Larry Brown Sports

When Bubba Watson decided to buy the Dukes of Hazard General Lee car for $100,000 a few weeks ago, he bridged the gap between the world of golf and the world of racing. Not only did he get himself a sweet ride, he also entered into an agreement with his good buddy Denny Hamlin. According to From the Marbles, Hamlin agreed to get Watson a fire suit and helmet to match the General Lee. In return, Watson had to let Denny caddy for him at Augusta. Looks like it’s happening.

Of course, Bubba will need his real caddy for the actual Masters tournament. I don’t know if any of you follow golf, but that’s kind of an important event and Watson may need some advice that a NASCAR driver wouldn’t be able to provide. Or maybe Hamlin is more of a golf genius than I am giving him credit for. You never know. Either way, he’ll only be holding Watson’s bag for the par-3 tourney earlier in the week.

“He’s going to let me hit a shot,” Hamlin, who has never been to Augusta, said with excitement. “How nervous do you think I’m going to be?”

Hamlin’s handicap is somewhere in the mid-teens, which is solid for a casual golfer. Depending on how things go, Bubba may decide to ditch his caddy for the main event and bring Denny on board. Stranger things have happened at Augusta. No, you’re right — they haven’t.

Can you believe it has taken Walmart this long to sponsor a Sprint Cup automobile?  Forget the fact that Bill Elliott is returning to the Sprint Cup for one race — the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona in July — and focus on the important stuff here.  Throughout the years, we have seen advertisements for kitty litter, dog food, Viagra,  and Butt Paste plastered on the side of stock cars, but never the legendary Walmart?  That is just absurd.

Elliott will be driving the No. 50 car, which represents the 50th anniversary of the opening of Walmart.  Shame on them for waiting 50 years to acknowledge the fact that the clothes being worn by about 97 percent of the spectators in the stands at any given race were purchased at Walmart.  The beers they all brought to the race? Walmart. The convenient cooler they are allowed to stash under their seats that holds about a dozen beers? Walmart.  Walmart, Walmart, Walmart. Welcome to the 21st century.  It’s about time.

Great big “Yee-haw!” to From the Marbles for sharing the picture

Race car driver Donnie Ray Crawford III (pictured) was killed Saturday morning by his grandfather, Daniel Garcia, who also died in the shooting at the family’s home.

Wagoner County Sheriff Bob Colbert says the 74-year-old Garcia, who was living with the Crawford family, went into his grandson’s room and began shooting. Jodi Crawford, Garcia’s daughter and Donnie Ray III’s mother, tried to stop the shooting, as did the boy’s father, Donnie Ray Crawford Jr. Jodi Crawford was taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the hip while Donnie Ray Crawford Jr. reportedly was not seriously hurt.

Donnie Ray Crawford III was scheduled to run in the Chili Bowl in Tulsa on Saturday evening.

“This family has been kind of the founders of racing in Tulsa. They came home from the (Chili Bowl) races last night, everything was fine, and apparently for no reason this happened this morning,” Sheriff Colbert told reporters.

“He is the nicest person you will meet. He will do anything for you. Help you out if you need anything and he is great driver on top of that,” said Blake Hahn, Donnie Ray’s teammate.

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If Matt Kenseth is a man of his word, he had better get Dale Earnhardt Jr. the $2,500 he owes him sometime in the near future.  The two drivers recently agreed upon one of the manliest man bets you can think of.  According to the L.A. Times, Kenseth showed up to Earnhardt Jr.’s 70s-themed New Year’s Eve party rocking a beard.  Apparently Dale Jr. saw the beard and had to bet Kenseth $2,500 that he wouldn’t keep it until the Daytona 500 test sessions.  The first of those test laps took place on Thursday.

“We actually sent a few texts back and forth to confirm the bet, and he shaved his beard,” Earnhardt said. “I told him to go to the bank, but maybe he forgot. I want my $2,500.”

Kenseth downplayed the bet, saying he would have kept the beard if not for all the photo shoots and interviews he was told he had to do this week.  Well isn’t he just a celebrity?

“(I was told) you’ve got to do a photo here and you’ve got to do this interview and do a photo shoot there,” Kenseth explained. “So I guess I lost. I’ll try to scrounge (the money) up somewhere, I guess.”

The bottom line is Dale Jr. is still rocking a burly man beard, so if there was a gentleman’s wager Kenseth needs to square up.  If there are two things men don’t screw around with, they are gambling and facial hair.

It seems like everyone is using the honey badger as motivation these days. First it was LSU CB Tyrann Mathieu who earned the nickname because of his style of play. Then it was 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh sharing the video with his players. Now it’s driver Danica Patrick, who will be racing in the Sprint Cup Series for the first time beginning in February.

“It was last year, I think, somebody showed me this video of the honey badger, and the commentator on it was very, very funny,” she said. “Anyway, the honey badger, he doesn’t give a (flip), he takes what he wants. And that’s how I’m going to be this year, like a honey badger.

Even though Patrick plans to embrace the honey badger style, she recognizes it’s getting a little played out.

“But I feel like it’s a little diluted with the football player that has the honey badger nickname, too. He’s No. 7, as well. I bet he’s not feeling like a honey badger,” she said in reference to LSU’s loss to Alabama. “I don’t know, it’s a mindset. I even have a honey badger picture on my screen saver on my phone to inspire me. It takes what it wants.”

Patrick’s first NASCAR race will be the Daytona 500 on February 26th. My guess is it will be someone like Kyle Busch taking what he wants, not Danica.

NASCAR held its awards ceremony Friday night in Las Vegas, and it was notable for one big reason: Dale Earnhardt Jr. made a public appearance with his girlfriend, Amy Reimann.

You may recall the story we posted last April saying Earnhardt Jr. and Reimann began dating while she was still married to former Kentucky football player, Tommy Cook.

Dale Jr. denied that report, but he reportedly said in an interview Friday night that he and Amy have been dating for a couple of years. To the best of our knowledge, Reimann and Cook were married in 2006 and divorced either in 2008 or 2009. You can do the math.

Thanks to my man Jay Busbee at From the Marbles for the heads up

Tony Stewart captured his third Sprint Cup title by winning the Ford 400 at Homestead Sunday. The often controversial driver made the media rounds Monday, and that included a stop on SportsCenter. Interviewer Sage Steele began asking him several smoke-related questions as a play on the driver/owner’s nickname. It culminated when Stewart said he’s focusing on “smoking” 12 packs of beer on Thanksgiving.

A recap of their conversation:

Steele: Explain why you have the nickname “Smoke.”

Stewart: It started in 1991 when I ran in the USAC Sprint Car division. I wasn’t very good at throttle control. I was kind of like Days of Thunder — I wasn’t very good at saving the tires.

Steele: Thanksgiving, how long does it take to smoke a turkey?

Stewart: I have no idea. I’m trying to figure out how long it takes to smoke a 12-pack. I’m kidding. I can screw up cereal — I can’t cook anything.

And that is why Tony is so beloved in NASCAR (you know, by the half that love him). The other half of fans hate him, but at least they can all agree on one thing: Thanksgiving for NASCAR fans is as much about pounding beer as it is about eating turkey.

Who needs approval ratings? If an audio poll from 80,000 NASCAR fans isn’t enough to indicate whether or not the United States is pleased with its current administration, I don’t know what is. First Lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, the wife of Vice President Joe Biden, led the way during the pre-race ceremonies on Sunday at the Ford 400 Sprint Cup season finale. The race was held at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and fans didn’t exactly give Obama and Biden a warm welcome. Check it out:

There you have it. If NASCAR fans say it’s no good, it must be no good. All joking aside, there have been rumblings about this being a racial issue and people are up in arms that the fans booed the First Lady. I’m not saying there weren’t racist people sitting in the stands somewhere, but you don’t really have to pay attention to politics to know that Barack Obama isn’t exactly the most beloved man in America. The booing was certainly disrespectful, but saying it was a racist act is sensationalism at its finest.

Kyle Busch is one of the most competitive drivers on the NASCAR circuit, and he’s not a good sport when things don’t go his way. After getting bumped by Ron Hornaday during Friday’s truck race at Texas Motor Speedway, Busch hooked Hornaday into the wall under caution. The wreck caused Hornaday to fall out of contention for the trucks championship. NASCAR also is forcing Busch to to miss the rest of the races this weekend to promote orderly conduct. Here’s a video of the incident:

“If I just lay over and give up everything for Ron Hornaday, that’s not Kyle Busch’s fashion. I’m out here to win a race just as much as anybody else is. When he races up on my inside, gets loose, and takes me up to the fence, I ended up losing my cool. I’ve been wrecked four weeks in a row and finally I just had enough of it.”

Man, Kyle Busch is one of the biggest jerks in NASCAR. But I love him. Can’t defend what he did, but if anybody hates losing more than him I don’t know who it is. Plus, he gets bonus points for going all Rickey Henderson in the interview.

When Danica Patrick drives in Saturday’s Nationwide race at Fort Worth, Texas, she’ll pay tribute to the late Dan Wheldon with a “Lionheart” logo on the hood of her car. The Lionheart logo was created recently in honor of Wheldon, who said he raced with a lot of heart, like the way Richard the Lionheart fought in battle.

Wheldon used to have a Lionheart Knight image on the back of his helmets when he raced. Now Danica and others will honor him with the Lionheart logo.

via From the Marbles