Race Day - Memorial Day Weekend

Memeorial Day Weekend is a great time to remember our troops and what they have sacrificed for us. Maybe I am a bit bias after spending 8 years in the Army, but I love Memorial Day Weekend and the 4th of July. In fact, for the 4th this year I will have my house decorated like Christmas (lights and all) only in a red, white and blue theme!!

In honor of this great weekend, 10 Nextel Cup drivers will be sporting "military themed" cars. I think this is awesome and shows great respect. Of course JR is one of those and the BUD car, in camo will be GREAT. America's beer......camo'ed up! And it's all for a great cause. A percentage of the money raised from sales will go to the USO who will then disseminate the money to military families. The goal is to raise the same amount awarded for the All-Star Challenge....$1 Million. So make sure you help out, I will. Don't know what I am going to buy yet (got to check with the boss - but she is a big JR fan, so we will get something).

And how great is it that on this great Memorial Day Weekend my driver, Ryan (The Rocket Man) Newman will be making his 200th Nascar Nextel Cup start from the pole. And going even bigger his owner, Roger Penske also has Newman's team mate Kurt Busch sitting in second, giving Penske the whole front row at Lowe's Internation Speedway for the Coca-Cola 600.

And let's go even bigger. Penske also has his Indy car sitting on the pole for the Indy 500 with Helio Castroneves behind the wheel. And his team mate Sam Hornish Jr is starting in the second row.

If nothing else, Newman's last 4 consecutive top 10 finishes has got his name in the news alot this week. There was even speculation of him leaving Penske. Newman has said in his Podcast and other interviews that he has no plans on leaving Penske. But the amount of article "tagged" Ryan Newman this week has been awesome. Usually I am searching and searching for "Newman News" and this week it is almost to much. (yeah, I am never happy)

Of course I have not seen anyone pick Nemwan for a win this week. I keep hearing (reading) things like "1 win from the pole in the past 17 races at Lowe's: Jimmie Johnson in May 2004." At "Pick'em - Charlotte" on nascar.com Newman is picked only as a Dark Horse by 3 memebers - Jarrod Breeze, Raygan Swan and David Caraviello. Kurt Busch did get a pick for a win, but he's starting 2nd and not in the pole.

Well, I don't care. I think Newman is due and it appears that he has a great car for todays race.

Engine wear on this 600 mile race is also brought up quite a bit, but as Mike over at TroubleInTurn2 points out, there have only been 7 blown engines in the last 4 races. An almost 2 a race avrage. That is not that bad at all and is not a concern of mine for this race.

Overall I hope for a great race this Memorial Day Weekend.

Good luck to Ryan Newman and his Penske South #12 Alltel Dodge Nextel Cup Team this weekend (go ahaed, say that fast 10 times).

We should also expect GREAT pit times from this #12 team now.......RIGHT!!!!