Real Name: Shari Prenzler Gender: female Member Since: September 28, 2007 Last Signed In: June 12, 2008 Profile Views: 1701 Blog Views: 1720 Is Tony right about Goodyear's tires? TOYOTA BRINGING IT HOME Valentine's Day Heartbreak The wait is over - live racing is back FULL THROTTLE: MISSING NASCAR FULL THROTTLE: Green-white-checkered? Give me a break FULL THROTTLE: Toyota and the Car of Tomorrow FULL THROTTLE: No. 8 should belong to Dale Junior FULL THROTTLE: Jeff Gordon deserves some respect FULLTHROTTLE: Montoya: Rookie or ego-maniac? October 07 November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 September 08 October 08 
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Valentine's Day Heartbreak
Have you ever had your heart broken on Valentine’s Day? I have. This year, in fact. But it had nothing to with Cupid, or me choosing the wrong guy or anything like that. My heart was actually breaking for someone else – NASCAR’s independent driver, Stanton Barrett.
Barrett is both the owner and driver of the No. 50 Chevrolet, and is best known for being the Hollywood stuntman that operates on a bare-bones budget and who is always in the pool of go-or-go-home drivers.
Although he has no corporate giants behind him, SKI Motorsports and NOS Energy Drink have decided to bet on Barrett to qualify for four of the biggest races of the season, the first being this Sunday’s Daytona 500.
During a recent interview on NASCAR.com, Barrett was very optimistic as he spoke of his 18 years of drafting experience, getting set ups together and coming up with combinations. “We fully intend to race our way in,” he said.
Six previous attempts to make the 500 have eluded Barrett, but as his lap times continued to improve during time trials, it seemed that maybe, this would be the year he would make it.
Now for the heartbreak part.
During the second Gatorade Duel 150 qualifying race (on Valentine’s Day), Jacques Villeneuve lost control of his Toyota in turn 4 on lap 15. Sadly, for Barrett, he was in the line of fire with nowhere to go in a wreck that also thrashed the cars of Dario Franchitti and Jamie McMurray.
Why can’t Stanton Barrett seem to catch a break? Just once. With NASCAR’s money, money, money, attitude, what will become of the small team guys like Barrett and Robbie Gordon? And where will Barrett be tomorrow?
Unfortunately, not running in the Daytona 500.
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