A Saturd                                A Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway is never a bad way to spend an evening in August. The, “world’s fastest half-mile,” was much faster than many people wanted it to be. Bristol is supposed to be a little rubbing, some bumping, some accidents, a couple of thrown helmets, maybe a little skirmish, a bump-pass in the last few laps, and everyone leaves happy. I cannot remember the last time that happened at Bristol. My opinion is that the race was quite boring for all but the last 50 laps. What was once the hardest ticket in NASCAR, there have been NUMEROUS tickets available out front each of the last two night races. Many friends have not renewed their season tickets and are opting to wait and purchase tickets outside. While walking around Saturday afternoon several hours before the race, I saw a gentleman pay $30 for $109 seats!! The night before for the Nationwide event tickets were going for $10 to $20.  The only way I know to explain it is that Bristol now is not the Bristol of old. I am not sure if it is the Car of Tomorrow or the resurfacing of the track, or maybe a combination of both. Maybe the drivers and/or the intensity are not the same. There was just a different feel at the track. Talking to some of the pit crew guys, many of them felt the same way and think it is the COT. Too many guys are worried about damaging the splitter, the car just doesn’t drive well and you just cannot pass in it.

                                    The highlight of the night and weekend was Kyle Busch. I say this not only because he won 2 of the 3 races he competed in, but with the Saturday night’s win, I also won ( little race pool from our tailgating friends at $20/ driver)!  I know this has been said before, but I think Kyle is the closest thing on the track to the old # 3. This is not going to make many in Junior nation happy, they should be able to see this clearly now. While Junior has began to turn his season around with another Top-10 finish, he sits 21^st in points, while Kyle is in 13^th. Kyle has said many things about the guy that made him expandable at Hendrick Motorsports several years ago, and Junior seems to deflect it all. Kyle is also more willing to give his opinion, even when not solicited, on any issue no matter how it will be received.   The last 50 laps, he showed why he is one of the Top drivers on the circuit. Every contender that came after him was left in his dust. Mark Martin, who is the cleanest driver, challenged Kyle on several restarts, and even got even with him on several occasions late in the race. I made a comment to my wife and friends before the last restart that Mark was the guy Kyle wanted beside him because he would race him clean.  If Greg Biffle or anyone else been in the position Mark was in with only a few laps remaining, that would have used the car to move Kyle. Mark raced him clean and ended up finishing second and Kyle paid him numerous compliments on the way he did things. The one question I have is would Kyle have done the same to Mark????        

·         The Panthers play their first Pre-Season game at home Saturday evening versus the Ravens. Hopefully they begin to show more than they have in the first two games. For a team that did not do a lot in the off-season, most questions have not been answered and a few more have opened up. Game # 3 is normally where the starters go the deepest into the game, so hopefully things will look better this week. If not, the Philly game in 2 weeks could be a powder-keg…….  

·         Rick Pitino had a press conference Wednesday to talk about the,” pure hell,” he and his family are going thru. Being a public figure, did he not realize that this could be a consequence of his actions 6 years ago?? My dad has sayings that if you don’t want fleas, then don’t lay with the dogs. Pitino slept with the dog and now has to try and get rid of the fleas, and it is going to be very expensive, financially, emotionally, and professionally. 

·         I still hate the Yankees, but damn they are playing some good ball now.