NASCAR IS BACK! ~ Bud Shootout 2-7 8PM/Fox ~ Qual 2-8/Fox ~ Gatorade Duels Feb 12 - 2PM ET/Speed

Various | Jan 31, 2009 | Me, Jack, Junior and Rocky

[WestCoastGal]

SCHEDULE

Sat., Feb. 7, 2009 8PM - 10PM Budweiser Shootout, Daytona International Speedway

Sun., Feb. 8, 2009 1PM - 4PM Daytona 500 Qualifying

Thurs Feb. 12, 2009 Gatorade Duels on Speed 2PM

Daytona 500 - Sun., Feb. 15, 2009 2PM - 7:30PM

All times are ET

[Dacula]

NASCAR Ping

[o_zarkman44]

Drivers ! START YOUR ENGINES!!!!

It’s about time some real sports came back to tv!

[WestCoastGal]

Amen

I’m searching for my ping list. LOL Too much stuff in my FReepmail where I have it.

[fkabuckeyesrule]

I’ll give this NASCAR another shot. The last couple of years I’ve kinda been watching less and less of NASCAR.

[Danae]

O thats gonna be so COOL in HD! Forget the superbowl.

[McGruff]

I'll watch the Super Bowl but my mind will be on Daytona.

[buckalfa]

For a while at least — the big NASCAR stories for 2009 may be the plethora of fans disguised as empty seats along with the question will there be enough teams economicaly viable to fill a full race field the second half of the season.

[popdonnelly]

I usually only watch the first twenty laps and the last twenty laps.

[Tallguy]

I never really understood the logic of this race. But I guess if you want to hold a dress rehearsal, and people are willing to pay, why not?

[WestCoastGal]

SHOOTOUT is up first, we're back!! Fire em up and pull those seat belts tight........we're goin racin!! PING

[WestCoastGal]

I don’t know about the seats, but there will be well sponsored teams - The one car owners will have trouble which is nothing new and/or the teams who have not planned their futures properly will have trouble.

My favorite drivers thoughts on selling tickets..........

Earnhardt would also be happy if less were expected of drivers. Case in point. At a recent round-table discussion involving the track promoters of Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI), several stressed that they’d like to see drivers do more to help the fans and the tracks in order to sell more tickets at those facilities.

Upon hearing that during a break in his commercial shoot, Earnhardt fired back with a message of his own.

“The race track owners want drivers to do more? Yeah, right. They need to go back to work,” he said. “They forgot what it’s like to sell tickets. That’s their problem. They ain’t had to sell tickets for a long time and none of them remember how or knew how or ever learned how.

“They need to get back to working hard and doing their promotions and putting packages together for race fans. They don’t want to cut the ticket price but they probably should and get these hotels to quit gouging these people. They can dump that responsibility on drivers all they want but the responsibility really lies in their hands to sell race tickets and they have to get creative in doing it. We already do a lot. We do [bleeping] plenty and they are full of [bleep].”

Earnhardt believes the risk versus reward for a driver offering his opinion often leads to ridicule. That is why some drivers don’t open up to the fans and the media.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/bruce_martin/01/30/dalejr/?eref=sircrc

[NYTexan]

The drought is nearly over!

[Overtaxed]

Meanwhile....I’ll be watching the 1993 Daytona 500 DVD tomorrow.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Thanks for the PING! I’m ready for it. I hope NASCAR can restore a little sanity back into our lives! GO DALE JR.!!!!

[buckalfa]

Good points - - most of the drivers go beyond the call of duty to be accessible to fans, media and sponsors. Most give of their free time and money for charitable causes. Track owners (or Bruton Smith) may kill the goose that lays the golden egg before they realize the sport is based on the fans.

[Wolfstar]

Yay. The start of another season. I hope to see Jeff and Junior pull away from the field during the chase and battle right down to the wire for the championship.

[WestCoastGal]

I can picture that now. :)

[WestCoastGal]

And boy do I need sanity and do most conservatives in the country.

[WestCoastGal]

"I never really understood the logic of this race. But I guess if you want to hold a dress rehearsal, and people are willing to pay, why not?"

Well, actually IMO the Shootout and the Duel races are much more fun, shorter and packed full of excitement. Some of the races are too long and dragged out with built in nap time between cautions. :D