John King? Isn't he on CNN? (photo courtesy NASCAR.com)

‘Cuz I really wanna know!

Nothing is better than the first few races of the year for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.  I have absolutely no clue who the drivers are and what trucks they are in.  I spent a great majority of the race thinking that the 5 Truck of Paulie Harraka was Todd Bodine.

In my defense, there was NOTHING in the bonehead driving style displayed by Harraka to suggest otherwise.

It only seems fitting that an unknown driver would take the checkers at a rather violent NCWTS race at Daytona.  John King (who?!?) managed to hang on through flat running over Johnny Sauter to take the lead and the third and final green/white/checker attempt to finish the race.  This was John King’s eighth NCWTS race.  EVER.  John does owe this win to his teammate Timothy Peters.  Peters came home second to King, but first in our hearts with the Top Gun “Never leave your wingman” post-race interview.

» Continue reading “Camping World Truck Series: Come On, Tell Me, Who Are You?”

Nothing like a champagne shower for the Champion. (Yes, he is old enough at 21.)

Rain?  Check.  Kevin Harvick scrapping with someone? Check.  Potential for Austin Dillon to lose his points lead?  Check.

The only things this NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race missed were fuel mileage racing and Kyle Busch driving someone into the wall.  We would have had a season’s worth of drama in just 2.5 hours.

Johnny Sauter did everything he possible could to win this race and the championship tonight.  He led the most laps and won the race, but it was just six points shy of overtaking Austin Dillon for the points lead and the trophy.

Too bad the damage was done to Sauter’s championship hopes prior to tonight.

» Continue reading “NCWTS: 6 Points And 2 Penalties Puts A 3 Back In Championship Victory Lane”

Make no mistake, this was ALL Kyle.

Kyle Busch needs to be done for the rest of this weekend, if not the rest of the season.

It’s clear that putting him on probation both in his professional life and personal life has had no effect.  Kyle still removes his brain just about every chance he gets.  This truck race was no exception.

Kyle Busch got into it with Ron Hornaday on lap 15 of the truck race.  Kyle was running outside of Hornaday who got loose with some 3-wide racing.  Hornaday slid up and both he and Busch tapped the wall a little.  Their trucks were not damaged to the point of ending their night, until Kyle couldn’t keep his temper under control.  Kyle Busch hooked Hornaday’s truck until he put him into the wall…hard.

Hornaday could have been hurt.  Badly.

» Continue reading “NCWTS: NASCAR, Park Him!”

When Austin Dillon took the checkers at Chicagoland Speedway for the Fast Five 150, I wondered what his victory celebration would be.  He tried the slide through the grass at Nashville Speedway, and got stopped by the paint, and nearly tumbled over.  I figured that he would still be searching for his perfect celebration.

Nope, he has been working on perfecting the slide.

Austin Dillon even said that he kicked the painted surface of the grass when he came up for driver intros and realized that it would stick.  This time, he stayed out of the paint and slid nicely on the grass.  I’m not completely on board with this celebration, but it is all his own.  He’s only 21 and has plenty of time and opportunities to perfect that celebration.

» Continue reading “NCWTS: Fast Five 225- The Return of the Slide”

Ron Hornaday captures the checkers for his 49th career win in Atlanta. (photo by Geoff Burke)

It’s no secret that there has been more than a little drama between Kyle Busch and anything remotely involving Kevin Harvick this season.  Kyle vs. Kevin Harvick.  Kyle vs. KHI racing.  Kyle vs. Elliot Sadler. And so on.

In Atlanta, the trucks of Kevin Harvick Incorporated were able to best Kyle Busch without giving him a chance to cry about anything.

» Continue reading “NCWTS Good Sam 200: And This Round Goes To…”

Happy Harvick wins 2 in a row in the NCWTS series. He drives for 3 Wednesday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Interesting things always manage to happen with the Camping World Truck Series hits the track, but I raised an eyebrow before they even started the engines.

The NCWTS was paired up with the Sprint Cup series again this week racing at Michigan International Speedway in the VFW 200.  After the pre-race ceremonies I had to ask the question…

Did Michigan finally secede to Canada?

» Continue reading “NCWTS VFW 200: Another Happy Ending”

Your weekly schedule for all things NASCAR and IZOD IndyCar

We pull a switcheroo this weekend.  The IZOD IndyCar series heads to the oval in New Hampshire at Loudon.  The NASCAR series hits the road this weekend with races at Watkins Glen.

» Continue reading “Weekend Hot Pass: August 13-14, 2011″

Timothy Peters recovers from a spin earlier in the race to take the 3rd checkers of his career.

I’m sure if you asked Timothy Peters about his chances of winning after a spin tonight, he would have felt it was slim to none.  The spin was probably the luckiest thing that happened to him tonight.  Well, besides winning, of course.  Peters came into the pits for new tires and the adjustments that would take him to Victory Lane.  It was truly fun to watch him tear through the field, knowing he had enough fuel to make it to the end, while everyone else was on fuel conservation mode.

The NCWTS drivers started the race with lots of adversity.  The field didn’t even cleanly make it through the first lap, when Johanna Long got loose and caused a 4 truck pileup.  Mother Nature was rearing her ugly head all night with an impressive storm cloud display.  We were under caution for rain for a few laps, but the trucks were never parked.  The trucks got back to green flag racing, and managed to go caution free at this short track for over half the race!

» Continue reading “NCWTS AAA Insurance 200: Spin to Win!”

Win #3 = Awesome! The celebration? Eh, not so much.

I have made it pretty clear to my readers in the past that I love the Camping World Truck Series.  These men and women drive their hearts out each and every race, and tonight was no exception.

The trucks to beat tonight were the #3 of Austin Dillon and the #17 of Timothy Peters.  The race winner was Austin Dillon, who started on the pole tonight.  He passed Johnny Sauter with 23 laps to go and never looked back.  This was Dillon’s third career win.  Timothy Peters ended up coming home third after losing a great battle with Sauter for second.

Austin Dillon tried out a new celebration move by getting out of the truck and sliding into the painted logo on the grass headfirst.  Needless to say, the paint stopped him cold.  After the race, Austin said, “I stuck it a little hard on my landing, but I’ll take it.”

» Continue reading “Lucas Deep Clean 200: Makin’ Noise in Nashville”

From worst to first with the fenders intact. Nicely done, Rowdy.

Kyle Busch did everything in his power to toss this race away tonight.  He didn’t practice.  He qualified eighth and said all day that he didn’t have a truck to win the race.  Busch came late to the driver’s meeting which penalized him into starting at the back of the pack.  He even missed driver intros, which is not only a slap in the face to NASCAR, but to his fans as well.  Kyle started the UNOH 225 dead last in 36^th.  Where did he finish?

Yep.  You guessed it.  He won.

Poor kid. Pop-Pop couldn't fix this one....

Now, I know that everyone is used to me bagging on Kyle Busch every chance I get.  I promise you, dear readers, that I think that man is an amazing driver.  He has proven time and time again that he can be put in the direst of circumstances and he will find a way to get to the front.  He did that yet again, tonight.  But, do I think that he was worried about overcoming all this adversity?  No.

The man was bored.

» Continue reading “UNOH 225: Kyle, I’m Just Not Buying It…”