Monday, May 17, 2010

View From The Flagstand

The View from Dover was a Deja View, as Kyle Busch won both the NNS and Cup races over the weekend. With two weekend sweeps in a row, JGR seems to be the chosen team to rise up and face off with HMS's Jimmie Johnson for series supremacy. Hey, we're almost halfway through the regular season, the hype starts.... now!

CHECKERED FLAG

Kyle Busch came within a questionable late race yellow in Friday's Truck race of winning all three races at Dover on successive days. He won the pole and dominated that race before mechanical issues foiled him again. He won the NNS pole and race on Saturday as he had his way with the competition. In Sunday's Cup race, his car got better as the race went on, setting up a late race throwdown with Jimmie Johnson. That wasn't to be as JJ had a pit road penalty allowing the Rowdy one to sail to an uncontested victory.

GREEN FLAGS

Jeff Burton (2), Matt Kenseth (3), Denny Hamlin (4), and David Reutimann (5) rounded out the top-five. Martin Truex won the pole, and came in 12th. The last minute sub for Brian Vickers, Casey Mears, was 22nd, and kept the car in one piece.

YELLOW FLAGS

Sam Hornish and Marcos Ambrose had very tiring days. They both had multiple blowouts and visits into the retaining walls. Dale Earnhardt Jr finished 10 laps down....is it really finishing when you're ten laps down?

RED FLAG

Darrell Waltrip gushing over Kyle Busch. Is he comparing Busch to Dale Earnhardt Sr because he knows Fox will be swamped with emails which will prove to them how controversial, and needed, ol' D Dub is? Or, is Fox making him say it because they're trying to build a must watch star? Either way it's jacked up!

BLACK FLAG

Jimmie Johnson dominated the first three quarters of the race, only to see his chance at victory disappear due to his speeding penalty on the last pit stop of the race. There is no one to blame but himself on that one. Busch's pit crew had their usual fast stop, and JJ came out of his pit just a front bumper behind the M&Ms Toyota. The Champ fudged it just a goose feather too much and was busted by the pit road police. Props to Johnson for not whining, or swearing on his kids' lives, that he wasn't speeding. He owned it like a man.

11 comments:

  1. Rowdy sure looked good on that self-cleaning concrete track, that's for sure! There's a long way to go, maybe Jr. can get it turned around.

    I heard one of the NASCAR talking heads (Craven) speculate that the Gibb's boys (Hamlin and Busch to be exact) are peaking too soon. What BS! Is there ever a too soon? There's always a too late, but too soon???

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think your poll should put up five names that didn't make it into the HOF in the inaugural class. You pick the most deserving from that perspective. What do ya think?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dwindy...I don't see Jr getting it turned around any time soon.

    Should we ask Craven if JJ winning 3 out of the first 5 races was peaking too soon? lol

    Re HOF: Yeah, after this poll my next one was gonna list 5 names that didn't get in. Sometimes there is a method to my madness...LOL

    ReplyDelete
  4. I just come here to catch which phrase will jump out at me like "swearing on his kids' lives" or last year "coming up short" for the Extenze driver.lol

    ReplyDelete
  5. That was a bit of a snoozer - thank god we had Sam and Marcos to break up the monotony that was the Kyle and JJ show.

    Anyone else catch how JJ and his spotter try to race out of the pit and then back off by the second white line? Tricky smarty pants thinkin there...pretty sure we dont do that on the #2 team.

    ReplyDelete
  6. ATH...that was a snarky reference to JPM's sniveling about his speeding penalty at Indy last year.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Kristen...I believe Rusty (in the #2!) was the master at playing the speeding game on pit road. Once he new where the timing devices were he gamed it.

    I thought Kyle slowed down some right before the line, and made it JJ look even more obvious. Kyle never gets a speeding penalty, yet he always looks like he's too fast on pit road. WTH?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ha, I like the final paragraph. Difference is Johnson has won 50 or so races in his career while Montoya has won just once and missed out on a victory at the Brickyard, but point taken. Other than that there wasn't a whole heck of a lot to chew on after this race. Everyone minded their P's and Q's for the most part.

    ReplyDelete
  9. despite Junior's ability to have decent finishes this season, you have start wondering when the 88 team, if ever, will contend for a win, and where do we place blame.

    I was quick to point a finger at Tony Eury Jr, but this thing is squarely on Junior now after throwing all Hendrick's mite into the mix for 2010, with no return on investment.

    He wouldn't be pulling a disinterested Kyle Petty move now, would he?

    ReplyDelete
  10. JM....it would be nice if NASCAR would make the pit road speed chart available live to it's TV partners as the race progressed. If they have nothing to hide, what's stopping them?

    ReplyDelete
  11. I didn't think it was ever the crew chief or the stepmother holding Jr back. Hell, I don't even believe he could contend with Knaus as his chief.

    He is in a funk, and sometimes it's hard to get out of one. You don't ever see a major league baseball player not perform for three years and still have a job.

    NASCAR may be the one sport where individual results don't really matter... as long as the sponsor wants you in a car.

    ReplyDelete