Monday, June 7, 2010

View From The Flagstand

What a far flung weekend of racing we witnessed, all from the air conditioned comfort of our sofas, and, or barstools. The Sprint Cup and ARCA teams were in Pocono, Trucks and Indy cars were deep in the heat of Texas, the Nationwide guys were in Magic City, Nashville, and there was a great Grand Am race in Watkins Glen. Not so proud to say that I saw parts of all those races on the telly, and did see the finish of each one. Dedicated, or just pathetic?

CHECKERED FLAG

Denny Hamlin led the most laps and dominated the second half of the race in route to his fourth victory of the season. His JGR team was stout throughout, and his teammates should have both had top-5 finishes.

GREEN FLAGS

JGR's Kyle Busch won the pole and finished second. Tony Stewart may have begun his annual summer storm, as he was a strong third. Kurt Busch (6) and Juan Montoya (8) both overcame problems for solid finishes.

YELLOW FLAGS

Joey Logano was on his way to a top-5 when he messed with the bull(y) and got the horn. Kevin Harvick held his line (forever) when Logano came down to enter the turn, and wrecked himself with a handful of laps left. Logano has been a virtual punching bag for a variety of drivers, including Harvick earlier this year in a NNS race at Bristol.

After Sunday's race Logano parked at Harvick's car to discuss the incident. A Home Depot crew member tried to hold Logano back, but Logano's father pulled the crew man away and told Joey to go get in Harvick's face. Logano had his say, and probably gained a little respect in the garage.

RED FLAG

With radar and meteorologists saying that a heavy weather cell was almost on top of the track, NASCAR elected to let TNT proceed with their hour and a half pre-race show instead of trying to start the race a little earlier,and perhaps get some laps in. It started to rain as soon as the engines were fired up, and, after a few parade laps, the cars were parked for a couple of hours.

Once the track was dry, a hole was discovered at the exit of pit road. The track has been sitting for ten months since their last event, and now when we're ready to race.... oopsie! We have a hole. No worries, we'll grout over it while millions wait. And, as further proof of our professionalism, we'll place four orange cones around the repair.... and leave them there, on the racing surface, for the duration! Look out NFL, we're gunning for you!

BLACK FLAG

A.J. Allmendinger! On the last lap, down the backstretch, Dinger decides to block his teammate, Kasey Kahne, all the way down into the grass. Instead of hitting AJ in the ass, as was warranted, Kahne lost it, and caused a huge accident. This killed a lot of good finishes and hard work. Allmendinger blissfully went on to a 10th place finish.

10 comments:

  1. There are a bunch of people on the yahoo article about it saying Kahne was at fault for not lifting off and settling for being behind AJ since they're teammates and it wasn't for the win.

    What a bunch of rubbish!

    Pocono...a momentum track...lift off on the final lap with THAT many cars behind you?! Kasey would have been lucky to only lose 5 spots by the time he reached the line if he did that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tez.... I just saw the same thing on Racing With Rich's blog. Four comments, and every one of them blamed Kahne. Total BS! The only thing KK did wrong was to not hit AJ in the rear bumper while still on the asphalt!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have no idea how the #2 team came back after that stupid mistake by Mule leaving the tire valve cap off the RF. I would NOT want to be Mule after the race - he is dang lucky they got a top 10 out it. One lap down most of the race, some fancy pit work and a lot of Fbombs later to come out with 6th was amazing.

    I think Smoke is blowing Smoke - maybe I'll eat my words but I dont think so. That team is in trouble and got lucky on Sunday.

    Gotta say I am lovin all these rivalries! Esp the within team ones...great stuff!

    ReplyDelete
  4. KLV...it was shocking to see Kurt up front with about 40 laps to go. Thought he was done hours before! They are looking like real contenders after that showing.

    I doubt anyone at RPM will even say anything to AJ for taking out the lame duck.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I agree... 'dinger though I like him, and have followed him since his ChampCar days, was blocking to the bitter end. Tough for Kasey, and all the other crash test dummies, Jeffy, Ambrose, Biffle, etc...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Seems to be team conflicts across the board, and pond. Red Bull in F1, JGR & HMS in NASCAR. Ryan and Smoke haven't had a spat in a few years (New Hampshire). Maybe time for them to tangle again?

    ReplyDelete
  7. CR.... yeah, I like AJ too. Kasey has a lot of fans, so I don't know why the entire internet is slamming him today.

    Doubt that Tony and Ryan will get too chippy with each other.... they need to concentrate on points racing now.

    ReplyDelete
  8. So Gene, are ya sayin' of the two, Kasey was being the good teammate even when Allmendinger suddenly got a bad case of amnesia about Kahne being his teammate? Kasey should have retaliated by nailing A.J. rather than trying for the "pass in the grass"? Interesting... And ya think nobody at RPM will call it like it was? More interesting... And that's because Kahne is jumping ship? I can see why klvalus loves this sport, it's right up her alley!

    Thanks Gene

    ReplyDelete
  9. Dwindy....lol.Yeah something like that. Kasey was trying the pass in the grass, he hit some huge puddles though.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Dedicated to be sure lol. Every race fan should hope they could do the same.
    Every flag was right on this week, and the cones at the end of pit road were a nice touch.

    ReplyDelete