BRISTOL Race Picks: Uncle Max vs. 13th Place

Well, we got a Sports Bar Tripleheader on Sunday, with Bristol and the NCAA March Madness selection show happening on St. Patricks Day.  Here’s my advice for picking a successful bracket:

—Chalk (aka picking favorites to win) is your friend, however…

—Pick at least one sub 3-seed team to make the Final Four.

—There’s (almost) always a 12 seed beating a 5 seed, but any bigger upset than that will be, well, an upset.

—8 vs. 9s are a toss-up.  Good time to break out your lucky quarter.

—Always, always, ALWAYS remember: Gonzaga NEVER wins it all.

—And when in doubt, just try to win the prop bet for the best bracket name.

Saturday Night TRUCK SERIES (1 win) Weather Guard 150: BEN RHODES--hopefully he doesn’t spin out from the lead with five laps to go like SOME picks I’ve made lately.

XFINITY SERIES off

Sunday CUP SERIES Food City 500: 13th Place Picks DANIEL SUAREZ.  FAVORITE: KYLE LARSON—the dominance of Hendrick Motorsports resumes.  NEXT FAVORITE: WILLIAM BYRON—see above.  DARK HORSE: TY GIBBS—he HAS to break through soon (probably with a bump-and-run).

www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly

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Buy the book 100 Stock Car Racing What Ifs Unauthorized

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A MOXOC Media production

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Spade Racing Opens 2 Boxes of 2023 Panini Chronicles Cards, Pack 3 of 12

PACK 3: Iwuji, The Eighties, and Too Artsy

FIRST LOOK: Jesse Iwuji seems like a great guy (and, in my opinion, could have a great second career as a pit reporter), but his autograph is a bit, well, lacking.  On the plus side it doesn’t look like an eight-year-old drew it like mine.

TO THE BACK: Some nice info here, but why the v a p o r w a v e look?

SAY WHAT?: “Thanks to one of the layout people at Panini getting bored, I’m stuck hovering on this disc of land.”

RATING: 7 spins out of 10.

www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly

www.facebook.com/spaderacing

www.twitter.com/spaderacing

Visit the store https://www.cafepress.com/spaderacing

Buy the book 100 Stock Car Racing What Ifs Unauthorized

Does this track have lights?

A MOXOC Media production

www.moxoc.com

NASCAR ROTY RANKINGS 1981: Ranking the Rookie of the Year Classes Through the Years

Join me as we take a look at every NASCAR Cup Rookie of the Year class from 1972 (the start of the modern era) through 2021, going from the worst to the first in terms of overall careers of each year’s rookie class.

1981

Ron Bouchard

Winner: Ron Bouchard (Race Hill).  Runners Up: Morgan Shepherd (Cecil Gordon), Mike Alexander (Rogers), Elliott Forbes-Robinson (Howard & Egerton), Joe Ruttman (Jim Stacy), Stan Barrett (Mach 1).  Aborted Attempts: Tim Richmond, Connie Saylor, Gary Balough

How their careers turned out: Ron Bouchard’s career highlight came in his rookie year, when he shocked the Nascar world with a win at Talladega, only for his career to peter out by 1987.  Morgan Shepherd and Joe Ruttman both had long careers mostly in underfunded equipment, while Stan Barrett was far better known for his stuntman career.  Elliott Forbes-Robinson was better-known for his road racing exploits, and the fact that his name makes him sound like a villain in a “Slobs vs. Snobs” story.

“Fun” “Fact” about the winner: Darrell Waltrip claimed Ron Bouchard passed him for his lone Cup win because he thought Bouchard was a lap down, showing us what a sore loser DW could be before he was humbled in the late-90s.

Ranking: #34 out of 50

www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly

www.facebook.com/spaderacing

www.twitter.com/spaderacing

Visit the store https://www.cafepress.com/spaderacing

Buy the book 100 Stock Car Racing What Ifs Unauthorized

Does this track have lights?

A MOXOC Media production

www.moxoc.com