As The NASCAR Turns: 50 Years Of Drama!

I know there's very few NASCAR fans who read here, but even if you don't care about racing, it's such an entertaining soap opera!

Here's the latest, and I'll include some explanation for the non-fans.

The sport is 50 years old, and next weekend is the 50th running of the Daytona 500. The first races were run on the beach, so if you ever wonder why the race is so important--it's because Daytona had a beach. And NASCAR is a unique sport because the most important race of the season is the first one, as opposed to the last.

But before the Daytona 500, there's an exhibition race which in recent years is called the Bud Shootout. It won't be called that next year, because Bud will no longer be the official beer of NASCAR; Coors now has the sponsorship. The race is invitation-only. To get invited, the driver must have won a pole position (fastest qualifying time) in a race the previous year, plus the previous year's Bud Shootout winner, plus all champions (best overall performance in a given year). It's a rather short race. They used to go 20 laps, take a 10 minute intermission, and then go 20 laps in the opposite direction. (So NASCAR drivers do NOT always turn left!)

So the Bud Shootout is tonight. Don't look for the reverse direction racing; they don't do that any more.

On to the soap opera.

Yesterday during Shootout practice, Tony "Smoke" Stewart (#20, orange Home Depot car) got into a minor accident with Kurt "The Weasel" Busch (#2 blue Miller Lite car). Fine. That crap happens all the time.

BUT, last year during a race, these two got into an accident and as they both pulled into the pits, The Weasel pulled his car up and stopped directly next to Smoke's car (which was in its pit box) nearly hitting one of Smoke's crew. He expressed his opinion on Smoke's guilt in causing the accident.

The Weasel was fined and put on probation for the rest of the season. Smoke was already on probation for another incident, and did not retaliate--on camera anyway.

So, back to yesterday. It was a fairly minor accident and was mostly just sheet metal damage. But once again, The Weasel took issue with Smoke, caught up to him, and proceeded to sideswipe the #20 car twice, then followed him into the pits and hit him again. Then they each tried to block the other from driving back into the garage.

It was speculated that Tony was trying to get out of his car to talk to Busch, who was having none of it. Both drivers were called to the Trailer.

If you're a driver, you don't want to get called to the Trailer.

There is speculation that Tony may have thrown a punch in the trailer. However, NASCAR officials declined to comment. Both drivers were called to the trailer again early this morning (6:30!) to be given their official punishment.

Which was none. For now.

[Cue ominous music.]

Oh, and on a totally different topic, I find that the only search hits I get from either Google or Yahoo are based on the search terms TMJ and blow jobs. So if you randomly see the words in future posts, I'm just doing it to falsely boost my stats. Thanks for understanding.