Hello Newman

What a difference a few years makes!

Here is Ryan Newman during the 2003 Daytona 500.

Here is Ryan Newman after today's Daytona 500!

Newman isn't really one of those drivers that I routinely root for. But he is a Dodge driver (along with my favorite driver, Bobby Labonte, who finished 11th today), and he is not on my short-list of NASCAR asshats. Yes, I'm looking in your general direction Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, Robby Gordon, etc. So I didn't mind one bit seeing Ryan pull off the improbable victory today in Daytona! NASCAR and its television minions have turned a once respectable sport into an absolute commercial-fest, sometimes blessing us with a precious FOUR damn laps between commercial breaks! So it does tickle me to no end to see a driver sponsored by a competing cell phone company (Alltel) win the most important race of the year in the "NASCAR Sprint Cup" series! The only better result would have been to see Jeff Burton (AT&T) pull off the win, since I think NASCAR tried to sue that sponsor off his car last year.