Can you feel it? There's excitement in the air. The Daytona 500 is just 20 days from today! That's just in time to fill the Sunday afternoon void left with the end of football season.I am alive again.
How fortunate for me that NASCAR has a short off-season.
If you are curious about NASCAR or have been thinking about following the sport, now is the time to jump in. The key is to pick a driver and start watching from the first race. NASCAR is not for everyone, but someone will get hooked. Guaranteed.
If you don't have a driver in mind I can recommend a few.
If you want a winner, go with Jimmie Johnson. He's kinda boring otherwise, but he's won four straight championships and he IS the man to beat. He'll be featured in a four-part HBO 24/7 beginning January 26th. Whether or not he's your man, 24/7 is supposed to be a good introduction to the sport. Being the bland person he is, Johnson isn't on Twitter that I can tell.
If you like passion, then I suggest going with Juan Pablo Montoya or Brad Keselowski. Juan is known to get impatient and
Then there are the Harvicks. Kevin Harvick drives the #29 in the Cup series, and wife DeLana and he field a couple teams in the Truck Series. The truck series has some of the best racing among the three national circuits. They're both on Twitter and are fun to follow.
If you are into guys from Down Under, go with Marcos Ambrose. He's a great driver, especially on road courses, and he has the most infectious smile EVER.
Then there is the fan favorite, Dale Earnhardt Jr. He's been in a long slump and everyone's betting on this being the year he breaks out of it. He's with the best owner, driving the best equipment, so he ought to be able to win. It will be a very exciting year if he can string together some victories. As far as I can tell, Jr. just joined Twitter and I think this is him.
Danica Patrick is moving over to NASCAR this year to compete part-time in the Nationwide Series. She'll bring a lot of attention to the sport for sure. Many before her have made the transition from open-wheel racing to NASCAR with mixed success, Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya among them. She's a huge star and I hope she does well. No matter what, her move to NASCAR is bound to be interesting. It's great for NASCAR.
Also fun to follow are some of the personalities covering NASCAR. Chief among them are Wendy Venturini of SPEED and her producer, Becky Blankenship. Even if you don't like NASCAR and want nothing to do with it, their tweets are still worth following. Trust me.
I follow all these people, but my favorite driver is still Ryan Newman. Wife Krissie also tweets. Ryan hasn't had a win since the 2008 Daytona 500. I hope his drought ends in 2010.
That ought to give you a start. I know a few NASCAR fans read this blog, so please chime in with your own driver recommendations and Twitter suggestions.
3 comments:
What do you think about Bobby Labonte this season?
Who gets to drive the super-sexy Jack Daniels car?
You know how in days past, when someone would be driving fast, you might say something like "Who are you? Mario Andretti?" Well, we had some British friends over awhile ago and the husband said, "She was driving like Nigel Mansell!" As if we all follow well known British race car drivers...
But maybe you've heard of him?
I'm going with Danica because she's a she and she's cute!
Yeah, I hope Dania can win a race or two... or at the least lead laps and contend for wins. But from everything I've heard it's a pretty difficult transition from open-wheel to stock car, so she's more likely to disappoint (unfairly) viewers.
At the very least, she'll make the Nationwide Series more interesting, though it got pretty exciting when Hamlin & Keselowski started bumping and banging on each other toward the end of the season. Now that NASCAR has loosened the restraints and will let it be a "contact sport," racing should get VERY interesting.
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