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Second quarter DOTY is, you guessed it  KYLE BUSCH. Congratulations to him for another trophy for the mantle. This guy is going to need a bigger mantle for all these trophies he is accumulating. Also I would love to get a key installed on by computer that will write KYLE BUSCH when I press it. That would save me a bunch of time. With 7 wins in the cup series KB is poised for a title run, but don't count out veterans like Dale Jr, Jimmy Johnson, and Jeff Gordon. If we learned anything last year it is that the chase format is not always the fairest way to decide on a champion. Gordon and the 24 dominated the regular season only to come up short in the 10 race chase. His huge lead going into the chase was all but erased when the points reset going in to the post season. In the old format Gordon would have a fifth cup on his resume.

Rumor has it that Tony Stewart, a former DOTY recipient, is going to drive the No. 14 Chevrolet in his debut next season with his own Sprint Cup Series team, Stewart-Haas Racing. His sponsor will be the depot but this time around it will be Office Depot, not Home Depot like we are all used to seeing him in. Sponsorship will be shared with Stewarts long time nationwide booster Old Spice.

Good luck Tony, I hope all your ownership dreams are realized.

Michael Clark (emsea)

 Another race has been completed and another notch has been scuffed into the belt of Kyle Busch. Pretty soon that belt will be one big notched up mess. Six wins in eighteen races is quite remarkable I must say. For those of you that did not watch the race you may assume that the 18 dominated on route to the checkered flag, and he did, but what is most impressive about Busch's sixth win was the way he darted through the field late in the race capping a remarkable comeback. With about 80 laps to go Kyle almost lost it entering turn 2, he then calmly brought his car to the apron (at 180 mph mind you). Radio transmissions revealed that the power steering was down on the 18, a common theme this year for Busch. It seams that these situations would ruin a drivers day especially at Daytona, but not Kyle. Who need power steering anyway? After regrouping and dropping back to 37th The 18 started his charge through the field. Passing low, passing high, passing with no drafting help, basically just passing everyone between him and the lead. Even the boo birds at the Earnhardt friendly venue were beginning to realize that this kid is the goods, showering him with a mixed medley of boos and cheers alike as he took his customary victory bow. Is NASCAR nation starting to warm up to the villain? Are we being swayed away from the golden boy, Dale Jr? One thing is for sure, race fan love a dominating driver who will relentlessly go for the gold no holds barred. Just take a look at the ambivalence that existed between the fans ant the last anti-hero that rose to the top of the mountain, of course I am speaking of the great Dale senior. Fans could only hold out so long before his dominating racing instincts won them over as well as won him many a checkered flag. So let the Earnhardt Sr. comparisons run amok. Unless this season is a flash in the pan for Kyle Busch he may just be the future of our sport. And how fitting it is that the 88 is now in 2nd in the points, setting the stage for a Shakespearian epic of good vs evil.  How it plays out, only time will tell. How you want it to play out will tell allot about the type of person you are. Do you listen to the angel on your right shoulder or the devil on your left? Right now i am leaning towards the devil!  

    For the 6th time this year a Busch was found in victory lane, and no this time it was not 1st quarter DOTY award recipient Kyle Busch. The older um (perhaps wiser?) Busch brother ended up with the win. Kurt Busch won the rain shortened cup race in New Hampshire. The 2 was not the car to beat by any means on Sunday, but that is not what the box score will read for years to come. The car to beat was indeed the 20 driven by 2005 DOTY winner Tony Stewart. Dominating most of the race Tony was heard saying after the race that the #20 Camery was the best 13th place car you will ever see! Stewart led a race high 132 laps. The story of the afternoon besides the rain delay was the gambling that took place in the waning moments of the race, leading to a rather indeterminate cast of characters to round out the top three. Michael Waltrip took second and JJ Yeley took home 3rd. Kurt Busch will try to build on this impetus and hopefully improve his chances to make the chase, he currently sits in 18th place on the leader board. In my opinion Kurt need allot more then momentum if he hopes to make the chase, or even steal some headlines from younger brother. Maybe a good old fashioned noogie is in order here to re-establish his dominating role as older brother! Five years ago I remember thinking that Kyle would never get out of the shadow cast by Kurt and his cup championship, but my have the tables turned, it takes a storm cloud overhead and a roll of the die to even get a mention in the press for Kurt. And even when he wins, bloggers like me are still taking every opportunity to Mention the golden boy from the desert!

Michael Clark (emsea)

Its about time wouldn't you say? Dale Jr. and the 88 team ended a 76 race winless streak this weekend in Michigan.
Way to go Dale, and way to roll the dice Tony Jr. While running on the vapors of gas left in the fuel cell the 88 decided to go for the win and risk a sure top 10 for victory or bust. This is the type of strategy that is usually used to put the 48 in victory lane, this time the gamble paid off for the nation of green. For way too long the 88/8 would opt for the safer call and take the gas and the top 10, but I think they just  realized  that winning is more fun than a conservative top 10. Kyle Busch's recent woes, and by woes I mean a last place finish followed by a 13th place finish, may have played a part in the gamble. That and the fact that the 88 is well within the top 12 all but locked in for the chase. Jr. is now only 84 points out of the lead in the Sprint cup standings. Like always I played my part in this victory by purchasing a Mountain Dew 88 hat at Pocono last week.  Buying the hat is not the trick it is the placing of the hat atop my TV set that was the trick.  I am absolutely convinced that this is why the 88 won. Not the gamble on the fuel,  or the great driving by Little e, but the ceremonious ritualistic placing of the hat on my tele is what caused the win! Need more proof, recently I lost my coveted NY Yankees hat (the same hat I was wearing when I witnessed Aaron Boone's game seven homer at the stadium in '03) and the Yanks were on the slide, I  found the  hat in a compartment  in my golf bag, placed it on the set and now the yanks are enjoying a season high 5 game winning streak! So you see that the good fortunes of these major sport entities rests in my hands. Seriously if you need any help with your favorite team send me a hat and I will put it on top of my magic TV set, and then you will be all set.

Way to go Dale I turned 29 today, last time you won I was still 26!

Michael Clark (emsea)

 First off I am a little steamed right now being that my computer just crashed worse than Kyle Busch at Talladega and i lost my entire entry from this passed weekends events. DAMB COMPUTERS!! I will do my best to recreate what was surely a blue ribbon report on my first experience at a race. I am forever changed after last weekends events. We pulled into the Pocono Speedway on Friday evening at about 7:00. The traffic caused us to miss the practice sessions so we did what most people do when parked in the infield of a Superspeedway, we raided the coolers, began to mingle with the neighbors, and started to grill some choice cuts of meat. Being that this was my farewell to bachelorhood weekend my brother thought it would be a great idea to have some of the passers by enlighten me with some advice on tying the knot. We are talking Yodaesque wisdom being bestowed on me. One lubricated race fan decided to let me in on a little secret, he told me "there is one food that a woman will eat in her life that will cause her to never want to have sex again" I eagerly asked what it was so I would never make such a horrible mistake and purchase this mysterious food, he then hit me with the punch line "wedding cake". He went on to tell me that i should take his advice very seriously, and that he was an expert in the field of marriage being that he had been married 3 times already. Another adviser let me know about the two words that cast a voodoo like spell over the future of your sexual gratification, those words, "I DO".  although I was very appreciative of this information, I escaped into the Prevost bus to regain some sanity and then decided I would go for a little stroll to take in the scene, and scope out any late night parties. To my surprise  there was not much going on. I was expecting an all in soiree to be erupting all over the infield, but by 3 am there was little to be found on the party front so I returned back to base camp. A few short hours later I realized why there was such a non existent late night scene. I was quickly awakened by the thunderous sound of the NASCAR alarm clock that was set for 10 am invading my pleasant dreams of puppies and kittens. This metaphorical alarm clock I speak of was indeed the first practice session of the mourning. Aha! this is why the scene was so dead late in the night. The more experienced race fans knew that they had better get some sleep because once the cars hit the track there was no chance of sleeping in. I hit the back lounge of the for a mourning refreshment and began to see the cars roaring passed the window of the bus. Soon enough I began to float towards the exit of the bus like a cartoon character that just had its nose tickled by the smell of the roast in the oven. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. Outside of the bus the sound of the cars was 10 times as loud. This was it, this is what everyone who has ever been to a race was talking about. This was the thunder! I ran over to the fence and just stood in amazement, I got chills the first time the 88 made a pass. Then the 20 zoomed by followed by the 24, the 48, the 18, well you get the picture. Friday night was a blast but the weekend had officially begun now that I had seen and felt the cars on the track.
    We ate to the point of repletion, I am talking eggs, bacon, sausage. steaks, and that was just breakfast. In fact it could be said that all day Saturday was spent killing time between shoveling munch into out bellies. To further explain just how much gluttony was going on here is a statistic for you, I gained 16 pounds over the weekend. Granted most of it was water or um should I say beer weight, but regardless it was quite an achievement. Propers go out to my little bro Nick for manning the grill all weekend and keeping us well fed. We decided to go for another stroll and soak in the culture.  The infield was filling up and  really starting to rock out. I must say that NASCAR fans display more ingenuity then any other genre of people that walk this planet. Crows nests on top of buses, scissor lifts, one guy simply had a ladder leading to the roof of his trailer but at the top he had set up the seat he removed from his Ford Econoline van as well as a beach umbrella and a cooler of course. It was like i was surrounded by a flock of Macgyvers. One guy had a belt that could hold up to twelve beers in insulated coozies. Now that is the way to stroll the infield i thought, our problem was we kept having to go back to the bus for more beers, limiting how far we could ultimately adventure away from our home. If only I had a belt that could hold a 12 pack then I would be set for the day! next time Mike, next time.
    Saturday night  the party scene was more happening. we stumbled across a group of fans that had a slip and slide set up in their "yard". Another area had some disco music blasting from a PA that they had set up and a party was instantly started. I called my fiance to check in on her and let her know i had not been swallowed by the monster. This turned out to be a poor choice being that i had been drinking since 10 am and it was now passed midnight. But it was her birthday and i wanted to wish her a happy one. Thats right she let me go to the Pocono race for my bachelor party on her birthday, she is a keeper! So anyway  guess i was not very articulate in my present state of mind, so she asked my "what is wrong with you, you sound like an idiot" I replied "when in Rome" haha.
She let me off the hook and told me to continue enjoying myself.
A roomer began to circulate around the bus that there is an area that you can take a shower at for $5. This news was heaven sent. But the problem was none of us brought towels. Man did that vendor make a killing of of us, she must have sold us 6 towels at $10 bucks a shot.  Being New Yorkers we tried to peddle with her but she was not going to budge. All I can say is that was that best shower in the trailer of a semi I had ever taken in my life.
    Sunday morning at around 6 am I woke up to my stomach grumbling. I am talking urgency here, so I waisted no  time and started the mile walk to the facilities. Oh sweet relief! Sorry for including that but there is a point to It promise. First off why such a long walk to the facilities? How about placing some more porta johns strategically around the infield. The other reason for including this anecdote  was so i can describe how weird the scene was at 6am in the Pocono infield. It was a cross between people who had not gone to bed yet and people who had just got up, scary like Norman Bates  scary! The sun was starting to rise in the east, the sky was that amazing hue of pink that is only seen at dawn, some people were jogging, others still  boozing it up, and me making my mad dash to the toilet.  How's that for a colorful analysis of a Pocono Sunday mourning.  I went back to sleep for a few more hours. When I woke up I called my fiance again with no recollection of the previous nights call, and again wished her a happy birthday this time to her answering machine. A few of us ventured over to the shopping village that we had bought the towels from so we could get some race worthy gear. I had done a good job so far fending off the ultra violet rays of the sun and in no way wanted to end up like my badly burned buddy Justin, so I bought a Dale Jr hat to keep the sun off my face. I was tempted to buy some Kyle Busch gear but was afraid i would not make it back to the bus alive.
     Race time, had finally arrived and we were all getting psyched up. We gathered up our chairs and coolers and took a place along the fence inside turn 3. I was so amped up I was cheering as loud as I could every pass for the first 10 laps or so. None of us had rented scanners so we periodically made our way back into the AC of the bus to watch some of the race on the flat screen and cool off. It was hard to keep up with what was going on being that we could not see the leaderboard, but I was able to keep a grip on who was the leader and the top 5 or so. The final lap we see the 9 roar by for the win! and just like that the race was over. The drivers complained after that it was too long of a race,  but for us it went by all too quickly. The traffic leaving Long Pond went unnoticed being that i was passed out before we even moved from our spot.

It was a long, hot and eventful weekend, and now that I have popped the NASCAR cherry I can not wait to return next year! Thats right, we are going annual with this thing boys!

A truly changed man,
Michael Clark (emsea) 

So another weekend at Lowe's and another trip to victory lane for Kasey Kahne, but this time it counted. I tell you what, it was nice to see the Bud car in victory lane. It has certainly been a while since that paint scheme was doused with the foamy suds in the winners circle. Kahne and the 9 were not the most dominant car Sunday night, but their patience paid off for them. The 9 used some of the knowledge from the all-star event to their advantage, by letting the track come to them. Over the course of 600 miles, the longest race on the circuit, the track goes through several changes. As the sun gos down on the western horizon of Charlotte the track temperature goes down. This is a gradual process that takes many hours, so just because you qualify well during the daylight does not mean your car is going to dominate when the night closes in.  Kahne and co. knew this going in to the interminable race, and it showed in the final 100 or so laps. They were the best when it counted and thats all that really matters. Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades my friends.

Another top five for the 88! Even when things go horribly wrong for the national guard team they end up in the front of the pack. Jr smacked the wall in the waning stages of the race looking like he was going to end his day in the top 15 if he was lucky. But the way things cycled through the  Jr.and the 88 ended up with their 5th top 5 of the season.

Kudos to the 44 and Dave Reutimann for a solid weekend. Dave scored his first top 10 of the year and if my gut feeling is not just heartburn, then I think big things await in the future for Reutimann  and the UPS 44! You know Dave has got to be a great guy, I mean DW is always praising him on the air. If DW gives the thumbs up then so do I. I think this is a great story brewing here, and i hope that the 44 can dominate the asphalt as well as Big Brown does the slop!

In other news i will be attending the Pocono race weekend armed with a press pass looking for the scoop. It is my bachelor party, so my friends and I are renting OK Go's tour bus from them and doing it up rock star style. Of course I will be blogging my heart out throughout the course of the weekend. It seems fair that my buddies party all day long on the tour bus while I am out there working the garage doesn't it? So if you see a bunch of Yankees in a tour bus who look like they have no business at a NASCAR event, that is probably us, so come over and say hi, and who knows we may just give you a beer or you could end up in the next entry on DOTYAWARD.com!!

Kasey Kahne owes many things to his boyish good looks, but this one takes the cake. Kasey owes about $1,000,000 dollars to his loyal fans. We should not underestimate the power of the female NASCAR fan base. Although i have only empirical evidence of this. One can only assume that the driver of the #9 bud car was voted in by the ladies. Hey maybe it was the votes of those three pesky women that aimlessly chase Kasey around in those catchy Allstate commercials that  put Kahne into the All star event on Saturday night. It definitely was not his effort in the Sprint Showdown. The winner and runner up in the showdown get their chance at the All star cash prize, along with the winner of the fan vote. Kahne finished fifth in the showdown, a good run but not enough to get him into the show. A.J. Allmendinger raced his way in as well as former open wheeler Sam Hornish Jr. So a congrats to them because that was all the highlights they would have on Saturday night under the lights.
Kahne seemed like a non factor through the first three segments, the first of which was dominated by first quarter driver of the year Kyle Busch. Busch led all 25 laps of the first segment and about 17 or so in the second before he ran into some engine problems that basically ended his night. I must give DW some propers for being the first to diagnose the engine problem from way up n the booth. He made a hesitant  call about noise that the 18's engine was making then second guessed himself, stating "maybe i should wait for him to come around one more time, but I didn't like the sound of that 18 last time around". Waltrip was right on and a lap or so later his diagnosis was confirmed by the radio banter of the 18 team. Carl Edwards looked good as well, winning the second segment. but his car went away from him after the "halftime" break.  But in the end it was not about the Alllstate girls, or Kasey's boyish good looks, it was about the pit strategy of crew cheif Kenny Francis. Francis told Kahne "just get to the halftime and we will do the rest". Francis then elected to go for the track position opting to go with no tires, putting Kahne into the lead for the final segment. And that my friends was all she wrote!
Greg Biffle finished second, leaving him with about $800,000 bucks less them Kasey. But he did win the victory celebration contest with some fierce doughnuts and thick cloudy burnouts. I am sure the Biff would trade whatever trophy he received for those Million dollar doughnuts Kasey was leaving at the start/finish line at The Lowes Motor Speedway. Second place is truly first looser!

Michael Clark (emsea)

About 10 days ago i stated that KyB was my lock for Driver Of The Year so far. Well it turns out that this prognostication was made with pinpoint accuracy. It was announced last Tuesday that Rowdy did indeed win the 1st Quarter driver of the year award. That being said it was one of many reasons why KyB is all over the news and blogs this week. We all remember his infamous spin out of dale Jr with 4 to go in Richmond. His post race  remarks were just as memorable, and quite hilarious. Busch said that he saw the crowd giving him the #1 sign (referring to the middle digits the fans were waiving at him after said nudging of Jr.) even though he was in second place at the time. He then went on to say that the crowd must have indulged in one too Many of Dale Jr's Budweisers, or maybe they were just too Amped up. These references were clever puns at Jr's endorsements. Thats the way to make light of Jr Nation loathing you, make fun of it. Busch said that he was not thinking about the fact that Jr has not won in 2 years, it is not his job to help a fan favorite win, it is his job to win it himself. Right on Kyle! I do however think it was Bushleague (no pun intended) for Denny Hamlin to intentionally cause a caution to help out his teammate who was running second at the time. This caution allowed Busch to restart on the back bumper of the 88 leading to the derailing of the Jr victory train.

Busch follows this controversial week with an impressive win at Darlington. I gotta hand it to the kid, and yes he is one of the few drivers that i can officially call kid, he drives the wheels of the car every week. He must have hit the wall at least 6 times on Saturday night, but still drove right to victory lane following some burnouts of course!

Kyle Busch 1st quarter driver of the year! we can only assume that things would have to go terribly wrong for him to not be holding the award over his head come November..

Michael Clark (emsea) 

Well, actually, you can, but the season's longest ARCA Re/Max Series race (six sets of tires allowed) does last for a good long while. And it was nice to see the track at Rockingham, NC (The Rock, get it?) open for business again.

So congratulations to rookie Joey Logano who not only looked good for the whole thing, but managed to keep his cool after pitting with only 10 laps left. Maybe we'll see him on the DOTY podium one of these days.

In fact, another driver (warning: segue coming up) who won his first ARCA Re/Max Series race—at Nashville—was Q1 Driver of the Year winner Kyle Busch. It says it on his site; it must be true. Congratulations, Kyle. Keep up the good work!

And on a final note, Full Throttle (a Coca-Cola brand) is taking over sponsorship of the National Hot Rod Association's premier professional drag racing series. It will be the energy drink line's first major sports marketing deal. Full Throttle will take over the sponsorship from Powerade (another Coke brand) in 2009. As part of the deal, Coke will extend its NHRA partnership through 2013.

And there you have it. All the news that fits in my head.

Oh, and Happy Mothers Day to all you mothers out there. And to all you fathers, sons and daughters, it's on Sunday and you're welcome for reminding you. Try to get something nicer than vacuum filters this year, please.

Kyle Busch is looking like he was born with a steering wheel in his hand. Coming back from a lap down last week at Talladega for the win. The most memorable moment of the race was in the waning laps of the race when Kyle went "slideways" into Jamie McMurrey, almost ending both their days early. Busch was aided by the dynamics of that magical wing on the back of his #18 Toyota. Busch cruised to victory after race favorite and former Driver of the year award recipient Tony Stewart's race day was ended in metal bending fashion.

How about Juan Pablo Montoya and the 42 team taking it up a notch on the big restrictor plate track, with a second place finish!! way to go JP. I am sure this is the way it was supposed to be when you made the switch from open wheel racing. It took a year or so for him to get his bearings, now JP is looking confident in his stock car. This is bad news for the rest of the field, if Montoya can drive this good on a consistent basis. We all know what he can do on the road courses, and he has shown some signs of life on the short tracks as well, add restrictor plate dominance and we will have a championship caliber team...

I am sitting here watching the pre-race for Richmond on speed channel and am psyched up for the Saturday night race!
"hey uh huh one more Saturday night!"- bob weir

Michael Clark (emsea)