Trouble in Turn2

Is it over yet? The fall Charlotte race was only 30 minutes shorter than the spring race despite being 100 miles less. The 15 caution flags matches the Lowe’s fall race record set in 2005. 2005 was the levigated, tires spontaneously failing, last man standing fiasco. Saturday night’s race wasn’t as bad, but it wasn’t very good either. The final ten laps brought some welcome excitement, but the other 327 weren’t quite as good.

If the Chase continues to play out this way, there will suddenly be a lot of Clint Bowyer fans. Sure some will cheer for the #07 car because it’s a good underdog story, but I suspect more people will simply pull for Bowyer because of the ABH factor. Anybody But Hendrick. That said Martinsville is one of Jeff Gordon’s and Jimmie Johnson’s strongest tracks. If something crazy is going to happen it probably won’t be this Sunday.

Other Thoughts

• One of the popular gripes fans have about NASCAR is the inconsistency with rules. When Jeff Green blew an engine and coated the track with oil there were 11 laps left (lap 323). NASCAR correctly red flagged the race so the spill could be properly cleaned up. Then they made the call to run four laps under caution while cleanup efforts continued. The point of stopping the race is to give drivers and fans as many green flag laps as possible. Why run six more caution laps, especially when the track is still not clean? The green flag resumed with five laps to go (lap 329) , they raced four more laps(lap 333) until Ryan Newman’s unfortunate wreck. Somehow the scoring said there were six laps left. Now cars are driving around and running low on fuel. Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex Jr both had to pit for fuel thanks to the extra laps. Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch nearly ran out too. I have a problem with NASCAR making cars drive around on unnecessary caution laps, especially when it causes many of the leading cars to have problems. A similar thing happened at the spring Talladega race when several of the cars in the top ten, including leader Denny Hamlin, had to pit late because of a long drawn out caution period.

• Speaking of Newman, talk about the two emotional extremes. First he shoots past three cars to take the lead with six laps to go, then two laps later gets a flat tire and spins. Newman was fast all night, but wasn’t quite as fast as Johnson or teammate Kurt Busch, but it looked like Newman had timed things perfectly when he whizzed by Jeff Gordon for the lead. Then the spin spoiled everything. It reminded me a little of the 2005 Charlotte race when Joe Nemechek led the race late only to get a flat and wreck with 8 laps left.

• Why does Rusty Wallace insist on getting the last word? Several times on Saturday night Andy Petree would sum up a situation and then Wallace would jump in to reiterate the exact same thing. The lack of chemistry is not there and it will be a good change if ESPN trades Wallace for Dale Jarrett.

• For the second week in a row Bobby Labonte ran well until the end. After spending 244 laps in the top ten Labonte got a flat tire late in the race. He did bounce back for a 12th place finish, but it could have been a lot better. Teammate Kyle Petty led 2 laps and finished 18th. It was the first time both Petty Enterprises cars finished inside the top 20 since the spring race at Lowe’s. In that race Petty finished 3rd and Labonte came home 13th. With new crew chief Doug Randolph Labonte has a good chance to score his first top 5 next week at Martinsville.

• Sure Chase drivers took six of the top seven spots, but look at the rest of the top ten. Dave Blaney (6th) scored his second straight top ten while fellow Toyota driver (Toyotan?) Michael Waltrip finished 10th. David Stemme also snuck into the top ten at Lowe’s. Another tip of the hat goes to AJ Allmendinger for his best Cup finish ever in 15th. As I mentioned last week, Toyota is quickly getting their act together and that could be bad news for Dodge and Ford.

Let me hear your thoughts on Saturday night.

[Update: Lowe’s is still Jimmie Johnson’s house. He still had the best car on the track despite his mistake.]