I had this in the wrong thread so i moved it here...

I was just watching Kurt on TV and I was struck at how much he has changed over the years First he was brash and arrogant then just about the time he went to Penske he became polite but very guarded. It seems he’s now just being himself and that’s cool.

seattlesix - 02 July 2009 05:36 PM

waterboy_09 - 02 July 2009 05:20 PM

seattlesix - 02 July 2009 04:36 PM

Coke Zero 400 Weekend Schedule of Events





Saturday, July 4

8:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.: Grand-Am Rolex Series practice

11 a.m.-11:15 a.m.: Grand-Am Daytona Prototype qualifying

11:30 a.m.-11:45 a.m.: Grand-Am GT class qualifying

Noon – 12:45 p.m.: Grand-Am final practice

2 p.m. Brumos Porsche 250 Grand-Am Rolex Series race (70 laps, 250 miles or 2 ½ hours)

8 p.m. 51st annual Coke Zero 400 Powered By Coca-Cola NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race
(160 laps, 400 miles)



Times listed in Eastern Daylight Time

That is so dumb to have the grand-am race on saturday it should still be on Thursday nite. Now if the Nationwide race gets rained out, they can't run it until sunday.

They did it to increase the attendance for the Rolex race ... and to make it appear to be a better $$$ value to the fans ... Plus, it could get NASCAR fans to become Grand-Am/Rolex fans ...

The attendance will be the same if not lower. A casually fan isn't going to sit out in 90 + degree heat. Its actually a worse money value because people that used to go to just the grand am race now have to pay the price for a sprint cup race, and most nascar fans going probably don't even know there is a grand-am race on saturday.

Final practice will be shown following the HOF special at 9:00pm eastern.

waterboy_09 - 02 July 2009 05:20 PM

seattlesix - 02 July 2009 04:36 PM

Coke Zero 400 Weekend Schedule of Events

Dumb...perhaps...but NASCAR owns Grand Am now and Saturday is much more palatable for ticket sales and the Nationwide race will sell what it's going to sell, and if people who bought tickets don't stay for the event...no skin off their nose. Like all too many things now a days...purely business scheduling...when they didn't own it, it didn't matter that it was on on Thursday.




Saturday, July 4

8:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.: Grand-Am Rolex Series practice

11 a.m.-11:15 a.m.: Grand-Am Daytona Prototype qualifying

11:30 a.m.-11:45 a.m.: Grand-Am GT class qualifying

Noon – 12:45 p.m.: Grand-Am final practice

2 p.m. Brumos Porsche 250 Grand-Am Rolex Series race (70 laps, 250 miles or 2 ½ hours)

8 p.m. 51st annual Coke Zero 400 Powered By Coca-Cola NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race
(160 laps, 400 miles)



Times listed in Eastern Daylight Time

That is so dumb to have the grand-am race on saturday it should still be on Thursday nite. Now if the Nationwide race gets rained out, they can't run it until sunday.

Wheel_Man - 02 July 2009 05:58 PM

I had this in the wrong thread so i moved it here...

I was just watching Kurt on TV and I was struck at how much he has changed over the years First he was brash and arrogant then just about the time he went to Penske he became polite but very guarded. It seems he’s now just being himself and that’s cool.

Yeah...saw an interview with him recently where he mentioned it in terms of he and his brother...paraphrasing...Kurt had to change because he hated being booed, won a championship and was hated...like the "Chick Hicks" character in "Cars"....people rooted for him to lose, finish second or fail...it got to him where Kyle seems to enjoy stirring the pot and being an arrogant jerk that most cannot stand....so is Kurt "being himself" now or was he "being himself" at the beginning when he was hated? Either way, at some point he wasn't or isn't "being himself" and changed at one time or another for whatever reason. He certainly was tough to stomach early in his career. (Note at the same time...since the "change" he hasn't run quite as well? So the "old him" got him to where he could win...the "new version" is happier and wins when it rains) Looked good last week...the old him would have dumped Gordon and made no apology...new him let up, apologized and joked with Gordon...and the old him was about to punch out Jimmie Johnson at Sears Point, it seemed...so yeah...he's changed for sure.

They can still run it Saturday night after the Cup race. I hope it doesn't get rained out at all.

Wow...that would be a great double header!

Stating Fact - 02 July 2009 07:37 PM

Wheel_Man - 02 July 2009 05:58 PM

I had this in the wrong thread so i moved it here...

I was just watching Kurt on TV and I was struck at how much he has changed over the years First he was brash and arrogant then just about the time he went to Penske he became polite but very guarded. It seems he’s now just being himself and that’s cool.

Yeah...saw an interview with him recently where he mentioned it in terms of he and his brother...paraphrasing...Kurt had to change because he hated being booed, won a championship and was hated...like the "Chick Hicks" character in "Cars"....people rooted for him to lose, finish second or fail...it got to him where Kyle seems to enjoy stirring the pot and being an arrogant jerk that most cannot stand....so is Kurt "being himself" now or was he "being himself" at the beginning when he was hated? Either way, at some point he wasn't or isn't "being himself" and changed at one time or another for whatever reason. He certainly was tough to stomach early in his career. (Note at the same time...since the "change" he hasn't run quite as well? So the "old him" got him to where he could win...the "new version" is happier and wins when it rains) Looked good last week...the old him would have dumped Gordon and made no apology...new him let up, apologized and joked with Gordon...and the old him was about to punch out Jimmie Johnson at Sears Point, it seemed...so yeah...he's changed for sure.

Look at who his boss is ... That played a big part in his change ...

He's also getting older and has gotten married ...

Somewhere along the line ... Kurt realized that he's a grownup and needed to start acting like one ...

Practice # 2 / Happy Hour Speeds

Coke Zero 400 powered by Coca-Cola
Daytona

Pos Car Driver Laps Best Speed Last Speed Avg. Speed Best Time Last Time Avg. Time

1 David Reutimann 32 192.135 184.415 185.585 46.84 48.80 48.50
2 Casey Mears 24 192.061 183.944 184.826 46.86 48.93 48.70
3 Kevin Harvick 26 192.029 186.023 186.384 46.87 48.38 48.29
4 Brian Vickers 13 191.980 185.525 187.368 46.88 48.51 48.03
5 Juan Pablo Montoya 24 191.591 187.457 186.627 46.98 48.01 48.22
6 Matt Kenseth 20 190.872 184.023 185.882 47.15 48.91 48.42
7 Kyle Busch 32 190.682 184.400 186.273 47.20 48.81 48.32
8 Kurt Busch 27 189.609 183.797 185.495 47.47 48.97 48.52
9 Jeff Gordon 27 189.314 186.575 186.152 47.54 48.24 48.35
10 Sam Hornish Jr. 18 189.306 184.559 186.471 47.54 48.76 48.26
11 Reed Sorenson 34 189.302 184.699 185.654 47.54 48.73 48.48
12 Jimmie Johnson 30 189.243 186.652 186.043 47.56 48.22 48.38
13 Kasey Kahne 29 189.147 183.929 185.567 47.58 48.93 48.50
14 Jamie McMurray 19 189.008 185.601 185.977 47.62 48.49 48.39
15 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 17 188.889 184.309 186.007 47.65 48.83 48.38
16 Clint Bowyer 15 188.846 186.548 186.776 47.66 48.24 48.19
17 Mark Martin 26 188.715 183.752 185.688 47.69 48.98 48.47
18 Greg Biffle 26 188.636 184.373 184.928 47.71 48.81 48.67
19 Elliott Sadler 28 188.573 185.947 185.062 47.73 48.40 48.63
20 Robby Gordon 13 188.549 185.491 186.612 47.73 48.52 48.23
21 David Stremme 23 188.545 181.859 185.283 47.73 49.49 48.57
22 Joey Logano 32 188.470 184.525 185.298 47.75 48.77 48.57
23 Martin Truex Jr. 24 188.391 184.612 185.364 47.77 48.75 48.55
24 Denny Hamlin 24 188.281 182.242 185.313 47.80 49.38 48.57
25 Carl Edwards 18 188.261 186.081 177.927 47.81 48.37 50.58
26 Marcos Ambrose 17 188.249 185.670 185.161 47.81 48.47 48.61
27 Bobby Labonte 17 188.064 181.543 184.479 47.86 49.58 48.79
28 Jeff Burton 28 187.954 186.726 184.680 47.88 48.20 48.73
29 Brad Keselowski 19 187.563 184.502 177.284 47.98 48.78 50.77
30 Ryan Newman 25 187.539 186.815 178.311 47.99 48.18 50.47
31 A.J. Allmendinger 29 187.445 184.904 185.003 48.01 48.67 48.65
32 David Ragan 21 187.438 183.692 184.573 48.02 49.00 48.76
33 John Andretti 22 187.293 183.169 184.292 48.05 49.14 48.84
34 Regan Smith 13 187.215 185.098 184.434 48.07 48.62 48.80
35 Paul Menard 20 187.207 186.020 184.734 48.08 48.38 48.72
36 Michael Waltrip 26 187.165 185.793 184.787 48.09 48.44 48.70
37 Tony Stewart 21 187.137 184.023 185.362 48.09 48.91 48.55
38 David Gilliland 10 186.893 184.619 184.257 48.16 48.75 48.84
39 Scott Speed 6 185.429 185.429 184.188 48.54 48.54 48.86
40 Joe Nemechek 5 185.322 184.695 184.414 48.56 48.73 48.80
41 Patrick Carpentier 8 185.231 184.684 183.889 48.59 48.73 48.94
42 Max Papis 5 184.155 184.155 182.442 48.87 48.87 49.33
43 Tony Raines 7 183.824 183.824 183.066 48.96 48.96 49.16
44 Dave Blaney 5 183.760 183.468 182.580 48.98 49.06 49.29
45 Mike Wallace 5 182.994 181.822 181.620 49.18 49.50 49.55

Biffle got loose and collect Sammy into the wall ...


Biff will have to go to a backup ...

No word if Sammy is or not ...