Rain Delays Make For Good Reading

To paraphrase "The Old Perfesser" Casey Stengel, "Now there's three things you can do in a NASCAR race: You can win or you can lose or it can rain."

You can say that again.

While fans watched and waited and watched some more, the radar over Texas played the NASCAR faithful false, promising clear skies and an end to the wet while delivering only more drops and and puddles at the track.

After napping through much of FOX's extended Texas broadcast, this fan awoke to the news that both the Cup and Nationwide races would be postponed 'til Monday - leaving me feeling cheated out of some green flag gratification.

However, life is all about how you handle Plan B.  So, with Plan A a wash, I turned to Twitter to read how the drivers were coping with the downpour.

I discovered that the guys at Red Bull Racing were participating in some sort of infield Olympics. Kevin Harvick left the track to hit The Cheesecake Factory and a movie.  Juan Pablo Montoya was just plain bored. And Dale Earnhardt Jr. was devising ways to get NASCAR PR girl Jen Powell to work the word "knockers" into an official e-mail bulletin (I kid you not).

For me, there's nothing better on a rainy day than curling up with a long book and some hot tea.  And, when I'm wearing my NASCAR hat, I swap my book for a laptop and catch up on my racing reading.

Below are a few of my favorite NASCAR blogs- ones I try to read on a regular basis, or a least when I have a spare minute (like rain delays for instance):

The boys at The Spotter Stand do one heckuva job on their self-made web site.  I especially enjoy reading their Catch Can feature - can't wait to meet them in person at Talladega.

The folks at Rubbings Racing cover the sport carefully and well - and their podcasts are fantastic. If you've never checked them out before, do so immediately. You won't be disappointed.

Another one of my fave racing blogs is Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie - they've always got some  interesting opinions to share. To wit, this post on Ryan Newman's recent surge.

For those of a more literary inclination, my buddy Ovalscream has some of the most comprehensive and well-written posts on the web. He's the New York Times of the NASCAR blogosphere. USA Today fans take heed!

Finally, there's no better site to find out the revised NASCAR TV schedule than The Daly Planet - John Daly's informative, up-to-the-minute blog about all things relating to NASCAR's TV coverage.  The site is slam-packed with info., plus he's a nice guy to boot.

Happy reading!