position was noted, but Newman's wasn't, even though Newman passed four spots on the last lap? Something is terribly wrong here and if anyone out there can help me understand it, I'd be real grateful.

My heartfelt congratulations to Kurt Busch on his win.

But, I will always wonder, if we could have seen another Newman/Busch finish like the one in Daytona, '08 that Newman fans will never forget.

Thanks,
Carol Henrichs,
http://www.ozarkattitude.com

Read about Ryan Newman

Read about Ryan Newman's racing history. To access this page, just click on "About Ryan Newman" above this post.

Tornados snacks, a great sponsor for Ryan Newman

A publicity tour, with a stop at the North Central Arkansas Speedway between Yellville and Flippin, AR on April 24, was to feature Ryan's #39 Chevy, along with samples of Ruiz Foods products. I was excited because this was pretty close to home.

Not only have I tried and liked Tornados snacks, but I was excited at the prospect of seeing Ryan's show car. I know this is a poor second to the real thing, but it is likely as close to his race car as I am going to get in the foreseeable future.

My husband and I got to the dirt track around 5 p.m. The event was supposed to be from 3 to 7. It was dead empty. We were very disappointed, but not surprised, since the weather had been pretty rainy in previous days. Storms threatened that morning as well, though never materialized. Disappointed, I wondered if rain really was the cause, so I emailed the track owners. Nice folks. They responded promptly that the show was canceled because of the weather.

I also emailed Ruiz Foods to ask the same question. They responded promptly also, apologizing for our trouble. Then yesterday, I received an envelope containing two 8 x 10 Ryan Newman cards, some coupons and collectible cards.

It is so refreshing when a company is responsive to its customers. It is also becoming rare, so I just thought I'd share.

Like just about everything associated with Ryan Newman, from his team, his family, his owner, and the passions of his life to name a few, his sponsor is quality as well.

Commentary: Kyle Petty over Jimmy Spencer

I was shocked to learn that a good number of people actually miss Jimmy Spencer on Speed TV's Race Day. Many have been critical of Kyle Petty as his replacement.

I am not among them.

I like Kyle Petty in that role. He is knowledgeable about racing. After all, he is the son of The King, which makes him, in my view, the Prince of NASCAR. It is a part of who he is. Also, Kyle is a good and caring individual, exhibited by his hugely philanthropic nature. I like to listen to someone I admire.

Kyle has a good sense of humor. And he can be serious too. He is not afraid to take a stand and to stand by what he believes. Most recently Kyle was very vocal about the incident involving Carl Edwards and Brad Kezelowski at Bristol. Kyle wanted to see Edwards parked and penalized.

I respect where Kyle was coming from. My God, he lost his son to a crash on the racetrack. He knows better than anyone what can happen. He knows how dangerous it can be. It isn't odd at all that he would take the position he did. Admittedly he has his biases, just like all the other commentators, but he will never be as opinionated or offensive as Spencer and some of the others.

And there seems to be no contest in the IQ category. Kyle has it all over Spencer, with his ass-kissing demeanor. Yes, Spencer did come up with some good criticisms of NASCAR itself. But he was never consistent. It was like he made such comments for his own ego's effect rather than to better the sport.

Kyle is the kind of man I would like to sit down and talk to about racing because of his knowledge, including the sports' history. While I don't always agree with him, I do enjoy hearing what he has to say. He has a much less myopic view than other former-race-car-drivers-turned-commentator types. Some names that come to mind along with Spencer are Rusty Wallace, and of course, the kings of myopia, Jeff Hammond and Darrell Waltrip.

How tired are we of hearing about Junebug? There are 42 other drivers on the racetrack, boys. Still, I like DW. He too is knowledgeable about racing. And he is funny, but I'm really sick of his and others promoting their favorite drivers, teams, and sponsors. I even enjoy hearing about how he talks about his own experiences. He does after all have a plethora of them. Perhaps that is because I am relatively new to NASCAR. I didn't know about DW's day. I can see where veterans of the sport could get a bit tired of hearing about it, but I don't.

I've often wondered, wouldn't it be nice to have a professional journalist, knowledgeable about the sport, do commentary? Wouldn't it be nice to get a play-by-play without the bias toward a particular driver, manufacturer, owner or sponsor? I can only dream.