Lindsay Czarniak is once again spending her summer reporting from pit road at NASCAR races. She will be filing reports from the racetracks before and after each race. Check our sports section often for the latest updates. Here's entry No. 1...
Good Morning from the Poconos! I got in last night and I’m putting together some notes before I head to the track this morning.
The weather reports here in Long Pond, Pa., don’t look great for practice and qualifying today (showers off and on) but that’s always the case here and sometimes it makes things even more interesting.
I am really excited to be jumping back into our six races. It’s a great group to work with at TNT and it always feels like it goes so quickly. It's funny, though because even though it goes by so fast, there always seem to be huge storylines that pop up during our batch.
Last year, it was Dale Junior’s first win with his new team, and this year, it starts off with NASCAR announcing the change of double file restarts -- this is really going to make a visible difference for fans watching a race as drivers now feel like they can really "go for" a win late in the game.
Today sort of feels like the first day of school again, especially since I don’t live in Charlotte. It's nice to jump back in the garage and see familiar faces.
Sports
I’m going to track down Tony Stewart -- I wrote myself a note because when I was at the Nationals game, pitcher Craig Stammen told me that he is from the town next to Rossberg, where Stewart hosts the Prelude to a Dream dirt track charity race (it was rained out) ... anyway, interesting tidbit.
I have to run but will check back in later -- things to watch for this weekend:
Can Carl Edwards finally get a win this year at a track he’s won at before?
Will Kyle Busch turn things around and get back on track, or will we see Tony Stewart or Ryan Newman get their first wins for their new team?
Speaking of Ryan Newman, for my Sunday feature I’m going fishing with him and his Dad after qualifying -- I’m hoping it doesn’t rain -- and that the fish are biting.
Talk to you soon!
-- Lindsay
