Tuesday, April 20, 2010

View From The Flagstand


Two Monday races in three weeks.... with the same winner. Perhaps Denny Hamlin should go to the club and make it rain before every race. Three weeks ago, at Martinsville, Hamlin had the car to beat, Monday in the Lone Star State he cashed in due to a Texas sized wreck.

CHECKERED FLAG

Denny Hamlin had a fast piece and led the final 12 laps after a massive pile-up took out some stout competition. Last week in Phoenix, Hamlin was criticized for not using a relief driver when he stayed in the car and finished two laps down in 30th. Could Hamlin, and his surgically repaired knee, be bowing up to challenge Mr Four Time?

GREEN FLAGS

Jeff Gordon was the class of the field all day Monday, or at least until the Big One took him out with under 20 laps to go. Second place finisher, Jimmie Johnson was also strong, but came up just short at the end. Nice to see Dale Earnhardt Jr has finally given up on the acting lessons. He led several laps and hung around the top-10 all day in route to an 8th spot. Kyle Busch was third in the Cup race, then decimated the field while winning the NNS event later on Monday afternoon.

YELLOW FLAGS

With less than 20 to go, Tony Stewart got hot, and caused the Big One. Stewart, on old tires, didn't like it when Gordon brushed against him on his way to the front. Smoke turned left into Gordon and all heck broke loose. The Fox TV crew looked at dozens of replays and decide to pin the blame on Carl Edwards who,behind Stewart, had no where to go. During later interviews, both Stewart and Gordon blamed Tony. I don't think I ever heard the Foxheads apologize to Edwards.

RED FLAG

Two races in one day. That makes for a long, wasted weekday. Sure, it'll probably never happen again, but with all the waterlogged races this year you never know. Maybe the spring races in Texas should be on Friday and Saturday nights, so they have an extra day for rainouts?

BLACK FLAG

Should I just rename this category, Fox Flag? When I think they can't possibly get any worse along comes a rain delay that they fill for 10(?) hours with their on-air talent(?). Seeing DW in a rain slicker, then hearing him compare Jimmie Johnson to Taylor Swift (huh?) was just too much. JJ and Swift? One has talent, and will still be relevant in ten years.
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11 comments:

  1. GENE,

    I DO BELIEVE THAT AFTER ABOUT THE THIRD TIME THEY LOOKED AT THE REPLAY, DW MADE THE COMMENT THAT CARL REALLY HAD NO PLACE TO GO AND THAT HE HAD THE RUN ON THE OUTSIDE WHEN IT ALL BROKE LOOSE.

    THAT MAYBE AS CLOSE TO A "TAKE BACK" THAT YOU GET.

    GUNAQUAT

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  2. Gunny...I missed it. I know they blamed Carl about 10 times. For experts they don't have much of a clue. I'm still wondering about that hard hit JPM took, head-on in the wall. I heard no word from Fox on that.

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  3. Why can't they just show replays of old races to pass the time like they do for cricket matches?

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  4. Tez.... I've been wondering the same thing...they used to do that with the races. Usually was a boring one from the same track the year before. They probably found out, through ratings, that the fans would rather see DW and Kenny Wallace acting like jackasses than watch a replay. PT Barnum was NOT wrong.

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  5. Gene, good view as usual. Re the Big One, Edwards had NOWHERE to go; he had a tremendous run on the outside and would have gained 3-4 positions had he been unimpeded. And it looked like his car was getting stronger as the laps wound down.

    I think JPM's still clearing the cobwebs from his head after that hit!

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  6. Jon....By that point, I think Tony was going so slow, it just looked like Carl was real fast...lol.

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  7. Great run by Hamlin. What he did is truly amazing.

    I think the entire country said Huh? when DW made the JJ-Taylor Swift comparison. lol.

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  8. JM....Great run....but nothing compared to Ricky Rudd winning in Richmond with his eyes taped open after a very violent wreck in Daytona the week before. Viginians are tough!

    When all of Swift's 13 y.o. fans grow up... who will buy her CDs?

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  9. They're tough, but can't spell. LOL

    Virginians!

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  10. Good thing I had the sound down - I missed DW's comparison! I still think DW is insane for saying Denny did the right thing by staying in at PHX, being tough...but maybe the pain is making him focus better! Who knows but is pretty amazing he could win 2 weeks after major knee surgery.

    With sponsor silly season upon us - this year should be interesting to see who jockeys for whom...RCR appears to be in real trouble.

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  11. Good job! Did Fox ever talk to Montoya cause he hit that wall pretty hard?

    Go, Junyer!

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