Bud Shootout

The first thing I noticed about the bud shootout was that Danica Patrick is all over NASCAR. As much as it pains me to say she is here to stay. That being said I hope the novelty of her wares off and she slips into the pack popularity wise but the truth is she is the next Dale Jr. Getting more publicity then deserved in a sport where past champs struggle to find rides someone that hasn't done anything note worthy for several years is having sponsors line up. That being said I'll cut Dale some slack he ran good last year and was a contender despite being win less.

The second thing I noticed is Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Danica Partick, and Trevor Bayne will destroy their's and somebody else's ride. We so NASCAR vets struggling with the pack draft format, and these young drivers who have little to no experience will slide up behind someone and get them loose. I love Stenhouse Jr. and Trevor is a rising star who has won the big one, but this year hes more likely to be in the big one then victory lane. Stenhouse has had trouble finishing races in the past, but if he crashes on Sunday don't read too much into it. Although these racers may have the advantage over others as they get to run in the nationwide race and get a feel for the car and track before Sunday. Any way we will have crashes.

Which brings me to my next point safety. Do drivers think they are invincible? I have been watching early 90's races on youtube in some down time and man there was a different mentallity. Any time someone wreaked other drivers in thier car jumped out and rushed to the aid of other drivers, now they might walk over there but in no hurry. Also post race interviews with winners and in race interviews with drivers involved in wreaks always were Yeah im fine but i just hope ______ is okay. or It feels great to win but my prayers are with _________ i hope he's okay. I'm not saying drivers don't care but they just don't think they can DIE. You see the old mentality in drivers like Gordon who where on the track when guys died and I realize a lot of racers were around when Sr. died but what about J.D. McDuffie? All I'm saying is the young drivers race so hard all the time and are so competitive that they wreak guys hard. Some times its accidental sometimes well, Kyle Busch is well documented. What I'm trying to say is Nascar is deadly, don't forget it. I we never loose another driver but i feel we are stagnant in our safety advances and I know Nascar does its part and has a whole division for new safety equipment but there are still parts of some tracks without safer barriers. What about the end of walls that divide the other side of pit road from the track if a driver hits that right forget it. 

A final thing I want to throw out there is what if there was an exhibition race of "Stock Cars". That's right make Carl Edwards run down to the dealer and get a Ford Fusion right off the lot, equip it with a role cage and all the safety equipment and let them have at it. I know that its stock as opposed to open wheel racing but i think it would be entertaining to watch and the pace car could be a ford Winstar mini van or something.