Bodine Takes Sam's Town 400

On fresh tires, Todd Bodine spun out frontrunner Travis Kvapil with four laps to go, putting himself in first and setting up a green-white-checkered finish.
Bodine held on for the win, but many in the crowd were less than enthusiastic, booing him lustily.
While the veteran driver overcame early fuel trouble impressively, his victory was tainted for fans who felt he punted Kvapil out of the way. The incident was preceeded by a late caution during which every car on the lead lap except Kvapil pitted. Kvapil then, seemed to be a sitting duck on the restart and was tapped as he tried to block high, then low.
“I was going to give him the bottom and I was taking the top," Bodine said." All he had to do was stay down and take it, and he came up and blocked me so I went low and he came up and blocked me again and I hit him. I hate the circumstances, and I hate that it happened. But you've got to pick one lane. You can’t block them both. When a guy’s got a run on you, you’ve got to pick a lane and he didn’t."
Kvapil didn't blame Bodine for the accident. Instead, he was upset to see such a good truck wreck. After spinning, his Ford ended up coming back down the track and slamming into the inside wall.
"That's kind of what bums me out the most," he said. Our K&N Ford is tore up."
Despite the accident, he stayed on the lead lap and finished sixth.
Mike Skinner, who appeared to be reeling Bodine in, wound up second, while Rick Crawford, Ron Hornaday Jr., and David Starr made up the rest of the top five.
Hornaday Jr.'s fourth-place finish was probably just as disappointing as Kvapil's sixth place.
After dominating all night,— leading most of the races laps — Hornaday Jr. ran out of fuel in in the front stretch of Texas Motor Speedway's 1.4 mile track and had to coast to his pit stop.
"We just misjudged the fuel mileage," he said.

Samsung 500

Stone Cold Steve Austin just gave the order: "Gentlemen start your engines."
I'd imagine they will, cuz Stone Cold said so.
All this means we're on our way to a green flag at Texas Motor Speedway for the Samsung 500.

Troy Aikman was in here earlier to help present the special helmet that Tony Raines will wear in today's race. It's decorated in a special military theme and was already sold at auction for over seven grand.
NFL Hall of Famer Roger Staubach also participated in the ceremony. The pair of former stars own Raines' team, and they got David Arrigo to design the "Military Tribute" helmet.

I almost ran smack dab into some guy named Dale Earnhardt Jr. a few minutes ago. He got out of my way though.

2:12 ** I'm up in the press box again, but this time I brought my laptop with me.

We're in the 49th lap. During the first lap, a wreck knocked J.J. Yeley and David Ragan outof the race. Ricky Rudd and Casey Mears were also involved. The wreck started as Ragan and Yeley came out of turn 4. Ragan moved up the track and right into Yeley.
Ragan later apologized and took responsibility for the wreck which had Yeley steaming.
"The No. 6 car wrecked me," he said. "He wrecked himself too, I guess, but just stupidity. We hadn't even completed a lap ... Going for the checkered is one thing, but coming down to complete the first lap. It is totally uncalled for, rookie or not a rookie."

Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson have been running strong, and both are currently in the pits in lap 98. Earnhardt Jr. is leading.


2:32 ** We're back under caution, debris in turn 2, they say. That's got some incredulous murmurings among the media here. They're saying that Gordon' lead had gotten too big, so they brought out the caution to even things up a little. It doesn't seem like any of the drivers are complaining over the radio though. According to the Fox broadcast, Gordon's only remark was on how good his car is.
He's never won here. There's never been a repeat winner here.
It's still early, but it could be his turn.
If he wins (or Jimmie Johnson) it will be the fifth straight victory for Hendrick Motorsports.

The top four cars are Chevy's right now. Fifth is a Kurt Busch's Dodge. Sixth, Matt Kenseth's Chevy.

2:42 ** Dale Earnhardt passes Johnson to take second, and the crowd goes wild. We're in lap 131, and there' a lot of seperation between Earnhardt Jr. and Gordon as well as between Johnson and Earnhardt Jr.
Johnson's looking vulnerable from this vantage point.

2:54 ** I just noticed that Ragan is back out on the track, but the real story is the fight for first place (funny how that works.)
Earnhardt Jr. just passed Gordon. As he reeled him in, his fans seemed to multiply and you could tell they tasted the lead.
He has it now. We'll see what he can do with it.

3:48 ** Some of NASCAR's biggest stars just tangled, and it looks like Johnson was the biggest victim. After Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya made contact, Stewart was sent sideways through turn 4. Behind him, Johnson wasn't able to get out of the way.
Johnson is now in the garage, but Stewart and Montoya are still out there.
Earnhardt won the race out of the pits to retain the lead, earning him a loud cheer from his sizable contingent of fans.

3:55 ** Kurt Busch just passed Earnhardt Jr. at the start/finish line to take over first place, and we have a crash...
Lap 253 and were under caution. After Stewart spun, Kyle Busch hit Earnhardt Jr. hard from behind. Kyle is now in the garage and Earnhardt's good day looks pretty shot. He's working on the problem, but we'll have to see if he can get it togehter.
Kurt still has the lead. Mark Martin is in second, and it looks like Gordon — currently in fourth — is Hendrick's last hope of making it fine in a row.

4:25 ** We see again how quickly things change in NASCAR. Kurt Busch went from first to a lap down to last on the lead lap after brushing the wall in turn 4.
While brushing the wall didn't seem to hurt, Kurt went into the pits right afterward to change tires. Just as he got in, the yellow came out, and unlucky break that cost him a lap. Fortunately, he got the lucky dog pass as the leading car a lap down, so he picked up the lap. Now he's in 14th place with 39 laps to go.
Earnhardt Jr and Johnson are both back in the garage.

4:47 ** Kenseth is in first and in a dogfight with Jeff Burton. 3 laps left this time by, this should be close.

4:53 ** The race is over and Burton is our winner. Time to go to work.

Busch Series Race Underway

The O'Reilly 300 is in progress and after watching the first 2o-or-so laps from pit road, I've moved back into the media center. It's more warm and there's a lot more information at my fingertips.
Through 48 laps, three drivers are out or off the track (Kevin Lepage, Timothy Peters and Brad Keselowski). Kyle Busch is leading. Busch has led every Busch race this year that he's run in, but he has yet to win one.

** On lap 49, Denny Hamlin just passed Busch for the lead.
**On lap 50 he relinquished it for gas and tires, but at least he got some bonus points for leading a lap, I suppose.
** Matt Kenseth just lost control, possibly a broken track bar. Race is under caution in the 54th lap. We'll see if Kenseth can get back in the race.

Keselowski's day is over after a broken motor within the first five laps of the race. Keselowski, the driver of the No. 23 Oklahoma Centennial Chevrolet is a rookie on the Busch circuit and 3th in points. He has yet to post a Top 10 finish, and that streak will continue.
"It's pretty disappointing because I thought we were going to have something strong to race with," he said. "We'll have to go get 'em at Phoenix."
In Lap 70, we're back under caution after a wreck that gathered up several competitors. Steve Wallace, Jon Wood, Shane Huffman and Reed Sorenson were all involved and are off the track.

Final Update**

Kenseth recovered from his early misfortune in the biggest of ways by winning the O'Reilly 300 by 0.128 seconds over Denny Hamlin. The margin is closer than any previous Busch races at Texas Motor Speedway.
I disappeared from my updates because I decided to watch the race from the press box instead of the media center. It was a nice vantage point, and I think I'll take my laptop there for the whole thing tomorrow.

NASCAR Qualifying Washed Out

Fort Worth — The wind is howling. The thunder is rolling, and we're being told to stay away from the windows.
Outside the race cars you've seen hurtling around countless tracks across America are being loaded into their trailers for safety. Thousands of people who'd hoped to watch a day of practice and qualifying for Sunday's Cup race are being ushered away from the grandstand.
I'm at Texas Motor Speedway, hunkered down in the media center nestled inside the 1 1/2-mile track. Tornadoes and hailstorms are in the forecast.
A pair of flat-panel TVs to my left spread doom and despair. We can expect 60 MPH wind gusts, says the nice lady from her safe studio.
Despite the impending trouble, people in this flimsy structure seem ever more jovial. Maybe its our collective way of coping with worry, but I don't buy that. I think we all feel pretty safe, and we'll feel a little disappointed if this storm's not a real humdinger.

Edit: So the weather lady is back after a brief loss of signal. She has more good news. We can expect "tennis ball sized" hail and "life-threatening weather."
You know, the weather doesn't suck for us or the fans near as much as it does for drivers like Jeremy Mayfield.
Because of the cancellation of qualifying, Mayfield won't be competing in this year's Samsung 500. The field has been set according to owner points, the 2006 winner, a past champion exemption (but not in a true sense of the phrase) and number of qualifying attempts made this year + owner points.
All that adds up to leave Mayfield on the sidelines.
"Obviously, it stinks," he said. "Especially with the year we've had. ... We have a great car here, and it really stinks that we don't get to show it."
Mayfield says that despite the team's struggles, they've gotten better each time out. Here, at what he called his "favorite race track of all" he may have finally been competitive.
Now we'll never know, and he has no reason left to enjoy the track and the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
"The people are great," he said. There's a great Cabela's and Bass Pro Shops near the track. I Like Texas a lot. Unfortunately, I don't get to stay."

NASCAR chat

So, I was watching the Auto Club 500 on Sunday, and I also had ESPN.com's race cast up where UT-grad Tim Cowlishaw -- formerly of the Dallas Morning News -- was leading a chat.

I couldn't think of any good questions, but I wanted to say hi from the Daily Texan, and earlier in the day I'd asked one of my co-workers, Eric Ransom, a question concerning Cowlishaw. So I took advantage of the unexpected opportunity, and asked my question.

Ryan Killian (Austin, TX): So, I'm sittin' here in the Daily Texan
office and wondering, when'd you get so into NASCAR?

TIM COWLISHAW: Good to hear from the Daily Texan, the school newspaper
of my alma mater. Late getting into it. Went to Daytona in 2000, been
into it ever since. Look forward to seeing Kevin Durant in person
Wednesday night. And, of course, Fourth Street after.

So there you have it, Cowlishaw's been doing NASCAR for a little while now. He'll be here today.

Too bad I'll be in College Station for Jody Conradt's first attempt a win 900. The Aggies are 15-0 in Reed Arena this season, but Texas beat them 64-45 earlier in the year and is coming off a win.
Could be a good and historic game.