ThreeStrikesandOut

Just a note, you can check me out as a guest on the FastMachines.com podcast.  They were crazy enough to ask me to come aboard and talk some NASCAR, some Dale Junior, and some fights by drivers in garages.

There is nothing quite like it when NASCAR and WWE collide.  (And after seeing the above pic, maybe NASCAR does need a test for performance-enhancing drugs.  I’m just playing Carl, please don’t beat me up.)

Two old-school drivers (IMO) Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick chose to discuss their disagreements about last week’s Talladega race like reasonable men. Then, when that failed, they started beating the hell out of each other. From SI.com:

Witnesses said Edwards and Harvick scuffled Thursday in the Nationwide Series garage at Lowe’s Motor Speedway after Edwards walked into Harvick’s garage stall and the two engaged in a heated argument.

Harvick appeared to try to walk away but, witnesses said, Edwards reached for his shoulder to turn him back around. Harvick then shoved Edwards, who stumbled onto the hood of Harvick’s car, and the two had to be separated.

Witnesses claimed a member of Harvick’s crew had Edwards in a headlock as numerous people tried to separate the two. (Sports Illustrated)

Well, Harvick was the most vocal driver after Talladega when it came to exhibiting his displeasure with Cousin Carl causing the big wreck that eliminated Harvick and several other Chase drivers from the race. Harvick commented after the race that Edwards had raced like a pansy by hugging the back of the line until late in the race in order to try to avoid getting knocked out early. The irony of course, is that when Edwards did decide to involve himself in the race he caused as much damage as an ex-wife at a family reunion.

So, do we now have Edwards vs Harvick as well as Edwards vs Busch? Honestly, if you had asked anyone a couple of months ago which of those feuds would be the most important to the Chase they would have overwhelmingly said the latter. However, with Carl sitting at second and Kevin holding down the sixth spot, any on-track incidents between the two of these guys could be huge in deciding who walks away with this year’s championship.

Just a hint to Carl though. I’d rather tick off ten Kyles than one Kevin Harvick. Kyle might bump into your car while you are on the track. Kevin might bump you off a bridge while you are driving home.

If it were me, Carl, I’d carpool for the next couple of days. You know, just to be on the safe side.

This isn’t the first time that either of these guys have been involved in pushy-pushy, shovy-shovies with other drivers. See the incident from last year between Carl and Matt Kenseth:

And Harvick has always been considered likes-to-fight guy.  So, no one should really be surprised that this happened.  I’m just surprised that it took until Thursday.

For more NASCAR and motor sports check out FastMachines.com.

Wow, if Kyle Busch had fallen any farther back to Earth, he would have incinerated upon re-entry. Brutal race for Kurt’s little brother as he watched all of his hard work this season vaporized in the first race of the Chase. I’m sure that just breaks every one’s hearts, doesn’t it? On to the G, B, and U from the Granite State:

The Good: Good job by Greg Biffle. He’s been on the cusp of a victory all year and he finally pulled one off at Loudon. More importantly, he moved up six spots in the Chase standings into third place. Biff is a good enough driver to be a fly in the ointment during this Chase and this win should give him and his team the confidence that they can compete with the favorites. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good and the man that made the most out of Kyle Busch’s troubles was Cousin Carl Edwards, who took the lead in the points with a strong third place finish. Jimmie Johnson is still hotter than a trailer in the summertime. He sits at second in the points and had a great race Sunday, running right there with Biffle until the end. If I had to bet the truck on anyone right now it would probably be on Johnson. He’s the New England Patriots in the playoffs; he might not be the favorite, but I’ll believe he’s out of it when I see him lose.

Read the rest of this post here.

Well, that race certainly doesn’t leave me with much room to complain.

The NASCAR regular season closed itself out on Sunday with one slobberknocker of an event at Richmond.  In one of the better races of the season, Jimmie Johnson held off Tony Stewart to win his second race in a row and set himself up to make a legitimate run at his third straight championship, which is kind of impressive.  Kind of impressive in the same way that walking into a frat party with a Playboy Bunny on your arm is impressive.  Anyways, the Rock and Roll 400 had a little bit of entertainment for everyone, so let’s get started with the G, B, and U:

The Good:

I’ve already made an argument that we may not really appreciate how good Jimmie Johnson is, so I’m not going to go over that again, but when you’re the best driver on a team that has a four-time champ and the son of Dale Earnhardt, you’re probably going to be a tad bit under the radar.

It doesn’t matter whether or not Dale Junior intentionally crashed Kyle Busch or not, the fact is that the timing of it couldn’t be funnier.  The guys in the booth had just finished talking about how if Junior was going to get payback that this would not be the time he would get it, and then the next thing you know, Kyle goes for a teacups ride.  For the record, I don’t really think that DE88 did it on purpose, but the Kyle Busch haters in the crowd really could have cared less.

The rest of this post can be viewed at FastMachines.com.  Thanks!

The following is the final chapter of a three-part special guest series that is one man’s view of the live spectacle of NASCAR racing, and the Bristol 500 race in particular. A thank you to Shane for undertaking this mission; and to all of you out there reading it, be nice, I’d like to take more days of in the future, lol. Be warned, TSAO is in no way, shape, or form to be held responsible if you are offended. In fact, we will smile if you are. Peace. Sincerely, Rock

Part Three: The Exodus and the Aftermath

As we left the relative safety of the speedway, we entered the true Bristol Heart of Darkness. The route we used to enter the track was now clogged not only with the masses that were, much like us, trying to exit the track, there were also the masses that were in the many campers and RVs who have by now entered the various states of post-race partying…all I knew was that I saw fire and I was worried. If it was mayhem coming out of the track, it was Hell on Earth here. Claustrophobia was the least of my problems. I’ve encountered many a mean drunk in my life and been able to make it it out of the encounter ok, but here I was scared, scared of just looking like I’m a fan of a driver they don’t like (or hell, even a brand of beer that don’t like), because if I choose to go toe to toe with one of these guys, I’ll have 5 of their friends on top of me to deliver the beat-down that my dad always said I needed. So I decided to play it safe and keep my head down and avoid eye contact, just looking up to make sure I was still following my friends. (more…)