Happy Hour: March Madness continues into April
It's time for Happy Hour. As always, tweet us your thoughts or shoot us an email at happyhourmailbag@yahoo.com if you want to participate.
Did you enjoy your off-weekend? It was a sports wasteland over Easter weekend, especially during the day. We made sure to catch at least parts of every Elite Eight game in the evenings, but the daytimes were tough. While the season is only five weeks old, the ubiquity of NASCAR makes off weekends feel a bit empty, especially when there's no baseball or club soccer to watch.
We're heading to the Elite Eight in our NASCAR March Madness tournament. The matchups for Martinsville are as follows:
Jamie McMurray vs. Denny Hamlin
Joey Logano vs. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Jimmie Johnson vs. Carl Edwards
Kevin Harvick vs. Matt Kenseth
Not a bad slate there at all. Let's get going with your questions this week.
Are we ready to admit that Kyle's 200 wins will be as great as Petty beating up on the local yokels for his 200?- Jim
Oh, don't tell the loyal citizens of Twitter about this question. After Jimmie Johnson won at Phoenix, we made this joke. Kyle Busch has 157 wins across all three of NASCAR's top series.
Kyle Busch chasing Richard Petty's win mark, Jimmie Johnson besting Dale Earnhardt's... What a time to be alive
— Nick Bromberg (@NickBromberg) March 20, 2016
And.... kablooie.
@NickBromberg @jaywpennell You have @NASCAR credentials? @KyleBusch doesn't even have 35 wins in the series top level.
— Microphone Check (@happyholjes) March 20, 2016
@NickBromberg @jaywpennell Totally different...Petty's wins weren't minor league. Johnson OTOH could still tie title mark.
— Amy Henderson (@Writer_Amy) March 20, 2016
@NickBromberg @jaywpennell Richard Petty's 200 wins were all in the Winston Cup series, no other series like Xfinity. No one will match that
— Dale Brown (@dalebrg99) March 20, 2016
A direct comparison of Petty's 200 wins to a possible 200 wins (or more) for Busch is impossible. But are the accomplishments really that far off? While it's clear there's a massive disparity in the Truck Series and the Xfinity Series from top to bottom, there was one in the early years of the Cup Series too. To act like Petty was beating fields like exist now in the Cup Series is foolish.
When and if Busch gets to 200 wins, there should be a reasonable discussion about the significance of the number. However, given the love for NASCAR history that many fans have, we're not too confident it'll happen.
If a train left Maine 2 hrs ago while a bus left Chicago 8 minutes behind schedule, whats the square root of potato? https://t.co/nyOeTEANwe
— LugNot (@CharlotteLugNot) March 31, 2016
Freedom fries.
@NickBromberg Sticking to tourney, your final 4 of tracks that have/will be best for 2016 packages. And congrats/WTH pic.twitter.com/fjnD8wKf6q
— Brian Cullather (@Briancullather) March 31, 2016
Can we figure out a universal synonym or two for "package" when it comes to discussing NASCAR rule specifications? Thanks.
Our final four would have to be Atlanta, California, Michigan (hopefully) and Darlington. We miss the old Michigan before it was repaved. And don't speak of the abomination that was the Michigan race in August.
If you're looking for more NASCAR talk, you can stop reading now. The backstory behind the picture is this: We went out and bought enough Cadbury eggs to last through the end of 2016 at a pace of one per day.
Crazy? Yes. Depressing? Yes. Brilliant? Maybe. We're not even sure Cadbury eggs are that good (and neither are Martinsvill hot dogs /hottaked). But when you get them for 10 cents each, it's not much of a financial investment. And it's a fun and weird way to celebrate Easter.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
