The Daytona...380?!

Ulgh...NASCAR is really starting to hack me off.

OK, they started a long time ago. I was talking to my buddy Josh, and I told him, "Ya know, I think I like the old NASCAR better, even though I never followed it back then."

You can just tell things are different. All the commercialization, the sponsors, the gimmicks, the tight rules, "this pit stop brought to you by [insert strange minor business here]," the cars, the engines, the rivalries...they've all changed.

I'll (try) to keep this post relatively short.

The Daytona 500 is NASCAR's premier event. They have their Superbowl at the beginning of the year. It's so unique that there's even a two-week qualifying process; "Speedweeks" they're called. It's a wild time with bands, infield parties, and more beer consumed in a two-week period than Anheuser-Busch produces in a year.

You get the idea.

So all of this Redneck madness culminates in the apex of stock-car racing. The Daytona 500. The "500" being 500 miles. That's 200 laps of Daytona's 2.5 mile track. Seems simple enough.

However, mother nature can, and has in the past, have her way with this event. These cars don't have the ability to run in the rain (yet) at these speeds (close to 200 mph in the draft), so they don't run in the rain. And that's where I have a problem. Several years ago, Daytona Superspeedway was retrofitted with lights, allowing racing during the night.

Ok...I'll cut to the chase. Today's race was shortened by rain. NASCAR says they will make all attempts to finish the race later if they can. (FYI: Once a race goes one lap over halfway the race is declared official.) So it starts raining on lap 152. So we have the Daytona 380 and waiting to finish. FOX walks up and down pit road doing a few interviews, always mentioning how, "If we can, we'll go back and finish the race." They cut back to their broadcast booth, about 30 minutes later and declare the race over.

Just like that...

The most anti-climactic ending to a race I've seen in a long time. (Let alone the "Superbowl" of racing.)

The track has lights! Tomorrow is holiday! PLEASE NASCAR...FINISH THE RACE TOMORROW!!!!

Nope. All done. Finished. Go home.

...weak.

(Congrats to Matt Kenseth for the win. Seriously. Just shows that the only lap you need to lead is the last one.)

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]