Commentary by: Langley Austin ~ langley@RACE22.com

Salisbury, NC(September 14, 2010) -- Well, I guess my last article got a lot of attention as my email filled up with people's opinions and conversations since then at the track has centered around what I said.

Some of you were upset with what I had to say, some of you didn't get the message, but oddly enough more of you than not agreed with what I had to say. It's not often that happens, but it was certainly encouraging to hear people say "you said exactly what I was thinking" or "Wow, I can't believe you had the guts to say that". Sometimes telling the truth and laying it out there gets you notice, but not always in a good way, I mean many people hate Bill O'Reilly, but he leaves the spin at home and that's what I hope to do with this column.

I thought it was time to write another article and while it had only been two weeks since my last one, I have a lot to say ... hey anyone who knows me, knows I've always got an opinion and today is no different. Sometimes I feel like I only write a commentary piece when something bad happens or when something isn't right in the world of Late Model Stock Car racing and while there's a lot of topics I could tackle, this article isn't likely to be controversial. So let's get started ....

HOMECOMING ...
Nothing in racing feels as good as going "home" for a race and while I'm not headed back to my roots at Franklin County Speedway anytime soon, homecoming for me has become going back close to home at the Martinsville Speedway. It's the one race when you see all your friends, past, present and future all in one place and all for more than just one day. This year it all starts one week early with two test sessions scheduled on the 1/2 mile NASCAR Sprint Cup Series sanctioned track and it all starts tomorrow with the first of those test sessions.

NOT JUST ANY TEST ...
Almost every race fan at some point or another has ventured out to their local short track for a pre-season test, just trying to get a glimpse of the racing they've been missing all winter. Most of the time they see one or two cars cutting a few laps, but there's not much there to quench a race fans thirst. If you've never been to the test session at Martinsville for the Late Model Stock Car race, it's unlike anything you've ever seen before.

Usually there's upwards of 100 cars that hit the track throughout an eight-hour test session and unlike a lot of testing, Martinsville's all-day affair, sometimes even has it's own share of fireworks on the track. Drivers and teams are often digging as hard as they can to find speed to prepare for qualifying for the race and sometimes disaster strikes as they bend a little sheet metal testing the confines of the flat bullring. It's more exciting than any other test you can go to and if you've never been and you could either call-in sick to work or happen to be off, you should stop by and check it out, after all you've got two chances this year!

TIME FLIES BY ...
Approaching Martinsville brings us to my favorite time of the year, but I'll have to say that this year seems to have went flying by faster than any other season. It's true that times flies when you're having fun, there's no doubt about that and this season has been one of the best on the track for sure. The season kicked off for me with a fantastic battle between Shane Huffman and Coleman Pressley for the win in the UARA-STARS Series season opener at Hickory and since then it's been a number of incredible finishes to highlight this season.

Others that stick out in my mind include a handful of races at Motor Mile Speedway this season, where it seemed like it was happening more often than not. Brandon Dean was involved in two of those such battles to the finish, the first defeating Philip Morris for his first career win and then edging out Davin Scites in the season finale just this past weekend solidifying his first Late Model Stock Car title. Scites and Morris had a battle going just a couple races back until a caution ruined the finish of the race and in what was probably the best battle to the finish this season Tommy Lemons, Jr. and Justin Johnson rubbed fenders to the finish of a race around mid-season.

It wasn't just Motor Mile though, great racing has been happening everywhere from a photo finish to open the season at Lonesome Pine Raceway with Nate Monteith edging out Caleb Holman by no more than four feet. The UARA-STARS Series race at Myrtle Beach Speedway was a classic battle with Michael Rouse taking an emotional victory over Alex Yontz in an incredible side-by-side battle to the finish. There was too many on-track battles for victory to count between Rodney Cook and Dustin Rumley, that spilled over after the race and the legend himself, Barry Beggarly won the final three races of the season ... it doesn't get much better than that.

I haven't even touched on a fraction of the great racing that's happened this season ... Cars upside down, on their sides, on top of other cars and a perfect bump and run by CE Falk for the victory in the Denny Hamlin Foundation race at Southside Speedway ... Falk again making a last lap pass on Philip Morris for the win at South Boston a couple weeks back ... the feud between Brennan Poole and Coleman Pressley in the UARA ... the controversial finish at Lonesome Pine between Nate Monteith and Caleb Holman that led to Monteith leaving the track to race at Motor Mile and there's so much more.

SORRY ...
Hopefully I'm not boring you, not being controversial, but despite off car counts at many race tracks, the racing has still been incredible and crowds have been up at many local tracks. The racing has been some of the best in years and as we approach big race season beginning with Martinsville, I hope the fans get treated to much of the same. Last years, Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300 was the best Martinsville race, I've seen and this years race will likely be much of the same with new faces in contention, veterans on the prowl and some of the most intense racing ever.

That's it ... I'm pumped, let's go testing at Martinsville!!!