Here's the list of NASCAR Hall of Fame Inaugural nominees:

BOBBY ALLISON

BUCK BAKER

RED BYRON

RICHARD CHILDRESS

DALE EARNHARDT

RICHIE EVANS

TIM FLOCK

BILL FRANCE JR.

WILLIAM H.G. FRANCE

RICK HENDRICK

NED JARRETT

JUNIOR JOHNSON

BUD MOORE

RAYMOND PARKS

BENNY PARSONS

DAVID PEARSON

LEE PETTY

RICHARD PETTY

FIREBALL ROBERTS

HERB THOMAS

CURTIS TURNER

DARRELL WALTRIP

JOE WEATHERLY

GLEN WOOD

CALE YARBOROUGH

Of those on the list, I'd guess Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Big Bill France are locks.  Then I'd give a nod to Cale Yarborough.  After those four, it gets murky.

The fifth, and final spot will go to, heck, I don't know.  I'm thinking Buck Baker, David Pearson, Bobby Allison, or Junior Johnson. I just don't know.

We'll find out eventually.

Fans can vote, so here's a link:  Hall of Fame Voting

After being suspended by TNT last week for an apparent dustup at a New Hampshire hotel, Bill Weber is out for the rest of TNT's NASCAR races.  He'll be replaced by Ralph Sheheen for the remaining two races.

Sheheen will be in the booth handling the play-by-play action for the The Coke Zero 400 in Daytona and the LifeLock.com 400 from Chicagoland.  He'll be joined by Wally Dallenbach and Kyle Petty.

In all honesty, I like Weber the best.  With that said, anything is better than listening to Daryll Waltrip's worn out "Boogity, boogity, boogity, and Larry McReynolds "Reach up and grab those belts tight ONE MORE TIME!"

I'm really tired of those two.

Here’s a great picture I snagged off NASCAR.com of Kurt Busch and his blue deuce on two wheels while rounding a corner at Sonoma.

Kurt Busch gettin' it at Sonoma

This just in, Kyle Busch will pair up with Scott Speed in an additional entry by Chip Ganassi Racing in the Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona International Speedway on July 4.

It will be the First Rolex Grand Am event for both drivers.

Link to Article

This just reported by David Newton of ESPN:

Tony Eury Jr. is out as the crew chief for Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Team manager Brian Whitesell will be the crew chief this weekend at Dover. Lance McGrew will take over next week on an interim basis for NASCAR's most popular driver.

"Our performance hasn't been where it should be," Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick said in a prepared statement announcing the change. "It's impossible to pin that on any one factor, but a change is the right decision at this point. We have a plan in place, and we're going to move forward with it."

The team said Whitesell, who won two of seven races as Jeff Gordon's interim crew chief in 1999, and Rex Stump, the team's lead chassis engineer, will support McGrew on a full-time basis, with team engineer Tom Stewart on the No. 88 pit box to assist with race strategy.

This is good news for Earnhardt's fans, sponsors, and NASCAR in general.  Hopefully we'll see good results from this, but it may take some time.

FOX News is reporting the NAACP may boycott the NASCAR season ending race in Miami over concerns raised over the flying of the Confederate flag.

Here's some snippets from the article:

NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston told FOXNews.com that NASCAR's "longstanding policy" prohibits displays of the Confederate flag on its cars, uniforms, licensed merchandise or in advertisements.

"You're not going to see the flag or the symbol on any of those things," Poston said. "It's been that way for a very long time."

Homestead-Miami Motor Speedway President Curtis Gray said spectators are not permitted to wave large flags of any sort in the stands because of safety concerns, and to prevent them from obstructing the view.

Brandon Hensler, a spokesman for American Civil Liberties Union's Florida chapter, said bringing a Confederate flag to the race or any public event would be protected speech.

"If someone wants to show up with a shirt like that, there'd be no legal recourse for that," Hensler said. "Unless there's a specific threat, all speech is protected."

The potential flag flap at Homestead would not be the first racial discrimination protest at the 65,000-seat raceway. A group called the National Association for Minority Race Fans reportedly held a two-hour protest prior to a race in 2004. Seeking to provide a safe and equal environment for minority motor sports fans, members of the group offered an American flag to anyone who relinquished a Confederate flag, The Miami Herald reported.

I find this interesting because I thought the NAACP would have more pressing concerns on their plate, but I guess a few fans showing up with Confederate flags on their cars or shirts is reason enough for them to boycott a huge, profitable event for the city.

Let's be clear here, NASCAR doesn't own the track, and the track already has a strong policy, so I'm not sure why the NAACP is considering a boycott.  It would probably do that organization better if it tried to educate the few fans with the flags.  Do what was done in 2004 and offer a flag trade.  Anything but a boycott.

When the facts are presented, I'm afraid it will only make the NAACP look foolish.

Link to the complete article.

After solidly backing Dale Earnhardt Jr's crew chief Tony Eury, Jr it appears team owner Rick Hendrick has finally reached the end of the wall.  Earnhardt finished 40th Monday at Lowe's Motor Speedway with an ill handling car that the crew was never able to fix, much less improve.

It's about time Hendrick does something with this team.  The 88 crew just isn't performing on pace with the rest of the Hendrick fleet.  Nor is it performing as well as the Stewart-Haas "co-team", if you will.

An anonymous source told SI.com Tuesday that Eury would be out by next weekend's Dover race.

The poor performance of the 88 team isn't fair to Dale Jr's fans, sponsors, or even to Dale himself.  It's time for Hendrick to step in.

Edit:  Eury is out.  Click for story.

After finishing seventh in the NASCAR Sprint All Star Race at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Kyle Busch showed his immaturity by leaving the track without speaking to reporters.

This kid has a serious attitude problem.  When his team does poorly he berates them on the radio, leaves his car or truck on the track so the crew has to find it and push it back to the hauler, and when he does speak to reporters he's often telling them how bad other drivers are.

Don't get me wrong, Busch is a great driver, but his attitude is terrible.  He could gain so many fans if he kept his hubris in check.  Until then we can continue booing him with joy.

+1  How can you change the scheduled game which DID show Dallas and Eagles on yout guide earlier and change it to the Redskin game which has NO bearing on the playoffs!!!! WE WANT THE DALLAS AND REDSKIN GAME !!!

We didn't get as many medals as we thought, but at least we got one and it is Bronze.  It was won by someone who wasn't even expected to make the Olympic team, 96 kg wrestler, Adam Wheeler.  What a great job Adam did.  He wrestled his heart out and won the greco team our only medal on the last day of competition.

On our first day of competition, we had 55 kg wrestler, Spenser Mango competiting.  He really started out looking great and he won his first match.  However, he lost his second match and the wrestler who beat him lost after that, which put Spenser out of the tournament.  The tournament is run by a straight bracket system where you advance if you win.  However, if you lose to one of the wrestlers who ends up making it to the finals, you are then eligable to win the bronze by beating everyone of the wrestlers who lost to that same finalist.  Its not the best bracketing system but it is the one we have to work with.  Needless to say day one didn't start out so great. 

Day Two- Jake Deitchler (66kg) the 18 year old and TC Danzler (74kg) the 37 year old.  For his first match Jake drew the world silver medalist from Kyrgystan. The match was tough. Jake lost the first period, he usually tends to start a bit slow, (You have to win 2 out of 3 periods to win the match) In the second period Jake turned it up a bit and was actually leading with 10 seconds to go but  unfortunatley the world silver medallist reversed Jake with three seconds left and won the match.  Well, lucky for Jake, he got a second chance at winning a medal when the Kyrgystany made it to the finals. Although the match went the full three periods Jake fell short and lost .  Jake was crushed, as were we. Considering how young Jake is, we weren't sure how Jake would deal with the pressure of wrestling at the Olympic Games.  Amazingly, he wrestled with a level of confidence that would lead someone to believe that he has been there before.  Deep down Jake really believed in himself, and his chances of winning a medal.  That type of mental toughness, is hard to come by, and is vital to the success of any athlete.  We can only imagine how far, "Kid Dynamite" will go in the future.  

T.C. Danzler drew the Hungarian for his first match. Unfortunatly the talented TC we know didn't show up.  He was taken down three times in the match.  You don't see many takedowns in Greco-Roman wrestling at the Olympic level, never mind three times in a match. The Hungarian lost his next match, and just like that TC's dream of winning an Olympic medal were over. 

Day Three- Brad Vering (84kg) Adam Wheeler (96kg) and Dremiel Byers (120kg)

From the start we figured our best chances of winning medals were going to be our 2007 returning world medallists Brad and Dremiel.  So even though we have no medals going into day three, this was going to be our day. 

Brad started the day out great by crushing his opponent and soon Adam and Dremiel followed suit and did the same.  Second round Brad was wrestling the Armenian and was leading the match with four seconds to go when the Armenian pulled out a incredible lift and threw Brad for 3 points to win the match.  That throw crushed us all.  Brad has been working his butt off for these games and with one simple mistake all those long hard hours were gone.  I felt so bad for him, but there is nothing you can say to make it better.  Brad's work ethic is uncanny and he has set the example for the entire team.  He deserved to win.  The Armenian eventually ended up losing a very close match in the semi-finals and Brad's medal quest and wrestling career was over.  Brad announced his retirement from wrestling before the games. 

Dealing with Brad's loss was tough but we had to regroup and focus on the athletes who were still competing.  Dremiel and Adam won there next matches and advanced ahead.  Due to Adams spot on the bracket Adam was now in the semi-finals.  Dremiel ended up losing his next match in the quarter-finals to the Swede, who ended up losing in the semi's to the reining world champion from Cuba.  The Swede's loss knocked Dremiel, the 2002 world champion and 2006-2007 world bronze medallist, out of the tournament. 

In the Semi's Adam goes up against the German and is wrestling well until he makes a couple of mistakes from the top postition while forcing a technique and ends up getting reversed and loses the match in a heartbreaker.  Being that Adam lost in the Semi's he still had a chance to win the Bronze by winning one more match which was to be contested against the Korean.  It was a close one, and took all three periods but Adam pulled it out and took home the Brozne for his family, wife team and country. 

It is not the results that we thought we would get or wanted but Adam pulling out the Bronze on our last day of competition saved the team from getting "skunked."

Now that the competition is over some of the guys will be heading home, but others, including myself, will relax a bit and indulge in some more Olympic sporting events.  I am excited to be here.  Since I can get tickets to just about any event I want, the hard thing will be is to decide what to go see. 

Since the opening cermonies, things have been pretty much low-key as far as our team goes. This is actually a good thing that the athletes are focused and ready to go.  All of our training sessions are now left up to the individual wrestlers.  Sometimes they will ask the coaching staff for suggestions but for the most part they are on there own and us coaches are there to support them as they get their weight down. 

Our first wrestler to weigh in is Spenser Mango who wrestles at the 55 kg weight class.  This morning he woke up at about 58kg or 6.6 pounds over his weight class.  He will spend most of this morning exercising and spending some time in the sauna getting his weight down to 55kg.  Weigh-ins are from 3:15-3:45 this afternoon.  At the time of weigh-ins Spenser will also draw his first opponent for tomorrow.  Then its time for us coaches to pull out all the footage we of his first oppontent and come up with a "game-plan" and strategy for his first match. 

Taking care of our wrestlers has given us little free time since the ceremonies but I did however, get to see some boxing last night.  I watched two weight-classes fight, one US fighter lost, the other won.  Definitely some good fights going on. 

I have tickets for my family, who came to visit, to see the US Women's basketball team play China tonight. Unfortunatley I, myself do not have a ticket as of yet, but I will work my magic and see what I can come up with. 

Greco competion starts tomorrow.

Sorry about the longer than expected delay. No excuse

Before I go into last night’s opening ceremonies I have to tell you about our trip on Thursday to the Great Wall. After a good workout in the morning, our team along with some other athletes and media from Sports Illustrated and The New York Times took an 80 min bus ride from Beijing to see the Wall. We all had a great time.  We had to park in some small town where we all did some souvenir shopping before taking a gondola up to the wall.  Once up there the team posed for a couple of photo ops then had the chance to take it all in during a 30 min hike. It is hard to imagine that this wall that stretches for 4000 miles was being built in 400 BC.  It is a pretty amazing site to see, even through the haze, how the wall just stretches along the mountain ridge for as far as you can see.  For our trip down from the wall the team decided to bypass the gondola for an alpine slide, which is basically a sled on wheels that runs down a metal track similar to a bob-sled.  We all had a great time. 

The first link below is a picture of the team on the wall from SI.com

The Games are now officially underway. 

 We all got to march in for Opening ceremonies last night and the experience was moving to say the least. It all started out around 5 PM when we had to gather in our opening ceremony outfits for our transport from the village to the venue. Everyone was really excited and photos were being snapped all around. 

Our first order of business for the evening was to be transported to the fencing venue where all the athletes were going to meet President Bush.  Each team also was afforded the opportunity to pose for a picture with the President.  It seemed like the President was very happy to be there and he really took the time to talk to many of us. When I had the opportunity to introduce myself to the President, I mentioned that I was a major in the Marine Corps. President Bush upon hearing that, grabbed me with both hands by the head pulled me close and said, “Major, I love the Marines, thanks for serving, Semper Fi.” Good stuff. 

After meeting the President, there was some more time to mill around and meet the other athletes.  I was able to talk to and get pictures with LeBron James, Jason Kidd, Kobe Bryant, and Coach K.  Beach volleyball stars, Kerri Walsh and Misty May. I also had the opportunity to get a picture with the President’s wife, Laura Bush, very nice woman.  I wish my internet connection was a bit better over here so I could upload my personal photos, but the connection here is too slow, sorry. 

After leaving the fencing hall we walked over to the gymnastics arena where we waited for about 90 minutes before we started our march over to the “Birds Nest” where the ceremonies were already underway. 

Once team USA was called up, we were the140th country to march on, we stared making our way over to the stadium.  The excitement in the group was building as we started down into the tunnel before coming out on the field.  We all started chanting, U-S-A, U-S-A.  It was amazing feeling as all 600+ of us, including our coaches were together as one team.

Marching onto the field is a great experience as 90,000 plus fans are there to cheer us on.  The feeling cannot be topped my many.  What a great time.  After about 90 minutes on the field, the torch was lit in an amazing fashion and we all marched off the field and made our way back to the busses to take us to the village. 

Since I cannot post my own pictures I am attaching a link to a bunch of photos from the USA Wrestling website.  Sorry about that.

Three days till competition.

GO USA!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_g
allery/0808/oly.thursday.scenes/content.7.html

http://www.themat.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=
2

After two days here in the Olympic Village the guys and myself are learning our way around and starting to settle into our daily routines.  Not everyone, myself included, has adjusted to the time zone yet, Beijing is 12 hrs ahead, but slowly our bodies are making the adjustment. 

Our training schedule is pretty simple at this point in our game plan. We are working out twice a day, once in the morning at 10 and again at 5pm.  One training session is on the mat and the other is doing some type of cardio workout, usually an outdoor game or something to keep things fun.  The mat workout is very quick, no more than 6 min of live wrestling and maybe 15 min of technique "drilling" and that is it. 

We hold our training sessions at Beijing Normal University where the USOC has set up their headquarters for training all the US athletes and is about a 15 min bus ride from the Olympic village.  There are training facilities here at the village, but they are shared by all countries and their athletes so they tend to get a bit crowded.  The USOC leased out the university and brought over our own equipment including all the weights, mats, etc to make sure all the athletes have everything they need to help them prepare for competition.  The USOC has even brought over our own food and chefs to give us all the comforts of home.  The food here in the Village is great as well, but sometimes it is just easier to eat right there near where we train and not have to fight the crowds in the village dining facility.  Eating at the dining facility in the village is pretty cool due to the fact that you get to see all the other countries athletes.  Tonight at at diner, Rafael Nadal, this year's Wimbolton champion was eating dinner at the next table over from me. 

The team is very upbeat and confident about the task at hand of defending our world team title from last year.  We held our first press conference today and everyone was really loose and had a great time with it. 

Below is a link that has some pictures of the team during today's press conference and yesterday's training session which was a soccer game between the "old guys" and the "rookies."  We had a great time, and for the record, us old guys won the game 2-0. There are also some pictures of our team's arrival in Beijing. 

http://www.themat.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=
2&page=1

OK guys, I spent my Sunday night watching the Redskins vs the Colts, the first pre-season game of the Jim Zorn era.

Here are my observations.

Redskins looked sharp from the get go, excellent special teams plays, Danny Smith in my opinion one of the best special teams coaches in the country. The Colts try the onside kick and the Redskins kid from UCLA is there to recover.

First play from scrimmage, Jason Campbell with a good pass to tight end Chris Cooley, then an 18 yard gain by Rock Cartwright the Skins number 3 running back, Clinton Portis and Ladell Betts didn't even play and then on the third play, a touchdown pass from Campbell to Antwon Randel - in go the Washington Redskins. It was a perfect beginning for the Jim Zorn era, what I liked was the fact that it only took 77 second to score a touchdown, something the Redskins had trouble doing in the Joe Gibbs era, scoring touchdowns.

Redskins on defense, first play, Sean Springs with a big tackle for a loss. But the Redskins did not play Andre Carter or Jason Taylor their starting defensive ends or linebacker London Fletcher so it is hard to really tell how good that defensive line or linebacking corps is going to play. And he Colts quarterback Payton Manning, I don't even think he has been to training camp left, he had an operation back on July 14th to remove a Bursa sack in his left knee, ther was some infection, that has since cleared and Tony Dungee is hoping Payton will be able to play in the Colts 4th preseason game on Aug 24th. So some kid name jim Sore-gee was at quaerback, so who knows how good gthat offense was.

The Colts really dominated their drive Fred Smoot almost had an interception at the goal line, he just plain dropped it, you can't just drop passes like that. The Colts had to settle for a field goal, Adam Venateri hit a 26 yard attempt, Venateri should join Jon Stenerud as only the second kicker in the hall of fame some day.

I was very impressed with running back Rock Cartwright, he certinaly took advantage of his oppertunity. It was good to see Santa Moss out there, Campbell hit Moss for a 16 yard pass and boy did Campbell fall back dep before he threw, and then on the very next play he got sacked. Jason Campbell played only 2 sets, he was 5 for 5 for 61 yards one touchdowns and no interceptions, and everybody should be pleased about that.

I was very impressed with the way Jason Campbell carried himself last night and that was the whole idea about hiring Jim Zorn as head coach of the Redskins was to make Jason Campbell a big time quarterback, and boy it seems to be working at least if you look at the first two series, but of course there is sitll a full pre season left before the first game.

By the way, the first guy to score a touchdown against the Jim Zorn Redskins, On-ree Jones a first year player out of Hampton University who played at Bruton High School in Williamsburg, Williamsburg, and he was wide open a nice pass from Qunt Gray.

After that it was halftime the Colts led 13 to 9, and after that it was practice.

Rookie quarterback Colt Brennon finally got in the game in the 3rd quarter, and Colt threw a be;autiful touchdown pass to Mason a 20 yard pass on a 3rd down and six, very impressive and then a bullet down the middle with a free safety sitting there, and he got it in there, threw it sidearm. Looked like Rich Gannon out there. Jim Zorn's quarterbacks did very well. Colt Brennon on third down and 4 at the six, scrambled out of trouble and waited to hit Mason who was all alone on the right, the 15th play of the drive, Mason fell in for the touchdown, all the Redskins players, the starters came off the bench they were impressed, Colt Brennon led two touchdown drives up to that point, He was 9 out of 10 for 123 yards and two touchdowns. Late in the game the Redskins came with the safety blitz the Redskins intercepted and ran it back for a touchdown, and the Redskins won the Hall of Fame game 30 to 16, very impressive.

The entire team met up again in San Jose, CA on 30 July for our in processing and gear issue.  It was great to be with everyone again and all were excited for what lies ahead.  For our two days of in processing we received media and cultural awareness training from the US Olympic committee.  We also received a through review of the rules of the IOC as well as the rules from the sponsors.  Basically no political statements and make sure you wear the right uniform from the correct vendor when giving a press interview.

While we were in CA we had one optional mat work-out for the athletes. The workout was intended to just have the athletes break a sweat and work out some of the stiffness from traveling. 

With all the gear we received, everyone had to re-pack their bags and figure out what equipment we were going to bring to Beijing.  UPS, being a sponsor of the US Olympic team, offered us free shipping of the gear we didn't want to bring with us. 

Our flight over to Beijing left from San Francisco before noon on 1 Aug and we arrived around 2:30 pm on 2 August.  On the same flight with our team were other Olympians as well.  Some teams which were on our flight are easier to spot than others, like the women's volleyball team, but there were some track & field athletes and a couple of fencers as well.  Overall everyone did pretty well on the flight and now everyone is trying to get their bodies adjusted to the time change.

Once we arrived in China, the Beijing organizers and US Olympic committee personnel took great care of us.  They were able to get us through customs and immigration without a hitch then loaded us on busses for the 40 min ride to the Olympic Village. 

I haven't been here long yet, only four hours to be exact, but from what I have seen so far, the village itself is incredible.  The accommodations are great and so is the entire landscape.  We are living in appartment buildings that were built for the games and the entire US delegation, is spread out in two of the nine-story buildings.  I really didn't get to see much more than that because after getting settled into our rooms, getting a quick bite to eat, then attending yet another brief about the village and all its amenities it was already dark.  Maybe next post I will get some pictures. 

One thing for sure, all the athletes are fired up and ready to get these games started.   We have a practice scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, and we will continue training until we compete on the 12th. 

-Going for gold.

        Good news from Redskins training camp, rookie wide reciever Malcom Kelly was back on the practice field, he pulled a hamstring late last week.  

        You might see him Sunday night when the Redskins open the pre-season on national TV against the Colts in the Hall of Fame game. 

        You can see that game on WAVY-TV 10.  

        More good news, cornerback Carlos Rogers participated in full practice today.  

        Rogers is coming back from a knee ligament injury that forced him to miss the last night games last year.  

        Rogers says he would like to be ready for the team’s opener against the Giants on Sept. 4th.  

        Chris Samuels celebrated his 31st birthday yesterday, and his fellow offensive linemen brought him a cake and sang happy birthday. 

        There was a picture of a Seal on the cake, a lot of guys think Samuels looks like the singer Seal who's married to Heidi Klum. 

        Anyway Chris' buddy Randy Thomas shoved the cake into Samuels' face.  

        It takes guts to do that to a 6 foot 5, 315 pound football star.

It is Thursday afternoon, and some bad news. Another injury for the Redskins, their third big injury in the first five days. But at least this player won’t be out for the season.

Rookie wide receiver Devin Thomas suffered a hamstring injury, and could miss a couple of weeks. He hurt himself running a pass play during practice.

You know when Coach Jim Zorn and his staff saw that it brought back nightmares of Sunday’s first practice when starting defensive end Phillip Daniels was hurt and lost for the season.

Of course this was nothing as serious as that, but you don’t want to lose a rookie who might start for you this early in training camp.

I hope this guy has a lot of natural talent.

Also, it’s a good thing the Redskins are playing the Colts in the Hall of Fame game, because the NFL gave them an extra week of practice.

It was not nearly as hot at practice today, the players seemed to really be happy about that.

There was a good crowd of fans there to watch the action. If you are a diehard Redskins fan, you might want to drive up to Redskins Park on Saturday for fan appreciation day. It’s a good chance to see the team up close, and the players do stop and sign a lot of autographs.

Saturday, they’ll have the cheerleaders and band out there and they will really make a big deal of it all.

They say if you go to wavy.com and click on sports you can get all the info you need.

I am going to take a break, tonight on WAVY News 10 at 5, I’ll visit with backup quarterback Todd Collins, at 6 I’ll visit with cornerback Fred Smoot. You can see both of those stories at 10:45 tonight on the FOX 43 Sportswrap.

And tomorrow I’ll visit with Redskins running back Clinton Portis.

I hope you have enjoyed these training camp blogs.

More to come next week.