From the weekend (again)

Friday I went to Vinita to work with my dad - this usually comes with the chance to see both he and mom as well as my nephew Jarod. As I was leaving Joplin a little after 7am, the sun was coming up under a blanket of clouds. It created the most beautiful orange sky (I'm partial to orange skies) for a few minutes until it got up high enough to get behind the clouds. I firmly believe that God is partial to mornings, so when I find myself in the middle of something beautiful in the morning I assume it must be from God. On a cold February morning I was thankful for a beautiful sunrise. It set the tone for what turned out to be a good day.

Saturday night was a good one in our house. For the first time in a long, long time Dale Jr. won a race. Unfortunately the Bud Shootout isn't a points race, but it was sweet to see what the guy can do in a good car. Early on I told my wife that he was just messing with the other drivers. On more than one occasion I saw him lead for several laps, someone would get by him (not sure if he was letting that happen or not) and then when he was ready he'd just drive by that person to re-take the lead. I had a feeling that if something didn't go wrong he'd win the race - and he did. It was a strange thing having to root for the Hendrick guys - Gordon especially - who were pushing Jr. to victory. I fear that this combination of drivers and equipment may lead to some dynasty rules being put in place by NASCAR. While I'm sure they won't win every race this season, I'd be surprised if they didn't put 3 cars in the top 5 of the end of season point standings including the champion. I also want to say that seeing Jr. drive the National Guard car instead of his traditional Bud #8 was strange. To make matters worse, Kasey Kahne now drives the Bud car and is #9, so it almost looks likes Jr.'s number. The key here is that Kahne drives a Dodge, so if you get a shot at the front of the car the difference is easy to see. Picking out Jr.'s non-descript, mostly white car is much more difficult. The best news of all is that the season starts next Sunday.