Chicagoland: First Time Under Lights and Weather Woes To Date

by Bruce Simmons :

Last nights Cup Qualifying was pulled due to rain... again. Grr. And this is the first time that Chicago is having a race under the lights, so it would be nice if mother nature cooperated. So far, we've had our fair share of weather concerns this season, but mother nature has been kind to us so far. Statistically, we're due for a rain out, I hate to say it.

Weekend Outlook
Over on the weekend outlook for Joliet, IL, Weather.com, it says that for

• Friday, we have a 30% change of precipitation. Isolated T-storms.
• Saturday, 80% chance of precipitation. T-storms. (They outright left off the "isolated" part)
• Sunday, 20% chance of ra... I mean precipitation and Sunny.

The Good and the Bad
The downside: We may be seeing movies on other cable channels on Saturday night, Friday seems to have a better chance though.
The upside: Sunday looks good for racing. So if the Lifelock 400 gets postponed, stay alert as to what local cable station the race may be played on. Being the weekend, who knows.

Know Your Local Affiliate:
In the past, for me, local affiliate stations have played races, but those are the stations you never know about, like what channel it's on - so be prepared and find your affiliate TNT station beforehand! I hate scrambling around trying to figure out while the opening laps of the race are merrily on their way.

Have a great weekend folks.

UPDATE: July 12th, 12pm, CA time: The weather link I've put in this post now tells us that it will now be partly cloudy with 20% chance of rain! We may not need that affiliate info after all. Awesome!

Tidbits from Today - 9-18-07

Robby Gordon is helping out Marcos Ambrose once more by entering him in the No. 77 in this weekend's Dodge Dealers 400 NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Dover International Speedway.
(scenedaily.com)

But Ambrose has turned that down, being that his wife is expecting this weekend.
news.com.au
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And over at the Winston Salem Journal, a few trinkets of curiosity were noted:

Earnhardt is expected to announce Pepsi’s Amp energy drink as his new sponsor Wednesday; but Jeff Gordon hinted that it might be otherwise:
“Have you tried the Jeff Gordon Energy Drink by Pepsi? There’s a huge investment there.”
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On Staten Island, that plot of land that NASCAR had hoped to build the New York City Speedway on will apparently become a huge trucking center.
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Night-time racing lights are expected to be installed at the International Speedway Corp.'s Chicagolands track.
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One reason for Doug Yates’ decision to pull the plug on that merger with Newman-Haas was that Newman-Haas hemmed and hawed too long when Yates was trying to sign J.J. Yeley for 2008. (Well, we see where that went! Yeley took a a ride with the new Jeff Moorad-Tom Garfinkel team!)
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NASCAR’s Brian France is expected to give the regular season winner a few more points for the start of the 2008 championship Chase. (Sigh.. another modification.)
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Greg Biffle on the COT: “But you can’t pass anybody because everybody is the same speed. But that’s what NASCAR wants - for everybody to be the same.” (Ouch, but it is seemingly becoming true. Is it not?)
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For the Steve Park fans - Steve Park will be in a car for the Busch East Division at Dover this weekend. http://www.steve-park.com/

Tony Stewart Wins at Chicagoland

TONY STEWART won the USG Sheetrock 400 at Chicagloland Speedway.

This is his first win of the season, his 30th career win.
The other nine cars rounding out the top 10 are:17, 99, 29, 25, 2, 31, 12, 24 & 07.
Jr was the last car on the lead lap, in 19th after some power steering problems erupted in the later half of the race. Jimmie Johnson blew a tire and wrecked his car.

See the whole field finsihing spots at
http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2007/19/data/results_unofficial.html

For points standings, see
http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2007/data/standings_unofficial.html

Chicago - Race Line Up

Casey Mears wins another pole as he will lead the field in the USG Sheetrock 400 Chicagoland Speedway race to the green on Sunday.

Casey is followed up by
Martin Truex Jr., (No surprise?)
Ryan Newman, (Now can he take advantage of this spot?)
Mark Martin, (You go Mark!)
Dale Earnhardt Jr., (Motivated by Pepsi Products?)
Kyle Busch, (No plates here Kyle!!)
Clint Bowyer, (The ever quiet, always present black #7)
Jimmie Johnson, (He's in position to win from here!)
John Andretti & (Whoa!! Where'd he come from?)
Matt Kenseth (Another quiet, effective driver!!)

See the rest of the field at NASCAR.com