Scatter-shooting!

I am sorry I have been not been blogging, but my work load and home responsibilities have recently escalated. So, here goes with some random thoughts and observations, in no particular order!

• Awesome job to Robert Yates Racing and David Gilliland at Daytona! I was holding my breath that Yates was on a comeback, but after Fontana, I see that they appear to have more work to do on the intermediate tracks. While I am not continuing to hold my breath (a blue face is so smurf-ish) I do hope to see steady progress on the downforce program, especially in the last half of the year.
• There are a few drivers that are on the hot-seat. Jeremy Mayfield has not made the first two races, and hopefully having Tommy Baldwin on the pit box at Vegas will be helpful. Jamie McMurray....wow, being in the wrong place is rough, but I am hoping the Jack sees that, and doesn't force him out early. Jack already has a few candidates ready for that seat. AJ Allmindinger is so very talented, and yet he has not made a Cup race to date. I hope Dale Jarrett is planning on being there for the long haul, as he is not showing any sign of being any better at MWR than he was at RYR. Teammate David Reutimann is appearing to be the star of the organization. As for Mikey, he is not on the hot seat..... he is sitting in the Electric Chair with NASCAR, Toyota, and his sponsors ready to flip the switch.
  
• Engines seem to be the talk of the NASCAR world this week. There is much commentary that the engines wouldn't survive the unleaded fuel changeover. Yet, it seems some teams had little to no problems, like Yates, Childress and Hendrick. DEI will need to go back to review their program. I am sure they are thankful for the break.
• The Car of Tomorrow is happening Today, or at least tomorrow. The first big test for all of the teams happens in the next few days. I am thrilled for the obvious safety improvements, and I am hoping for the racing to be better. Many say it will be like the CTS racing, and my fingers are crossed in hopes of that!
• Sirius is still rocking my world! I love almost all of the programming, with Sirius Speedway at the top of my list.
  
• The new site at NASCAR.com is at the bottom of my list. I am tech oriented, but that site is danged hard to navigate. I have mostly given up, and find myself getting news from other web sites.
• On the other hand, I may be one of the few in my circle who really LIKES the RaceView and the 3-D effects from NASCAR.com. Yes, it is not perfect, but I can see who is battling on the track with my favorite driver . However, the leaderboard part of that does not work, so I keep another computer live with Pitcommand and the scanner playing my favorite driver. They seem to have gotten many of the bugs worked out by Fontana, but I realize that NASCAR.com will probably foul it up in some way, just because they can.

Only partly racing related.....I have both Cox cable HD DVR and DirecTV with the TiVo type of functionality. I LOVE the HiDef for watching racing, but I think there is a conspiracy to prevent maximum enjoyement. The Cox DVR software is pathetic, and for some reason, we have been told there are software upgrades that will allow the DVR to be more intuitive, yet it is not available to us. DirecTV had a great deal on a HD/DVR...we ordered it the 3rd week of January. They were supposed to install it on 2/22...but they suddenly don't have the receiver. Yet, our credit card was charged at the moment of ordering. I will post more on this later....I forseee another customer NON-service issue looming. DirectTV might want to check with Sprint, and see how that worked out for Sprint. (I won, BTW!)

Have a good off-week...and I will check back in with information on the Vegas race.