Tag: Dale Earnhardt Jr

NASCAR and President Obama. OK, fine… The President of the United States takes some time to recognize the Chase Drivers. Presidents have been welcoming persons of sport accomplishment to the White House for a long time. It’s nothing particularly new.

But what of the timing…?

President Bush (the second one) invited NASCAR drivers to the White House either following the season or before the next season started. The first Bush and Ronald Reagan attended an event or two. Bush honored Richard Petty and Reagan pardoned Junior Johnson on moonshining convictions. The internet search for President Clinton and NASCAR doesn’t reveal much. Apparently, he tried campaigning at Darlington… It didn’t go well. Although, Rick Hendrick did receive a pardon from Clinton on charges of some sort of mail fraud concerning Honda Motors dealerships. Jimmy Carter apparently maintained a friendship with Cale Yarborough.

But mid-season invitations to the White House…? To honor the drivers and champion of the previous year…? We don’t get it.

Everyone is focused on “now”. The next race… What went wrong on the last race… Setups, practice, strategy, logistics… Leave Texas and go to Kansas. Get what we need sent out from Charlotte. Oh, and the hottest drivers in contention drop the fire suits for jacket and tie and head up to Washington, D.C….

Would it be too difficult to get the guys after the awards banquet or maybe leading up to Daytona…? You know, when the season is not in full swing… It really is just a thought.

OK… He did make a call from Air Force One for congratulations during “Champions Week” and the awards in November at Las Vegas.

It’s not as if the President is less busy in April than in December or January… Is he…?

Greg Biffle just won at Texas and is currently leading the season points. He wasn’t a “Chase” driver in 2011. He was gearing up for Kansas on Tuesday. The press will be all over the ten drivers who went to the White House with questions likely further distracting from the upcoming race at Kansas. We’re fairly certain Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (currently 3rd in points) would rather focus on his car than the suit he wore while meeting President Obama…

2011 Champion Tony Stewart is currently in 7th place but had to go. He skipped an invitation last year in September due to schedule conflicts.

Again, September… as the drivers and teams are focusing on making every point count to make the “Chase” for the year they are running. There was, at least, some kind of connection as the Richmond race was honoring heroes of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and D.C. is just up the road.

But April…? Tax deadlines… Racing schedule… Focus….

Campaigning…? Oops… Did we type that out loud…?

The meeting did go well. It was light and pleasant with some laughs and some praise. Notably, the President humorously referenced Tony Stewart’s media history.

“I was hoping Tony would give me some tips for dealing with the media because he has the quiet and reserved personality, and I figured I could stay out of trouble if Tony would give me some advice.”

President Obama was also very gracious while referencing his wife’s visit to the Homestead race last year. He made mention of NASCAR’s efforts in honoring the military and their families but did not reference the disgrace of the crowd “boos” that were reported on her introduction.

“You look out for military families, the Gold Star families and you make regular visits to Walter Reed Hospital to raise spirits there. For you guys to give that much back to folks who have given so much to keep us safe, I want to thank all of you.”

Carl Edwards was also referenced as a member of the President’s Fitness Council.

“He’s an outstanding representative of NASCAR and has a lot of class…”

Overall, mid-season as it is, the White House visit went well. The drivers were welcome, the President was charismatic and personable, and NASCAR received some attention in circles that would usually turn their noses up.

The same can be said for the President in an election year… Hmmmmmm…

The NASCAR season is well underway. A look back from the Easter break after Martinsville shows the points are beginning to stack up with familiar names but the order is shaken a bit from what we may have come to expect. Greg Biffle is on top. He has always been in the group as a contender but riding this momentum of early season points is likely to fade unless there is a win coming. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is right there in the second slot, also without a win, and just six points off. Defending Champion Tony Stewart has two wins out of six races (plus a bonus of one of the Gatorade Duals) and is in the third position chasing 12 points. Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex, Jr. share the same 12 point deficit.

NASCAR is shaping up to generate some momentum for the fans as well. The drama of Jimmie Johnson penalties while still able to fight back to the tenth points slot is amazing. Jeff Gordon is 90 points back which is uncommon. Kurt Busch is fighting bad press from last season and bad luck for this one.

Those are just a few of the possible drama lines for fans to chat over. There are many more on tap and still to come. (more…)

It was as if WSOP was on hand for the Kobalt Tools 400 as the cards were dealt and the drivers made their bets at the  Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The seating positions were set from qualifying with Kasey Kahne on the pole and handling the dealer button but as the cards were dealt it was Dale Earnhardt, Jr. opening with a pair of tens.

It was a decent pair to start, apparently. The first caution hit while the #88 was going in under green. This little bit of luck allowed Jr. to keep the lead on the restart. However, the flop hit and changed the dynamic of the hand completely. (more…)

The only thing missing from the Monday night Daytona 500 was James Taylor and Tom Cruise. We already have the Three Stooges as Grand Marshals..

However, as a movie drama the editing was botched. The lap 2 crash should have been put off till much later. Why would you cast a record champion, a rookie winner and an antagonist woman and have them out in just the second lap…? That doesn’t make hay for a good story.

But wait…! We get a fire explosion in the last quarter of the film! On top of that we get the most popular star into an “almost win” scenario at the finish!

What…!?

“And then… we flash forward from Victory Lane to the end of the season and the Earth implodes in December as the fire damaged pavement cracks open causing a world-wide chain reaction with John Cusack in a small plane…”

“Can we get George Clooney…?”

The Daytona 500 was hardly the start of the Sprint Cup season that NASCAR wanted. There was just too much drama leading up to the actual race and too much “weird” in the race itself. Rain stayed over Daytona setting the scene for a first ever prime time night event. It was a poorly written script as a movie which makes it comical as reality. We should have guessed when we saw Darrell Waltrip talking with the Three Stooges… (more…)