#5 for Varitek

The 2009 season hasn’t even started yet, and Jason Varitek has already hit 5 homers. During the sixth inning vs. the NY Mets, Dillon Gee pitched the perfect pitch to Tek. The home run came after Red Sox pitcher, Ramon Ramirez gave up a run in the bottom of the fifth inning to put the Mets on the board. Before that, the Sox were leading 7-0. All of Varitek’s homeruns have come from left handed pitchers. Today’s homer brought his RBI total to 16 during Sprint Training.

During the first inning, Jed Lowrie hit a grand slam after Oliver Perez walked four to make it 6-0. Rocco Baldelli had opened the game with a single to the left and scored on a walk to Kevin Youkillis. Dustin Pedroia scored courtesy of Jason Bay.

Today was the last exhibition game for the Red Sox before the season opener vs. the Tampa Bay Rays.

Whose ready for some Red Sox baseball?

They say beginnings are often picked up right where they left off. Well, for the 2009 Red Sox, that will be the case as they kick off the 2009 season right where they finished the 2008. On Monday afternoon at Fenway Park, the Boston Red Sox will take on the 2008 ALCS Tampa Bay Rays.

The last time these two ball clubs played, it didn’t end pretty. Three days after the Red Sox pulled off a historic comeback in Game 5 of the ALCS, they ended up losing in Game 7: 3-1. The Rays ended up moving on to the World Series, while the Red Sox went home and were done to next year.

Now it all begins again. This time with Josh Beckett pitching his first opener in a Red Sox uniform, and James Shields pitching for the Rays. This match up will be the first of 18 meetings between the teams, not including a possibility for another ALCS rematch. This will be the first Opening at Fenway for the Sox since 2002, and they are looking forward to the challenge of facing one of their top competitors right out of the gate.

Unlike 2008, the Rays will no longer be a surprise team of the MLB. Aside from this awesome matchup, the Red Sox have several stories of their own for the opener.

It will be the first game at Fenway for Rocco Baldelli, Brad Penny, Takaski Saito, and Ramon Ramirez. Oh yeah! Don’t forget, this is also Jason Bay’s first Opening Day as a Red Sox. When asked about this special day, Bay said, “It will be fun. I mean, I kind of had my first Fenway opener last year on some level. This is a little bit different---Opening Day.” Also, this will be Red Sox shortstop Jed Lowrie’s first Opening Day in Major League Baseball. Definitely one that he’ll remember.

Seal will sing the National Anthem for the Season Opener. Also, the Boston Pops will perform “God Bless America” during the seventh-inning stretch.

You can catch the Red Sox season opener on Monday, April 6th. Coverage starts at 2:05 pm/eastern on NESN and ESPN2.

David "The Franchise" Reutimann captures 2nd Pole of Career.

David Reutimann, drover of the #00 Aaron’s Dream Machine for Michael Waltrip Racing, has captured the pole for the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Reutimann earned the pole for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at the 1 ½ mile, high-banked track with a lap of 190.517 mph this afternoon. Reutimann told the media, “I guess that puts an exclamation mark on just how things have changed.”

Texas Motor Speedway hasn’t always been kind to Michael Waltrip Racing. Last year, the No.00 was driven in Texas qualifying by Cup rookie Michael McDowell, who escaped without a scratch from a horrific, tumbling crash when he slammed into the wall and rolled eight times before coming to a rest at the bottom of the track. McDowell would start the race 40th and end up 33rd. Two years ago, the first year for MWR, Reutimann didn’t even get the chance to qualify for the race. Severe weather canceled qualifying and sent the Reutimann and his team home, since they didn’t have enough owner points to make the race.

Boy have things turned around for Reutimann and the #00 team. He is currently 11th in points, and captured his first Coors Light Pole last season in Homestead.

Carl Edwards, who won both Texas races in 2008, qualified 13th. Last year, he became Texas Motor Speedway’s first three-time winner.

Current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points leader, Jeff Gordon, will start on the outside of the front row after qualifying with a speed of 190.194mph. Texas is one of two active tracks, the other one is Homestead Speedway in Miami, where the four-time Cup champion has never won. Jeff Gordon told the media “We’re pretty god. We’ve got a similar car to that from last fall.”

Top 10:
1. Carl Edwards
2. Jeff Gordon
3. Matt Kenseth
4. David Ragan
5. Paul Menard
6. Kasey Kahne
7. Tony Stewart
8. Kyle Busch
9. Jimmie Johnson
10. Joey Logano

Other Notables:
13. Carl Edwards
14. Greg Biffle
17. Kevin Harvick
18. Brian Vickers
19. Clint Bowyer
20. Dale Earnhardt, Jr
22. Denny Hamlin
36. Jamie McMurray
38. Reed Sorenson

You can catch the Samsung 500 from Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, April 5th. Coverage starts at 12:30pm/eastern time on Fox.

Good-bye NYC...HELLO LAS VEGAS!

Don’t expect the Las Vegas Motor Speedway to get a second race anytime soon, but they will be getting one of the biggest events in the sport….the NASCAR Sprint Cup banquet awards ceremony and postseason celebration. NASCAR and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority have finally reached an agreement to bring the awards ceremony to Las Vegas.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authorty[LVCVA] president Rossie Ralenkotter confirmed the move yesterday afternoon, saying deals need to be finalized but it will be moving. The remaining decisions are if the city gets three or a five year contract, also what degree Las Vegas will be included in the advertising and marketing references to the event.

The LVCVA will pay NASCAR between $500,000 and $1 million for reach year of their contract. However, NASCAR has the option to select the venue for the banquet which will likely be held on December 4th, 2009.

The event honors the Top 10 Drivers from the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. Every key person in NASCAR including top executives from NASCAR, sponsors, drivers, and crew chiefs attend the banquet. Speedway Motorsports Inc, the owner of Las Vegas Motor Speedway has been lobbying for the awards banquet for the past two years.

NASCAR first moved the awards banquet from Daytona Beach to New York City in 1981. The move was successful at first, but high priced hotels in Manhattan and the cold weather suddenly dampened the mood. Racers, sponsors, and media traveling to the five-day event had a hard time traveling up there from North Carolina. Even last year the “Victory Lap” was canceled due to traffic congestion.

NASCAR is the second major professional sport to move their awards ceremony to Las Vegas. The LVCVA recently negotiated a three year deal to bring the NHL awards to the Palms on June 18th.

1st Victory..9 years later!

Can you believe it’s been nine years since Dale Earnhardt, Jr won his first NASCAR Cup Series race? The date was April 2, 2000 and the race was the DirectTV 500 from Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. This was only his 7th start of the 2000 cup season, which was also his Rookie Year. He started outside the second row in 4th, and was dominant the entire race; leading 106 of 334 laps. When asked in Victory Lane if he thought he’d get his 1st victory so soon, he replied “I didn’t think it was actually coming this quick. I can’t believe it. When you put together a car that good, it’s going to get you in victory lane sooner or later.”

That day, Dale Earnhardt his father and car owner finished 7th and parked his #3 Chevy next to Victory Lane and joined in the celebration for his son. That day, Dale Sr told reporters that Dale Jr had been talking about winning at Texas for his first Winston Cup race. He had all the support in the world for his son. At that moment, he became Dale Earnhardt: Proud Papa.

With Dale Jr coming back to the site of his first win, a lot of things are playing in his mind. He and the #88 Amp Energy Drink team are ready for their first win of the 2009 Sprint Cup Series. Last weekend, he finished 8th at Martinsville and are headed to Texas Motor Speedway with momentum. In this race last year, Dale Jr captured the pole, lead 31 laps, and finished 12th.

You can see Dale Jr and the entire 43 car field take on Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, April 5th, 2009. Coverage starts at 1:30pm/eastern time.

Happy Birthday, Ricky Hendrick

Ricky Hendrick would have turned 29 today. Instead, we are all remembering what a great racecar driver, son, and business owner he was.

Joseph Riddick Hendrick IV, named for his father and known as Ricky, was the future of Hendrick Motorsports. His father, Rick Hendrick, was grooming him to take over the family business after his retirement. He begin in stock car racing as a driver. He started in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, where he became the youngest driver to win a race in 2002. In 2002, he moved up to the NASCAR Busch Series, and was forced to drop driving in October 2003 after injuring his shoulder at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

When asked during an interview with NASCAR.com what he would do if he could no longer race, he responded “be president.” Cars was his passion. He definitely inherited that from his father. Shortly after retiring, he purchased a Honda dealership in Pineville, NC. He definitely started to follow closely in his father’s footsteps. He also joined with his grandfather, Papa Joe Hendrick, in managing two of the Hendrick Motorsports cars.

Ricky Hendrick was definitely growing up in front of the fans, other drivers, and even the team owners eyes. He even made the BIG decision to put Brian Vickers behind the wheel of his Busch Series car, against his father’s wishes. Vickers later went on to win the 2003 Busch Series Championship.

On October 24, 2004, Ricky Hendrick passed away. He was on a team flight to the race at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia. Up until his death, he was always thinking racing. He was the owner of the #25 driven by Brian Vickers in the Nextel Cup Series, and the #5 driven by Kyle Busch in the Busch Series.

Rick and Linda Hendrick are always keeping the memory of Ricky alive. The Levine Children’s Hospital dedicated their Pediatric Intensive Care Centers in honor of Ricky Hendrick. The centers feature a five-room sleep in for parents, two private family waiting areas, a large open waiting space, and a state of the art business lounge. "Our family is proud to make this pledge in Ricky's name," said Linda Hendrick, Ricky's mother. "He was a young man who would run, not walk, to wherever he was going. This hospital will make certain that others have the same opportunity."

16 years ago we lost Alan Kulwicki.

He was nicknamed “Special K” and the “Polish Prince”. Alan Kulwicki arrived to NASCAR with no sponsor, a limited budget, and only a racecar and a borrowed pickup truck. Despite the setbacks he still won the 1986 NASCAR Rookie of the Year award. When he won his first race at Phoenix International Raceway, he debuted what we know call the “Polish Victory Lap.” In 1992, he won the Winston Cup championship. However, he was unable to defend his championship because he passed away tragically in 1993.

Kulwicki died in an airplane crash on April 1st, 1993. He was returning from an appearance at a Knoxville Hooters before the Sunday spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway. The NTSB attributed the crash to the pilot’s failure to use the airplane anti-ice system to clear ice from the engine inlet system.

Kulwicki’s racecar transporter was driven from the rainy Bristol Motor Speedway that Friday morning while other teams and media watched it travel slowly around the track with a black wreath on its grille. Kyle Petty described the slow laps as “the saddest thing I’ve ever seen at a racetrack…We just sat and cried”. On Sunday, Alan’s friend Rusty Wallace won, and honored his friend by doing the “Polish Victory Lap.”

Before his death, Alan Kulwicki competed in five NASCAR races that season with three Top 6 finishes, and was ranked 9th in points. In his career he won five NASCAR Winston Cup races, 24 pole positions, 75 Top 10 finishes, and one championship in 207 races. Today we remember Alan Kulwicki. His life was cut too short.