The Catfish Show NASCAR Blog

Now time for the Friday tradition:

- I know, I know it’s just unsubstantiated Jayski stuff, but just the thought of this Monster Energy Drink becoming the new sponsor of the Busch Series makes me sick.  You can’t spin this in a good direction.

- Juan Montoya tested an ARCA car at Talladega Monday in preparation for his debut stock car race next week and his foray into Nextel Cup in 2007.  Kudos to The Spotter  I guess this race will be for experience only and not approval. and Dustin Long for passing along the note that Montoya is already approved for all tracks in all NASCAR series.

- Kyle Petty will continue on in his role with NBC/TNT as a color analyst along with Wally.  Good move from my perspective as Kyle’s been doing a great job.

- Since I didn’t run with the ARCA late model brawl earlier this week it would just be overkill to post the video now.  It was damn funny though.  Somewhere here in the south, someone watched that video and said “yep, thats racin rit ter.”

- Humpy and NASCAR are going to tinker with the All-Star format.  Again.  Apparently, since racing isn’t that entertaining anymore we need to add more crap so the on-track action is secondary to whatever else is happening, whether it be a concert, sketch comedy routine, or fuckin midgets climbing the scoring pylon.

----- Kansas Preview -----

The Busch race Saturday will be an early indicator of which drivers are ready to race on Sunday for the win.  The reason of course is that most the Cup drivers will race here anyway.  Last year Kasey Kahne beat Greg Biffle to the line and I would expect a similar result this year among two young Cup stars.

WINNER – J.J. Yeley

Here we are Dorothy, in Kansas for the Banquet 400.  The track has benefited immensely since it became a de facto part of the Chase two years ago.  That year, two non-Chase drivers raced to the finish line as Joe Nemechek beat Ricky Rudd in a thrilling battle.  The racing at the track has gotten a little better each year as the asphalt has been raced on more and the groove has widened.  This should be the most competitive race yet on the 1.5 mile track.  One year ago Roush cars owned the race as Mark Martin dominated for the win and Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, and Matt Kenseth all placed in the top 5.  For that reason, Martin has been getting lots of hype this week from various sources.  My personal feelings aside, I just don’t know if he can win this race.  I tend to look toward a guy like Kenseth, Jeff Burton, Kasey Kahne, or.. sigh… Jeff Gordon.  Fuel mileage could play into the equation here and if it does, I feel sorry for anyone that tries something the 17 team did last week.  Here are my choices for victory lane and moral victory lane.

WINNER – Jeff Gordon

It kills me to do this but I’ve got to do it.  Who knows, maybe I’ll put a hex on  him this weekend by picking him.  I just have a feeling that he will be a major factor Sunday.

DARKHORSE – Jeff Green

Just a shot in the dark this week so I don’t get accused of picking a rookie here every week.

Here is your channel surfing schedule:

Today
Nextel Cup qualifying at 4:30 on SPEED

Saturday
Busch: Yellow Transportation 300 at 3:00 on TNT

Sunday
Nextel Cup: Banquet 400 at 1:30 on NBC

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