Random Thoughts

*Another thing that a lot of fans are harping on is that Matt Kenseth didn't really deserve his Daytona 500 win because it came via a rainout. It's become popular to tear apart just about every win and show why it's not a "real" win, but it always happens with rainout wins that some believe the driver who wins those races doesn't really deserve that win. Well, Kenseth raced his way up front and put himself in position to be in the lead when the race was called. If he raced his way to first, just exactly what was undeserved about his win? Had the race gone the full distance the outcome might still have been the same. Kenseth was up-front when it counted and he and his team deserve to be congratulated.

*It was nice to see Kenseth get emotional when he was interviewed about winning. Sometimes it seems like some drivers have become so accustomed to winning that it's old hat to them and they don't get too emotional - or in some case excited - about it. So it was nice to see how much winning the Daytona 500 meant to him.

*I hope that Richard Petty Motorsports is able to find a sponsor for A.J. Allmendinger so he can race the entire season. Allmendinger finished 3rd and continued to look like a driver who could have major success in Cup if he gets the opportunity to show what he can do in a competitive car on a full-time basis. RPM had three cars in the top ten and for a while it even looked like Elliott Sadler was going to win. Pretty good for an organization that went through so much turmoil in the off-season.

*It should be noted that there were six single car teams that finished in the top 25, with Marcos Ambrose finishing the best in 17th, though in all fairness the #47 is pretty much the third MWR team. Of course a couple of those teams like the #47 get technical help from larger organizations but for the most part these are small teams with much less resources, financially and otherwise, in comparison to the multi-car teams. They may have benefited from other cars getting wrecked but it's good to see these teams be able to avoid trouble of their own and finish well. It's particularly good to see Terry Labonte finish in the top 25 considering there was so much doubt as to whether this team was going to race the entire race. I have no doubt that Prism will start and park some races this season if they don't have sponsorship for those races but it appears they could end up with some decent finishes if they actually race full races.

*Speaking of single car teams, one that didn't do well yesterday was Robby Gordon. Hopes were high among Robby's fans about the Daytona 500 since Robby has done well recently in restrictor plate races. But that wasn't the case yesterday due to mechanical issues. It's just one race so Robby might go on to finish up front in California but yesterday seemed to be a continuation of the way last season went for Robby where there was always some issue to ruin races for him. At some point Robby is going to have to start racing up front more otherwise he may eventually find himself in the situation that Michael Waltrip is where his sponsors say they want to see better results. Being affiliated with Toyota will probably help Robby this season but I think his refusal to align himself with a larger team is a mistake as the technical support would probably benefit his team.

*I'm about the only fan who doesn't have a problem with Junior not being penalized for the incident with Brian Vickers. To me it was just a racing deal caused by Junior making a (very big) mistake, rather than him intentionally trying to wreck Vickers. I also don't see much comparison between what happened yesterday and what happened with Jason Leffler in the Nationwide race on Saturday. For one thing it's two different series with two different set of officials, but the circumstances in which things played out seemed to be a lot different to me.

*Kyle Busch got ripped by fans for many reasons last season including that they felt he often came off as obnoxious, rude and self-centered but I thought he's carried himself with maturity during Speedweeks. He hasn't mouthed off including when he was surrounded by the media after he got wrecked in yesterday's race and he had to be furious after that considering he had led 88 laps to that point and had a good chance of winning the race. In addition, he tried to help his young teammate Joey Logano, who had a tough Speedweeks, even getting in Joey's car during one practice to shake it down for him. I hope this Kyle Busch is present all season because it may win over some fans.

*Todd Bodine won Friday night's truck race even after starting "The Big One" earlier in the race. Bodine still doesn't have a primary sponsor which is amazing to me since any sponsor associated with him is going to get exposure since he races up front and wins. I hope Germain Racing is able to field this truck for the entire season so Bodine can make another run at the Championship.

*I can't help but notice that in spite of all the talk about how Nationwide regulars were going to have a greater chance at finishing up front this season because there are so few Cup drivers racing the full Nationwide Series that only one Nationwide regular finished in the top ten in Saturday's race. In fact in the top 15 while there are three Nationwide only drivers, the only one that has limited Cup experience is Jason Keller since even Brendan Gaughan and Michael McDowell spend some time in the Cup Series in the past.