The ARCA series runs Daytona this week end, NASCAR Sprint Cup runs the 'Twin 150s' next Thursday, Daytona 500 in NINE DAYS! WOOHOO! New teams, new drivers, new driver/crew chief pairings. Mark Martin driving the 5 car for Hendrick. Can Jimmy Johnson claim the Cup again, or will Carl/Mark/Jeff/Jr. take it this time? It's gonna be an interesting year!

Anybody else as excited as I am?

I'm looking forward to it. In these economic hard times it'll be interesting to see how the ratings are, and how the seats sell for the races. I sure hope things go well for NASCAR this year.

NASCAR...ugh.
I love racing, but give me anything but NASCAR.

What aspects of NASCAR do you not like?

I find room for almost everything motorsport, because no one series can offer it all.

F1 has really cool technology, exciting-looking cars and awesome performance, but there isn't much 'racing' going on - just a lot of cars going around the track individually, not touching one another or even passing for the most part. But still I like the tech, the strategy, etc.

NASCAR is really a spec-series, with nothing to get excited about in the technology department. The cars are unattractive and ho-hum, but the racing is close, there's contact between cars, lots of passing and fighting for position, and pit strategy.

For me, ALMS comes closest to marrying the things I like about F1 with the things I like about NASCAR. I like the cars, the multi-class racing, the technology, and there's close racing there as well.

Which is why I like watching all of them for there own unique merits. There's room for all of them in my book. You might find this interesting: I didn't really follow NASCAR, until a friend had me try out Papyrus' NASCAR Racing 2002 Season. Then I kinda got hooked on it, and started following the real series.

I hear you on the close racing and pit strategy, and I used to watch it quite a lot back when Dale was racing.

I got tired of watching cars go in a circle, and got fed up with not only the fact that NASCAR has perhaps fallen the furthest from it's roots, and that fall continued hard core in the early nineties. It used to be that on a given day, any team could win a race, it wasn't so much about money...race on Sunday, sell on Monday...remember? Then restrictor plates ruined Daytona and Taledega...

While I could certainly make the argument that F1 is a far cry from the mechanics in shorts, half eaten sandwich on the wheel, days of the 60's, at least the cars still make turn in both direction each race.

The skill involved in keeping a car tracking the right line along those ovals is not lost on me either, I spend quite a lot of time in Papy's NASCAR sims. I just find it relatively boring nowadays. I'd frankly rather watch a single F1 qualify than most NASCAR races...but realize this is just me, I love road racing.

For close racing, with lead changes every other turn, my choice is MOTO GP or AMA racing...hard to beat that really. Half the time it's a drag race to the finish after the final turn...good stuff!

I admit that Montoya and Villeneuve's involvement has piqued my interest just a bit, so I may check in one weekend and see what the deal is. For the most part though, I'm done with it.

I miss GTP and Group C frankly.
The Rolex series doesn't quite do it for me..who wants to watch a bunch if identical generic chassis with different engines? I wan't to see an actual PORSCHE, and MERCEDES, or Jag or whatever...pfff!! Bring back the good ol days.
end of rant.

Cheers

Oval racing is the ultimate chess game played out over 500 miles. It looks simple from the outside, but therein lies the intricacy. If it were easy, everyone would be winning. Witness Jeff Gordon's winless streak. It might not be one to watch, but it sure is fun to drive and plot strategic.

Well, today's ARCA race was a bit of a disappointment, but if you didn't watch the Bud Shoot-out, you missed some GREAT racing! I don't care for the new driver selection format much, but the race was great.

Man, I can't wait 'til Thursday for the Twin 150s. I'm trying to make my schedule work so I can watch them live. For several years I would tape them to watch a few hours afterwards. No matter how careful I was to avoid hearing the race results, somehow it would always get spoiled.

Nine months of racing nearly every weekend. I love race season...just don't ask my wife her opinion of it.

The Bud shootout was pretty cool. A bit of a wreck-fest, though - about 50% of the field was out by the time the checkered flag fell.

Say what you will about restrictor plate racing, but it does make for some interesting on-track strategy and A LOT of position changes. I know when I drove those races in NR2003, my heart would be in my throat what with all the close proximity of cars. On a real track it must be incredible.

My concern about the record # of cautions and wrecks was whether it was influenced by the restrictions placed on testing. The COT cars are already handling compromised (by design), and combined with limited testing (which also equals driver practice) it might cause there to be more wrecks this season with sub-optimized set ups and less than fully proficient drivers.

But I do love night racing - those sparks, the way the lights play off the cars - cool!

Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see how the 'no testing' policy plays out. I know there has been a little 'cheating' on this. Greg Biffle tested at Texas World Speedway a few weeks ago. (No longer a NASCAR sanctioned track. They haven't raced there in over 20 years.) The theory is that not allowing testing will save some of the less well financed teams money and level the playing field. I'm not so sure that it is going to have the intended effect. I agree, testing means seat time, seat time means comfort, and comfort most often equals better driving.

They say that this no testing rule (at Cup series tracks) will save the day for places like Rockingham. They can charge for testing sessions, and make some money from that.