NASCAR 2013

[Lavabe]

38-34 laps to go: Green Flag pitting
MM speeding penalty

[Lavabe]

28 laps to go: CAUTION: Ambrose blows a tire, and the rear fender flies away, almost nailing Harvick.
Half of the cars come into the pits.

[Lavabe]

25 laps to go: Restart
AND CAUTION: MM loses his trackbar, hits the wall, and then bounces into Gilliland. Gilliland will continue. I doubt MM will come back.
Pits are open.
Folks in the rear of the lead lap are pitting.
Hamlin pitted, but dropped a lugnut.

[Lavabe]

15 laps to go
Blech (led most laps for the day), Logano, Smoke, Biff, Kes, KuBu, Harvick, JG, Edwards, Kenseth
LOTS of jockeying
CAUTION: Bowyer crashes out after the engine blows
Hamlin & Logano are having overheating issues... the caution helps them out.
Newman speeding penalty.
Everyone but the first 8 pitted.
EVERYONE who pitted is getting 4 tires. This should be some incredible jockeying in the last 7 or 8 laps.

[Lavabe]

The most F'ing awesom last 8 laps with 5 laps to go.
Logano just dinged Hamlin as Hamlin almost took the lead., dropping hamlin a spot.
Logano overheating.
Logano and Hamlin 1-2, with Edwards in 3rd, Blech in 4th.

[Lavabe]

AWESOME!!! UNF'ing real!! But I hope Hamlin is okay... he crashed hard along with Logano. Logano is okay.

[Lavabe]

Blech wins... turn 3, and Hamlin and Logano were banging each other the last 2 laps. Logano pinched Hamlin as he's moving for the lead, then Logano got loose, banging Hamlin, both crash. Hamlin crashed hard. He's being helped into the ambulance.

Will continue to monitor Hamlin's situation.

While Hamlin gets treated, Smoke pulls up next to Logano, and starts PUNCHING Logano... looks like Logano blocked Smoke on the restart.

[YmoBeThere]

I had Hamlin...so much for this week.

[Lavabe]

Order of finish...

BLECH (led the most laps), Jr, KuBu, Edwards, Biff, Logano, Kenseth, KK, Menard, Newman
Mears 15
Dinger 16
Truex 18
Stenhouse 20
Kes 23
Hamlin 25
Patrick 26
Reutimann 33
MM 37

No word on Hamlin's status. He hit the inside wall (not a safer barrier) head-on. I hope Hamlin only has a concussion. Seriously. That was a freaky hit.

Next week is an off week.

[Lavabe]

Hamlin is awake and alert, but is going to a hospital.

Aside from that, the last 5-13 laps was exciting. Logano and Hamlin were just banging away at each other. Lots of jockeying around, lead changes, etc...
And the about 6 lanes or so made for some of the most bizarre and compelling racing in the last year.

[IowaDevil]

Yikes, I won this week! I am really impressed with myself since I didn't see one second of the race!

[Lavabe]

Yikes, I won this week! I am really impressed with myself since I didn't see one second of the race!

Congrats, Iowa! Too bad you didn't see the race, as the last 15 or so laps were really exciting. If you can, it's worth watching. Unfortunately, it looks like Hamlin suffered an L1 compression fracture (according to ESPN).

I sure hope that Smoke doesn't get suspended.

Oh, and JUNIOR now leads the point standings in NASCAR!!

[Lavabe]

Hamlin is out for the next six weeks.

[Lavabe]

Mark Martin will drive Denny Hamlin's 11 car this weekend at Martinsville, and Brian Vickers will replace him after that. Vickers will remain in Hamlin's car until Hamlin is ready to return.

[YmoBeThere]

I could have used a replacement driver today. Stuck in traffic after a car turned over in front. Took me 1 hour and 25 minutes to go 12 miles.

[CathyCA]

Wading into the NASCAR thread. . .

I talked with one of my clients tonight. He is having an event in a few weeks, and Morgan Shepherd will be there to meet and greet. Of course, my mother and I are invited to the event.

What can you NASCAR aficionados tell me about Morgan Shepherd?

Thanks in advance!

[lawgrad91]

Wading into the NASCAR thread. . .

I talked with one of my clients tonight. He is having an event in a few weeks, and Morgan Shepherd will be there to meet and greet. Of course, my mother and I are invited to the event.

What can you NASCAR aficionados tell me about Morgan Shepherd?

Thanks in advance!

Morgan Shepherd drove for the Wood Brothers (that's the 21 car; they won the Daytona 500 with Trevor Bayne in 2011, but otherwise haven't had much success in AGES) in the mid-90's, when I lived in Stuart, VA (which is where they used to be based). He was getting over the hill even then, and the fact that the Wood Brothers were trying to make it as a one car team that wasn't based in Charlotte and was working on a shoestring made his task that much more difficult. He drove in the truck series when he left the main series (which was the Winston Cup then). He was one of those drivers that hung on for a while and filled out lineups.

For a long time, he sponsored the Christmas program at the PARC Workshop in Stuart (a work place for the mentally handicapped) without any fanfare. He may still do that.

I don't know much about his career before I moved to Stuart, but at least that's a starting point.

[CathyCA]

Wading into the NASCAR thread. . .

I talked with one of my clients tonight. He is having an event in a few weeks, and Morgan Shepherd will be there to meet and greet. Of course, my mother and I are invited to the event.

What can you NASCAR aficionados tell me about Morgan Shepherd?

Thanks in advance!

Morgan Shepherd drove for the Wood Brothers (that's the 21 car; they won the Daytona 500 with Trevor Bayne in 2011, but otherwise haven't had much success in AGES) in the mid-90's, when I lived in Stuart, VA (which is where they used to be based). He was getting over the hill even then, and the fact that the Wood Brothers were trying to make it as a one car team that wasn't based in Charlotte and was working on a shoestring made his task that much more difficult. He drove in the truck series when he left the main series (which was the Winston Cup then). He was one of those drivers that hung on for a while and filled out lineups.

For a long time, he sponsored the Christmas program at the PARC Workshop in Stuart (a work place for the mentally handicapped) without any fanfare. He may still do that.

I don't know much about his career before I moved to Stuart, but at least that's a starting point.

Thank you, Lawgrad! That gives me something to work with so that I can speak to him halfway intelligently.

[Lavabe]

Martinsville... short track racing has begun.
Lap 15 of 500: CAUTION: Danica spun around. After Ambrose led the first lap, JJ has had the lead the whole time.
Only 9 or 10 drivers came in to pit.

CTN FANTASY NEWS: Miles did not choose a C List driver this week. Techbically, he had Dinger, but Dinger didn't race today.

Restart at lap 23
JJ, Vick, JG, Kenseth, Logano, Ambrose, Kes, Blech, JPM, Jr
Edwards 12
Biff 15
Ragan 18
Reutimann 21
KK 24
Stenhouse 25
KuBu 33
Smith 35

[Lavabe]

Martinsville... short track racing has begun.
Lap 70 of 500: CAUTION: Scott Speed spun around
Everyone comes in. Crowded pits. Jamie Mac with an AWESOME pit stop. KK sucked on his pit stop.

Restart at lap 76
Lap 89 of 500
JJ, Blech, JG, Kenseth, Jr, Vickers, Bowyer, Truex, JMac, KK
Kes 13
KuBu 14
Biff 17
Edwards 18
Smith 23
MM 24
Ragan 33
Stenhouse 34
Reutimann 36

Lap 90: Blech takes the lead!