CHECKERED FLAGS
Carl Edwards, after a 70 race hiatus, finally wins a Cup race again. He, and the next ten finishers, played the fuel mileage card and cashed in. Congrats to Todd Bodine also, as he clinched the Truck Series title. It's the Onion's second Truck championship.
GREEN FLAGS
Hamlin kept a slim points lead by leading the most laps and finishing 12th after a late fuel stop. Ryan Newman came home in second place. Nice bookend to his win here earlier this year. Joey Logano stretched his Toyota's MPG, and ended up third. Championship contenders, Johnson and Harvick didn't lead a lap, but were 5th and 6th respectively.
YELLOW FLAG
Where were the late race 'debris' flags at PIR? In all three races this weekend there, we didn't see nary a late race mystery caution. Could it be because in all three Phoenix races Kyle Busch could have benefited from a late race reset? NASCAR certainly had no problem throwing a late race 'caution' in all three of his wins in Bristol a few months ago. Just sayin'.
RED FLAG
Poor Brendan Gaughn he brought along Daddy's casino sponsorship to land a one-race deal driving the #71, and promptly crashed out on the first lap. He's a great guy, not a great driver, though. Maybe he should consider a management position?
BLACK FLAG
Jimmie Johnson's lame attempt at smack talk after the race on Sunday. I haven't heard so many lame cliches since DW's last race on Fox. Stick to driving, JJ. You have absolutely no future on the mic.
I thought there would be another water bottle thrown on the track with a few laps remaining. Maybe the crowd was hoping JJ would run out of gas? Did the 1st water bottle make Jimmie wet himself? lol
ReplyDeleteI like conspiracies... Totally believable but would they really do it? Is Kyle really that disliked?
ReplyDeleteIn my years walking through this life I've learned a couple of things. One is that generally people hate change. Another is that change is inevitable. We're seeing this in NASCAR and NASCAR's fans when it comes to Kyle Busch. This brash, child-like westerner flies in the face of the "old guard" around NASCAR and yet he is one hell of a talent. He is learning the ropes and winning as he goes.
If Kyle can race hard and clean, and if the other drivers can reciprocate, there's a strong chance he'll become one of the all-time greats. He's got to have their respect. If he can just race hard and clean... His legend will grow. If he can just race hard and clean, the fans in this sport will follow him.
Hey JJ, leave the smack talkin' to Kevin!
ReplyDeleteEven though he's in third, I think Happy's in the catbird's seat. Here's why: Hamlin's feeling the pressure and he's never been this close to a championship at any NASCAR level. JJ has to feel Happy breathing down his neck, knowing that Homestead is NOT one of his better tracks and IS one of Happy's best 1.5 milers. And Harvick has NOTHING to lose; very few expected him to make the Chase, much less be this close to the championship.
CR.... Did you see Denny throwing his water bottle after the race? I think he was acting too upset for a guy that still is holding all the cards.
ReplyDeleteDwindy... Like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, he'll go down in his-tor-ee! He already has 80+ wins in the top 3 NASCAR series.
ReplyDeleteGo back and check his wins for the last two years, I bet at least 75% of them had a yellow fly in the last 10 laps while he had a big lead. It's B.S.!
Jon... Shocker alert! Jon thinks Kev is the man to beat...LOL. Hey, you gotta stick with your boy, I know how it is.
ReplyDeleteDenny won the last race at Homestead, and I predict he will lead the most laps and win this one, too!
JJ's record at Homestead isn't that great. Wanna know why? .... Because he's always had the title wrapped up by then. He's never had to be competitive there. Most of the time all he's had to do was show up.