Well, except for Tony Stewart.
No one else made wacky comments, no one called any feud-fueled name directed toward any rival. Really a vanilla set of introductions, and you're always looking forward to someone calling somebody a name like "(so and so) is still an #!@&**$$."
After qualifying 42nd (Really? Stablemate Ryan Newman was on the pole, as seen in the warm up lap.) Smoke PROMISED he wouldn't be there long. For a while, that was true. Within the first few laps he bolted to 32nd. Then, that's pretty much where he stayed.
I turned to my friends and with dejection, said, "I need a new driver." Every time TStew passed by my seat, I shrugged in frustration or hung my head in despair. Here's the man in a place he's not accustomed to driving. In the back. Waaaaaay in the back.
Onward. In case you missed them, here are some of the driver intro songs. I don't have a clue if they make the TV broadcast, I'm always in the DW Grandstand watching as it unfolds.
Here's the list from several news sources pre-race. Junior kept his secret. For the life of me, I can't remember, well, actually, couldn't hear, the roar of the crowd in the concrete coliseum was so overwhelming.
A note on Jeff Burton's choice, it was actually made by the fans. We voted for Welcome to the Jungle. The Dolly song was a tribute to the miners in the country, and was part of the Remember the Miners night, complete with appearances by some of the miners from the Spike TV series.
Marcos Ambrose – "Land Down Under" / Men At Work
AJ Allmendinger – "Down With The Sickness" / Disturbed
Greg Biffle – Theme from "Sanford and Son"
Dave Blaney – "Better Now" / Collective Soul
Clint Bowyer – "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?" / Waylon Jennings
Jeff Burton – "Welcome To The Jungle" / Guns N Roses AND "Coal Keeps The Lights On" / Dolly Parton
Kurt Busch – "Baby Got Back" / Sir Mix A Lot
Kyle Busch – "Rowdy Busch" / Raytona 500
Carl Edwards – "Run This Town" / Jay-Z
David Gilliland – "Living The Dream" / Yatta Da Kaptain (Gilliland's front tire changer)
Jeff Gordon – "E.I." / Nelly
Denny Hamlin – "Bad Meets Evil" / Fast Lane
Kevin Harvick – "Show Me What You Got" / Jay-Z
Jimmie Johnson – "Don't Mess Around With Jim" / Jim Croce
Matt Kenseth – "Indestructible" / Disturbed
Brad Keselowski – "Jackson, Mississippi" / Kid Rock
Travis Kvapil – "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" / New Politics
Bobby Labonte – "Come Sunday" / Jimmy Buffett
Andy Lally – "Otep" / Battle Ready
Joey Logano – Theme from ESPN's "SportsCenter"
Mark Martin – "La Grange" / ZZ Top
Michael McDowell – "On Fire" / Rawsrvnt
Jamie McMurray – "The Distance" / Cake
Casey Mears – "Burn It To The Ground" / Nickelback
Paul Menard – "Gypsy Road" / Cinderella
Juan Pablo Montoya – "Enter Sandman" / Metallica
Joe Nemechek – "Cheap Sunglasses" / ZZ Top
Ryan Newman – "Big Green Tractor" / Jason Aldean
David Ragan – "I Am From The Country" / Tracy Byrd
David Reutimann – "Pretty Fly For A White Guy" / The Offspring
Regan Smith – "Second Heartbeat" / Avenged Sevenfold
Scott Speed – "Power" / Collective Soul
David Starr – "It's My Life" / Bon Jovi
Tony Stewart – "Throw The Hammer Down" / Derek Miller
Martin Truex Jr. – "Country Song" / Seether
Brian Vickers – "Smells Like Teen Spirit" / Nirvana
J.J. Yeley — "I'm Sexy And I Know It" by LMFAO.
There was the usual pomp and circumstance surrounding the event, the huge flag on the front stretch, the parachutist dropping with with the American flag in tow, school children leading the Pledge of Allegiance and saluting our troops, those in the stands and others overseas.
Then there was racin' Bristol style. Round and round, no bumping and beating, not a lot of three-wide anywhere or really even side by side door to door. Kind of looked like Hot Wheels on the electric track.
Yep, racin' the way it oughta be.
Oh, yeah. Broken Brad Keselowski was the winner.
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