Trouble in Turn2

For the first 270 laps, Sunday’s race at New Hampshire was pretty tame. The leaders maintained comfortable leads with ease, the top ten positions didn’t change much and barring problems, cars were pretty much locked into a comfortable position and no one was passing. Then a caution came out when Jamie McMurray plowed through Dale Earnhardt Jr and suddenly all hell broke loose. The top drivers pitted while eight other cars stayed out, led by Kurt Busch. Tony Stewart, the dominant car for the day, pitted for two tires and was relegated to 14th on the restart. With one caution plus a pending storm it was pretty obvious that the final results had been turned upside down.

That set up a wild finish, but it wasn’t done yet. Kurt Busch jumped out on the restart, but had to battle lapped car Robby Gordon and nearly hit the outside wall. A few laps later Sam Hornish spilt Clint Bowyer to bring out the caution. Juan Pablo Montoya took the chance to controversy.

“[Busch] hit me under caution, he hit me under green and I retaliated. Did I go a little bit too far retaliating? Yeah. I told them[NASCAR officials] the only reason I did that was I was defending myself.

Somehow Busch tried to play coy and absolve himself from blame.

I got a run on him earlier and I got on the outside and he kind of kept coming up a little bit. I didn’t turn down into him and just barely touched his quarter panel. Then I got by him in three and four and he run me up the race track in the left rear. Then we came to that caution flag and he thought he beat me to the caution flag and I was just trying to get around the 40 (Dario Franchitti) car, who was in front of us there and touched him on the door and he just turned left and spun me down the front straight away. I don’t know what his beef is, but obviously NASCAR should probably fix it.

Montoya was penalized 2 laps for rough driving, dropping his final position to 32nd. His admission that the hit was intentional (which was pretty obvious on the replay) will probably cost Montoya some money, more points and probation for the remainder of the season. Montoya wasn’t going to make the Chase and is not broke so in my mind that biggest penalty is actually the probation. Why? It means Montoya won’t be able to partake in Facewashing with Harvick 2 at Watkins Glen this year. Comparing the Loudon incident with the quasi-fisticuffs from last made me realize something else. Montoya’s favorite expression, “I don’t appreciate that.” That’s getting worked into my everyday phrases. That or “My name is Juan Pablo Montoya, you killed my top 15, prepare to die.”

Some Random thoughts while avoiding the 90+ degree heat

• Bill Weber used “Strategery” when discussing pit stops. Even if it was for comedic value, it fizzled. Later he mentioned that Stewart could become the first driver to sweep the weekend and ended with a grumpy, “there’s a stat for ya’”. What’s wrong with stats? They never did anything to you. Maybe he was just sour today.

• Where was Roush? The fact that the TNT announcers called it a rebound when none of the five drivers were in the top ten is an indictment of how bad they were today.

• Casey Mears had a nice run before slipping at the end. In one sense I’m glad he didn’t score a surprising win because it spared us all headlines and nonsense about how he was more motivated this week. He still managed a top ten in back to back races for the first time this year. Watch out for Mears next weekend at Daytona. He’s good on restrictor plates and nearly won the race last year.

• By the way, Kurt Busch won the race.

• Michael Waltrip scored his first top five finish since 2005 (5th place at Pocono). It’s a huge boost not only for his effort to stay inside the top 35, but also for his sponsorship status with Napa.
  

  I’m not emotional about this, other than the fact to say it’s amazing that NAPA Auto Parts is still on my car after what we went through the last couple years. Just to do anything good for them, outside front row at Daytona, to have a finish like we did today, I just want to say thank you to them by doing well. That’s my goal, is to do good for them.

  Waltrip is often portrayed as a shill, but he really does get it. For all of his struggles in team ownership, he somehow still has large sponsors at least through this year, and he obviously realizes how fortunate he is. As an aside, Waltrip pitted two laps later than Kurt Busch and it would have been interesting to see how things would have ended without the rain stoppage.

• Question: Can you use “McMurray tried to drive through me” as a valid excuse for hitting the commitment cone on pit road?

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Finally.

Dale Earnhardt Jr returned to Victory Lane in a Cup race. The last time Dale Earnhardt Jr won a Cup points race, Bill Clinton was in office. Or at least some people made it seem like it had been that long. The way Junior’s 2008 has gone, he could actually have multiple wins by now. He’s been a top five car nearly every week. It also doesn’t matter that he won on fuel mileage. They all count. The whole object of a race is to get to the front at the right time. Part of the reason the #88 team could gamble on fuel was their position in the standings. In prior seasons Earnhardt Jr has been near the bottom of the Chase standings and couldn’t afford a 25th place finish. With their 3rd place position it opens up more opportunities to take risks, which is exactly how they won on Sunday. Compare that with some of the other teams fighting for a Chase spot like Kevin Harvick, David Ragan and Jamie McMurray that were forced to pit under the final caution.

Not everyone is an Earnhardt Jr fan, but my guess is that the majority of NASCAR fans can appreciate Jr’s win and feel good about it. Put aside the fact that he’s the most popular driver in NASCAR, consider how hard it is to win Cup races. Now look at a few of the races where he’s come tantalizingly close to winning. He’s been wrecked while leading (Talladega 2006, Richmond 2008), had engine failures while running in the top 3 (Indianapolis, Richmond 2007), and been on the other side of the fuel mileage game (Charlotte 2007). It was a deserved, and popular, win.

• Tony Stewart is donating his winnings from Sunday’s race to the Red Cross and specifically the Indiana flood relief. Stewart spent most of the day in the top ten before coming home fifth. That’s a nice $136, 986 check for those in need.

  “I’m happy we got a top-five for everyone in Columbus, Indiana, and that we can do something to help our community out,” Stewart said. “It’s been on my mind all weekend. That’s what this top-five is for. When it’s your own community and your own neighbors, it’s good to generate a good amount of winnings for them.”

  The finish was also Stewart’s first top ten since a 4th place run at Richmond last month.

• I tried the Race Buddy, which is great. You can toggle between different camera views like Pit Road, In-Car, On Track Battles or four angles at once. It’s a poor man’s Hot Pass. The one downside, as my wife pointed out, is that there is no Bill Weber to complain about.

• Matt Kenseth continued his rebound with a 3rd place finish after leading 41 laps. It could have been better if not for his pit road incident with a track official. As Kenseth was leaving his pit, he had to brake when the official was still in front of his car for some reason. It cost him spots on the track that he never made up. Kenseth’s teammate Greg Biffle also had a costly pit road incident. The team was changing two tires but Biffle took off before the front tire changer could clear the car and was almost hit. Unfortunately the move also was a penalty because the air gun was left on the wrong side of the car. It was another top five run for Biffle, spoiled by a team mistake.

• Red Bull Racing’s intermediate program is really coming alive. Not only did Brian Vickers have one of the strongest cars in the race but AJ Allmendinger was also strong (79.7 driver rating) before getting shuffled back at the end. The team is still growing and needs improvement on the shorter tracks, but is one of the big stories of the last month. Now Allmendinger heads to Sonoma with a very good chance of scoring his first top ten finish.

• Kyle Petty noted how many races have come down to pit strategy with the new car. That’s true, but I think it has less to do with the car itself and more from the timing of the cautions. With track position at an even greater premium and crew chiefs unsure how even the best car will handle in traffic, getting to the front is now paramount.

• The win was Chevy’s first at Michigan since 2001.

• 18 different drivers have won Cup races since Earnhardt Jr’s last Cup win in 2006.

• The race lasted 2 hours 47 minutes. Last week’s race at Pocono last 4 hours.


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During Sunday’s race I had to paint a room in our house while listening to MRN and occasionally stealing time in front of the TV. With that context I can certifiably state that the Pocono race was more exciting than watching paint dry. Actually it was a lot more exciting. Whether it was the CoT, the new patch in turn 3, the hot and sticky weather, a great tire package from Goodyear or a combination, the racing was pretty good. Cars could make their way through traffic, but the leader didn’t necessarily check out in clean air.

Kasey Kahne was strong again winning his second Cup points race in three weeks and third Cup race (the All-Star exhibition race) in four. Kahne was obviously the best car on the track, but once again he got a little bit of help via other cars’ misfortune. Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart both suffered pit road speeding penalties on the final pit stop, ruining top five runs. Carl Edwards, who was content to lurk during the first 150 laps, got a flat tire on the final pit stop and watched his chance at the win vanish. Even the way Brian Vickers was able to hold off the faster Denny Hamlin in the final segment allowed Kahne to pull away without any serious challenges. Kahne had the best car and deserved to win, but it’s interesting all the different cars that could have challenged him but instead fell short for a variety of reasons.

• In the Top 35 Derby, Michael Waltrip fell outside the bubble giving way to Scott Riggs. Riggs had a very solid day, starting 9th then leading six laps on his way to a 21st place showing. It’s only one race, but that will make the #66 team’s week much easier not having to worry about qualifying for the next race without crew chief Bootie Barker. The Top 35 remains a tight scrum. Regan Smith is in 31st place but only leads 36th place Waltrip by 56 points. With Somoma and Daytona pending, the next month could really shuffle the top 35 battle.

• After Juan Pablo Montoya was collected by a wrecking Clint Bowyer, he was more concerned with how he was running prior to the crash. He only spent 17 laps in the top 15 and was clearly unhappy with Team Ganassi’s performance. When you see Montoya outperform his teammates and most other Dodge cars on a weekly basis, it’s pretty obvious Montoya is holding up his end of the bargain. It’s also clear that Ganassi, and to a smaller degree Dodge, is not providing strong enough equipment for Montoya.

• Red Bull Racing had their best race so far in their short NASCAR career. Brian Vickers led 18 laps and held off Denny Hamlin for second place. Teammate AJ Allmendinger qualified 8th, spent three fourths of the race inside the top 15 and came home 12th. It was Allmendinger’s best Cup finish and his 95.2 was by far his highest driver rating. Obviously the large horsepower from Toyota helps, but it takes more than a strong engine to threaten for wins and top tens. Allmendinger still endures his share of struggles, but he is also showing signs that he is getting comfortable in a stock car. Vickers explained the difference from last year:
  

  in this sport, it’s all about people. Jay Frye (general manager, Red Bull Racing Team) coming on board has been great leadership from the top. It always starts from the top down, but there’s been a lot of other people. Jay has been a large part of it, but I don’t want to give him all the credit. There’s a lot of people that have come on board and a lot of great people that are still there from last year

  Some people thought Vickers made a mistake to leave Hendrick two years ago, but that bold decision now looks like the right one. He is getting strong cars and is also proving his driving talent away from the spotlight of Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. Vickers is a legitimate threat to win a race this year and could even compete for a spot in the Chase in 2009.

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I just finished watching Days of Thunder, and despite knowing almost everything that would happen, I still found it more enteraining than Sunday’s Best Buy 400 at Dover. Officially the race had 17 green flag lead changes. In reality it was a three car race with most lead changes (9) only occurring during green flag pit stops. Essentially Kyle Busch’s pit crew beat Carl Edwards’ and Greg Biffle’s. By lap 160 Jeff Gordon made his way into fifth place and the top five never changed again. One point to make was that the lack of excitement didn’t have very much to do with the lack of lead lap cars, it was simply a race with long green flag runs and not much passing. There were times when cars would ride nose to tail for 20 or 30 laps with neither able to pull away. Busch summed up the lack of excitement this way,

“It wasn’t I guess all that exciting. You know, that’s a product of what we’ve got going on here. We’re working on trying to make our cars go as fast as they can. The faster we make them go, the more aero-dependent they’re going to be. The more you put out on the racetrack, the more the air is going to get screwed up. You know, we’re all fighting for space. We’re all fighting for air. We’re all fighting for everything. Sorry it wasn’t exciting.”

It’s not Busch’s fault the race was boring, nor is it the teams’ fault. With the CoT still in its infancy, there will continue to be snoozers like we saw at Dover. It’s not pretty to watch, but expect more of the same as teams, Goodyear and NASCAR all get a grasp on the car.

The one nugget of excitement came on lap 19 when several top cars collected after Elliott Sadler and David Gilliland made contact. First Tony Stewart, then Denny Hamlin and finally Bill Elliott and Scott Riggs all took turns diving on the hog pile in turn 2. As you might expect, the reactions were varied. First Stewart:

“I take 100% responsibility — it’s my fault for being even anywhere close to Elliott (Sadler). If I’m within a half a lap of him, I expect that to happen. It’s my fault — I’m the one that hit him. When I hit him it caused all the guys behind us to wreck. So it’s my fault.”

Obviously there is still some residual ill-will from Stewart for the wreck at Darlington. Stewart has had wrecks in three of the last five races, and last week had a win snuffed out by a flat tire. Common sense says Stewart will rebound during the summer months, but he had similar problems in 2006 and failed to make the Chase. It’s definitely something to watch.

Meanwhile teammate Denny Hamlin received a lot of heat for plowing into the wreck late. It did appear that other drivers managed to slow down in less time than Hamlin, but Elliott and Riggs were even further behind Hamlin and still couldn’t stop in time.

“It’s so tight off of turn two right there. I feel bad for Elliott (Sadler). I came piling in there way late. I had the 43 (Bobby Labonte) right on my bumper trying not to get hit from him. When I heard wreck off turn two I immediately was on the brakes. It’s just these cars don’t stop as well as they had in the past. Luckily, I wasn’t the last one. It looked like guys even behind me piled in there. It’s just part of the race track.”

While I find it a little easy to blame the track and the heavier car, something obviously caused problems for numerous cars in the accident. After his incident last weekend in the Nationwide race, Hamlin is probably not a popular driver with many fans, but it’s not really fair either.

Other Notes

Nice runs by Dave Blaney, Travis Kvapil and Juan Pablo Montoya. All scored top 12’s. Meanwhile Sam Hornish Jr finished 19th to return to the top 35. The finish was his second top 20 and moved him all the way to 33rd in the owners standings. Meanwhile thanks to a steep 150 point penalty earlier this week and a bad wreck on Sunday, Scott Riggs and the #66 car fell outside the top 35. With the other Haas car missing another race, things are getting tough in a hurry for Haas-CNC.

Fox did a good job this year with their NASCAR coverage (although I could have passed on the letter grades feature today). Now it’s on to TNT. At least Kyle Petty will keep things fresh.

For the second straight year Tony Stewart led the Coca Cola 600 late. Last year he was beat when several drivers gambled on fuel. This year Stewart aced the pit stop, came out first and looked like he was on his way to winning his first Coca Cola 600. Then with two laps left he cut a tire, once again sullying his run. Stewart’s disappointment became Kasey Kahne’s elation. As predicted, Kahne ran well at Lowe’s. His driver rating was a race best 131.8 and he led 66 laps. He was also a little fortunate that other top cars like Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson all had problems. This week as countless blogs and media websites talk about how Kahne is a championship contender, keep in mind that this is based off of Kahne’s performance at one track. He has been average at every other track in 2008. Five laps led and no top 5’s prior to Charlotte does not prove that Kahne is ready for a breakout summer.

• I have resisted declaring a problem with Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth as long as I could, but they now officially have problems with their intermediate programs. Neither could find the top ten until they each outlasted enough cars with some help from fuel mileage. Lost in his ability to finish well is the fact that Kevin Harvick is not running well either, and hasn’t at intermediate tracks in two years. each of the three is good enough at other tracks to still make the Chase, but winning races will be tougher to come by. The good news is that the summer does not feature a glut of intermediate tracks. The bad news is that the Chase does.

• David Reutimann scored his first Cup top ten and ran inside the top for almost two thirds of the race.
  

  “It was a good effort for everybody at Michael Waltrip Racing and Toyota did a great job — UPS for sticking with us through this whole program and we haven’t really done much to deliver any good finishes. I think this is maybe a start for things to come and I appreciate them sticking with me and everybody at the shop. I managed to run the top side of the race track all night without knocking the right side off, so that’s a good start. I enjoyed it — the guys did a great job and the pit stops were good. All in all our team’s coming together and I can’t wait until the next race.”

  Sam Hornish Jr also posted a career high of 12th.

• While seemingly every top car experienced some kind of setback, Jeff Burton spent 398 of 400 laps in the top 15, only falling out for green flag pit stops. It’s becoming Burton’s trademark, running well without incident and getting everything out of the car without pushing it too far.

• Have you noticed that most of the NASCAR themed commercials are shot at Phoenix Raceway? Why is that?

• A nice touch by Fox to make suggested pit adjustments throughout the night. It’s something that appeals to more advanced fans. The NASCAR 101 stuff is great, but for the fans that watch every race, it’s about time that the broadcast gives something to them too.

• It was amazing that BrianVickers’ stray tire avoided more trouble. Even after smashing into David Gilliland’s hood, the tire still had enough speed to roll several hundred yards and bounced over a fence and into a camper. That is a 25 pound tire that broke loose from a car going 170 mph and it dropped onto a canvas tent. Nothing was really mentioned about this, but that could have been scary.

• With Memorial Day on Monday, I also want to thank all of the people that allow me to watch and write about NASCAR from the comfort of my couch with nary a thought about my life being in danger. This comfort and freedom that we all enjoy is due to our armed forces, past and present. Thank you.

For more racing news and opinion, check out Racing Nation.

Kasey Kahne won the All-Star race thanks in part to the fans. He finished 5th in the Sprint Showdown, but made the feature event from the fans voting him. I’m sure some people will say he didn’t deserve to make the race, but so what? Involving the fans in an exhibition race is the whole point. All-Star games in every sport see players that don’t deserve to make it, but wind up in the starting lineup every year. Give Kahne credit for parlaying his spot into a giant check (the more I think about it, the more I want to win a physicaly giant check. Even if it’s for $5, I want a big check.).

Kahne’s win also highlights how the track changes from day to night. He didn’t run particularly well in the qualifying heat but was far better when the track was cooler. It’s hard to cull a lot of information from this weekend and apply it to the Coca Cola 600, but that is one point to remember. In a 400 lap race we will see cars struggle in the first 100-200 laps but then look a lot better in the second half of the race.

-Dale Earnhardt Jr made an interesting observation about that relating to the 600.

I’ll tell you one thing I was surprised about was how much my car changed from the start of the run to the end of the run in 25 laps. I would go from real tight to real, real loose and we’re going to have to run 60 laps in the 600 on gas and you will be hanging on for dear life. It should be a real tough, tough 600. Probably tougher than any other one any of us has ever ran.

Long green flag runs at intermediate tracks haven’t been kind to the CoT. Hopefully the Lowe’s test will help, but as Junior noted things could get dull this weekend.

• If Joe Gibbs Racing is going to have a race where they lose three engines during the weekend, it may as well be an exhibition race. Of course if you’re going to pick a weekend to experiment with engines, well this is the weekend for that too. According to Denny Hamlin, that’s exactly what they did.
  

  “This is definitely experimental ‘All-Star only’ racing. We came out here with our guns loaded and unfortunately our gun went off a little bit before the end of the race. It just wasn’t enough. We knew this engine wasn’t going to go 500 miles. It was built for just a few more laps past 100 and it just didn’t make it.”

• Thumbs up for AJ Allmendinger for winning the undercard race, the Spring Showdown. After really struggling to get his NASCAR career on track, he finally had a positive breakthrough.

  I feel like I won the Daytona 500. Nobody understands how much this means to me after what we went through as a team. It may be just an All-Star Showdown, but this means the world to me. These guys — everybody at Red Bull Racing Team and Toyota — they’ve stuck behind me.

  After Red Bull replaced Allmendinger with Mike Skinner for five races, it was reasonable to believe that Allmendinger may not get another chance in the #84. Obviously 40 good laps won’t mean much in a points paying race, but it is proof that he’s capable of running much better than he’s shown so far. He did score his career best finish last fall at Lowe’s (15th). The fact that he also accepted 100% of the blame for bumping Elliott Sadler into the wall also shows he’s learning the political side of NASCAR too.

• I’m all for new and creative ideas, but I don’t think the burnout contest is one of them. Maybe I’m in the minority, but there’s not much variety in burnouts. Obviously it’s different being at the race and watching, but for a televised event it’s pretty lame.

  It’s kind of like where the NBA dunk contest is now. All the good, creative dunks have already been done, so everything is pretty vanilla.

For more racing news, check out Racing Nation

As far as Saturday night’s race, Kyle Busch won, he’s a great driver and will win more races this year and in the future. He slapped the wall multiple times and still won, it was impressive, but he is not Wild Thing. Ricky Vaughn, Mitch Williams, The Troggs, even Tone Loc all rank higher than Kyle Busch concerning rights to the “Wild Thing” moniker. Now let’s move on and talk about something that hasn’t been beaten to death in the last few weeks.

The race itself wasn’t very thrilling. Tires meant very little and track position was everything. On lap 250 Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr surrendered 1st and 2nd to pit for tires, while the cars from 3rd to 10th stayed out. Normally at Darlington a strong car with fresh tires would make its way back to the front rather quickly, but Hamlin and Truex spent the next 50 laps stuck in traffic at the end of the top ten. Darlington was obviously still treacherous, but without the steep dropoff in tires, the race was a little stale. It was the fastest race in Darlington history, speedwise and was almost 30 minutes quicker than the 2007 race, but boy did it feel long. I taped the race and despite fast forwarding through all the commercials, it still felt really long. Maybe it was because nothing exciting happened. I fear for my attention span in two weeks.

Thoughts

• A few weeks ago, I wondered if there were two drivers you would want to watch battle for the lead in a tight race, than Greg Biffle and Kyle Busch. Considering the fireworks Biffle and Busch presented on Saturday night, my answer stands. The save Biffle made when Busch bumped him in a turn was incredible. It’s a shame Biffle had mechanical problems because he was the only other driver that had something for Busch, and you knew if he was around at the end it would have been a great fight.

• While top ten stalwarts like Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick had trouble, the door was opened for some other drivers to enjoy good runs. David Ragan finished 5th for his second top five in three races. He also moved up to 12th in the standings. Travis Kvapil had another strong race (what does a team have to do to get a sponsor for crying out loud?), spending almost 300 laps in the top 15 before finishing 8th. One of the happiest teams on Saturday night was the #22 team. Dave Blaney climbed as high as 2nd before finishing 9th. The finish also pushes the team past Sam Hornish Jr for the crucial 35th spot in owner points.
  

  “This is a brand new car, and it was really good all weekend. They kept getting it better and better all night. That last run, we kind of faltered for some reason. But not bad, man. That is run that this team needed.”

• No rookie finished better than 28th and were at least 4 laps down. Too Tough to Tame indeed.

• Elliott Sadler handled his incident with Tony Stewart the right way. He publicly, and immediately accepted all the blame. If there is anything else to sort out, he and Stewart can iron it out in private. In the heat of the moment, that’s the wise and classy thing to do. Too often drivers would prefer to point fingers or shirk their responsibility on national television.

• Nice to see both Bill Elliott and Sterling Marlin back in Cup cars, especially at Darlington. The two have seven combined wins at Darlington. Elliott’s 30th place finish was the best showing for the Wood Brothers in 2008. Marlin drove for the injured Dario Franchitti in the #40 car, which has now come full circle. Marlin and David Stremme, both let go in previous years by Chip Ganassi have both subbed for Franchitti in recent weeks.

Next up is Exhibition Weekend, I mean All-Star weekend. Boogity, Boogity, Boogity boys, let’s go wreckin’.

For more racing insight, news and opinion be sure to check out Racing Nation. Tell ‘em Mike sent you (they’ll probably squint and ask, “Mike, who?”, but it’s still worth viewing.

Junior fans, be honest. If it was anyone other than Kyle Busch, would you be so upset right now? Would Busch’s wreck with Junior in the closing laps have been such a big deal? Well, probably since it involved the biggest star in NASCAR, but it’s hardly fair to Busch. It was a racing incident plain and simple. It wasn’t any different than Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick at Bristol earlier this year or hundreds of similar wrecks resulting from hard racing over the years.

In light of a tense situation, Busch did have one of the best quotes of the night after the race,

I don’t know why they[ the fans] were telling me I was number one, I was in second place. Clint Bowyer got the lead from me — they were all confused I guess, too many old (Dale Earnhardt) Jr. Budweisers.

• Denny Hamlin had the NASCAR equivalent of pitching a no hitter, only to cough it up on a home run in the bottom of the ninth. Actually, getting a flat tire after leading 381 of 382 laps was like watching your center fielder turn a single into an inside-the-park home run.
  

  It’s tough to say. I mean, you can’t whine about it. It wasn’t meant to be. God didn’t want me to win today, and there’s a better time for us to win, evidently. Today is just not our day.

  Hamlin had 1 green flag pass all night, which is usually a bad thing, except when there is no one else but lapped cars to pass.

• The top ten cars stayed essentially the same all night long. Part of the reason was because a lot of decent cars got caught up in an eleven car pileup. Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Juan Pablo Montoya and others all got collected after Patrick Carpentier was sent spinning. Jamie McMurray suffered minor damage in that crash, so he went back for seconds later in the race. Somehow Jeff Burton snaked through with minor damage and went on to finish 11th. The way the track clogged so quickly reminded me of another short track Big One from the 2005 Bristol race.

• Speaking of Kenseth, he now sits in 22nd place in the standings, 204 points outside of 12th place. In 2005 he was 21st after the Richmond race, but thanks to a furious summer rally he made the Chase. The good news is Kenseth typically runs well at the next three tracks, Darlington, Charlotte and Dover. There is a lot of time left.

• What was Michael Waltrip thinking when he continued bumping Casey Mears under caution? Mears was running one lap down in 16th. There was no way Mears meant to wreck Waltrip. For the lovable image Waltrip likes to project, it’s interesting how many times a year he gets called to the NASCAR hauler.

• The top 35 fight rages on. Dave Blaney’s 18th place finish (and best run of 2008) put some pressure on 35th place Sam Hornish Jr. 32nd place David Reutimann is only 10 points ahead of Hornish, with Waltrip and Regan Smith sandwiched in between. With the unfriendly confines of Darlington up next, the positions at the back of the field could change quickly.

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Halfway through Sunday’s race, Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin were leading the pack, pulling away with ease from everyone else. Kyle Busch, a lap down from an earlier pit road problem, was hanging with the lead pack, displaying an obviously fast car. At that point, it would have been easy to pick one of the three Joe Gibbs Racing cars out of a hat because they were all so strong. In the end it was Busch who found himself on the point at the right time. It took a few hairy moments to get there, including an audacious, yet successful block on Jeff Gordon as Gordon attempted to plow by on the outside. It’s not a total surprise that Busch won, he’s capable of winning on any weekend. Given the race he had and his Cup history at the track, it wasn’t the most obvious win.

In his six previous Cup starts at Talladega, Busch had four DNF’s and only one finish (11th in 2006) that was better than 32nd. He also has two DNF’s in the Busch/Nationwide Series. His 90.8 driver rating is the lowest of any winner this year. In fact no winning driver had a rating lower than 100 until Sunday. When things are going your way, and Busch is living a charmed life right now, everything just falls into place (usually first place).

• Race fans, it’s time to recognize that April and May represent the best stretch of racing there is on the Sprint Cup tour. Phoenix, Talladega, Richmond, Darlington and Lowe’s represent five completely different tracks with one common tie: great racing. Tight, competitive racing, incredible finishes, historic venues, night races, and aside from a road course, a pretty good cross-section of the circuit.

• I listened to part of the race on the radio in my truck. Listening to a restrictor plate race made me want to get behind another car and draft. Does that happen to anyone else?

• Some notable runs for David Stremme, Paul Menard and Joe Nemechek. Stremme subbed for the injured Dario Franchitti and nearly pulled off a top five result for the fledging #40 car. It wasn’t just a nice run for Stremme, but a professional move to accept driving for the team that let him go last year.

  It’s disappointing, but I had fun today. We ran well. There’s not much we can do. I ended up in a bad position at the end; I was left hanging out of the draft. When everything started, I had no place to go. Considering everything, we were there at the end with a chance for a good finish.

  Menard ran in the top ten for the majority of the day, leading 3 laps before getting bumped out of the way by Juan Pablo Montoya. Menard made an impressive save to not hit anything while sliding through the infield and actually rallied to finish 12th.

  We ran up front for most of the day and even thought we got turned by Montoya near the end, we still managed to fight our way back to 12th, which is awesome.

  The surprise of the weekend may have been Nemechek winning the pole for Furniture Row Racing. He was also in a nice position near the end before getting collected in the final lap crash.
  

  After taking the white flag, I was looking for a top-10 finish. But then came the wreck. I thought I had it missed, but at the last second the No. 48 (Jimmie Johnson) came across my hood. Yeah, we’re a little frustrated right now, but looking at the big picture it was a solid weekend for the Furniture Row Racing team. We qualified on the pole and had a solid performance in the race.

• Dale Earnhardt Jr had another strong run, but no win. Now he goes to the site of his last win 71 races ago. He has won the last two spring Richmond races in even years which means, nothing aside from he usually runs well at the track.

A few questions to ponder this week: Is there a better two month stretch of racing? How good could Juan Pablo Montoya be with better cars? Matt Kenseth sits 19th in the points, will he make the Chase? Who will win a race first among Dale Earnhardt Jr, Tony Stewart or Jeff Gordon? Have you entered the 50 years of Daytona 500 DVD contest yet? Why not?

For more NASCAR news and opinion, peep Racing Nation

Eight Races down in the 2008 Sprint Cup season. what have we learned so far? Here’s four simple things to nibble on while we wait for Talladega this weekend.

Dale Earnhardt Jr is apparently good Actually, Earnhardt Jr has been more than good. While a portion of the media focuses on his winless streak or his heated discussions with crew chief Tony Eury Jr, it’s pretty obvious that Earnhardt Jr is getting great cars every week. He has three top fives and six top tens in eight races and has led laps in six races. He sits 3rd in the points and has a season driver rating of 107.6, also good for third. Only six drivers have won so far this year, so there is no shame in running in the top five on a weekly basis.

Juan Pablo was the exception, not the rule. In 2007 Montoya made the bold jump to NASCAR from Formula One and almost immediately settled in. He scored a top five in the fourth race of the year, won a Busch race at Mexico City and a Cup race at Sonoma and a second at Indianapolis. He won rookie of the year, won one race, had three top fives and six top tens. It was a solid year and it also set the table for other drivers with open-wheel backgrounds. This year four drivers with open-wheel ties began the season intent on entering the entire Cup schedule. One, Jacques Villeneuve has already moved on. No other open-wheeler sits higher than 33rd in the driver points. Only one driver, Sam Hornish Jr, has finished higher than 20th. Meanwhile Dario Franchitti and Patrick Carpentier sit outside the top 35 in owners points and have failed to qualify for races.

It’s less an indictment of this year’s rookie crop and more of a testament to how well Montoya adjusted last year. The open wheel drivers have varying degrees of success prior to NASCAR so they all have talent, but the transition is slower than Montoya’s was in 2007.

The CoT is a work in progress…but there is progress Just like this time last year, the Car of tomorrow Today is an easy target for critics. Both fans and drivers have complained about the boring racing due to the lack of passing.

It’s true, on the intermediate tracks the car is not handling as well as the old car. Of course teams have only had four official races with the CoT, so it’s hard to expect the teams, Goodyear and NASCAR to successfully sort everything out already and produce great racing. It’s disappointing for the fans and drivers, but it will take time. The good news is that NASCAR has finally allowed another test session at a downforce track. This will only help shorten the learning curve for the car at new tracks.

So far the results have been discouraging, but for a glimpse of the future look at the tracks where the CoT is in its second year. Bristol, Martinsville and Phoenix all produced good races, especially compared to the same races from 2007. Give the teams time and they will figure out whatever car is mandated by NASCAR.

The Manufacturer love is spread out this year When a powerhouse team like Joe Gibbs Racing switches manufacturers, it will obviously change the NASCAR landscape. They granted Toyota instant credibility and have already won two races this year. Additionally Roush-Fenway-Daisuke Racing rediscovered their speedway prowess in the offseason. Suddenly Ford and Toyota are worthy opponents to RCR, Hendrick and the other Chevy teams.

Meanwhile, shhhh, quiet, Dodge is sleeping. Sure they won the Daytona 500, but in the seven races since, they have one top five (Ryan Newman at Texas). Kurt Busch has not led a lap since Daytona, Evernham-Gillet is still trying to get more than one car to run well and Chip Ganassi can’t stop criticizing his own teams.

For more NASCAR stats and opinion go to Racing Nation.

Daytona 500 DVD Contest

About that contest…I apologize, things got a little delayed last week. To make it up to you, I am now able to give away two DVD packages. I haven’t had a chance to see it yet, but based on what others are http://benchracing.onpitrow.com/tony-stewart/third-race-at-phoenix-was-the-new-car-charm.html">saying, it sounds ridiculous. I’ll have the details for my contest tomorrow. Seriously.