Off-Season Makeover

I live in a house divided.

I’m a huge Brad fan. My wife is a Kyle Busch fan. My oldest daughter loves Kasey, and my youngest likes Danica. This makes race day fun at my house to say the least.

At the beginning of the season, my wife and made a bet: If Brad finishes higher than Kyle, she has to drink a Miller Lite. If Kyle finishes higher, I have to eat a whole package of M&M’s (which I can’t stand). This only goes for races that they are both entered in, and can span an entire weekend — CWTS, Nationwide and Sprint Cup. However, if Kyle places higher in Nationwide (like yesterday), and Brad finishes higher in Sprint Cup (like what will happen today), it is a push and there are is no winner.

So with the rules in place, last weekend in Daytona was fun for me. With Brad taking home second in the Nationwide race and third in Daytona 500 — both higher than Kyle — she made good with the loss, and had a Miller Lite. It was great. (Wish I had a picture of it, but didn’t have my phone on me at the time. When it happens next weekend, I’ll make sure to snap a pic.)

However, with the rain-shortened Nationwide race on Saturday and Kyle “given” the win, she took the early lead on the weekend. I didn’t like this one bit since the thought of eating M&M’s is, well, uggggggg.

Sunday, I hoped, would be different.

With Brad starting on pole for The Profit on CNBC 500 and Kyle beginning in seventh, Sunday’s race started off well for me. Despite not having the best car of the day, which belonged to Kevin Harvick, I never lost faith in Brad.

Brad ended-up leading twice for a total of three laps before piloting his yellow Alliance Truck Parts No. 2 Ford to a third-place finish. Luckily for me, that was six spots ahead of Kyle, and a push on the weekend.

Running total on the year:

Me – 1
Wife – 0
Push – 1

Next up for Cup is Las Vegas. To be honest, I’m worried that I might have to consume M&M’s this weekend. Kyle has an average finish of 14.70 in 10 starts including winning in 2009, four top-5’s and five top-10’s. In five career starts at Vegas, Brad’s average is 25.00. His best finish, 3rd, came last year. In the four other attempts, he hasn’t placed in the top 25.