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Valli Hilaire

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There's more to NASCAR racing than turning left and Valli Hilaire,author of the website 'The Fast and the Fabulous', is here to enlighten you. From celebrity sightings to what the drivers' wives are wearing, check in with Valli daily.

  

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Heartbroken in Richmond

May 5, 10:29 AM
by Valli Hilaire, NASCAR Examiner
 
 
Dale Earnhardt Jr. spun after making contact with Kyle Busch in Turn 4 on Lap 398. Earnhardt ended up finishing 15th. (Photo Credit: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)So I was watching the final laps of the Dan Lowry 400 on Saturday pacing around the living room saying "come on Dale, come on Dale, come on Dale" over and over. If you saw me in those moments you would have thought I had obsessive compulsive disorder or something. I was trying to do all of those good visualization exercises they tell you do to, so I kept imagining Dale Earnhardt Jr. in victory lane.

And then he was wrecked.

 It was so disgusting and I couldn't believe it, like I seriously couldn't believe it was happening. Two years, seventy-one races and it was so close and then gone just like that.

I think I used every curse word in the book, including that one particular word involving someones mother. I said it over and over and over and over again.

I am a rational person and I understand that that's the way it goes in racing sometimes, but it doesn't lessen the hurt.

That was absolutely heartbreaking and if you saw Dale's post-race interview you could hear it in his words and see it in his face. It's one thing to come close and then maybe finish 2nd or 3rd, but he had to finish 15th with a car that should have won.

I don't want to talk about Kyle Busch. I am so done with him, so done, it's so over.

And then Denny Hamlin leads the most laps and ends up 24th, that sucks, but uh, what was up with staying out on the track and causing the caution??? He knew he had a tire down and he waited out there until the caution came out to go down pit road. That doesn't sit well with me; I didn't like that at all.

On the other hand I wasn't sad to see Clint Bowyer win the second race of his career. He's a good guy and I like him. It’s a great win for him and Childress Racing. If only Mark Martin could have passed Kyle for second place, that would have been awesome, at that point I was all about Kyle finishing as low as possible.

Ugh... This racing stuff is going is wear me out.

Clint Bowyer and his team celebrate winning the Crown Royal Presents The Dan Lowry 400 at Richmond International Raceway. (Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)
Clint Bowyer and his team celebrate winning the Crown Royal Presents The Dan Lowry 400 at Richmond International Raceway. (Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Topics: NASCAR , Sprint Cup , Mark Martin , Kyle Busch
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