Gatorade Duels At Daytona

Just a reminder for all you NASCAR fanatics out there that the Gatorade Duels at Daytona are on tomorrow Thursday February 11, 2010 on Speed. The first duel is on at 2pm EST and the second duel is on at 4pm EST.

If you missed the practices on Speed today 4 time NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson will have to start the 150's in a back up car. The reason being Mike Bliss lost control of his car on the low side of the track in front of a pack of cars that were coming out of turn 4. Bliss ended up slamming into Joey Logano's car and than Jimmie Johnson rear-ended Denny Hamlin. I'm a huge Jimmie fan so to hear this I was none too happy but better than the 500 and let's hope that Jimmie will be able to make his way through the field tomorrow in the 150's.

Matt Kenseth led the second practice, followed by Kyle Busch, Brian Vickers, Jeff Burton and Carl Edwards rounded out the top five.

Of course the duels are to prepare us all for Daytona and than we'll see where all the drivers will start, who will make it in and who won't. I wish every driver trying to get into the 500 would get in but there are only so many starting spots. I'm already thinking ahead and hoping Mark Martin will pull off the win on Sunday, he is long overdue and deserves to win the Daytona 500, if not Mark than another first time winner would be cool...as long as it's not Kyle Busch haha, I can't stand him, I've never been a fan of his and never plan on being one.

Will you be watching the duels tomorrow? If so who do you hope will win in each of them and who do you hope will race their way into the 500? and finally who is your pick to win the Daytona 500? If you've already wrote on the Facebook's fan page and told me than you don't need to answer me again, I just love to see everyone's opinion. If your not a fan on FB and wish to be than just search Race Insider and it will show up, right now the default photo is a photo of Kevin Harvick from his win in the Bud Shootout last Saturday.

I plan on writing again tomorrow since the duels will be on and I look forward to hearing from everyone and seeing you active on the fan page.

Bud Shootout!

Racing is back for another season and what a way to start off the season, if you didn't see the shootout earlier tonight on Fox you missed a pretty good race. Kevin Harvick won his 2nd Bud Shootout in a row and only the 4th driver to 2-peat in a row!! Harvick usually isn't one of my favorites but I didn't mind him winning tonight, the guy did great considering he had flu symptoms just the other day.

I didn't hear much about Jimmie Johnson through out the night, he is my favorite but he usually peaks around July and when the Chase comes around so maybe we have a while to hear from JJ lol. What happened to Dale Jr? That's all I keep seeing on Facebook all night, give the guy a break, it's only the shootout, if this was the Chase, I might worry but the season just started! If you didn't notice he qualified second for next Sunday's Daytona 500!! I was shocked but it's a great way to start out the 1st race of the season that counts wins/points wise, let's hope Jr has a great run! and congrats to Mark Martin on getting his first 500 pole of his career, he'd be a great winner next Sunday, it would be about time if Mark win's, he deserves it!

What did you all think of the shootout, boring or exciting? Who is your Daytona 500 pick? As much as I'd love to see my top driver Jimmie J win, I'd like to see a first time winner such as Brian Vickers or Mark Martin...could Joey Logano pull off the win?? I guess we'll just have to wait until next Sunday to find out how everyone does.

I don't think comments are working, per usual so if you'd like to respond...please e-mail me at Sarah.Handy85@gmail.com and put Race Insider in the subject line, thanks.

Oh before I forget, did anyone else see Danica Patrick in that ARCA race? Wow! She did a great job, she's going to be great to watch this season, she looks like she's been in a car like that for a while with how she ran if you ask me lol, I'm looking forward to seeing more of her on the circuit!

Daytona is just around the corner

Hi everyone!

Well it's finally about that time again, time for the race season to start up again and those engines to start, I'm so excited! I hope I'll be able to see the Bud Shootout next weekend and be able to blog about it but right now with the current economy and how tight money is for me I might not have cable to do so. I hope I can find a job soon so I will be able to blog through out the 2010 season about the practices, races, race winners and much more.

Has anyone else watched "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader" this week? I've watched a couple episodes since it's NASCAR week, I got to see David Ragan and Michael Waltrip, they we're both great episodes, especially the one Mikey was on, he always makes me laugh!! I would have liked to see Vickers or Johnson on the show but I didn't see them in any of the previews : (

I'm not sure if my comments are still not working on here so if you have something you'd like to see as a discussion or any comments to me at all please e-mail me at Sarah.Handy85@gmail.com and I look forward to discussing the shoot out and the upcoming season!!

Let's Go Racing Boys!!

Have You Ever Attended a Live Race?

Hi Everyone,

My question to all of you today is have you ever attended a race live? If so, when and where, what did you like about it the most? Was there something you didn't like?

I haven't personally been to a race since 2006 when I went to the June Pocono, PA race and the September race in Loudon, NH. I had great seats, I was only a few rows away from the fence and both races I was close to the start finish line so I had a great time. Both times I went with some friends, both times it was people who weren't too into the sport but said they'd go, I wish they had been more into it but it beat going alone. I wasn't able to get pit passes because of the cost but I still had a great time and got some great pictures as well, I'll never forget it, it was a great, fun experience and I can't wait to go again.

Now that I'm living in California, I hope to go to California Speedway sometime in the near future as it's my favorite driver Jimmie Johnson's home track and he always does well at the track. I would love to be able to see him win in person, hopefully someday I'll be able too. If I ever hit the lottery you can beat I'll be attending a Daytona 500 in person, that has to be one of the best races to see live, it just stinks that it's so incredibly expensive to go.

Daytona 500 Picks

Has anyone thought about their pick for the Daytona 500 yet? Who are you hoping will win, do you think it'll be someone who has never won before or a past winner?

I personally am not sure about my pick yet considering speed weeks' hasn't started yet and I want to see the Gatorade Duals first as well, practices, etc. I'm hoping it'll either be a driver I follow and/or like or a first time winner. It's always great to see someone win the 500 who hasn't. The only two drivers that I'd rather see not win it are Kyle Busch and Juan Pablo Montoya since they aren't my two favorite drivers by any means.

I apologize if the comments still aren't working, I can't fix them!! But if you want to e-mail me with your response, please drop me an e-mail at Sarah.Handy85@gmail.com, thanks!

Merry Christmas From Race Insider

I apologize for the lack of new material, Speed weeks will be here before we know it and than I'll have some material and news to work with and of course when Daytona comes around.

For now I want to wish everyone and their families a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! God Bless

Anyone else excited for Daytona?

I honestly can't wait until Daytona begins, I've been having NASCAR withdrawals since the 2009 season ended. Sure, my favorite driver won his fourth straight Championship but I miss the racing, interviews and news coverage.

Does anyone else think they need more to follow in the off season? Who else can't wait for Daytona? First is speed weeks so I'm definitely looking forward to that. I play a NASCAR Challenge application on Facebook so I hope to do better on it than I did this past season, does anyone else pick their top five drivers for each race on there as well?