The reasons for my glee...

Those of you who are longtime readers of this blog or the one that preceded it know that NASCAR is one of my favorite topics.

And longtime readers also know that I am a Jeff Gordon fan. So you might have been surprised by my “giddy” reaction to Dale Earnhardt Jr. joining Hendrick Motorsports. After all, the most popular driver in the sport coming to his team will certainly hurt Jeff’s claim to being the top dog at Hendrick.

But I love an ironic twist. And it’s hard to think of a better one than Jr. becoming the teammate of the driver his fans hate most. A driver they hate so much that they risk his safety—and the safety of their beloved Jr.—by throwing cans at him (Budweiser cans, of course).

A hate which, by the way, I think we all know is why NASCAR needlessly delayed calling Sunday’s race, but I digress…

As Jr. explained himself yesterday, fans have long believed that there was bad blood between Jeff and Jr.’s dad, but there never was. The two were even business partners for a time, co-owning Chase Authentics. And Jr. said that he and Jeff are friends and mentioned that there were things behind the scenes that people didn’t know about.

But Jr. knows how to keep his fans happy, so he told ESPN that he thought his fans and Jeff’s fans could still draw a line in the sand between them.

I smell a commercial…

But irony is not the only reason I’m so happy about the announcement. I’m also happy for Jr. Let’s face it. The past six years haven’t been easy for him as he’s had to grow up fairly quickly. Yesterday’s press conference was a perfect example of how much he has. He has truly learned to handle the media, sponsors, and all of the other things that go with his job. And it was great to see him smile…

And there are two other reasons. Number one, I enjoy being right. I knew that there was more to Jr. getting in Kyle Busch’s car than met the eye, plus there was a lot of love getting thrown around between Jeff and Jr. in the last few weeks…

The final reason? I can’t stand Kyle Busch and I am thrilled to have him out of the Hendrick organization. Plus, I have a strong feeling there will be more irony around the corner because I’d say there’s an excellent chance Busch will end up at DEI…

And for the record, I just want to say that I have been a Jeff Gordon fan since he came into the sport. It is mere coincidence that his number is 24…

Now, since my primary job with this blog is to talk about TV, let me say a few things about all of the coverage of the event…

First of all, kudos to Darrell Waltrip for getting it right. He had said Hendrick all the way. And kudos to Jeff Hammond—who had said Gibbs was a done deal two weeks ago—for acknowledging DW was right on SPEED yesterday…

It’s still really weird for me to see Brad Daugherty covering NASCAR on ESPN since I was such a big fan of his when he played for the Cleveland Cavaliers. But it’s obvious that he’s really done his homework and although he needs a volume control sometimes, he usually makes strong comments. However, yesterday, I would have liked him to keep his comments a little shorter so we could have heard more from Rusty Wallace…

And a HUGE jeer to ESPN—who otherwise put together a solid special edition of “NASCAR Now”—for cutting off Jr.’s interview at the most interesting part. Just when Jr. was answering the question of how close he came to a deal with Richard Childress, the tape stopped. “I never wanted to drive the 3,” Jr. said, as they cut back to the studio. It was like watching the finale of “The Sopranos.” Technical glitch or not, we deserved to know the rest of that statement…

Maybe we’ll get the answer Sunday when SPEED Channel airs an interview with Jr. and his sister and manager, Kelley Earnhardt Elledge. The interview will air during “NASCAR RaceDay” which airs at 11 a.m. There will no doubt be more coverage on TNT beginning at 12:30 p.m. with “NASCAR Live!” The pre-race show, “Countdown to Green” begins at 1:30 p.m. with the Citizens Bank 400 beginning at 2 p.m. on TNT…

I’m just sorry that FOX isn’t still airing races because then maybe DW could finally spill what he knew all along…

A Pillow-Flattening Daytona 500

There’s a throw pillow on my couch that I call my “24” pillow. It’s got most of the stuffing flattened in it from where I’ve squeezed it so hard during “24.”

But after yesterday’s closing laps of the Daytona 500, it may not have anything left for tonight’s “24.”

Now, Daytona makes me nervous anyway, but that green-white-checkered finish was enough to make me go crazy because contrary to popular opinion, NASCAR fans do not want to see wrecks (especially at Daytona).

And I certainly didn’t want to see one yesterday, as it appeared that Mark Martin was headed to his first Daytona 500 win. I’m not a Mark Martin fan (Jeff Gordon is and always will be my guy.), but I really wanted to see him win, if for nothing else than for the “in-your-face” moment it would create for Jack Roush, who stupidly let Martin get away after 20 years.

But it was not meant to be, as we got one of the most exciting finishes in the race’s history as Kevin Harvick crossed the line just ahead of Martin.

However, for the record, I think NASCAR should have called a caution when the wreck occurred. Yes, the finish was exciting, but was it consistent with what NASCAR has done in the past? And as my dad said, it may have not hurt the top two, but what about all the guys who had to drive through the wreck just to finish?

Since I’m not the NASCAR blogger, that’s all I’m going to say about the race itself. You can read more on “At the Track.” My job is to talk about the TV aspect of it. And there’s plenty to say…

FOX’s direction was a gigantic improvement above last year’s as we rarely missed anything. Kudos to FOX for cutting into the commercial to show the Stewart-Busch aftermath, although someone should have told Chris Meyers his mike was open.

I still think that FOX’s crew is the best, but I wish that Darrell Waltrip would stop ignoring the elephant in the room and actually address the scandal that has engulfed his brother, Michael, instead of just saying “rules infraction.”

And speaking of Michael, maybe it’s just me, but it seems like everything he touches is a little tainted. Even his NAPA commercial just didn’t have that same zip. I like Dale Jarrett, but he’s no Dale Jr. as far as commercial sidekicks go. And the addition of Michael to the outstanding UPS series should have been a welcome one, but it just wasn’t.

Unfortunately, very few of the new commercials were as funny as last year’s, which is maybe why most companies just decided to go with their old funny commercials instead of making new ones. I liked the newest installments of the Denny Hamlin FedEx commercials and the Kasey Kahne Allstate commercials, though. It was funny to see Kasey actually cause the accident this time. And the NASCAR “see things differently” campaign was a good one. I especially liked the commercial where the guy only changed his left shoe (a la a left side tires only pit stop).

And that Goodwrench Dale Earnhardt commercial made you want to run out and get a #3 tattoo, didn’t it? I miss seeing Goodwrench on the track.

But without a doubt, the grand champion of the commercials was Dale Jr.’s Budweiser spot with the “crazy mutant desert guys” chasing him in the desert and the punchline of “Just because it says Bud on the car, doesn’t mean I have Bud in the car.” I also like Dale Jr.’s DirecTV spot, but we’d already seen that one in the Bud Shootout. Whether Teresa Earnhardt likes it or not, Dale Jr. is NASCAR’s version of Peyton Manning and that’s not going away any time soon.

It didn’t seem to hurt Peyton Manning any, now did it?

You can see all of the best Daytona spots at http://www.nascar.com/promos/daytona_tvads/...

Next week, it’s off to California! Welcome back, NASCAR. We’ve missed you…