Race two of NASCAR's Chase is over and with Jimmie Johnson's HMS team flexing their muscles at Dover on Sunday it just became a lot more familar. You have to go back to 2006 to find the last time JJ finished lower than 15th in a Chase race.
After the high banks of Dover, we'll be on the sweeping Kansas prarie, and racetrack, this weekend for round three. This race should shake out the three or four title contenders from the pretenders.
CHECKERED FLAG.....Jimmie Johnson won the pole, won the race, and led the most laps at the Monster Mile on Sunday. No one has ever won the fall race in Dover and went on to win the championship that year.
GREEN FLAGS........HMS cars finished first, second (Mark Martin), and sixth (Jeff Gordon). the other HMS car did recieve five or six 'Lucky Dog' passes. No? It just seemed like it? Matt Kenseth in third, got his first top-5 since February. RPM drivers AJ Allmendinger and Kasey Kahne finished 7th and 8th.
YELLOW FLAGS.......The Dover 'Big One'. Joey Logano, Robby Gordon, Reed Sorenson, and Martin Truex Jr were all involved in a major wreck early in the race. ESPN's lone Sports Center highlight of the race was Logano's seven barrel rolls.
RED FLAG.......Joe Gibbs Racing. In addition to Logano's thrill show, Kyle Busch seemed to relish in swiping the wall multiple times. JGR's lone Chase entrant, Denny Hamlin, was their highest finisher at 22. While Logano has the Rookie of the Year award sewn up, it looks like JGR's fourth Cup championship will have to wait at least another year.
BLACK FLAG......I hate to pile on ABC/ESPN every week but they must not care. I wasn't kidding about their SC highlights. Less than 10 seconds devoted to a sport that THEY are airing! Sunday night's SC showed Logano's flips and Johnson taking the checkered flag. Then back to the riveting NFL highlights of Detroit beating Washington, Denver vs Oakland, and the WNBA playoff highlights.
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ReplyDeleteNice blow by blow Gene
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned that no one has won the Fall race at Dover and went on to win the title.
Actually the Fall Dover winner has taken the title on nine occasions. 1971,74,75,76,(79),82,83,88 and 1995.
Cant mess with SC during prime time. It is only worth watching in the mornings and on Monday nights during football season but then again I havent been watchin it anyhow ....
Rick....thanks for the info. What I meant was that no one had done it in Chase-era NASCAR.
ReplyDeleteI try not to watch SC ever. Sometimes it happens to be on though. lol
I figured something was there, just didnt know what because the Chase means nothing to me ...LOL ....just like SC.
ReplyDeleteDover in its original form was a true beast at 500 miles on asphalt. There is no comparision between then and now. Then was way better period.
Any idea how many times we'll here references to the Wizzard of Oz this weekend?
ReplyDeleteI have one good thing to say about SC... Keith Oberman is not there.
Watch for Clint Bowyer to pull a rabbit out of a hat, or maybe a top 5 finish. Of course, Mark Martin will be all over him in the process.
Who drives that 4th HMS car? LOL
Nice run down,, but pick on the 88 team all you want, they have showed improvement and the 18 team have gone down hill & shown if they made the chase they would be in the same place as last years with a bad Dover race.?.
ReplyDeleteI know not as bad in the points cause he had a good finish at Loudon this year, but they got to fix that for next year.
PS,, I know Dale got one lucky dog and Jeff Burton got two for sure, Then again how many where on the lead lap by half way? lol. boaring race when that many get lap.
Cheers2You
RL....I've been to Dover three times....all before they concreted it. I remember Harry Gant's right rear tire smoking every lap through the turns.... so much smoke it looked like a blown engine.
ReplyDeleteCR...I have my 'Wizzard of Oz' refferences already written for RSO...lol
ReplyDeleteOlbermann and Dan Patrick were not bad... back in the 90s. Them to recapture the magic on the NBC pre-game is just sad.
F2....Did you fall off the wagon? LOL! The 88 team is running better than the 18? What, one race in a row?
ReplyDelete19 cars at Dover finished on the lead lap. Take away all the cars that wrecked and the start and parkers, and that's almost everyone who was still running at the end. Almost everyone.
Nice post as always. I don't see why ESPN even bothers to cover NASCAR at this time of year if they are always going to put it at the bottom of the pecking order...
ReplyDeleteGonger....thanks. Maybe ESPN doesn't really care about NASCAR. They just want NASCAR so that none of their competitiors will broadcast it instead?
ReplyDeleteESPN/ABC just keeps adding insult to injury. Their coverage is obnoxious.
ReplyDeleteI think you might see a new stat this year - as in the Dover race winner wins the Chase for the first time. Kansas and Fontana have JJ's name all over it.