Wild Finish At Dega

Tony Stewart caused a 25 car pileup in turn four on the last lap of the race in Talladega on Sunday. Even though the 14 caused the wreck, it is just a product of racing at Talladega. In fact, the other drivers were not necessarily upset with Stewart, but they were upset with NASCAR. The current rule package that NASCAR has in effect was the real cause of the crash. Cars can't stay tucked in behind each other for long because of the small grill openings that NASCAR dictates. The drivers don't mind the pack racing. What they mind is always having to stick the noses of their cars out to get clean air. This makes them loose as well as the cars around them and thus you get this crazy racing. NASCAR really needs to change the racing package. One bit of good news is that NASCAR will be making some much needed changes in the qualifying format for next year. The "top 35" rule will be done away with starting in 2013. Currently, the rule states that any car that is in the top 35 in owner's points, is guaranteed to have a starting spot in that week's race. NASCAR hasn't yet said what the new rules will exactly be, but I would assume that they are trying to make qualifying more meaningful. The one major hurdle for NASCAR will be how to handle the sponsors. Say for example, that the new rule states that the top 43 cars in qualifiyng will make the race, no matter where the car stands in owner's points. Let's say that the 88 crashes in qualifying. How will Amp Energy like it if their 20 million dollar investment is not in the race. It will be interesting to see how NASCAR handles it. Now on to this week's race. The Chase moves to another one of the, seemingly endless, 1.5 mile speedways. This Saturday night the race is at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Charlotte is a fact track and is taxing on the engines, so the engine package is especially important. The Hendrick cars (and the 14 who uses Hendrick engines) are always strong at Charlotte, in particular the 48 and the 5. Rousch teamates Biffle and Kenseth are very good at Charlotte and combined have led the most laps in the last four races. All three Joe Gibbs cars have been strong the last 2 years. The Penske Dodges have struggled here lately but Keselowski is on quite a roll and should have a good finish. The 29 of Kevin Harvick has been the only RCR car that has had recent success at Charlotte. The MWR cars have struggled a bit at Charlotte this year. As for the rest of the field, it's anybody's guess. This week the qualifying time is a little different. I will need your picks by 6 P.M. on Thursday. Repeating, 6 P.M. on Thursday.

Here are the results for the race, segment and for the year:
Week-Jeff 197, Brian 175, Toby 174, Chuck 162, Al 161, Norb 159, Neil 158, Michael 156, Jim 156, PT 155, Bauman 150, Cosmo 134, Brent 134, Terry 133, Freddy 129, Matt 103, Joe 94

Segment-PT 704, Jim 701, Al 693, Neil 690, Brian 683, Michael 675, Chuck 674, Bauman 667, Toby 664, Jeff 659, Norb 649, Freddy 638, Brent 634, Cosmo 612, Terry 602, Joe 596, Matt 578

Year-PT 5299, Cosmo 5138, Freddy 5135, Chuck 5030, Michael 4998, Brent 4931, Toby 4901, Al 4861, Joe 4817, Matt 4807, Norb 4781, Jim 4777, Brian 4715, Bauman 4700, Terry 4699, Neil 4603, Jeff 4512

PT 5-2, 39-2, 24-2, 88-2, 9-1, 55-1, 20-1, 17-3, 48-2, 15-3, 29-2, 2-3, 16-2, 11-2, 99-1, 14-1, 18-1

Dennis 24-1, 11-3, 17-3, 15-3, 88-2, 9-2, 55-2, 56-3, 29-3, 39-1, 99-1, 14-2, 48-3, 16-2

Toby 14-3, 29-3, 11-3, 88-3, 18-1, 42-1, 17-3, 48-3, 16-1, 24-3, 99-2, 2-3, 55-1, 39-1

Al 16-3, 17-3, 14-3, 99-3, 48-3, 18-1, 2-3, 11-3, 29-2, 15-3, 9-2, 24-2

Matt 5-3, 48-3, 17-2, 14-2, 9-1, 16-3, 11-3, 99-1, 39-1, 15-2, 88-3, 24-2, 18-2, 2-3

Freddy 16-2, 14-2, 88-2, 17-3, 9-2, 14-3, 48-3, 11-3, 18-2, 24-2, 5-2, 99-1, 29-1, 20-1, 2-1, 15-2

Chuck 16-2, 18-3, 20-1, 11-3, 22-1, 55-1, 17-3, 2-1, 88-3, 48-2, 29-2, 14-2, 99-3, 24-2, 9-1, 56-1

Neil 17-3, 14-3, 11-3, 2-2, 15-2, 42-2, 55-1, 9-1, 88-1, 29-1, 99-1, 18-2, 48-2, 24-3, 31-1, 1-1, 16-1, 56-1

Jim 16-2, 2-3, 24-3, 29-3, 39-1, 15-3, 9-2, 18-2, 99-2, 17-2, 29-2, 88-2, 48-3, 5-1

Brian 88-3, 11-3, 48-3, 29-3, 15-3, 17-2, 16-3, 56-2, 24-2, 99-1, 2-3, 14-1, 5-2

Norb 11-3, 17-3, 18-3, 2-3,14-3, 16-3, 99-2, 56-1, 29-2, 39-1, 24-2, 88-2, 9-1, 48-1, 15-1

Bauman 16-3, 14-3, 18-3, 88-3, 15-1, 11-3, 24-3, 48-3, 29-2, 99-3, 17-1, 56-2, 5-1

Brent 14-2, 2-2, 88-2, 17-3, 9-2, 55-1, 11-2, 56-2, 29-1, 20-1, 18-2, 16-2, 24-2, 48-2, 5-3, 15-2

Terry 16-2, 48-3, 99-3, 14-3, 39-2, 5-1, 42-1, 24-3, 17-1, 2-3, 22-1, 88-3, 18-2, 29-1, 56-2

Jeff 29-2, 88-3, 99-3, 17-3, 16-3, 24-2, 9-1, 15-1, 1-2, 11-2, 5-2, 2-2, 55-2, 18-2, 48-1

Michael 5-2, 48-3, 14-3, 99-3, 11-3, 88-3, 29-2, 9-1, 24-2, 15-1, 18-1, 2-3, 16-2, 56-1, 17-1

Joe 20-1, 39-1, 17-3, 2-2, 15-1, 11-2, 99-2, 88-2, 29-2, 14-3, 16-2, 24-1, 48-3, 18-1, 42-1, 55-3, 5-1

Okay enough with the serious. It is time for another world tour. Due to the fact that the blog has been viewed now in Brazil, we shall tour that beautiful land.

Carnival in Rio. This is my favorite carnival ride.

Brazil has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world



Anaconda caught in Brazil. I would crap my pants.

Mrs. Tom Brady, Gisele Budchen, is from Brazil. What is she doing with him?

Hanging out, literally, at the beach.

Tom Brady's reaction when he found out Dale Jr. was dating Barishnykoz

When Adrienne first showed up for the beach volleyball class, the instructor told her to pick her seat.

The tapir is a 200 lb rodent that roams the wetlands of the Amazon Basin. A favorite food of the anaconda and cayman.

Not the real thing. Only sand sculptures on a Brazilian beach. I know cause last time I was in Brazil I got sand fleas in place not meant for sand fleas

Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio.

This is Freijoada. The national dish of Brazil. It contains beans and pigs ears and snouts and some beef parts. Yummy!

I swear I am liking soccer more and more. This soccer fan is into astronomy. She is pointing out the constellation aerola.

Two time Indy 500 champ Helio Castroneves is from Brazil. He should drink the milk from the soccer astronomer girl

Another excited soccer fan. As you can tell she likes to blow.



Brazilian model Lima. She is the breast model I have ever seen. 



The slums of Sao Paulo. Looks just like East St. Louis.

Singer, Shakira is from Brazil

as is soccer star, Ronaldo



Family bath time in the rain forest.



Paula Abdul is of Brazilian decsent.

The Brazilian Womens Soccer team goalie made an incredible save. Then. timeout was called to deodorize the ball

Girl reacts to getting her first Brazilian Wax job

This is not a Brazilian wax but it is funny as hell. Steve Carrell actually was waxed for this scene. Very foul language so don't listen with children around.