Sloey Nogano, er, Joey Logano

(Photo Courtesy of LOLnascar)

Alright. Raise your hand if you thought Joey "Sliced Bread" Logano was going to be 35th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup driver point standings, after seven races? Okay. Put your hands down. Now. Raise your hand if you really thought Logano was going to start the 2009 season, 9th in points (based on the 2008 owners points), and sink to the 35th and final guaranteed starting position so quickly. My hand stayed down both times. And if you raised your hand both times, well, I won't call you a liar, but I will say most of you aren't being completely honest.

I guess you have to give the rookie a break. He is only 19 years old, and a veteran of only 10 Cup races. But I thought he would have done more with the powerhouse that is the Joe Gibbs Racing, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota. Joey is also competing against Scott Speed, for Rookie of the Year (ROTY) honors, and currently leads the ROTY points. That ROTY contest may ultimately be set in Logano's lap. Speed failed to qualify for the most recent race. That can't happen if there is to be a ROTY race, since there are no other drivers involved (Max Papis is considered a ROTY candidate, but he is scheduled to run only 18 races).

Note that, if Joey falls out of the top-35 in owners points, and fails to qualify for any races, this could be the most lame ROTY contest in history.

So, here's a rundown of Joey's (and Scott's) season so far.

JoeLo's 2009 Season Recap

Daytona 500: Start 9th (Good!), Finish 43rd (Bad!).
While running 27th, lost it on Lap 79, trying to avoid the loose car of Scott Speed (coincidentally, the only other Cup rookie of the year candidate in the race). Speed finished 35th.

ROTY Points: Logano 11, Speed 10

Auto Club 500 (California): Start 34th (could be worse), Finish 26th (could be better). A decent result, for the rookie. He was one lap down, at the finish, but at least he finished, and finished ahead of Scott Speed (41st, blown engine).

ROTY Points: Logano 21, Speed 21

Shelby 427 (Las Vegas): Start 20th (nice), Finish 13 (now we're talkin). A solid race, for the newbie. Things are looking up.

ROTY Points: Logano 32, Speed 31

Kobalt Tools 500 (Atlanta): Start 42nd (huh boy), Finish 30th (doh!). Somebody bumped Logano and put him into the wall. Scott Speed pinned David Ragan's car to the wall, which caused Speed to pound the wall, which resulted in a multicar crash. Speed finished 35th.

ROTY Points: Logano 43, Speed 41

Food City 500 (Bristol): Start 23rd (okay), Finish 38th (that's Bristol). Struggled to stay on the lead lap, but ended up blowing an engine on Lap 324. Speed finally tops Logano for top-finishing rookie of the race (28th).

ROTY Points: Logano 53, Speed 52

Goodies Fast Pain Relief 500 (Martinsville): Started 34th (yawn), Finished 32nd (yawn). Cut down a tire, early in the race, and finished four laps down. Better than Speed, who finished 39th, 76 laps down, after getting wrecked by Kyle Busch.

ROTY Points: Logano 64, Speed 62

Samsung 500 (Texas): Started 10th (yee haw), Finished 30th (gal darnit). Again, finished four laps down. But the good news is that the other ROTY contender (Speed) did not qualify his way into the race. Speed is another, and bigger, disappointment in 2009. Can you hear A.J. Allmendinger giggling in the distance. Red Bull should never have dropped A.J. for Speed. Bling bling, don't mean a thing Red Bull!!

ROTY Points: Logano 75, Speed 63

Phoenix International Raceway: Subway Fresh Fit 500 Preview

Let's go racing, Pardner. Week 8 has the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) and the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS), headin' out west to the 1.0- mile quasi-oval of Phoenix International Raceway (PIR). PIR is located in lovely Avondale (not really in Phoenix), Arizona.

Here's a summary of the television broadscast schedule for the Subway Fresh Fit 500 race weekend.

Practices
NNS, Friday, April 17, 11:00am/et, on SPEED TV (Only Practice)
NSCS, Friday, April 17, 1:00/et, on SPEED TV
NSCS, Friday, April 17, 3:30/et, on SPEED TV (Final Practice)

Qualifying
NNS, Friday, April 17, 5:30pm/et, on SPEED TV
NSCS, Friday, April 17, 7:10pm/et, on SPEED TV

Race
NNS, Bashas' Supermarkets 200
Friday, April 17, 9:00pm/et on ESPN2

NSCS, Subway Fresh Fit 500
Saturday, April 18, 8:00 pm/et on FOX
Green Flag at ~8:46pm/et

Pre-Race Honors

Michael Strahan, future NFL Hall of Fame Defensive End for the New York Giants (1993-2007), wiil be the race's Grand Marshall, and will cue the racers to "Start Your Engines!"

Country Music performers, and twin sisters, Kate and Kacey Coppola, will do the honors of presenting the National Anthem.

I think the U.S. Navy will execute the pre-race flyover.







Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has officially declared Phoenix International Raceway as “Zoomtown U.S.A.", for the race weekend.

Interesting Stats
There have been 25 NSCS races run at PIR (1988 through 2008).
*Chevys have won 11 events at PIR, including 9 of the last 10 races.
*Fords have won 12 events at PIR, including 11 of the first 15 races.
*Pontiacs have won the other 2 races.
*The average winning pole speed is 131.243 MPH.
*The average race winning speed is 103.203 MPH.
*The race averages 7 cautions and 39 laps run under caution.
*Only 42 cars started the the 1992 race.
*44 cars started the 1995 and 1996 races.

Greenhorns Shootin' to Qualify

These drivers will be attempting to make their first NSCS PIR start.

Brandon Ash (No. 02 Sprinter Trucking, Inc Dodge) - Between 2006 and 2008, the 32 year old Ash has 4 NSCS starts; three on road courses and one at Kansas Speedway, with a best finish of 38th.

Dexter Bean (No. 51 LiveWire Enrgy Chews Dodge) - 22 year old Bean, has only one NNS start under his belt. I he does manage to make this race, God bless him, and God help the other 42 drivers.

Trevor Boys (No. 06 Boys Will Be Boys Racing, Co. Dodge) - Boys, aged 51, actually has 102 NSCS starts, between 1982 and 1993 (93 of 'em between 1983 and 1987). Boy's best finish was 10th, at Darlington, in 1984. He drove for James Hylton in all 102 races.

Special Paint Schemes
Carl Edwards - No. 99 Subway Ford
Denny Hamlin - No. 11 FedEx Office/March of Dimes Toyota
Elliott Sadler - No. 19 Stanley Tools Dodge
John Andretti - No. 34 Taco Bell Chevy
Marcos Ambrose - No. 47 Chlorox Toyota
Mark Martin - No. 5 CarQuest Auto Parts Chevy
Paul Menard - No. 98 Peak Antifreeze Ford

Sixth Grade Math Skeptic

From the Mama's Losin' It blog, my chosen assignment is to describe a hard time that I gave a teacher... and what would I say to her today?

As a preface, as of 8th grade, my math brain began functioning quite well, thank you.

It was the bicentinial year, of 1976. I was in sixth grade. Math had been important in the new world for roughly 200 years. But, I didn't know that. How could I? My teacher is learnin' us all about simple fractions. Great! Another stupid new thing in math, I thought. Isn't addition, subtraction, division and multiplication enough? I honestly don't remember the exact words said, but I remember the progression of the dialog and emotions exchanged. Here's my version of the brief but exciting incident.

Mrs. Jones: blah, blah, blah... fractions.

Me: Mrs. Jones, why do we need to know this?

Mrs. Jones: Because it will be of use to you in the future.

Me: But isn't adding and subracting and stuff like that enough?

Mrs. Jones: You will see that you will use fractions alot.

Me: I don't think so.

Mrs. Jones: You will.

Me: But fractions are stupid. I don't see why we need to learn this stuff. I'll never use it.

Mrs. Jones: Mr. Snyder, I suggest you just sit quietly and listen to me. Blah, blah, blah... fractions.

Me: I'm NOT going to need to use this stuff. It's stupid and I'm not listening!

Mrs. Jones: Mr. Snyder, would you please follow me into the hall?

A Short Time Later

Mrs. Jones: Whack! Whack! Whack! Now take your seat, Mr. Snyder. Just because you don't understand something, doesn't mean it's stupid.

Me: Yes, Ma'am.

The moral of the story is exactly what Mrs. Jones said. Simply because you do not understand something, doesn't make it stupid, or undeserving of respect, or unimportant. I didn't necessarily grasp the lesson fully that day, but it was a seed planted (yeah, planted by a nice little plank of wood... across my buttocks).

If I could speak with Mrs. Jones today, I'd apologize for being a smart-assed 13 year old, and thank her for "explaining" to me the importance of understanding something before making quick and often negative judgements. I'd tell her that, possibly, thanks to her, I went on to ace most math classes following hers. And I now realize that her lesson, applies to everything that occurs in my life. You da bomb, Mrs. J.

No Racin' on Easter!!

Well, I suppose I can sacrifice a weekend of NASCAR for my Savior... if I have to... i guess. So, another week, or so, before the Subway Fresh Fit 500, at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR). Lord, I remember when PIR had that scary exit out of turn 2, before they moved the wall out in 2003. I always expected a bad-bad wreck there, but fortunately it never happened. Alan Kulicki won the inaugural race in 1988. Dale Earnhardt won PIR in 1990. Davey Allison won it back-to-back in 1991-92. Bobby Hamilton took the checkers in 1996. God bless'em... there all gone now.

The track picked up its second race date in 2005, and the brothers Busch swept that year's honors (Kurt in the Spring and Kyle in the Fall). Three drivers have two consecutive race wins at PIR: Jeff Burton (2000-01), Dale Eanhardt, Jr. (2003-04), Kevin Harvick (both 2006). Jimmie Johnson has scored wins in the last 3 races at PIR.

Wikipedia has a nice page of info on PIR. Check it out at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_International_Raceway

We do have the Pepsi 300, at Nashville Superspeedway, on Saturday. I'll be watching that.

Special Paint Schemes for the 2009 Subway Fresh Fit 500 (will update as race nears)

A.J. Allmendinger - ?Probably Something?

Carl Edwards - No. 99 Subway Ford

Denny Hamlin - No. 11 FedEx March of Dimes Toyota

Reed Sorenson - No. 43 Auto Value Parts Stores Dodge

Happy 29th birthday (ver. 18.0) to my beautiful wife, Cathy. I love you, sweetie!