ATTN: iGoogle users

Do you have an iGoogle page? Now, you can add the Nascar Fashionistas right to your home page! An easy way to keep up with our updates, right from your iGoogle! All you have to do is go to your iGoogle page, then click on "Add Stuff", then on the left side bar, you will see a link that says "Add feed or Gadgets" - type in nascarfashionistas.blogspot.com and voila! There we are! We'll pop up on your home page, and you can get all of our up to the minute news feeds!

Enjoy!

Happy Happy Hour!

To kick off our new weekly feature, Happy Hour, we felt the need to introduce "Old Faithful". This is a drink is very popular with us at the track. It is fairly easy to consume with a Hangover brought on by partying too much on Qualifying night. Enjoy this cocktail while following Happy Hour Here!

Old Faithful

Grey Goose, Soda Water, Cranberry, Plenty of lime wedges

Take a highball glass and fill it with ice

Pour close to 1/2 full of vodka

Top with Soda Water & a 'splash' of Cranberry

Add lime wedge(s).

Cheers!!

Grand Marshall and National Anthem for the Shelby 427

This is the longest and hardest we have ever searched for pre-race entertainment. It isn't posted on the Las Vegas Motor Speedway website or Jayski.com. Finally, one day prior to the green flag, we found it. For Sunday's Shelby 427, Gordie Brown will provide the pre-race entertainment and the Jersey Boys will sing the national anthem.

Carroll Shelby will serve as grand marshal.

Click here for the full track schedule.

Shelby 427 cheat sheet / lineup

Here is the cheat sheet / lineup for the Shelby 427 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. I wonder what the catch phrase will be for the Busch boys sitting on the front row. Oh Brother!!(photo credit of Las Vegas Sun)
However, bad news for Kyle....they have to change his engine. I am having Déjà vu. Two weeks in a row, the pole sitter has to go back of the pack for engine issues.

We have to throw out a little congrats to Regan Smith, the driver of #78 Furniture Row Racing for making it in the race.

1. #18 Kyle Busch Toyota, M&M's**to back of the lineup due to engine
2. #2 Kurt Busch Dodge, Miller Lite
3. #48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet, Lowe's / Kobalt Tools
4. #00 David Reutimann Toyota, Aaron's Dream Machine
5. #47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota, Kingsford / Clorox / Little Debbie
6. #39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet, Haas Automation
7. #9 Kasey Kahne Dodge, Budweiser
8. #5 Mark Martin Chevrolet, Pop-Tarts / Carquest
9. #29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet, Shell / Pennzoil
10. #14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet, Old Spice / Office Depot
11. #12 David Stremme Dodge, Penske Racing
12. #77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge, Mobil 1
13. #25 Brad Keselowski Chevrolet, GoDaddy.com
14. #31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet, Caterpillar
15. #55 Michael Waltrip Toyota, NAPA
16. #99 Carl Edwards Ford, Aflac
17. #96 Bobby Labonte Ford, Ask.com
18. #78 Regan Smith Chevrolet, Furniture Row Companies
19. #44 A.J. Allmendinger Dodge, Harrah's
20. #20 Joey Logano Toyota, The Home Depot
21. #83 Brian Vickers Toyota, Red Bull
22. #87 Joe Nemechek Toyota, NEMCO Motorsports
23. #42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet, Energizer
24. #16 Greg Biffle Ford, 3M
25. #1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet, Bass Pro Shops / Tracker
26. #13 Max Papis Toyota, GEICO
27. #8 Aric Almirola Chevrolet, TomTom
28. #24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet, DuPont
29. #34 John Andretti Chevrolet, WindowWorld.com
30 #71 David Gilliland Chevrolet, TRG Motorsports
31. #88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet, National Guard / Amp Energy
32. #7 Robby Gordon Toyota, Jim Beam
33. #19 Elliott Sadler Dodge, Stanley
34. #11 Denny Hamlin Toyota, FedEx Office
35. #6 David Ragan Ford, UPS
36. #98 Paul Menard Ford, Johns Manville / Menards
37. #33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet, Cheerios / Hamburger Helper
38. #26 Jamie McMurray Ford, Irwin Industrial Tools
39. #43 Reed Sorenson Dodge, Valvoline
40. #17 Matt Kenseth USG Sheetrock , Ford
41. #07 Casey Mears Chevrolet, Jack Daniel's
42. #82 Scott Speed Toyota, Red Bull
43. #64 Todd Bodine Toyota, Gunselman Motorsports

A chance to ride along with your favorite driver in Atlanta!

Speedway Children’s Charities is auctioning off a Ride Of A Lifetime Drivers Auction. It is a chance to take a lap with your favorite NASCAR driver! Click here to visit their eBay auction site. The winning bidder will have the opportunity to ride in the passenger seat of the parade lap Corvette during driver introductions for the Kobalt 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 8, 2009. Prior to the ride along you & a guest will receive a cold pit tour and the opportunity to take photos in your driver’s pit stall. Winning bid does not include tickets, transportation or lodging.

I have been blessed experiences I have had with NASCAR over the past few years but riding in the parade car is one thing I have never done. This is a great opportunity to meet your favorite driver and do something that many people will never experience. You better hurry up if you want a chance at this since the auction ends over the weekend! And ladies....at this time, Kasey Kahne and Carl Edwards have not been bid on.

Nascar Cribs

Early this year, CMT kicked off a new season of Cribs with a NASCAR edition. It featured Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch. Of the three, I like Kevin and Delana's house the best. On CMTs website, they have an extra footage video up, which I posted below. I learned from this footage that Kevin loves Goldschlager (ew!) and Denny has 2 roommates.

NASCAR Cribs must have been a hit. I read this morning that Martin Truex Jr will be filming a segment on Tuesday, March 3rd!!!

"I really enjoyed having the CMT people here," Truex said. "I've always been a big fan of Cribs, so to have my place featured on the show is really cool."

My question for you is if you could see any drivers home, which would it be? My personal request would be Jimmie and Chandra Johnson. My reason? To see Chandra's closet.

Spotted in Vegas...

In Caesars Palace,Pure Nightclub hosts the hottest Tuesday night party in Sin City. Arriving early in the week and out and about was NASCAR drivers David Stremme, Denny Hamlin and Sam Hornish Jr. Stremme, Hamlin and Hornish held court on the main stage as they sipped on Grey Goose Vodka cocktails and mingled with friends in VIP.

Kyle Busch Interview

Kyle Busch NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion Interview -- Auto Club Speedway Saturday night in Fontana

The following is a Interview with Kyle Busch following his victory Saturday at the Auto Club Speedway Saturday night in Fontana provided by Nationwide Insurance, title sponsor of the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

With his victory in the Stater Bros. 300 Nationwide Series race at Auto Club Speedway Saturday night in Fontana, CA, Kyle Busch became the first driver in NASCAR history to win two series races in the same day. Earlier Saturday, Busch took the checkered flag in the Camping World Truck Series Race.
Kyle Busch: Both races weren’t easy, they were both tough. I would say that the Nationwide Series race was a little harder, there at the end especially cause Carl and Kevin and all the guys there they wanted to battle real hard at the end for the win and so, it always sucks really really bad when you lead the most laps and you have a dominant car and then you finish second so, I was not about to let that happen today. I tried my darndest to make sure that wasn’t gonna be the case, so we made that come true and we were in Victory Lane so. Both races were tough, certainly not easy, never is in this game.

Lined up between Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick on the final restart with 16 laps to go, Busch had a close call before finally cruising into Victory Lane.
Busch: I let it drift up the hill just a little bit and I got Carl loose. I never got into him just got him air loose, and fortunately I squeaked through there and Harvick and I battled down the backstretch and I got to turn three and I knew that if I didn’t put it on the top and put it on kill and get the move done there then it was gonna be hard to do, cause for some reason these guys get better at the end of races and our stuff always stays the same and so we knew that it was gonna be a battle there. Fortunately, you know, Harvick didn’t outdo us there at the end and we were able to win.

Harvick finished just one second behind Busch.
Kevin Harvick: I thought if I could get by Kyle and get clean air there on that restart, we might have something for him if we get in front of him but just a little bit too free and wasn’t quite able to quite clear him going into three.

To see a the video race review of Fontana, go to http://www.nationwide.com/series/home.jsp?WT.svl=B6a

Las Vegas Driver Appearances

Here are the Nascar driver appearances for Las Vegas throughout this week.

Wednesday, February 25th
Eric McClure - will be at Arizona Charlie's (Decatur) from 11 am-noon.

Thursday, February 26th
David Ragan will be signing autographs at Discount Tire located at 6565 E. Lake Mead Blvd from 4pm-6pm rouschracing.com
Kasey Kahne will be signing autographs at Stratosphere Casino Hotel and Tower (2000 Las Vegas Blvd South) from 4pm-6pm rudysracing.
Kurt Busch’s inaugural Sprint for the Kids will be taking place at Pole Position Raceway, located at 4175 S Arville from 6pm-8pm. Participants will compete side-by-side in a celebrity endurance kart race featuring some of Nascars finest drivers and celebrities, including Jamie McMurray, Sam Hornish Jr., David Stremme and Jamie Little. For more information, visit kurtbusch.com/foundation
Elliott Sadler will be at Sam's Town Casino starting at 5pm http://www.elliottsadler.com/2009website/appearances.html
Joey Logano will be signing autographs at the Home Depot located at 1401 S. Lamb Blvd. Las Vegas, NV from 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm http://driverappearances.com/
Scott Lagasse Jr. and John Wes Townley will be at ESPN Zone at New York, New York Hotel and Casino on from 2-4 p.m. http://www.lvms.com/news/superspeedway/504913.html

Friday, February 27, 2009
Martin Truex Jr. will be signing autographs from 11:00 am – 11:30 am at the merchandise trailer in the vendor area outside the entrance to Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Richard Childress, Matt Kenseth and Darrelll Waltrip will be on stage at the Neon Garage for a live broadcast on the QVC network from 5 pm - 7pm.
Dexter Bean will be sigining autographs at the Stratosphere Casino Hotel & Tower from 7pm - 8pm. http://www.jayski.com/
Marcos Ambrose and Michael McDowell will be at the Monte Carlo Resort & Casino from 7:30 pm - 8:30 p.m.http://www.lvms.com/news/superspeedway/504913.html
David Reutimann and rookie Ken Butler III will be at the Aaron's Sales & Lease Ownership on 3223 W. Craig Rd. from 6:30-7:30 p.m. http://www.lvms.com/news/superspeedway/504913.html
Eric McClure will be at Stratosphere Hotel Casino from 8 pm-9 pm. http://www.lvms.com/news/superspeedway/504913.html
Hermie Sadler, Scott Wimmer, Todd Bodine, Scott Riggs, Reagan Smith, Jeff Green, David Green, Terry Cook, Eric McClure, Dexter Bean, Dave Blaney, Kirk Shelmerdine, Casey Atwood are scheduled to appear at the "Meet the Driver's Party in the casino at the Stratosphere Hotel & Casino at 7:00pm. http://www.jayski.com/
Jeff Burton and Richard Childress will be at the Caterpillar Contractor of the Year reception at Caesar's Palace from 7pm-9 pm.http://www.lvms.com/news/superspeedway/504913.html

Saturday, February 28, 2009
Kyle Busch will be signing autographs at M&M World, Las Vegas. 4pm - 6pm

Vegas Baby

Not a lot of news just yet, but just so you have your GAME face on....here is the entrant list courtesy of Jayski.

On Thursday, the now annual NASCAR Hauler parade will begin at 10am. The NASCAR team haulers, which carry the Sprint race cars that are competing in this Sundays Shelby 427 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, will parade north on the Strip past the cities MAIN DRAG of Vegas's hotels and casinos!! Below is a video from last years parade!

If you are in Vegas you may be looking to catch some entertainment away from the track. This week Cher, Barry Manilow, Emerson Drive, Little Big Town, and classic rockers Dokken to name a few give you an aray of choices of concerts during your stay. All will be performing this week. A race AND Cher in the same week? We must be in Vegas!

Viva Las Vegas

Ahhh....Vegas. Of all the tracks I have been to, Las Vegas Motor Speedway is my favorite. Great shopping, gambling, famous shows, amazing restaurants and NASCAR….what more can a girl ask for?! I attended the race in 2007 and I can say with certainty, I was intoxicated the entire trip. We stayed at the Wynn, the nicest hotel I have ever stepped foot in. As nice as it was, it was also torture having Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Manolo Blahnik and others located inside your hotel. The mixture of intoxication and great shopping isn’t the best combination….lets just say it took me a while to pay off the debt from that trip (but I have awesome pair of Christian Louboutins as a souvenir!). So take my advice, be careful where you drink and gamble or you may find yourself with a hefty credit card bill.

Lets face it, Vegas is not a cheap destination. With the state of our economy, you can really make Vegas work in your favor and a lot of the hotels have "free" attractions worth checking out. If you find yourself near the Wynn at nightfall, stop by and grab a drink at the patio of Parasol Down. They have a light show called the Lake of Dreams which is really neat and the more you drink, the more mind boggling it becomes. The Bellagio has a couple attractions worth checking out; The Bellagio Conservatory and the Bellagio Fountain. If you plan on going to see the fountain, dine on the patio of Todd English’s restaurant “Olives”. This will place you overlooking the fountain and you won’t have to stand outside w/ thousands of other tourists to get a glimpse of the show. Do yourself a favor and order his famous Beef Carpaccio. Do not let the term raw beef scare you. You will be thanking me later.

Moving onto the race! One of the great things about LVMS is their Neon Garage. It is like the FanZone in Daytona but on steroids. Where else can you go to a race and see Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, The Blueman Group and the Earnhardt / Elvis Car Unveiling? Click here for the Neon Garages schedule of events and here for the race schedule.

Digger...go away!

I really cant stand Digger!!! I love the idea of the actual camera there on the track but naming the camera Digger? Making him a gopher? A cartoon segment of Digger and Friends?Sigh...Megan and Darlynn get a kick out of my anger for this little critter. At the Daytona 500, there was a "Fox Digger and Friends" race car and a life size Digger walking around taking pictures. The girls insisted me, of all people got a photo with it...(I of course politely declined) Does anyone think we need to bring Carl the groundskeeper out of retirement??

LOL!!

Should Sprint and Nationwide be so closely intertwined?

I have been thinking about this for a while. We have been talking about it on Twitter but its really hard to tell you my true thoughts in 140 characters or less. When I was growing up, the BUSCH (sorry i still call it that to this day) series was almost like a JV, a college series of sort. It was a good chance to see some up and coming drivers that would one day race in the Sprint series. There was a sprinkling of "some been there done that" drivers who-while clearly out of the chase-would race a baby carriage if you put him near it.

Fast forward to 2009: 16 of of the 43 drivers were active Sprint Cup chasers in Daytona's Camping World 300. I think this is horrible! In this economy, I feel there may be a need to make some adjustments/provisions to its Nationwide race. I know from a ticket sales point of view this may be a definitive hell to the no..but think of it from a marketing perspective. The bread and butter of any race team is through its sponsorships....especially when they are just starting out. In this economy who would give a sponsor a bigger bang for his buck? Should they put their brand on a Carl Edwards Nationwide Car or a lesser known Justin Allgaier for example?

I just don't think that this is fair to the guys that are trying to make it into the sport. Some would argue that this gives Nationwide drivers a chance to run with the big guys. But, when freaking Kyle Busch and his stupid bow are being spoken about a history making three peat, the warm and fuzzy feeling of "keep your eyes on that guy" is lost. I also feel that with no provisions soon this will take away from the notoriety of a Nationwide Champion. A Nationwide Series Champion should have the pride of being "the one to watch" when they enter the Sprint Series as a true rookie. I predict that in a couple of years, these up and comers will lose the dollars to compete and the entire field will be one Sprint Series paid practice.

Tee Riddle has made an excellent point: What if Brett Favre or Tom Brady announced they were going back to play college football, or Alex Rodriguez said he was going to play high school baseball?? It would be viewed as ridiculous. Except in NASCAR.

Back in the good ole days, Martin Truex Jr with Kevin "Bono" Manion
who won back to back Nationwide championships in 2004 and 2005
Picture from view images