Dayona 500, Baby!

Well, its the start of another NASCAR season, and the Daytona 500 fired it up yesterday. Bon Jovi entertained the crowd, and that girl from The Black Eyed Peas sang the National Anthem.
Nevermind all that, though. My driver, Rusty Wallace retired last year, and it was wierd, because my gut-reaction is to get excited when I see the no. 2 car moving up in the standings. "Cool- oh wait, thats Kurt Bush..."
Anyway- it was a little tough to keep up, aside from the fact that I don't have a favorite just yet. I think some of the rookies have a good shot, there's JJ Yeley and Denny Hamlin, both driving for Joe Gibbs, and David Stremme, and Reed Sorenson from Chip Ganassi racing. There's also Brett Sherman with BAM Racing, and Clint Bowyer is driving for Richard Childress.
While Tony Stewart, Dale Jr., Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth stayed with their cars and sponsors, 43% of the drivers have switched cars/ owners/ sponsors, making it a little tricky to watch the race and understand what was going on.
Finally, the commercials yesterday were pretty good, though- Will Ferrel wondering why NASCAR Day isn't a Federal holiday, The Chevy Drivers toasting themselves by dumping beers on their heads, UPS trucks doing laps around the track, and Denny Hamlin driving a personnel car through the airport at high speeds topped my list. I won't say that they topped the Super Bowl commercials, but they were up there for contention.
The announcers did a pretty good job describing rules, exlpaining restrictor plate racing, and sorting out the drivers/owners/ sponsors thing. They did a reasonable job keeping us informed as to what was going on.
and Jimmie Johnson's pit chief was suspended earlier in the week for cheating. Apparently NASCAR officials spent 3 hours yesterday inspecting the car after the race.
Oh yeah, and did I mention that Jimmie Johnson won?