and my future blogs can be found here --

http://klvalusthehotpass.blogspot.com/

Onto this week's Testing...Testing..TRIFECTA!

** What Cup team will lose their first lug nut to the Valus Gang this weekend?  (Not counting #2 team-- those are too easy for me to snag!)

** What will be the total dining bill including tip for the Valus Gang on Saturday night ?  (There will be 8 of us at dinner!)

**  Pick the winner of the road course race at Infineon -- here's a hint...

There are no penalties for repeat answers! LOL   

By the way -- Kurt is planning on attempting the "Unwind Lap" if he indeed does win this Sunday...yet another reason to cheer for the Blue Deuce!

"It'd definitely be challenging," Kurt said of doing a lap in reverse on the winding 1.990-mile road course.  "But, we certainly would welcome the opportunity to do it.  We're focusing on winning the race first and then we'll look at how we'll celebrate." 

"Half the other teams would already have their cars back in the garage and loaded on their trailers before Kurt made it back around," Pat laughed about the possible victory celebration scenario.  "Most of the other team members would already be loaded up in their rental cars and headed back to the airport by then."  (Thanks to Tom Roberts PR)

I will start with the "whine" -- HEY FOXSPORTS ADMIN -- I think I have been blocked for some time now from the Most Popular Discussions--Number of Comments and Most Recent Comments sections.  Can you please FREE KLVALUS!!?!

Now onto the cheese...balls.

Yes, that would be RA6AN and myself waiting anxiously to welcome our fellow bloggers (Hoosier, Jon464, IowaGirl and YeeMum) to Infineon Raceway in beautiful Sonoma, CA. this weekend.    The weather looks ideal with a hot day (89 degrees) on Friday but cooling off near 80 degrees for the race weekend.   Bring your sunscreen!

Give us a call when you get to the track or into town so we can be sure to make plans to meet up.   Also don't hestitate to contact us for directions, activities or other Bay Area recommendations...Safe Travels!!

And finally the Doublemint Gum...here is the interview I did with Kasey Kahne back in 2007 at the fall race in Phoenix -- don't 'cha think Kasey looks a little shocked at my first question?    Enjoy!

I plan on posting garage updates each day this weekend so you all can keep up with our festivities at the track and possibly send bail money...

TNT's coverage from the Irish Hills has begun with green flag set for 2p EST.   We all know NASCAR is in the backyard of the big three automakers and there is plenty of talk about the state of affairs with GM and Dodge, but here are some other story lines to follow as well ---

• Will Victoria Lane finally be reunited with her beloved Dale Jr on their one year anniversary?
• Speaking of Victoria -- methinks she has been missing her hotties from Roush as well...will Cousin Carl, Cupcake, Da Biff or RA6AN finally date her again?   At least Matty has seen her a couple of times this year...
  
• Someone who is really hard up for a date with Vicky is (not) Happy Harvick.  Can RCR finally show some life out on the track?
• Will Smoke-n-Newman continue their impressive runs or will all that Army birthday cake be a distraction?
• Can Kurt move up in the standings to get me closer to Smoke's hauler at Sonoma so I can try to fulfill all these autograph and lug requests?

Ok race fans -- who is around to chat?   Let's go racin!

Long ago I promised (either on Wrench's or Marty's video blogs) that I would finally figure out how to rip and upload some of the raw video footage I have from when FOXsports.com allowed me to do my best impersonation of a sportscaster.

Hard to believe this was from 2007 -- Fall race at Phoenix to be exact -- seems like yesterday...

I figured I would get the bloopers out of the way first -- mine as well get the embarrassing stuff over with!   It is definitely not as easy as it looks AND I was completely jacked up on adrenaline just from being in the garages for the first time -- so go easy on me because as you will see in the second video even the FOXSports.com camera crew was mocking me out! 


Thanks Brad!  BTW -- I didn't know they filmed that until they sent me the raw video several weeks later...I was cracking up, I think he sounds just like me!

I have lots more raw footage upcoming including never before seen interviews with Kenseth, Truex, Hamlin and my (infamous?) Doublement gum interview with Kahne.   Of course there is more with Kurt, Ryan and Sam too...stay tuned!



(For those of you new(er) to the FOXSport.com NASCAR blogs -- this was part of the grand prize I got for winning the Miller Lite Next Great Sportswriter Contest in 2007 and how I originally got hooked up with the Brew Crew so I could steal you all lug nuts....)