Commentary by: Langley Austin ~ [email protected]

Salisbury, NC(December 9, 2010) — Over the last two weeks since the Late Model Stock Car world’s 2010 season came to a close at Myrtle Beach Speedway, RACE22.com has been all, but silent as we try have tried to rest up for the busy off-season swing of news releases and such.

I know most of you, knew it was just the calm before the storm, but one emailer thought maybe were going to fade into the background this winter. Fat chance of that as we’ve been working diligently with a handful of racers, teams and industry members to make sure that we have plenty of news coming your way this off-season. We’ve to date not been allowed to share with you some of the goings on from some shake ups in the UARA-STARS Series to new drivers aligned with the best Driver Development Program in NASCAR Late Model Stock Car racing.

There are all kinds of things happening around the world of Late Model Stock Car racing as well as some big things in the future of RACE22.com and no, I’m not referring to another “Black Friday Sale”, even though it was very successful in our first try and we will have another sale this month. I’m referring to some of the changes we’re making in not only what we cover in 2011, but the way we cover it. RACE22.com is going to continue to grow in 2011, hitting new series(new to us) morer often and different types of racing as well as dipping into some other forms of media.

It’s going to be a big year in 2011 and I appreciate the huge following we’ve gathered so far as we’ve continued to build the RACE22.com brand, that we created in September of 2007. I want to thank everyone who’s been a part of this ride so far and I’m excited about the new readers and viewers who will be a part of our new coverage.

For now, check out some of the things that’s been on my brain the last couple of weeks following up the season and we’ll have some exciting news for you soon about guys on the race track and things coming up on RACE22.com!

WAY TO FINISH THE SEASON …
The way the Myrtle Beach 400 played out was bizzare, from the drivers riding more than they have in past Myrtle Beach 400 races early on and even past the midpoint of the race to the biggest rider, riding to the front of the pack and beating the best in this business. It was a fitting way to finish out what was a bizarre ride this season in Late Model Stock Car racing from a boycott of Late Model Stock Car racing’s biggest name at it’s most prominent track to championships being decided in the tech shed to teammates clashing in one of the big races and so much more.

HIS GREATEST MASTERPIECE …
While we’re on the subject of the Myrtle Beach 400, I can’t help, but talk a little bit about the performance turned in by Frank Deiny, Jr. as he painted his greatest masterpiece in a race he’s pretty much owned for years. Deiny is one of the guys who just rode in the first half of this race …. well so everyone thought as he was one of the guys who decided not ride, because there were so many guys trying to ride and looking for a place to crash. Deiny came to the front and avoided what turned out to be the biggest wreck of the race and he then on the final restart before halfway, had a tire going down and dropped to last.

Deiny then decided to employ a strategy that his crew chief had always wanted him to do in this race as he rode around as the next to last car on the track nearly a lap down. He would have been the last car on the track, but Jonathan Cash saw what Deiny’s strategy was and decided to follow him. Then with about 20-laps to go, 26th in the running order and nearly a lap down, Deiny stepped on it and made his charge to get back in the race. Many standing by thought he was too far behind and couldn’t make up the ground, but those of us who have watched him make a late race charge knew he could do it.

Deiny, took the lead with around seven laps to go, but an ill timed caution, setup a green, white, checkered finish as Deiny had to hold off his protege`, Justin Johnson, who he had taught how to run this race. Deiny without skipping a beat pulled off to take a one-two finish with Johnson and pulling off one of the greatest victories in the history of the Myrtle Beach 400. It was Deiny’s moment to shine as he knew the victory was huge and quieted all of those, who thought that he had lost his touch and wasn’t a formidable competitor any longer.

IT’S ABOUT TIME …
This year people thought that I was especially hard on the UARA-STARS Series and I probably was as everyone knows that I think the series is the best there is in all of racing, but in 2010, they really made some big mistakes. I’m not going to harp on them, I still love the series and I still think the series can regain some footing in the upcoming season as there are a lot of great drivers who have shown an interest.

With that said, the first thing I’m going to praise them about is the fact that they already have the 2011 schedule out, which to my knowledge is the earliest they’ve put one out for an upcoming season. The second thing I want to praise them for is the schedule itself … every driver is tightening the reigns on his budget for the upcoming season, which makes the layout of the “tightened” schedule for the UARA-STARS Series perfect. Would I like to see a race at Bristol or North Wilkesboro added or a race at Greenville Pickens? Of course and there’s still two TBA dates on the schedule and I think those are the places the series would like to go too.

BEST OF 2010 …
As we do every year, we will have the Best of 2010 categories coming up soon on RACE22.com. As everyone knows, we usually try to finish the year and start the new year off with some fun stuff as we not only look back over the previous season, but look ahead at the season that is soon to be. So stay tuned to find out, who we think the Best 10 Drivers of 2010 were, the Best Moments, Best Paint Schemes, Best Rookies, Best Improved, Best Best Crashes, Best Performances and so much more from the 2010 season. As well as we’ll have the return of the “Most Popular Driver” voting and maybe a few more fun things to get us through the off-season.