Well, I haven't been able to write anything in a while. For one reason, I've been on vacation, (which was about as stressful as being at work, but that's a whole other blog in itself. National Lampoon, eat your heart out....) And another reason, I just haven't had much time here lately to come up with anything. But, I figured I better write something soon, or all two of my readers might quit coming here!
......Just kidding. I do appreciate EVERYONE that reads this goofy blog of mine! And since this blog is probably going to be a little short today, I'm going to use BIG letters to make it look longer.......

Anyway, on to other things. You may have noticed in the last race, that restarts are being done differently now. Nascar instated the double-file restart rule at Pocono last weekend for the Sprint Cup series. Restarts were always done this way in the All-Star race and fans and competitors alike seem to agree with the idea to make ALL restarts double-file for ALL races. Now you might be thinking, "haven't the cars always been double-file for restarts until the last few laps?" Well, yes and no. Before last weekend, restarts were double-file with the LAP cars on the inside and the LEAD lap cars on the outside, until the last 20 laps when all restarts would be single file. With the new double-file restart rule, ALL LEAD lap cars will start in the front. Let me try to explain a little better.....

In a caution, before the race goes back green, the race leader will have the choice of starting either on the outside or the inside lane. Then of course, the second place car will line up beside the leader. Regardless of where the leader chooses to start, the third place driver will always start on the inside and the others will follow accordingly. Lead lap cars will be followed by all the lap-down traffic, and the free-pass car. (The free-pass car, or "lucky dog" is the first car one lap down when the caution flag flies. That driver gets his lap back.) Any lead lap driver that pits a second time under the same caution period will line up behind the lap-down cars. This rule is supposed to take care of lead lap cars having to battle lap-down drivers at every restart. Also, cars on the tail end of the lead lap will no longer have to start in front of the leader and pray they don't get lapped in the next thirty seconds. They get to restart in the back. The Nationwide and Truck series as of right now do not use the new double-file restart rule, but it is supposed to be implemented later after all the proverbial bugs are worked out.

Another small change that has come about is that the free-pass will be awarded during the entire race instead of stopping with ten laps to go.


And now for a little biased commentary. It might be a little late coming, but, better late than never I guess. I was on vacation during Memorial Day, but I got to catch the end of the rain-delayed Coca-Cola 600. I was so happy that David Reutimann got his and Michael Waltrip Racing's first win! I don't care if the race was shortened by rain. A victory is a victory. Pit strategy got him the lead. How many others have won by that some scenario over the years? THEN, he had the pole at the very next race! AND he finished 3rd last weekend! Reutimann has run great so far this year. I hope he keeps it up and has the chance to be in the Chase at the end of the season. How wonderful it was to see him and Mikey get to celebrate that win. If Mikey does decide to run a limited schedule next year, I for one would like to see Reutimann drive the #55 Napa car. He's a decent little driver. And, I don't know him personally, but from what I've seen so far, he seems to be a decent human being, which goes to show you that nice guys don't always finish last. They too get to visit Victory Lane.

Alright, since I'm done with my MWR compliments, I guess I'll wave the checkered flag on this edition. This weekend, the Cup cars and Truck series are at Michigan and the Nationwide boys are headed to Kentucky Speedway. Here's hoping all the drivers have a safe race. So before I head out of the grand stand here, I only have one thing left to say............GO MWR!

And that's the extremely hot and humid view from turn two for today. Til next time...........