Kasey Kahne gave HMS win #201 on Sunday night in the quickest Coca-Cola 600 ever. (photo credit: NASCAR)

Everybody deals with pressure at one point in their lifetime and Kasey Kahne is no different.

Sunday night all the pressure that had been mounting since signing with Hendrick Motorsports was lifted in one drop of a checkered flag.

Kasey Kahne won his third Coca-Cola 600 and also placed himself back in the hunt for the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup title.

Last night’s victory was Kahne’s 13th overall in Sprint Cup and the first since winning in Phoenix last season.  Last night was also Kahne’s 300th career Sprint Cup start as well.

Kahne was also part of history in making this year’s race the quickest ever at three hours, fifty-one minutes and fourteen seconds.  This made last night’s race nearly five minutes faster than the one back in 1995 which previously held the record until last night.

It was a banner night for Hendrick Motorsports all around as four of their cars finished in the top eleven spots.  Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finished sixth, Jeff Gordon in seventh and Jimmie Johnson in eleventh after a late race pit road miscue but it was Kasey Kahne who earned all the bragging rights:

I never doubted myself…I was upset at some of the things that may have happened. I made a huge mistake at Phoenix and hit the wall there, but other than that, we were solid — we were fast. It was just a matter of getting past those [six] weeks and moving on and putting some solid races together. (Kasey Kahne via NASCAR)

Danica Patrick was also a part of history (sort of) by becoming the first woman since Janet Guthrie in 1976 to drive in the Coca-Cola 600.  She finished five laps down in 30th place which makes last night’s finish her best in three Sprint Cup starts.

Greg Biffle clearly had the dominant car of the race early on by leading 204 laps but ended up fourth overall after the sun went down in the Queen City of Charlotte, North Carolina.

However, last night wasn’t without its share of drama:  queue Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart.  It was merely an accident because Sprint Cup cars have blind spots on them (hello, spotters…where were you?) and Brad honestly didn’t see Smoke on pit road when the chaos ensued.

http://youtu.be/PNcVaJIilHg

However, in Brad’s defense (yes, you heard me right) Smoke’s car sucked all night long.  He’d worked hard just to get back on the lead lap when this spin happened under green flag pit stops.  So sorry, Tony but I’m not blaming your awesome car on why you had a terrible night last night.

Did Kes apologize for what he did?  Absolutely because the last thing he wanted to do was have our reigning Sprint Cup champion on his bad side:

He took the blame for it but I thought it was my fault…It’s one of those deals where you’re coming in and going out; it’s like being in a Wal-Mart parking lot and you’re both going for the same parking spot and sometimes things happen. (Brad Keselowski via Yahoo! Sports)

So we’ll see where this ends up in the coming weeks in the sands of the hours in the days of our lives.  To be continued…

Dario won one for Danny Boy today on a blistering Sunday afternoon in Indianapolis, Indiana.

It’s the coolest place to race four wheels on Earth and it’s the most respected.

Today IMS was the hottest and it’s where history was made not once but twice on this very hot day in Indianapolis.

Did I mention a last lap wreck?

Oh yes, today’s race had it all:  heat, tons of lead changes, tradition seething in the air, memories and most important a champion  joining the ranks of legends at Indianapolis.

Let’s start with the heat:  it was a blistering hot day for any type of race.

Cars, potato sacks, chariots or even greyhounds.  It was nearly too hot for anything to be outdoors which was why I attended today’s race:  because I’m a crazy, obsessed race fan.

Unfortunately for me, history wasn’t made three times today but it fell short by two degrees, literally.  The hottest recorded Indianapolis 500 still remains at 92 degrees set back in 1937.  Today’s temperature?  At the end of today’s race the official thermometer at the track read 91 degrees.

Trust me when I say I don’t care what the numbers read, it felt like a thousand degrees and any fan that attended along with me would agree.

Let’s also address our top three finishers along with our very emotional and now three-time Indianapolis 500 champion:  Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan.  These men are three of Dan Wheldon’s closest friends.  Did all three of them notice how they lined up at the finish?  You bet they did.

‘Kind of like old times, the three of us back and forwards…I thought, ‘Dan is laughing at us right now going at it. (Dario Franchitti via Yahoo! Sports)

I think a lot of us that were close to Dan, you know, you wanted it that little bit more…I guess maybe in the back of your mind, you figured he would probably help you out today, too. I think in that situation, seeing how it lined up with the top three, three of Dan’s friends, it was a tough one. (Scott Dixon via Yahoo! Sports)

I don’t think it could have been a better result for Dan…Wherever he is right now, he’s definitely making fun of Sato, I can tell you that, and he’s giving Dario a tap on the back for sure, and he was going to call me a wanker that I didn’t win this thing.  I’m glad this is over. I’m glad that now I hope we can all move on and just remember Dan the way Dan was – a happy guy, a wonderful friend. (Tony Kanaan via Yahoo! Sports)

Another magic number during today’s race?  Thirty-four.  This is the record breaking number of lead changes today’s race saw as well and believe me when I say it was the most exciting, exhilarating Indianapolis I’ve witnessed in years.   Don’t believe me?  Watch the last seven laps:

So in whose company does Dario Franchitti now sit?  I’m so glad you asked because the list is short but very distinguished and the only other drivers that have won more Indy 500 titles than him are guys by the name of Unser, Foyt and Andretti.  Like I said, he joined the ranks of legends this afternoon.

With all of the excitement of the closing laps the race couldn’t have ended any better, right?

Anybody who knows Dario Franchitti knows he’s an emotional dude and misses his best friend very much.  We all miss Dario’s best buddy, Danny Boy:

http://youtu.be/lVM8hAFVV4Y

Kes waived the checkers at Talladega on Sunday with a little help from his friend Kyle Busch (photo credit: NASCAR)

Okay so drivers have heard and been told a bazillion times to “be patient” on the track.

Yeah, we’ve all heard it on radio communications during races and have even probably preached audibly to our drivers during races as well.

I know I have.  I’m the queen of talking to the television during racing season.

Matt Kenseth looked poised to win the Aaron’s 499 with about five laps to go and clearly had one of the strongest cars (along with teammate Greg Biffle) all day long.

Until…the two K’s came rolling along on the green-white-checkered finish.  I’m talking about Keselowski and Kyle.

Well, it’s Talladega and we all know what happens here:  The Big One.  There wasn’t one “really big” one but there were several little wrecks that ruined the likes of many drivers including Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch (who had the best paint scheme on the weekend hands down), A.J. Allmendinger, Denny Hamlin and Paul Menard.

Here’s the first “little big one” of the day:

Not forgetting the “second little big one” of the day as well:

Oh yeah, and Denny Hamlin being an idiot and causing the “really big one” of the day.  Darrell tries to say Allmendinger bumped into Denny but let’s face it:  Denny attempted to make a hole where there wasn’t room for one.

http://youtu.be/vX9rrLKvU7c

Amazingly there were only five yellow flags that flew all day long during today’s Aaron’s 499 but there were nineteen cars on the track when the checkers waved.  Not too many and by far the most cars out of the race so far this season.  But is that shocking to any of us?  Not really.

After caution flag number five the field was set up for a green-white-checkered finished and it delivered in every, possible way imaginable and made the race worth watching right up until the very end.

Biff pushed Kenseth.  Kyle pushed Kes.  Biff left a little bit too much room between he and Kenseth and the two K’s overtook the lead with Kes never looking back all the way to the checkers.

Today’s victory is Kes’s sixth overall in Sprint Cup (his second of the 2012 season so far) and his second at Talladega.  And it was the first time a Dodge took the checkers in 36 years at Talladega.

Great day, even better race and that’s with Tony Stewart not even winning.  See you next Saturday night, kids.

We have a half schedule this weekend but a full plate of craziness set up in Talladega. Join us!

It’s May and we’re in the midst of a jam-packed racing season.  Speaking of  jam-packed it’s time for some pack racing this weekend in Talladega with the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series.  Are you ready?

I don’t think any of us are truly ready for what happens at this track but we all take our headache medicine prior to the start of the races in hopes our favorite drivers survive to the end.

We only have two races this weekend but the two we have lined up will more than make up for our half schedule that’s in store for this weekend.  Let’s see what’s shakin’ in Talladega.

NASCAR Nationwide Series:  Aaron’s 312

Talladega Superspeedway – Saturday, May 5 at 3:30 p.m. EST on ABC

Okay, won’t lie when I saw the race was being covered by ABC this weekend I got pissed off.  Yeah, I really did.  Why?  Because every, single Nationwide series race  has been televised on ESPN or ESPN2 since the start of the season.

ABC can’t fool smart race fans.  The loyal fans will tune in no matter what channel the race is on:  we will find a way.  The reason this race is on nationally televised Saturday afternoon t.v. is for one reason only:  The Big One.

Okay, yeah so what:  the odds of “the big one” happening are high but to me, this feels like the only reason ABC is televising this race to begin with.

I bet ABC is licking their chops at how many cars are involved in the big wreck of the race and how their ratings will hopefully (yeah, right) skyrocket once the racing world gets wind of a huge pileup.

Now down to business.  We have (count ‘em) forty-four cars on the Nationwide entry list this weekend and our defending race winner is Kyle Busch.

My pick?  I’m going out on a HUGE limb and taking a chance but I’m picking Kenny Wallace to win this race on Saturday because he’s an excellent pack racer and always somehow ends up in the hunt at the very end.  It’s his time.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series:  Aaron’s 499

Talladega Superspeedway – Sunday, May 6th at 1:00 p.m. EST on FOX

So yeah, there are no hidden secrets or surprises when it comes to pack racing at Talladega and that’s where the action brings us this weekend.

There’s one, simple mantra forty-three drivers need to follow on Sunday and we have forty-four drivers on the entry list for this weekend:  don’t screw up and survive to the end.  Carl Edwards are you listening?  Try not to mix up the restart order this weekend.  Thanks.

I’ll have a full-scale preview up on Friday that includes weather conditions, track specifics, predictions on our winners and losers and a little bit of history about this crazy beast of a race track.

So come on back and join me on Friday and we’ll get to know Talladega a little bit better.  Meanwhile, make sure you set your DVR’s (now that I have one at my new place!) to record the race so you don’t miss a single second!

Make sure you check in with yours truly this weekend on Twitter via our awesome site AerysSports for all of your racing needs and wants because we’ll be there from green flag to the checkers and everything in between!  See you this weekend!

Will my team's communication be better at Talladega? You bet it will...I hope. (photo credit: Concord Monitor)

Carl Edwards nation was up in arms after Saturday night’s Sprint Cup race at RIR with 81 laps to go because somebody (at the time nobody knew who) miscommunicated the starting order to our “favorite” son.

So what happened?  Nobody really knows.

Did Tony Stewart (who was coined the leader at the time of the green flag restart) spin the tires causing Edwards to “pass” him on the track?

Was Carl told the starting order by spotters with him as being indicated the leader?

Nobody knew at the time and it doesn’t matter because Carl was nowhere near the restart box area so it doesn’t matter.

Carl also told the media after Saturday night’s race he was told the No. 99 was the leader on the restart which was incorrect.  Let’s sort this out NASCAR’s way, shall we?

Tony Stewart was the actual leader on the restart which NASCAR’s Robin Pemberton told media on Tuesday was relayed very clearly and without confusion to all teams prior to the restart with 81 laps to go:

“The confusion was on their part, and that’s something they have to work on in their communications…We work with the crew chiefs, and if the crew chief thought there was something, he would have radioed up. But multiple times during that last lap, it was repeated: 14, 99. From more than one source. (Robin Pemberton via NASCAR)

Okay, so Carl Edwards either misunderstood his spotter or the spotter just plain screwed up.  What if Carl would have been the leader on the restart?

He would have ensued a penalty anyways for being outside the restart box (regardless if he was leading or not) which he ended up serving but not without letting the entire NASCAR community know how disgusted he was.  Shocking.

Let’s throw another log onto the fire as well and bring teammate Matt Kenseth into the picture as well.  After Saturday’s race he had no idea how Carl’s team thought he was the leader and wasn’t sure where the miscommunication was either:

“If there’s a guy in front of you, and he’s right behind the pace car, and you’re right behind that guy — I would think it would be kind of obvious when you go one to go and you double up…So I don’t really know where the confusion was. I don’t understand where he thought he was running …. I don’t understand any of that, because I haven’t seen it. So I don’t really understand any of that. It seems like it would be kind of easy to figure out once the wave-around cars go around and there’s a car in front of you. But I don’t know. (Matt Kenseth via NASCAR)

So I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it truly looks like Carl Edwards and team No. 99 majorly messed up during Saturday night’s RIR race if I’m reading my sources correctly.

Let’s hope Carl and the No. 99 team get their act together before Talladega this weekend because as all NASCAR fans know, communication there with the spotters is more important than ever, probably most important at this track.

If my foreclosed home was auctioned to a bank and I had ten days to leave I'd look like this too.

Welcome to the wonderful month of May, race fans.  Does everybody recall how important this month is?

If you’re a fan of anything that speeds on four wheels and don’t know how important May is your dunce cap is in the mail.

Duh, it’s Indianapolis 500 month!  So exciting, especially down in these parts of Indianapolis.  Radio stations are already buzzing with excitement and my tickets are on my refrigerator waiting for race day.

However, we can’t neglect this week’s racing headlines even if they involve the likes of broken down, drowned out in bankruptcy probably feels like crawling into a hole and dying former drug addicted driver.

Yeah, Jeremy Mayfield is in the news yet again and hopefully for the last time.

Jeremy Mayfield’s home purchased in courthouse sale

So who on this planet didn’t see this one coming?  If you didn’t then I’m sorry because each time Jeremy Mayfield graces racing headlines nationwide his life gets a little bit worse it seems.

This time is no exception as it was confirmed that a Newton, North Carolina bank purchased Mayfield’s foreclosed home on the steps of a Catawba County courthouse on Monday.

And guess what?  Nobody showed up to buy the house except for one bank.  No joke.

The final asking price?  About $1.7 million bucks.

The best part about this whole ordeal?  The Mayfield’s have ten days to get the hell out.  The price one pays for meddling with the law.  Perhaps maybe his lesson is now learned.

Oh, and I’m looking for a roommate to lower my rent.  Think the Mayfield’s are interested?  I hope not.

Mike Ford calls Richard Petty Motorsports home

Former crew chief for Denny Hamlin, Mike Ford, has joined RPM as of Monday and will pilot the No. 43 of Aric Almirola beginning with Talladega coming up this weekend.

Mike hails from JGR where he helped lead Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 to the Chase for the Sprint cup six years in a row and as crew chief never missed a Chase.  As crew chief he led Hamlin to seventeen career victories as well.

Hopefully Ford joining RPM is a good move for Almirola and provides the team some much needed motivation as Aric only has one top ten finish in eight races so far in 2012.

Tweets prove costly for IndyCar owner John Barnes

Don’t think IndyCar is watching your tweets?  Think again as one owner found out the hard way after last weekend’s race in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Who is the culprit?  Panther Racing’s owner John Barnes.

What happened?  He said some distasteful things about IndyCar’s potential changes to the Honda turbocharger.

Big deal, right?  Apparently to IndyCar officials Barnes’s comments were enough to warrant a $25,000 fine for the poorly worded tweet in which he referenced the changes as “turbogate” among other comments.

I don’t see the big deal in the comments because I’ve read much worse from other athletes but then again this is IndyCar we’re talking about and they have a reputation to keep.

Lipstick and Lugnuts is officially back on the air but just for the record, I simply relocated to Indianapolis.

So let me catch everybody up on what’s happened here at Lipstick and Lugnuts the past few weeks, minus the racing.

Nope, I didn’t stutter at all when I said minus the racing.

I moved almost two-hundred miles away from home (distance of a NASCAR Nationwide or NCWTS race) from Hebron, Indiana to Indianapolis, Indiana.

And no, I didn’t move there because of the track location though it’s a huge help as our readers know for obvious reasons.

IMS is my home…and now I can say it’s for real this time.  Exciting stuff.

Nonetheless, I moved last Saturday and just got back to breathing again today so you may all rejoice because the great and powerful has returned.

However, there is some news I must relay to all of our readers and that’s the departure of Erin McCowan as of this past weekend.

She had her reasons for leaving AerysSports and Lipstick and Lugnuts but rest assured operations will carry on here with no problem.

So without further adieu, we now continue with our regularly scheduled programming beginning with Garage Gossip coming back to you in the morning.

Strap on your big kid pants and get ready because it’s coming up fast, just like the 2012 Indianapolis 500 in a few weeks.

Changes announced for my second home...

The fans have spoken, and Bruton Smith has answered.

Bristol Motor Speedway used to be just one step better than a demolition derby.  I described it to friends as “put 43 cars in a blender and hit puree.” After the surface change in 2007, this was not the case.

Bristol became a follow the leader track, but with more than one racing groove.  This is improvement, yes?  I thought so, but I was in the distinct minority.  I was able to actually watch them race instead of stopping to clean up the track and pick up the pieces every 50 laps or so.

And who am I?  A Bristol season ticket holder for the past 10 years.

The stands were empty for the March 2012 Bristol race, and Bruton wasn’t having that.  Smith said that he is not a fan of the progressive banking either and he is changing it.

The plan to update Bristol Motor Speedway involved taking out some of the progressive banking.  They are changing the entry into the corner and taking away the advantage of the top groove.  This should change the track to 2 lanes instead of the 3-wide racing of the past few years.

Bristol Motor Speedway is also planning on adding 7,000 more seats.  Ummmm, where?  And why?  They aren’t selling what’s there, so let’s add more?  This doesn’t make a bit of sense to me.

Remember, kids, this is now "just a racing deal" again. No complaining!

The Spring race was only ever a sellout because they used to sell the tickets as a package.  In order to get the much coveted August Night Race tickets, you needed to buy the March tickets as well.  The August race is usually a sell-out, so the Spring race would profit from that.  Now, BMS has done away with the ticket package and went to selling the events individually.  There was never any question in my mind that the Spring race would be a ghost town.

And it was.  So, let’s change everything based on what was always a subpar Bristol crowd anyway.

Here you go, race fans.  You have spoken and Bristol Motor Speedway and Bruton Smith have answered with changes that should bring back the “old” style of Bristol racing.  Be sure to respond with your pocketbooks and get your tickets now for August.

Oh, wait….you’re going to see if the track changes are worth it first?  I thought so.

I predict that the August race will return to Bristol’s usual “on-paper” sellout, and the stands will still have empty seats.  The true test of the changes will be the ticket sales for March 2013.

One last thought from a disgruntled Bristol fan…

If I see anyone, I mean, ANYONE complain about how:

the lap down cars are rolling roadblocks that need to get out of the way

… or that Jeff Gordon keeps “running over people” to pass

… or that someone purposely wrecked Dale Jr instead of just passing him…

I will have NO problems reminding you what you’ve done.  Goodbye, Bristol racing, and hello again to Bristol wrecking.  Not all of us have missed you.

Kasey Kahne almost won the last race at the Rock in 2004, losing to Matt Kenseth by a nose.  Kasey has had eight years to think about what he could have done differently to gain the 0.02 seconds he needed to win.

Regret no more, Kasey.

Kasey Kahne went from the back of the pack to win the Good Sam Roadside Assistance 200 at Rockingham Speedway.  This was truly a team effort, as Kasey was unable to practice or qualify this truck due to his Sprint Cup obligations in Texas.  Brad Sweet practiced and got the Turner Motorsports Rockwell #4 in the show.  Kasey Kahne was all that was needed to do the rest.

James Buescher, Matt Crafton, Johnny Sauter, and Timothy Peters round out the top 5.

Nelson Piquet, Jr could run a class on how to give away races in two bonehead moves or less.  Piquet was the class of the field all day, leading 85 laps and setting a blistering pace.  A long pit stop dropped him back in the pack.  Piquet raced all the back to second when he received a penalty for too fast exiting pit road with only 26 to go.  This was his race to lose, and he did it all by himself.

I wish that a NCWTS driver would have won this race, but Kasey Kahne’s truck and his previous Rockingham experience were too strong.  Of course, Kasey was the only spoiler in the field.

The biggest win here is for Andy Hillenburg and the fans of The Rock.  We all complain (maybe me more than most) on how we cannot stand the cookie-cutter tracks, but yet we stopped filling the seats at the Rock.  The track is in need of updates, and I think that Hillenburg is willing to make these updates, but he needs the funds and the interest to do so.

It appeared that the stands were pretty well sold.  This has to be the biggest crowd that the Camping World Truck Series has seen in quite a while without having lots of big names in the lineup.  Kudos to everyone involved in promotion and those that purchased tickets.  Your efforts might just bring the Sprint Cup back to a race that we’ve all loved and missed.

We have a new leader in the NCWTS standings with Timothy Peters capitalizing on John King’s solo spin early in the race.  Peters leads Justin Lofton by 6 points, Ty Dillon by 7 points, and James Buescher by 10 points.  Parker Kligerman finishes the top 5 at 20 points out.

The Camping World Truck Series follows big brother Sprint Cup to Kansas on Saturday April 21.

I will never understand it, Morgann! NEVER!

What a difference a day makes! I had hoped that the crew at Texas Motor Speedway had fixed the turn 3 lights.  I did not want their malfunction to change the outcome of the Sprint Cup Samsung Mobile 500 as they had the Nationwide race.

After 241 consecutive green flag laps to end the race, I would have shot those lights out with a BB gun myself.

Greg Biffle managed to stay awake to take the checkers and get his first win of 2012.  This is his first win since October 2010, a total of 49 races.  Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top 5.

Even with all four drivers taking him top 10 finishes, Rick Hendrick still has to wait for his 200^th win.  It sure looked like Jimmie had that all wrapped up again.

I cannot stress how much I wished I would have been watching playoff hockey instead of this Texas race.  This type of racing made the March race at Bristol look like bumper cars at the fair.  So, where are all those people that complained so heavily that they wanted real racing?  Bristol is being changed, but we are subjected to not one, but TWO races of this caliber at Texas Motor Speedway?

Money talks, right, Eddie Gossage?  How long until fans stop ponying up the cash for infield Sumo wrestlers and fuel mileage races?

At one point, it seemed everyone was looking for debris on the track from every official to all the broadcasters.  There wasn’t a fan on Twitter that wasn’t hoping for a usually much hated debris caution.  The Colombian Catastrophe (Juan Pablo, for you L&L rookies) hit a FULL water bottle.  I’d love to know which driver dropped that trying to get a caution.

Speaking of twitter, here is the exchange between me and Josh Hamilton whose Twitter bio states that he works for NASCAR P.R.:

That was a little thin-skinned for someone in Public Relations, don’t you think? Just remember, Josh… no fans… no sport… no paycheck.  Be careful not to type very hard at a little-read blogger, eh?  Don’t forget that sense of humor!

(And yes, I’m well aware of the typo in the tweet. Was a little miffed and didn’t quite edit up to my normal standards.)

Greg Biffle extended his points lead to 19 over Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt, Jr.  Matt Kenseth does have 1 win and the tie-breaker between himself and Junior.

Next week the Sprint Cup series drivers are off to Kansas and the STP 400.  Bring your fuel mileage calculators because from one cookie-cutter 1.5 miler to another, you’re going to need it.