Sports. Honestly. Since 2011

Temp Drivers, The Paint Scheme Award, Martinsville, and Autism Awareness

Welcome to “Fuel It Up”!  The racing world is chopped full of intriguing stories, but sifting through them to get a good general sense of the landscape can be challenging.  In Fuel It Up, I take the biggest, more interesting storylines and present them to you in a quick, compact 300-words-or-less format.

The winner of this week’s Paint Scheme of the week goes to the #15 car driven by Clint Bowyer……………    Joe Gibbs Racing announced prematurely that Mark Martin would drive for Denny Hamlin as Hamlin recovers from injuries suffered at California.  Complications developed and Martin will now only sub for Hamlin in this week’s race in Martinsville.  Brian Vickers will now replace Hamlin for the remaining races Hamlin misses……………   Joey Logano told ESPN this week in an interview he was sorry for the injuries suffered by Hamlin but is done getting pushed around.  Logano complained that he was being pushed around and was sick of it…………….  And speaking of the Hamlin/Logano/Stewart love fest, Dale Earnhardt Jr. weighed in this week in defense of Logano.  Earnhardt said of the Logano’s block of Stewart, “I’d have done the same.”  I think there were 43 drivers on the track that day that would have done the same.  I said it at the time but it’s worth repeating, that was just racing……………  The sad state of the Jeremy Mayfield continues as this week he lost a bid to have charges dismissed.  A trial date has yet to be determined……………  The weather forecast for Sunday in Martinsville is partly cloudy with highs in the low 70’s……………  44 cars have entered the STP Gas Booster 500 in Martinsville……………    The Virginia Military Institute Glee Club will perform the National Anthem prior to the race.  Mark Burnett and his wife Roma Downey who co-produced the hit TV show “The Bible” will be the Grand Marshall’s……………   April is Autism Awareness Month.  NASCAR will be holding one of the most significant fundraisers on Tuesday April 9th at the NY City’s iconic Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Amy France, wife of NASCAR CEO Brian France said, We need to be invigorated, energized and to have hope and retain a lot of faith because there is a lot of capacity and potential in these children affected by autism.”  Kasey Kahne, Clint Bowyer, Greg Biffle and Brad Keselowski are scheduled to attend the event.  Good on NASCAR for supporting such a great and worthy cause.

Like many families my family has been impacted by this illness.  On September 7th of 2012 in what my daughter describes as thinking was her worse day of her life.  Here is what she says about that day and beyond.   “Little did I know it was the beginning of a wonderful adventure.  One where I would be surrounded by love and support from friends, family, therapists, and even strangers.  My family has been able to celebrate many milestones, just as other “typical” families do (albeit at a much slower pace). In fact, we celebrate each syllable with so much more passion, watch Mason playing imaginatively and appropriately with so much more amazement, and most recently, listen to Mason SING his first song with so much admiration it brings tears to our eyes. April is autism awareness month. Please donate, celebrate and be compassionate and understanding of these brilliant people that make our world brighter.”  Please consider donating today to Autism Speaks or The Autism Society.

Feel free to give me a follow on Twitter – @JimLaPlante, as well as the site – @LastWordOnSport.

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