Shedding tears for Fontana

Part of the 2-mile oval in Fontana, Calif., is taking the loss of its fall NASCAR Sprint Cup race very hard.

Practice was delayed Friday afternoon after the track began to weep.

The tears were not because this weekend’s Cup race is the only one it will have this year. The tears actually are “weepers,” a term for when water below the pavement forces it way through the surface.

An early morning rain further saturated the ground. As of 1 p.m. Friday, track crews were cutting slits into the track between the first and second turns to allow the water to escape.

Cup qualifying now is scheduled to begin at 5:10 p.m. Friday.

Like being theeerrrrreee!

I couldn’t make it out to the LVMS dragstrip for the opening day of the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series divisional race.

Watching it on the Internet is as close as I can get Friday. And it is pretty cool.

Check it out: 1320go.com/lasvegas/livetiming.php

Custodial merit

I’ve created a new award called Merit for Custodial Excellence.

The first gold broom goes to Kyle Busch. He swept both NASCAR races last week in Bristol and last fall he swept three races in one Bristol weekend.

He’ll try it again this weekend in Fontana if the track quits sobbing.

Old R-J scribe on Mint

Former R-J sports reporter and local publicist Mike Henle provides excellent insight into how new BLM rules on desert races are throwing a curve at competitors in Saturday’s Mint 400 in the SNORE series.

Pre-running was not allowed over the 100-mile course and Henle presents valid points of why that is a dumb move by BLM.

Go to: MikeHenle.com