Our evening at Bristol

Bristol Night Race 2008 from Wes Brown on Vimeo.

My wife scored tickets to the night race late last week, but it looked like we weren't going to be able to go. Saturday morning she looked me square in the eyes and said, "Baby, let's go to Bristol."

We met some really cool people and ended up with some awesome seats. I took my HD camera and my Flip Ultra...I shot a lot with the Ultra because I was worried about my HD getting wet.

Anyway, I threw this together last night to show a few friends the experience...which truly is like no other experience you can have. Bristol under the lights is a VERY special place.

Of course watching Jr. languish in purgatory was tough, but there was a ton of good racing through the pack. And without question being in a crowd like that when the post race fracas took place was unreal.

"I don't see nothing wrong...with a little bump 'n' grind."

edit: Also, I want to apologize for the poor sound quality at the beginning. I just couldn't leave it out.

• 14 Comments
• Bristol, video

Last minute Bristol

Insanely long and rough week...slept in this morning...woke up and wife says, "Let's go to Bristol!"

Leaving in 15 minutes, then 3 hours later it's time for Thunder Valley.

• 4 Comments

Reality is all about perspective.

A person needs to be able to plug himself into another man's shoes in order to truly understand a situation as best he can. For the past few months I have watched as everyone and their mother has claimed that Joe Gibbs received the better deal in the Dale Jr./Kyle Busch sweepstakes. To me these people have lacked perspective on the true situation.

There is no doubt that the win column leans towards Kyle Busch, but Jr. has been respectable with 1 win and a hefty helping of top 5's and top 10's. Something else that needs to go into the equation is the fact that Dale Jr. brings in a ton of cash flow that will help all of the Hendrick organization. My issue with people's perspective? Well, that's simple. People are comparing the wrong people.

Argue it however you like, but signing Dale Earnhardt Jr. is one of the most no brainer decisions anyone in the sport can make. Facts are facts and Jr. eliminates a ridiculous amount of issues. The most important issue that he resolves is cash flow. Regardless of performance Jr. Nation buys product and there are no shortage of companies wanting to throw money at sponsorship of the #88. On top of that, Hendrick associate sponsors company wide benefit.

While Kyle Busch may not be a PR dream, he does do one thing right now that is very important. He gets in victory lane. He does so in all three series and he does so in ways that get his sponsors on tv consistently.

The real odd man out in the situation is Casey Mears. As I said, signing Jr. was a no brainer and in reality that made the decision for Rick Hendrick "Do I keep Casey or do I keep Kyle?" He made his decision and while everyone has made it about Jr, Rick decided he saw more in Casey than Kyle. I'm sure attitude and team chemistry played a part, but it's been a year since the decision was made and Rick has already pulled the plug on the Casey Mears era at HMS. So it would seem that performance has won out over how great of a guy Casey is.

When Casey was at Ganassi I too saw a lot of potential and thought,"Wouldn't it be great to see him in some quality equipment?" That finally happened. During the year of Hendrick dominance Casey put together 1 win and missed the chase in lackluster fashion. Now I'm in a situation where I would love to see Caseysucceed , but I'm not sure where it will be. Maybe there is a magic car owner and crew chief combination that will propel him to greatness, but I've lost my faith in it.

So while I'll admit that Joe Gibbs may have "won" in this deal, it has nothing to do with Jr. The loss clearly rests at Rick Hendrick's feet in his decision to keep Casey Mears of Kyle Busch. That seems to be a mistake Rick is willing to finally admit to and correct. The hunt is on and I'm not sure Rick is the kind of guy that puts up back to back losses.

• 1 Comment
• Dale Jr, Kyle Busch, Rick Hendrick, Casey Mears, poor decisions

Rowdy in the bedroom

Rowdy in the bedroom from Wes Brown on Vimeo.
My wife and I recently purchased the AppleTV. (For those that haven't seen it, it hooks into your tv, it's not a tv.) We hooked it up in the bedroom and I've fell in love with this piece of hardware instantly. It's great for renting movies/tv shows, part of it's genius is that it is iTunes on your tv. With it being an "iTunes in your tv", that means you can get our favorite daily podcast/vidcast on it.

I threw this little video together really quick because I wanted to show it off a little (and play with some video effects). This thing is becoming addictive. Instead of watching tv last night, I got my wife hooked on a few different video podcasts.

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• 12 Comments
• Rowdy, AppleTV

Kingdom without a King

This is not a blog I was genuinely looking forward to writing, but it appeared evident from the beginnings. As much venom has been spewed at Theresa for her handling of Jr. and their relationship I've wanted DEI to succeed. If for nothing else than Dale Earnhardt deserves that. We may be 7 years into a world without the Intimidator, but that doesn't mean that as fans we can't look for things to remember him in. Some people want to see him in Jr and now some want to see him in Kyle Busch. Some stare into the eyes of his statue in Daytona and some still hold 3 fingers up proudly on lap number 3 every week. I myself fall into some of those categories, but I also feel that DEI was his legacy. I believe he intended for Jr. to help fulfill that legacy, but things have changed. While the man in black may have made a great team with his wife, his wife has struggled on her own. Those struggles are catching up to the company now.

In the past few weeks the Army has openly stated that they're looking at other teams. To make it worse, they are looking at teams like MB2. I don't want to disparage MB2, but think of 2002/2003...would you have put them on the same level as DEI? Let alone place them on a list as a better fit for any sponsor? That's where things have gotten. DEI has already been running a 4th car primarily unsponsored this year. Paul Menard's #15 gets a steady influx of cash from his father, while Theresa is rumored to get a steady influx of something else from Paul's Papa. On top of all of that Martin Truex Jr. has still not officially been placed into the #1 for the 2009 season and Mark Martin is set to possibly take over the #5 full time next season for Hendrick. That leaves DEI with only 1 legit sponsor in Bass Pro Shops and possibly 1 legit driver in Aric Almirola. Please don't get it twisted, when I say legit, I mean legit. If they sign him long term, Aric is a driver to build a program around. However, I've read that he might not be tied down next season either.

DEI cannot be ran off of cuts from Dale Sr. merchandise, it must function as a race team as well. When Jr. signed with Hendrick I remember being asked if Jr. would ever drive for DEI again and I said, "Yeah, whenever he buys it out of bankruptcy." That was a half hearted joke and possibility then, but if DEI continues down this path I'm not sure if the end isn't imminent.

If everyone could go back and regroup this with a little bit of fantasy, imagine what 2009 could have been for DEI. #8 Budweiser with Dale Jr., #1 Bass Pro Shops with Truex Jr, #15 Army with Mark Martin, #01 with Aric Amirola who could pick up a decent sponsorship package off of Jr's associate sponsors. That looks about 1.6 million times better than what it seems DEI is faced with now.

I realize that as a company DEI is far from their last legs, but in 4 or 5 years it may be too late to right the ship. They joined up with Childress in an engine program and have seen minimal improvement in performance. Technologically it's pretty well known that they're behind their competition. They're losing the top drivers and sponsors to teams that a few years ago were inferior.

All is not well in the Kingdom my friends.

• 5 Comments
• DEI, Dale Jr, Aric Almirola, Mark Martin, Martin Truex Jr, Paul Menard, Menard's, sexual innuendo

Better late than never

I guess it's better late than never. That can apply to everything in between writing this blog or the win that has spawned it.

Father's Day was an amazing day for me. Since marrying my wife last October, this was my 1st shot at Father's Day "officially" as a father and I couldn't have came up with a better scenario. My children jumping on the bed, giving me the most wonderful gifts, opening some of the most thoughtful and beautifully drawn cards, I could go on and on...and I did, you can read it here.

My wife said that she wanted the day to be all about me. We of course talked to or saw our father's, but she wanted my day to center around what I wanted. That meant grilling out and NASCAR. My wife dressed the kids up in Adidas, as a family we had forgone Coke products for the day, and while the kids played we sat down with my family to watch the race. She actually told me earlier in the day that her present for me was that "Jr. was going to win." Of course I thought that would be great, but I was unaware that my wife had the ability to actually alter the outcome of races.

I had been stretched out and immobile for the majority of the last 1/3 of the race. My had fallen asleep beside of me and truth be told the food had caught up with me as I was about to pass out too. I vaguely remember the quotes about gas mileage coming out of the tv. Everyone seemed WAY short and I figured after hearing Jimmie was around 8 short that the #88 would be in about the same boat. All of a sudden I heard those magic words, "Tony Eury Jr. is stating that Jr. is 2 laps short." To the displeasure of my wife I went from wonderfully fluffy pillow to standing up in the living room proclaiming at high volumes, "Oh, we're going for this. We've got to go for this!!!"

The rest of it was all energy and emotion. If you're not a Jr. fan then you've got to realize that it's been forever since we've won and to make it worse there have been what seems like a million "shoulda, woulda, coulda's." I was bouncing around the back of my mother's living room just begging for 1 more drop of gas to be in that car. When the caution flew I was so deflated. The car hadn't been dominant and I figured we would come off of pit road in the top 3 or 4, but that car wasn't made for the short run. Then when Jr. didn't pit I stood wide eyed. I had talked myself into believing we could make it, but much like Tony Jr. I was begging for anyone to cut a tire, tap the wall, and give me a caution tied up with a win. When they came back by the start finish line I thought the car might actually be strong enough if he had the gas, but it turned out it didn't matter.

Patrick!

I became a fan of Patrick Carpentier the 1st time I remember him being interviewed. He's someone who seems genuine and grateful to be in the position he's in. So he's become my "dark horse" and every week I keep up with his efforts. Which seem to always end with a bent up race car and an interview coming out of the infield care center. Anyone who watches a race with me gets tickled because the second the #10 car is on tv I just repeat "Patrick! Patrick!" over and over.

When I saw a car flying through the infield I was spewing emotion because Jr. had finally broken the winless streak, but funny enough...the majority of my emotion was focused on the #10 car and the fact that he did nearly as much to get us the win as anyone else.

It was a great day without a Jr win, but with it...well, it was that much more special.

Coming out of the race Jr. still needs a signature "the #88 is the best car on the track and whooped the field." win. However, people need to get off of Tony Jr.'s back and realize that he's getting the job done and I'm not sure that Dale is built to run with anyone else.

Wes187

That's right, I'm part of the family now!!!!!

• 2 Comments
• Dale Jr, 88, Winless Streak, Father's Day

Busch, More and Less

There are a lot of things about Kyle Busch that are “less�. He’s reckless, relentless, and a prick. OK, the last one isn’t a “less�, but I could use less of it. However, there was something totally different I saw in Kyle Busch this weekend, he was careless.

First be clear of the difference. While I’m all on board with the fact that what happened with him and Jr. at Richmond was a “racing deal�, it was also based out of Busch being over aggressive and really not caring about his fellow competitors. There’s no need for us all to go down that road, but we’ve seen a lot of similar instances where he over drives the car and as a result someone else is severely put at a disadvantage. (e.g. Johnny Benson) That’s him though, that’s how he drives. I don’t have to agree with it, but it’s exactly what we’re going to get every week.

What happened with Shrubbie this weekend was totally different in my mind. I didn’t get to see enough of the Truck and Nationwide series races to truly break them down, but I did see every lap of the pre happy hour practice and the entire race Sunday. In both he had major incidents that crippled his cars and both were very unlike Busch. Neither saw him over drive the car, neither saw him make a move that put him in jeopardy, what it seemed like to me was that for a split second he had a lack of focus and in that split second he paid a price.

I’m not 100% convinced that all the travel and additional racing played the only role in his mental breakdowns, but it has to be in the debate. I know that he’s flying top notch private jets, has travel arrangements that rival rock stars, and most of all is young…but he’s not partying all night and getting up to work a desk job. Driving these cars/trucks in these hot conditions take a toll on the body and mind.

The truth of the matter is that the Sprint Cup has to be his number 1 priority. And he is putting together the kind of year that people dream of. He’s the favorite to take the championship at this point and 9 times out of 10 is a factor in the finish of a race. I know everyone is out here preaching that Kyle Busch is the greatest thing since Joey Lagano, but we’ve seen people put together great years and fall back into mediocrity. Do I expect that to happen? No. However, when you have this kind of shot at the biggest honor in your sport, you have to take it and take it seriously. Yes, he may help in getting the owners point championship in the trucks and yes, he may be a factor in the Nationwide cars. However, if he accomplished both, but doesn’t get the Cup do you think it will be worth it?

Maybe he just had an off week. The thing is, he didn’t run out of talent, he didn’t get bad equipment, and no one else forced his errors. He wadded up 2 perfectly good cars in 2 very lackadaisical situations. If I’m Joe Gibbs I wouldn’t put the handcuffs on him yet. However, I would pay attention over the coming weeks and if similar situations start to occur then I would have to look at stepping in.

• 16 Comments
• Kyle Busch

Prelude Driver Zone

Alright, I probably came up with this WAY to late in the day, but just in case I threw a "Driver Zone" style bracketing. No flash, funny audio, or things like that...just some divisions.

These picks are for THE MAIN EVENT ONLY. Make your picks and I'll figure out the winner tomorrow sometime. As for a prize, I'm currently broke...so, how about the winner gets a nice shoutout on the podcast? I didn't clear that with management, but surely we can at least get that taken care of.

Past Champions Provisional Division
LABONTE, BOBBY
KENSETH, MATT
ELLIOT, BILL
JOHNSON, JIMMIE
GORDON, JEFF

Joe Gibbs Division
STEWART, TONY
HAMLIN, DENNY
BUSCH, KYLE

Ridin' Dirty Division
WALLACE, KENNY
BOWYER, CLINT
EDWARDS, CARL
NEWMAN, RYAN
HARVICK, KEVIN
BLANEY, DAVE

My Name Is Hard To Say Division
REUTIMAN, DAVID
ALMIROLA, ARIC
PEDAGRON, CRUZ

Diaper Division
SCHRADER, KENNY
FARMER, RED
MARTIN, MARK
KAHNE, KASEY
YELEY, J.J.

Long Shot Division
EVERNHAM, RAY
CAPPS, RON
GORDON, ROBBY

• 7 Comments
• Eldora, Prelude To The Dream, driver zone

NASCAR '09 Demo is out

Yesterday while I was home getting beaten to death by some type of west nile bird flu, I was casually working through the final mission of GTA IV. I received a tweet from Microsoft’s own MajorNelson and found out that the NASCAR ’09 demo was available for free download. I didn’t attack it with the same vigor as last year, due to NASCAR ’08 being such an awful experience. However, I couldn’t talk myself out of it…I mean, the demo is FREE.

After a short download I jumped in to a pleasant surprise. The 1st being that the demo featured the Hendrick stable of drivers and the 2nd being that the game is much more playable this year. I was able to run Lowe’s under the lights as well as Daytona in the day. Both looked amazing and made for some very fun racing. There were also some mini-games like getting on pit road at pit road speed, but under a certain amount of time. There was one that required you to go from 10th to 2nd at Daytona in only 30 seconds with the trick being that the clock was frozen while you were in the draft. They’ve also added a very deep “custom paint� scheme creator which while not available in the demo, looks awesome.

Overall it seems like a game I’m going to pickup this year. However, I’m trying to decide if I want it on 360 or PS3. Chances are I’ll go with 360, but either way I’d LOVE to race some members of the Rowdy Nation when I get it.

Anyone with a 360 gamertag or a PS account, let me know or send me a friend request.

Xbox360 gamertag: SuicideOption
PS Nation: SuicideOption

• 8 Comments
• Playstation 3, Xbox 360, NASCAR '09, Video games

SMI buying Kentucky?

Alright, I’ll admit that living in Kentucky and being under 2 hours to the track has me fairly excited about the possibility of SMI flip flopping some things and getting Kentucky Speedway a shiny new Cup date. I’m sure everyone outside of the immediate impact zone is frothing at the mouth over which potential track could be losing a date. I’m more focused on how this is going to affect teams testing.

It seems every week there is at least 1 Cup team at the track testing something. While it isn’t 10 minutes down the road from Charlotte, it is close enough to squeeze in during the week and since it mirrors so many of the other tracks on the schedule already the teams get some pretty useful data.

I’ve always heard that the teams have never wanted Kentucky to receive a date because they value that testing ground so much, but now it seems as though plans are in the works to break some hearts in the garage.

• 13 Comments
• SMI, Kentucky Motor Speedway, testing