Bristol Followed By Martinsville

Kyle Busch dominated the race at Bristol. I really wonder how many people watched the whole race. I didn't. I'm really starting to believe that NASCAR made a mistake going to this new car. It just doesn't seem to produce as exciting of a race as the other cars did.
Now it seems that one car can dominate and everyone else is racing for second or better. Take nothing away from Busch, he's dominating in every series just like he did at the beginning of last year.
The NASCAR circuit now rolls into Martinsville which is another short race track. Let's see of Busch can dominate there. Or this the race that Jeff Gordon makes it back to Victory Lane for the first time since 2007? If he was going to break that streak, Martinsville would be one of the tracks that he could do it at.
Also, don't count out three-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson. He has a knack of dominating Martinsville and he had a good finish on Sunday at Bristol. It could be a long day for everyone else if the Henderick teams get going.

Nothing Too Exciting

The 2009 season hasn't gotten off to a good start. In the first three races, the only drama I can think of was the decision to halt the Daytona 500 or not.

Last weekend in Atlanta, Kurt Busch dominated the race. Yes he had to come back and win in the last couple of laps, but he still won. For those of you who were like me and had to leave the house to do something else before the race was over, we were not surprised to see Busch celebrating in victory lane.

It seems the only other drama came from the crew member running out to get a tire. This caused NASCAR to wave a caution flag and trap a lot of cars a lap down. They then kicked this man out and have now suspended him for four races and put him on probation. What NASCAR is really doing is making an example out of this man who made a poor judgement call.

Like NASCAR has never done that. But this only works one way. Drivers, owners and crew members can make a bad decision and get fined and suspended. NASCAR officials can make bad calls and have nothing happen to them. They are after all the law.

A lot of drivers talked about the empty seats at Atlanta. They must not of heard of the problem we're having with the economy. I don't know why the media has focused on the empty seats in Atlanta when there seemed to be just as many empty seats in California the week before.

For one thing, I as a fan want to see exciting racing. Not follow the leader. I want to see daring pit strategy. Not put on four tires and cross your fingers that your small changes might help you pass the dominating car.

Honestly, the drivers may want to get used to some tracks having empty seats. That's because people may be getting tired of not seeing a race.

My Daytona 500 Thoughts

Well the Daytona 500 just wrapped up and Matt Kenseth was the winner after the race was called short due to rain. Kenseth had to make a good run through a wreck between Brian Vickers and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Kenseth survived that and went on to pass Elliott Sadler just before another wreck brought out the caution. That caution led to the red flag when the rain started. And that led to Kenseth's win which was his first 500 win. Kenseth, who drives for Roush Fenway Racing, needed a win after not getting one in 2008.
Had to feel a little bad for Sadler who came so close. His team needed a win bad. It would have been a feel good story to have Sadler, who drives for Richard Petty Motorsports, roll that car into Victory Lane after everything he and the team has been through this off season.
Now,the most controversial moment in the race came when Earnhardt got into Vickers. From the replays, it looks like Earnhardt had a run on Vickers and was trying to get around him on the inside. Vickers blocked and Earnhardt came up, taping and spinning Vickers. At first, it sounded like the FOX announcers were going to blast Earnhardt for his driving. They didn't, later backing off saying it was a Daytona deal.
I'm not going to place blame. But I can't help but wonder if the role was reverse and it was Vickers spinning out Earnhardt, would the FOX crew have said bad things about Vickers and would NASCAR have punished Vickers by bringing him down pit road for aggressive driving?
The only other problem I had with Sunday's race was the start time. I can't help but think that we may have seen a full race if it had started around 1 p.m. For some reason, a few years ago, the race was moved to a later start time so that it can end under the lights. We already have a race at Daytona under the lights. It happens in July.
During the race, they showed highlights of some of the great Daytona 500's. They all showed drivers celebrating in victory lane during the day.
Now, since it did rain earlier Sunday, I don't know if they would have been able to start the race around 1 or 2. But maybe, we would have had a chance to see the full running of the 2009 Daytona 500.
Now the season begins as NASCAR heads off to California for a race that won't begin until sometime around 6 p.m. eastern time. It won't be over until around 11 p.m. or midnight. Keep an eye on the seats out there. In the past, California has had a lot of empty seats. I can't remember an exciting race out there. That may have something to do with it.
Maybe it'll be better this year.

Time To Start the Season

It's good to have NASCAR back. It seems like years since I saw a race. Man I was glad to see the Bud Shootout last weekend. And then we had qualifying on Sunday. This is just the start of a big, big week in NASCAR. You need to stay tuned to SPEED which will show both practices on Wednesday and both Twin Duals on Thursday.
This Racing With Payton blog was something I was asked to start last year. And here I am again this year getting things going. My aim is to come on here and write about the way I see NASCAR. Now sometimes I'll write about NASCAR in my columns. But most of my writing and thoughts on NASCAR will come right here.
This is also a way for you to get involved. Please feel free to respond to what I have to say. I'm sure you won't agree with me all of the time. I like to see what you have to say about NASCAR.
As for the duals on Thursday, I can wait to see how Mark Martin does with his new Hendrick Motorsports Team. He took the outside pole for the Daytona 500 and should be one of the cars to beat on Sunday.
It's also going to be interesting to see how Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman do as teammates in their new cars.
Toyota had a good year in 2008. I take that back, Kyle Busch had a good year in his Toyota last year and it's going to be interesting to see if he can keep that up for the whole year. It's also going to be interesting to see if he and Carl Edwards are going to be rivals again in 2009.
And then there's Jimmie Johnson, the thee-time cup champion. Can anybody dethrone Johnson? That's the question many people have been asking.
It seemed like there was no way that Johnson was going to win in 2008 with the way Edwards and Busch was dominating. Then Johnson and his team came to life in the second half of 2008. You can't count Johnson out of it.
Now it's time to get ready for the duals. These races will determine who is going to race in the Daytona 500 and who isn't. None of the drivers in Daytona want to miss this race. But some will.
Those who make the race on Thursday, will be on cloud nine until the green flag drops on Sunday. For those who don't make it, well, they'll be at home watching the race from their television set.
Which is exactly where I plan to be.

So where will the race end up this week?

I know it's been a while. I've been real busy with the end of football and beginning of basketball season.
But enough about that, the NASCAR season is winding down and it looks like Jimmie Johnson will become a three-time champion. He has just about dominated the Chase. Once he took a lead he never really let anyone get too close to him. He and his team are that good.
So the only question is, will ABC cut away from the race if there are delays and it starts to get close to America's Funniest Videos? That's what they did last Sunday.
They told people to switch to ESPN 2 to see the end of the race. Luckily, I'm one of the many people who could have done that. But what if you were at work and had set your VCR or TIVO to ABC to record the race? It wouldn't be able to change over to ESPN 2.
Those people would come home and find funny videos at the end of the race. Man, that would make me mad.
There really was no reason for ABC to change channels. They can say whatever they want, and they will. But they would be wrong.
On any Sunday, the 4 p.m. football game can run over its time limit, yet you won't see FOX or CBS switch those games, which are regular season games, to another cable network just so they can start 60 Minutes on time or any other show.
This was a Chase race. It's the playoffs. But ABC didn't treat it that way. Who knows what will happen this week if the race gets a lot of red flags or caution flags and it gets close to that 7:30 p.m. time limit.
Would they dare throw it to another channel just when the winner and the Championship winner cross the finish line? U guess we'll see.

Johnson aiming for third title

Jimmie Johnson could wrap up his third title by the end of the weekend. All he needs to do is finish first and have the drivers in second or third to have a bad week. It might not happen, but there is a good chance that Johnson could take the green flag in Miami and clinch the title just by starting. Thus, NASCAR's version of the playoffs would really be -- awful.
The Chase is suppose to go down to the wire with three or four or more teams having a chance for the title on the final Sunday of the season. That likely won't happen this year. Johnson would have to have a couple of bad days and the other Chase drivers would have to win or finish real good.
You can't take anything away from Johnson. The two-time (soon to be three-time) champion has done what needs to be done. The other drivers, who are great drivers, just haven't risen to the top like Johnson.
It'll be interesting to see what NASCAR does, if anything, during the off season to tweak the Chase. Maybe, what they should do is set aside a special points system for just the 12 Chase drivers. That way the lead won't get too out of hand. Maybe that way, five or more drivers would have a chance at the end.
If the leave it the way it is now, Johnson will more than likely repeat again next year. He seems to be real good at the final 10 tracks that make up the Chase.
As for this week at Texas, look for Carl Edwards and Johnson to be fighting for the win. Edwards was amazed to see that Johnson finished second at Atlanta. One of the reasons Johnson will soon be champ again is the fact that his crew chief isn't afraid to bring him in and give him four good tires to drive up to the front.
I can't believe none of the other guys tried putting on tires. There was no way they were going to win the race with four old tires even with eight laps left to go. They must have shocked their head when they saw Johnson, who didn't really have a good car all day, went flying by them like he was Superman.
That's why Johnson is going to win the Chase again for the third year in a row. His team isn't afraid of making risky calls, while everyone else is just playing it safe.

Heading Into Atlanta With No Mysteries Left in the Chase

I think it's pretty safe to say that Jimmie Johnson is going to win his third straight Cup title. After dominating Martinsville, Johnson and his team goes to Atlanta where he has won before. This is the type of year where Johnson usually gets hot. I don't expect anything to change now.
On a side note, the Craftsman Truck Series is heating up and they didn't zero out the points to do it. Johnny Benson is back in the lead after a win at Martinsville. Rick Crawford, who drives the No. 14 Ford, has a member on his team who is from Adrian. His name is Gator Morris. I got the chance to interview Gator a week ago. He had some good things to say about NASCAR, especially the truck series.That story will be in Friday's edition of The Courier Herald.