It happened. I’m a Nascar Fan
Didn’t see this coming when I became the father of two girls. The older one started showing interest in the remote control toy racing cars the boys had in our local park. Then both she and her younger sister started noticing whenever I passed by a Nascar race while channel surfing among other sporting events on a Sunday afternoon. But it really took off about 2 years ago when they noticed the M&Ms car.
This is a shot of the M&M car last year, driven by Dave Gilliland. We took the girls to the Pocono Raceway last year, and we had a good time. But I still wasn’t a racing fan.
Then, during the 2007-2008 offseason, a whole lot of changes took place among Nascar drivers and teams. I only probably know half of it, and you’re interested in even less. But one of the results was that Kyle Busch switched teams, joining up with Joe Gibbs, and he also got a new sponsor. He took over the M&M car.
This has made a huge difference. The combination of Kyle Busch and Joe Gibbs has made a huge difference in the success of the M&Ms car. Gilliland is a fine driver on a weak team. Without the resources, he couldn’t really compete. But Kyle Busch is currently the Nascar points leader, and it has made watching the races much more interesting.
Last week was the milestone that made me realize I’m a fan. The race at Talladega was just so much fun to watch, and Kyle won, after being an entire lap behind because he was blocked from getting to his pit area during a green flag pit stop. I actually understood what was going on as he came back, and watching it with my older daughter, and seeing her get so excited by his victory, was a lot of fun.
This week he came in second, after being involved in a near crash with Dale Earnhardt, Jr., that caused Junior to drop several places in the race, which he was leading with 2 laps to go. Junior is one of the sport’s most popular drivers, and his fans are, well, let’s say very protective of him, so Kyle is pretty unpopular these days, but not at our house.
Of course, if he ever drops M&Ms as a sponsor, we make no promises. But for now, it absolutely was not Kyle’s fault that Junior spun out.
