I am officially back from Daytona and all I have to say is WOW!  I started the weekend off by hanging out in the pits with Todd Bodine, winner of the Craftsman Truck Series race on friday night.  Congratulations to him and the Germain team for kicking some serious ass. (I’ll post pictures this week)

This weekend was full of surprises… Dale Earnhardt Jr. absolutely stepped up his game from the start of the very long week of races.  I can’t believe he won the Bud Shoot Out, the Gatorade Duel and then finished third in the Nationwide Series.  I’m not gonna lie, I really did think he was going to be in the top three as well in the Sprint Cup race on Sunday but oh well. My favorite parts of the race are when the two badass’s Tony Stewart and Dale would hook up in a draft and head straight to the front. 

The ”Most Impressive Driver” award would have to go to Kyle Busch.  He led 88 out of 200 laps in the Sprint Cup race on Sunday and ended up finishing Fourth. It always seems to go down like that, the driver to lead the most laps rarely if ever end up with the checkered flag. Also note that he also finished third in both the Nationwide Cup as well as the Craftsman Truck Series.  Tell me he didn’t have an incredible weekend.  Most drivers wish they could finish in the top 10 in any of the three races.

Who could have predicted Ryan Newman of all drivers would be the winner of the Daytona 500 this year?  He hasn’t won a race in over 80 starts.  I was shocked with the ending of the race but what didn’t surprise me was the 2nd and 3rd place finishers.  Everyone has to admit that if Kurt Busch hadn’t given Ryan Newman the push at the end Tony Stewart would have probably been the winner.  The beginning of the race was pretty non eventful…  There weren’t very many crashes, there weren’t a ton of lead changes, and I felt it lacked race drama.  Nobody pissed anyone off during the whole race but the end made it all worth it!.  Kurt Busch pushed Ryan Newman to his victory leaving Stewart behind to finish 3rd.  I must admit it was very cool to see two Penske cars take the 1st and 2nd place trophy, I found it a bit comical to hear Kurt Busch in the interview after the race stating that he probably would have won if he didn’t push Newman to the win… Just another cocky statement.

I’ve got so many things running through my mind right now that I would love to discuss, but I’m exhausted from the trip. So make sure you check back during the week and let me know your thoughts.  Until then… what did you guys think about the new COT’s?  How unfortunate was it to see Jeff Gordon have car troubles?  What happened to Waltrip and his supposedly ridiculously fast car?  What happened to the Toyotas at the end?  Let me know your thoughts…

Stay up to date with my latest NASCAR rantings and Subscribe by email.