NASCAR - Jimmy Conquers Indy

I'm still not sure how to feel about Sunday's Brickyard 400 (yeah, I know the "real" name, but leave me alone. That insurance company isn't paying me anything to promote them). The race at the Brickyard has achieved grand status in NASCAR as the second-greatest race of the year behind the Daytona 500. For some reason, though, I just can't buy into it. The hype seems almost manufactured. No matter what happens at that track, the Indy 500 is *the* race for me. It almost seems too big for stock cars. To make matters worse, the coverage from NBC/TNT just plain sucks.

What may have ruined the race for me, personally, is when Boris Said got punted by Reed Sorenson. Sorenson is on my shit list now. I hope Boris puts that kid in the gravel trap at The Glen next week - twice. :-)

Anyway, it was exciting to see Jeff Burton out front and be so "dominant" for the first half of the race. But, I knew it was a matter of time before something happened and he faded. Sure enough, something broke on his car and he finished a disappointing 15th! Seems to be a pattern with Burton. He's got some bad kharma going on. This seems to happen to him every other race. I hope that changes, because Burton's a class act on and off the track. Besides, it would be nice to see some different people winning who haven't won in a long time.

So, Jimmy Johnson wins another one. This makes no sense, but he kinda irritates me. I was never able to put my finger on why until it was mentioned on the TV broadcast that people tell him he sounds too "corporate" when interviewed on TV. That's it. He sounds SO overcoached (like Kurt Busch, *gag*!) and comes across as an arrogant stiff. I'm sure he's not that way and apparently he's getting good reviews on his XM show (which I'll never hear because I'm a Sirius junkie). That and he wins SO much that after a while I'm saying to myself "Can Jimmy just NOT be a factor for once???" He's obviously a great driver and has a top-flight team. But, damn, dominance is boring sometimes!

Finally, a note about TNT/NBC's broadcast. I usually thought that some of the criticism directed towards both the broadcast crews and networks were a bit over the top (i.e. too many commercials, etc.). After yesterday's telecast, I am now firmly in the critic camp of the TNT/NBC team. The commentators are great - except Bill Webber. My god, Bill, STOP, just STOp with the over-dramatic bullshit already!!! Why do we need to hear a sob-story history lesson about what Hendrick Motorsports went through two years ago? Is it really neceessary to wax poetic about Johnson, his accomplishments, his "lows," the people who died in that plane crash, Jimmy's cat Fluffy dying when he was 10 years old, ad nauseum? Last time I checked, bro, there was a race with 40 cars going on and the camera is stuck on Jimmy Johnson while you bore the audience to tears. /rant

Oh, and to the booth people at TNT/NBC, just how many accidents CAN you guys miss? My god. It took you nearly 10 seconds to give us a camera shot of the wrecks that happened on the last lap. Maybe you guys were all teary-eyed from Bill Webber's speech or something. Wake up. You missed almost every wreck yesterday.

Finally, that hit Kasey Khane had was probably the most brutal I've ever seen in stock car racing and I cannot believe he walked away from that. He went from 190 mph to 0 in a flash. Ouch.

Misc. notes:

• I hope Carl Edwards lays the smackdown on Tony Stewart once and for all.
  
• Jeremy Mayfield may be going to Bill Davis racing. Uh, Jeremy, I thought you were tired of having a crappy ride? What the hell do you think you'll get at BDR that's better than what you have now? Take a look at how well Michael Waltrip did this weekend...
  
• Mark Martin is probably coming back for farewell tour #3 next year! Awesome!
  
• Note to asshole fans who throw things on the track: next time, be a man and confront the winning driver face to face instead of being a giant pussy and throwing your warm beer on the track. What the hell is wrong with you people??