NASCAR Race Mom Heads To Las Vegas For The Shelby 427

As most of my readers know, my husband Paul is a finalist in the IRWIN Industrial Tools, “Tell Us Vise-Grip Your Story” promotion. (Click Here For Details) As finalists, IRWIN Industrial Tools®, a Newell Rubbermaid® company and maker of the most reliable and versatile locking tools is flying us out to Las Vegas for the Shelby 427 NASCAR Sprint Cup Race. We are thrilled to say the least. The Shelby 427 will be the twelfth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

NASCAR Race Mom will be ‘test driving’ a live-blogging software in order to provide the readers with “real-time” updates. Hopefully, this is the same format that will be utilized to provide readers with an interactive communication tool for the NASCAR Camping World Series West ‘At The Track’ updates.

The 2009 NCWSW season opener will be held at the Thunderhill Raceway, in Kyle, Texas on March 14th. Interesting fact: the first NASCAR race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was a NASCAR Camping World Series West race, which was won by Ken Schrader on November 2, 1996.

There are fifty-one cars are on the entry list for Sunday's race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It is the second time in three 2009 races that more than 50 cars will attempt to qualify. Forty-eight were at Fontana, California last weekend.

Among the new entries for Vegas is Max Papis in Germain Racing's No. 13. You can follow Mr. Papis on Twitter. (Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates {known as tweets}). To follow Max Papis on Twitter click here. You can also follow NASCAR Race Mom (me) on Twitter (click here)

Who will be in Victory Lane on March 1st at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway? Take a moment and vote in the NRM poll (located in the sidebar to the right). Will it be Carl Edwards, the defending champion at Las Vegas; or will Matt Kenseth manage his third straight win after capturing the first two races at Daytona and California?

Kenseth has a serious chance to become the first driver ever to open a season with three consecutive wins. He already has two wins at Las Vegas (2003-2004) and has led 438 laps there, more than any other driver.

While the statistics do not support my choice, I cast my vote for #26 Jamie McMurray (sponsored by Irwin Industrial Tools). In his six cup starts at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, McMurray has one top-five and two top-tens. However, he and his new crew chief Wingo are really working well together. I will be rooting for McMurray to capture his first Las Vegas win.

Results from the “Cup Drivers Should Only Race Cup” Poll

This poll received a total of twenty-two (22) votes. The results surprised me. While the majority forty-five (45) percent of the voters agreed that the Sprint Cup Drivers should not be allowed to participate in Nationwide and Camping World Truck Serie events; the margins were much smaller that I had anticipated. Thirty-six (36) percent of the voters disagreed and nineteen (19) percent voiced no opinion.

Poll Results

I agree – 45%

I disagree – 36%

They bring more fans – 13%

They make the race more exciting to watch – 22%

They bring more media exposure to the race – 31%

They take away spots from the “up and coming’ drivers – 18%

They should not be allowed in the Nationwide or Truck Events – 4%

It’s ok for the rookies like Logano, but not the veterans – 22%

Votes were allowed in more than one category.

Poll - Who do you think will win the Showdown?

The Poll – “Who do you think will win the Showdown?” will be archived tomorrow. NASCAR Race Mom was pleasantly surprised at the large number of votes it drew. As a relatively new blog, we were hopeful for at least fifty voters. The poll was answered by one hundred and six Camping World Series fans.

I must acknowledge my new friends from the Eastseries.com website. Alan and Kate Claffie offer complete coverage of the NASCAR Camping World Series East. I sent them an email regarding the poll. They responded by announcing the poll on their site. Without that exposure, I believe my poll would not have had a third of the response it did. Thank you Alan and Kate!

The Claffies ventured over to my son’s hauler and introduced themselves on Saturday. Besides being friendly, as a successful and established site, they offered me valuable insight into the complications of running your own race series blog. I will treasure their friendship and undoubtedly bother them in the future with endless questions. Alan and Kate let’s get together for dinner at the next ‘East vs.West’ race on May 17, 2009 - Dinner is on us!

Now on to the poll: Eight-one percent (81%) of the voters were correct in selecting an East Series Driver as the winner of the sixth edition of the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown. This was Matt Kobyluck’s second Showdown win. Not only is he an East Series Driver, Matt is the 2008 East Series Champion with four wins, nine top-five and twelve top-ten finishes in the thirteen race season. Congratulations to Mr. Kobyluck for a run from the back (23rd starting position) to a spectacular finish.

Four and a half percent (4.5%) of the voters picked a driver not from the East or West Series (the other category). Now I know many of these voters will probably maintain that they voted correctly by claiming Joey Logano the winner of the Showdown. This topic will be covered in more detail in a future post. However, if in doubt re-read the paragraph above.

Lastly, fourteen and a half percent (14.5%) of the voters went with a West Series Driver. While they were not correct in that aspect; out of the top-fifteen finishers, the West was well represented. Nine West Series Drivers finished in the top-fifteen: Jason Bowles - 3rd; Johnny Borneman - 4th; Mike David - 7th; Jim Inglebright - 9th; David Mayhew - 10th; Todd Souza -11th; Moses Smith - 12th; Jim Warn - 14th; and Jason Patison - 15th.

Matt Crafton – 5th and Ron Hornaday, Jr – 6th covered the Other category. The East Series Drivers in the top-fifteen finishers numbered four with the winner Matt Kobyluck; Trevor Bayne – 2nd; Marc Davis – 8th; and Peyton Sellers – 13th.

Thanks to all the readers who took the time to cast their vote. NASCAR Race Mom will definitely offer more polls in the near future.