And the winner of the Dale Earnhardt, Jr. contest is...

...Hendrick Motorsports. That's Dale Jr's new home next year, despite Rick's previous claims that "there's no room at the inn". And as the bricks begin to be hurled at the end of Papa Joe Hendrick Blvd by some angry fans & some of the bandwagon fans jump ship, here's what I think on the whole situation.

Jr- This is what I'd hoped would happen from the beginning. I look forward to seeing how he does at HMS. I actually wish this would start this week to see how well things will work out. For Jr, this appears to be the best option...you could see the smile on his face at the start of the press conference. It'll be interesting to see if Bud follows him & if we end up seeing a Bud #25 car for the first time since '99.

Kyle Busch- He's by no means the most popular guy in Nextel Cup & I admit I'm not a fan myself, but he's had a good first couple of years in Cup. He's won races in each season he's been with HMS in Cup. The Shrub will end up somewhere, though. He's too good of a driver to be overlooked & without a ride.

The question is where. The rumors I've seen so far are DEI & Michael Waltrip Racing. And an important question is which team is willing to fit the repair bill for the equipment that Kyle can tear up.

DEI would be a good fit; Truex is showing his potential this year & he & Kyle could do well on the same team. Never thought we'd see the two "rivals" from 2004 in Nextel Lite on the same team. But then again, who would've said we'd see Dale Jr drive for HMS in this lifetime.

MWR. Ehh...Shrub may want to think hard about this one. Michael Waltrip Racing's done nothing this year. Zilch. Zip. Nada. Dale Jarrett missed his first race since the early '90s & looks to be leaving already, and Michael's made one appearance since February. The surprise on the team has been Reutimann...and that's because he's MADE most of the races.

In any case, Silly Season has begun. With one valuable driver spoken for (Jr.), another becomes available (Busch). Let the speculation on who goes where begin.

Blue Jackets vs. the Playoff teams

As a fan of the CBJ, I wondered how the team fared in the regular season against the teams that ended up in the playoffs. Throughout the regular season, the team seemed to play well against the better teams in the league (save for Nashville...), yet poorly against similar teams. I knew off the top of my head that, against the teams in the Stanley Cup Finals, the Jackets were 3-2, beating Ottawa in their lone meeting & splitting the 4 game series with Anaheim.

Here's what I came up with:
Against Record
ANA 2-2, with a near comeback in the last game in the series.
BUF 1 game, W
CAL 2-2
DAL 3-1
DET 3-5
MIN 2-1-1
NJD 1 game, L
NSH 0-7-1
NYI 1 game, L
NYR 1 game, W
OTT 1 game, W
PIT 1 game, L
SJS 1-3
VAN 2-1-1
(No games against ATL or TBL)

Overall- 18-25-3.

Not the greatest record, but decent, seeing as the team didn't even get over .500 overall. More wins than people may have expected out of the Jackets against the teams that made it past the start of April, anyway. I'm anxious for this season, as I think they can do better.

Intro

Hi & welcome to my little bit of the internet where I can vent, comment, praise, or piss & moan about what I think's going on in the sports I follow the most, being auto racing & hockey. After seeing other blogs & finding the idea interesting, I thought I'd give it a shot.

I'm 19, from Ohio & am currently an Aviation student. I picked up my Private Pilot License in August 2006 & hope to continue my Instrument rating this fall.

I'll only talk about the sports & teams I follow & know the most about on here. So here's what you'll see:
-NASCAR
-IRL
-Rolex Sports Car Series
-NHL
-Columbus Blue Jackets
-Ohio State football
-Some NCAA & NFL football