View From The Flagstand: New Hampshire Smoke Storm

Two races into the Chase and Tony Stewart has won both on strategy. Sunday's Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire was the second snorer in a row. No wrecks, few cautions, no passing, and fuel mileage racing add up to sleepy time.

CHECKERED FLAG

Stewart leads the points with eight races left in the season after his second win of the year. And, those wins couldn't have come at a better time than at the start of the Chase. Smoke did his Kevin Harvick imitation, as he led only the last two laps at NHMS.

GREEN FLAGS

Brad Keselowski is up to third in the point standings after his second place run. RFR had all four of their entrants finish in the top-8. Brian Vickers (5th) and Regan Smith (10th) had much needed good finishes.

YELLOW FLAG

NASCAR officials put Kurt Busch's Penske Dodge in a long time out after it didn't quite pass pre-race inspection. As the other 42 cars sat on the grid, the double deuce was held in the garage area to send a message to the Pennzoil team that their offset rear end won't be welcome at the remaining races on the schedule.

RED FLAG

Denny Hamlin falls to 12th in the Chase, and is 66 points behind the leader. Stick. Fork. Here. It's time for the JGR #11 boys to begin testing for next year. Maybe use the next eight races to straighten out their engine program?

BLACK FLAG

Trouble in paradise? Chad and Jimmie on the rocks? Jimmie Johnson seems to be feeling the heat, and is 10th in points now. That is the lowest he has ever been ranked in the Chase. Uh oh. Now, watch JJ roar at Dover this week.

View From The Flagstand: Harvick Rolls at Richmond

The Sprint Cup regular season closed Saturday night on Richmond's three-quarter mile oval. The beating, banging, and paybacks would have made the old half-mile, Fairgrounds Raceway proud of the newer version now used in the Commonwealth's capital city.

CHECKERED FLAG

Kevin Harvick has been struggling for months. Saturday night he served notice that he will be a player in the Chase again this year as he led over half of the 400 laps. His ride was fast, and hard to pass.

GREEN FLAGS

David Ragan needed to win to get in the Chase. He came up short, but his 4th place finish made him the only non-Chaser among the top nine places. Mark Martin in 10th, and AJ Allmendinger in 11th were the other two highest finishing non-Chase participants.

YELLOW FLAG

Richmond International Raceway tied their record for most cautions with 15. About half of those could have been avoided with a little give and take, or even common courtesy, among the drivers. There were plenty of paybacks, dive bombs, and bump and runs. However, the hard nosed racing made this race one of the best this season. Almost comparable to a road course, eh Dwindy?

RED FLAG

Prior to Friday's Nationwide race on their network, ESPN talking heads, Brad Daughtery, Dale Jarrett, and Marty Reid slandered driver Justin Algaier. They accused him of rough driving, and wrecking his teammate, Reed Sorenson, the week before. WTF? These same guys develop lockjaw every week as (ESPN co-worker) Rusty Wallace's son, Steven, commits one egregious act after the other!

BLACK FLAG

Harvick was a hero on Saturday, but definitely a zero on Friday. He intentionally wrecked at least two Nationwide series' regulars, and was team blocking for Elliott Sadler, his full time NW driver. The blocking to assist Sadler in points is sorry enough, but did he also wreck some of Sadler's competition for the points?

Freedom of Choice?

The White House is honoring Jimmie Johnson's 2010 championship next Wednesday. The other eleven 2010 Chase entrants are also invited. Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart declined the invitation, citing prior commitments. Don't be surprised if some sponsors convince their drivers to show up after all.

Liberal elitists are howling about how disrespectful these five drivers are. They believe that since they would drop everything to answer a White House invite, that everyone else should, too. Never mind that these drivers may have prior scheduled appearances with fans. Fans that have waited months to meet their heroes for an autograph or a picture. Fans who are suffering the most from the current administration's policies.

I would go to the White House, if invited, no matter who was President. However, every American is free (for now) to choose to accept invitations or not.