First things first - if what I saw at Richmond Saturday night was "real racin'", give me that ol' fake plate-racing EVERY weekend. Good grief. Maybe this was a race you would have appreciated more in-person than on television. Denny Hamlin dominated the entire race. The top-five positions BARELY changed hands but for a few occassions, even after pit stops. That was the most boring Richmond race ever. That is, of course, until it wasn't. (But it was for a LONG time.)
There are so many guys to feel badly for in the aftermath of the finish, and all those guys also can take some blame, depending on your point-of-view. Hamlin having a tire go down on his way to sure victory - horrible, shades of Danica Patrick's Michigan race last year, where she was poised to win only to be forced to pit with a deflating tire with a few laps to go. Unfortunately, just like Bad Danica, Bad Denny took root in the seat of the FedEx Toyota after Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch split his wounded car on lap 383. I don't have a problem that he tried to nurse the car around the track, hoping for a caution to come so he could pit under yellow, and also hoping that the tire would hold out for the rest of the run. But Denny, STAY AT THE BOTTOM, for crying out loud! I saw the #11 car in the middle and on the outside far too much, and of course the tire let go right AFTER the pit entrance. Even if you weren't trying to force a yellow for your teammate (I don't think he was doing THAT so much as a forcing a yellow for himself), it still looked REALLY bad and plenty of people are questioning your character after that happened. I think the two-lap penalty Denny received, dropping him to 24th from probably 19th, wasn't really AT Denny so much as a "don't anyone ever do that again". Besides, Denny's IN the Chase, probably no matter what, so a 25 or 100-point penalty after the fact wouldn't really amount to anything in the end, anyway.
As far as Kyle and Junior's dust-up, I thought it was good, hard, CLEAN racing. Both guys tried to slow the other's lap - Junior moreso than Kyle - and that stuff is going to happen. Obviously, Junior was denied his first victory on two years, again, but Kyle might have beaten him, anyway. And Kyle has a history of close finishes where when hasn't wrecked an opponent - he really only gets into trouble when he pushes his own car past the limit or into a space that isn't totally there.
Add it all up, and you've got Denny denied a home sweep of the Nationwide and Cup races, Kyle denied a win that would have been a ridiculous #8 on the year (five in as many weeks, too) and back-to-back in the Cup Series, and Junior denied a chance at victory for the second straight week. The good news? They'll all be back at Darlington Sunday.
Oh, and hey - Clint Bowyer actually won the obesely-titled "Crown Royal Presents the Dan Lowry 400". (Viva gimmicky race names. Not.) The win was Clint's second career Cup victory and ninth overall, and puts him in with a big mess of drivers looking for third-place behind Kyle and Carl Edwards. SPRINT CUP (DRIVERS) Rank Points LW 1 Kyle Busch 111 1 2 Carl Edwards 90 2 3 Denny Hamlin 78 4 4 Jimmie Johnson 76 3 5 Jeff Burton 73 6 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 73 5 7 Clint Bowyer 72 8 Tony Stewart 72 7 9 Jeff Gordon 54 9 10 Ryan Newman 53 11 11 Kevin Harvick 50 11 12 Greg Biffle 48 10 13 Mark Martin 34 15 14 Kasey Kahne 31 13 15 Matt Kenseth 26 14 16 Martin Truex Jr. 24 20 17 David Ragan 20 15 Kurt Busch 20 15 19 Brian Vickers 19 18 20 Juan Pablo Montoya 17 19
Junior's crash really hurt Hendrick Motorsports in the team standings, as they lost a sure top-two finish and were led by Jeff Gordon's ninth-place result. Last year, Hendrick only had three races where their best car finished ninth or worse. This year they already have two and Joe Gibbs Racing has a 20-point lead on HMS.
Richard Childress Racing's win was their second of the season (more than Hendrick, who amazingly have ONLY Jimmie Johnsson's mileage win at Phoenix), and they are solidly fourth in points. Dale Earnhardt Inc. has surged in recent weeks, and with Mark Martin third and Martin Truex Jr. fifth, they were the only team with two cars in the top-five.
SPRINT CUP (TEAMS) Rank Points 1 Joe Gibbs Racing 162 2 Hendrick Motorsports 142 3 Roush Fenway Racing 131 4 Richard Childress Racing 115 5 Penske Racing 56 6 Dale Earnhardt Inc. 49 7 Gillett Evernham Motorsports 33 8 Chip Ganassi Racing 30 9 Red Bull Racing Team 20 10 Yates Racing 18 11 Robby Gordon Motorsports 8 12 Petty Enterprises 6 13 Michael Waltrip Racing 5 14 Bill Davis Racing 2 Haas CNC Racing 2 16 Front Row Motorsports 1 Furniture Row Racing 1
NEW FEATURE (maybe) - JJD's IMPROVED TOP-35 RULE
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that the top-35 rule would be improved if they limited it to the five most recent races run. Right now, here is the "danger zone" over the last five:
31 Michael Waltrip 358 32 Matt Kenseth 354 33 A.J. Allmendinger 354 34 Dave Blaney 352 35 Reed Sorenson 344 36 Michael McDowell 338 37 Kurt Busch 335 38 Patrick Carpentier 323 39 Sterling Marlin 310 40 Joe Nemecheck 281
Look at who is in 37th - the #2 Miller Lite Dodge of Penske Racing. That's what five weeks of 33/23/23/39/42 will get you. He could have been forced to suffer the ignominity of using a provisional this week. Also, Sterling's in his old #40 for Chip Ganassi this week, so he's listed in 39th.
Denny Hamlin *did* get his coveted home-state win in the Lipton Tea 250 Friday night, using a late caution to pit for tires while the leaders remained on track, passing Kevin Harvick for the lead with nine scheduled laps to go, and holding on through a green-white-checkered finishing for his sixth career Nationwide/Busch Series-win (tenth overall). Kevin Harvick nearly took his own car to Victory Lane for the first time, finishing second, while Steve Wallace, coming off a then career-best tenth in Mexico, finished fifth for a new career-high.
NATIONWIDE SERIES Rank Points LW 1 Kyle Busch 126 1 2 Clint Bowyer 92 2 3 Carl Edwards 80 4 Kevin Harvick 80 5 5 Tony Stewart 74 3 6 David Stremme 49 7 Denny Hamlin 49 16 8 Brad Keselowski 45 6 9 David Ragan 43 14 10 Mike Bliss 42 10 11 Jeff Burton 40 8 12 David Reutimann 39 9 13 Scott Wimmer 37 12 14 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 36 11 15 Jason Leffler 33 13 16 Matt Kenseth 32 14 17 Greg Biffle 24 17 18 Kasey Kahne 23 21 Bobby Labonte 23 18 Brian Vickers 23 18 Mark Martin 23 18
It definitely wasn't the dominating performance we've come to expect, but the #20 team won their fifth Nationwide race in a row. Additional bonus for JGR: Joey Logano, the 17-year old wonderboy who is poised to take the #20 seat after his 18th birthday, won the pole and led 257 of 312 laps in the ARCA race at Rockingham Sunday, so it apparently just keeps getting better for that team. Harvick's runner-up finish moves his team up to third in the standings.
NATIONWIDE SERIES (TEAMS) Rank Car# Owner Points 1 20 Joe Gibbs Racing 139 Drivers: T. Stewart (5 starts), Ky. Busch (3), D. Hamlin (3) 2 2 Richard Childress Racing 92 Driver: C. Bowyer (11 starts) 3 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. 85 Drivers: K. Harvick (8 starts), C. Gale (2), R. Hornaday (1) 4 60 Roush Fenway Racing 80 Driver: C. Edwards (11 starts) 5 29 Richard Childress Racing 77 Drivers: S. Wimmer (6 starts), J. Burton (5) 6 18 Joe Gibbs Racing 67 Driver: Ky. Busch (5 starts) 7 5 JR Motorsports 59 Drivers: D. Earnhardt Jr. (5 starts), L. Cassill (3), M. Martin (1), M. Truex Jr. (1), A. Fernandez (1) 8 32 Braun Racing 53 Drivers: B. Vickers (3 starts), D. Hamlin (3), Ky. Busch (3), J. Buescher (1), M. Jourdain (1) 9 64 Rusty Wallace Inc. 49 Driver: D. Stremme (10 starts), M. Papis (1) 10 88 JR Motorsports 45 Driver: B. Keselowski (11 starts) 11 9 Gillett Evernham Motorsports 44 Drivers: K. Kahne (5 starts), P. Carpentier (3), C. Miller (2), E. Sadler (1) 12 6 Roush Fenway Racing 43 Driver: D. Ragan (11 starts) 13 17 Roush Fenway Racing 40 Drivers: M. Kenseth (3 starts), J. McMurray (1), E. Darnell (1) 14 99 Michael Waltrip Racing 39 Driver: D. Reutimann (10 starts) 15 16 Roush Fenway Racing 37 Drivers: G. Biffle (4 starts), J. McMurray (3), C. Braun (2)
David Ragan's fourth-place finish led the Jack Ingram Cup crew and puts him back into the points lead ahead of Brad Keselowski, who finished 11th. David Reutimann finished 18th and fell from a first-place tie all the way to fourth in the standings.
TOP JACK INGRAM CUP FINISHERS 1 David Ragan (4th) 2 Steve Wallace (5th) 3 David Stremme (6th) 4 Mike Bliss (8th) 5 Scott Wimmer (10th) 6 Brad Keselowski (11th) 7 Mike Wallace (13th) 8 Sam Hornish Jr. (15th) 9 Jason Leffler (16th) 10 Bobby Hamilton Jr. (17th) 11 David Reutimann (18th) 12 Jason Keller (19th)
NATIONWIDE SERIES POINTS RESET ELIMINATING SPRINT CUP RACE WINNERS Rank Points 1 David Ragan 1699 2 Mike Bliss 1650 3 David Reutimann 1646 4 Brad Keselowski 1633 5 Jason Leffler 1571 6 Mike Wallace 1516 7 David Stremme 1417 8 Jason Keller 1385 9 Steve Wallace 1381 10 Kelly Bires 1379 11 Bobby Hamilton Jr. 1377 12 Marcos Ambrose 1347 13 Brad Coleman 1262 14 Kenny Wallace 1151 15 D. J. Kennington 1070
OFFICIAL JACK INGRAM CUP PRESENTED BY JJD STANDINGS Rank Points 1 David Ragan 118 2 Brad Keselowski 106 3 Mike Bliss 102 4 David Reutimann 100 5 Jason Leffler 88 David Stremme 88 7 Scott Wimmer 64 8 Mike Wallace 48 9 Kelly Bires 45 10 Dario Franchitti 44 11 Bobby Hamilton Jr. 42 12 Steve Wallace 41 13 Marcos Ambrose 35 Patrick Carpentier 35 15 Stephen Leicht 34
Toyota and Chevrolet exchanged 1-2 finishes in the two races at Richmond, but Toyota picked up three points on Chevrolet for the weekend by leading the most laps and winning the pole for the Cup race. Ford (Carl Edwards) led the most laps and a Dodge (Kasey Kahne) took the pole for the Nationwide race, a bright spot for Dodge in an otherwise dreadful season.
MANUFACTURERS Rank Points LW 1 Toyota 451 1
2 Chevrolet 436 2
3 Ford 340 3
4 Dodge 192 4
Why isn't the Mears Nation crying as loudly as the Jr. Nation?
I like the new feature, JJD. I bet Kurt Busch would tell you the points swap was the biggest mistake in his racing career to date. Did Penske think this through? Kurt Busch won't be in the chase. Happy sponsors??
Why isn't the Mears Nation crying as loudly as the Jr. Nation?
If there's a "Mears Nation", that nation is like Luxembourg or Liechtenstien, I'd think.
I bet Kurt Busch would tell you the points swap was the biggest mistake in his racing career to date.
The points-swap doesn't have anything to do with why his last five races have been so bad. After Bristol he was tenth in points after being out of the top-35 at the beginning of the year.
I think the problem is that Dodge = not good, at least right now.
JJD- I love the way you suggested to do the top 35 but at the moment I am glad its not in place for Kurt's sake! Those guys cannot catch a break lately, I think they have been cursed with whatever Jamie Mac had at the beginning of the year.
Dodge is missing something, I know Kurt is struggling with the setups though. I dont think they can bounce back and make the Chase at this point...
Lori- JJD has it right, Kurt was only affected by the points swap for the first 5 races, he was solidly in after Bristol, they have just been running horrible!
JJD - Do you remember the plate race at Loudon in 2000? Nobody passed anyone, Burton led all 300 laps. Labonte had him in turn three but couldn't cross the start/finish line in the lead. Earnhardt claimed that Bill France was rolling over in his grave at the sight of that mess. So I'll stick with the "real racing" at Richmond anytime. At least the "drama" created is based on actual racing situations, not an engine-restricted, aero-packed glob of cars. Hamlin stunk up the field, no doubt. But there was racing all over the track, Fox just decided not to cover any of it.
I meant give me plate races at Daytona and Talladega, not put plates on them at EVERY track. That would be HORRIBLE. (Also, I was being semi-facetious about it.)
It wasn't just Hamlin stinking up the joint - after a few laps the drivers got very strung out and there was little passing among positions. I'm sure FOX could have given us more action, but that was still a stinker of a race. It's not the end of the world - not every race can be awesome - it's just funny that it happened right after the great race at Talladega.
Sure, it doesn't measure up in terms of what your feeling was for 'Dega. Really though, what would you compare to almost every Talladaga or most Daytona races as great racing? That is what the plates do - confine cars to close packs. I'm not arguing that again. Understand that you and many fans prefer that. I don't. Some fans want big crashes. Some want many lead changes. Some want a 10 lap shootout. Some want at least one car on fire in the frontstretch. Some want a nose-to-nose finish. Some want all of the previous. Richmond will get better the longer the teams have to work with the COT. I was very impressed with the fact that no matter what conditions did to the track the #11 car had everyone covered by quite a margin. Plus we got an exciting finish, albeit a controversial one.
Right, Dodge isn't performing well as a whole. Right, the points swap was just for the first 5 races.
My point was 'beyond' the tangibles. Penske put him in a position to make the field by qualifying, which he didn't do very well at. IN MY OPINION, the confidence, motivation and momentum was lost somewhere along the way for that team.
Oh well. My opinions go over here about as well as a glass of merlot with a corn muffin. :)
Oh well. My opinions go over here about as well as a glass of merlot with a corn muffin.
NOT true. Have I managed to offend EVERYBODY in here?
And you may have a point, but that would still be weird - they were stuck on the outside for five races and were good enough to be tenth in points, then they get back locked-in and THEN start to feel the effects of the points-switch? That just seems backwards, doesn't it? They really didn't even need to freak out because Busch has the champions provisional to use.
JJD - no no. I am NOT offended. I guess I am just on a rant lately, nothing of your doing. Your observation is correct. The realities are in the facts, numbers, stats, et al.
I just had a 'lowly' opinion.
You are one of the best here and you back it up. Nothing wrong with that.
Lori- ah, now I see what you were saying...I think it didnt effect Kurt as much as his crew, they were pretty annoyed with the crappy garages for sure and Sam's crew didnt even buy them beers or nothing!
From what I can tell, they cant figure out the setups and Kurt gets frustrated and isnt able to give any feedback other than "the car is a sh**box" and then they cant really improve on that. I think its a combo of bad luck, bad info and bad setups and now they are in a tailspin.
BTW, I *love* corn muffins and Merlot! and I always love your insights girl...
JayJay... No passing? Where did Boyer start the race? Or Jeff Gordon? Or most of the top 10 finishers? I saw give and take all over the place. I do think FOX could have keyed more on that giving the dominance of the #11.
Well, it's not like it was F1-bad, but for the longest time the top seven or eight cars were strung out with large gaps between them. Junior made a nice run up from 22nd to 5th or so before stalling out. It just felt like the race could have been at Kansas or Fontana - not a typical short-track event, the last 20 laps notwithstanding.
I'm not offended, JJD. Just because we disagree on certain aspects doesn't mean there is a problem. I usually comment on blog articles because I'm interested in the discussion. Have found that the NASCAR bloggers are much more interested in analyzing their sport than any other on this Fox Sports site. Your articles are a must read of about 6-7 blog authors for me. I appreciate that you quantify your theories through statistical analysis - and I love statistics. But I'm not going to agree with all of your conclusions...and that is a good thing.
JJD, in an effort to continue to keep this blog going - lol - I must inform you of an unprecendented event in my reading of these blogs today. You've given me many chuckles, made me think about things in different shades and hues, and even grated on my nerves when you beat me in the trifecta.
BUT~! today when I read your comment to Lisa about "fixed that for you" -- I literally laughed. Good times.
BUT~! today when I read your comment to Lisa about "fixed that for you" -- I literally laughed. Good times.
Man, I felt like she was lecturing me. Did you read the whole thing? It started on her blog and sort of mosied over to BN's. I feel like she was trying to be cute but then she was trapped trying to justify it.
I lost most all of the respect I suppose I had for her NASCAR knowledge when she trashed Junior's Busch titles as beating "a bunch of teenagers".
i liked the richmond race, but i only started watching at about the half way point. i didn't watch any of dega, mostly cuz i didn't have time. your right when you say that it might have been good if you were there. t.v. only watches the leaders and gives very little as to what is going on back in the pack. that said, i still don't mind if someone dominates. i watched the race for second and it was pretty good. jr, led some, martin led some, kyle led some. it had drama for the bit that i saw anyway and that ended up becoming the race for the lead in the end.
JayJay - I absolutely read all of it, and I think that's why I just let out a vocal laugh... it really was fantastic. You can never compare auto racing, and expecially NASCAR, with other sports, it never pans out.
She is more of a fan than an expert as her expertise lies in football. I can't knock that. But, it might do her well to read your "a win is a win is a win" series???
JayJay - I absolutely read all of it, and I think that's why I just let out a vocal laugh... it really was fantastic. You can never compare auto racing, and expecially NASCAR, with other sports, it never pans out.
The thing that KILLS me - she HAD a perfect comparison she COULD have used with Peyton Manning. I almost ought to write that one myself. Peyton was everywhere BEFORE he won the Super Bowl. No one would say he wasn't REALLY GOOD, but he always seemed to come up short in the end so his success felt like it he was as good as everyone thought it would have been more. Sound like Junior? I think so, and if Junior gets his championship it will be much like Manning's SB win, I'd bet.
How you can compare Junior - with all those wins in his career - with Anna K, who NEVER even won a small tournament, let alone achieved Junior's levels of success, is beyond me.
I'd rather the Nextel Cup champion be decided over the entire season, but I think if you are going to have a Chase for the Nextel Cup, you should break out the twelve guys and have them scored separately, so I'm tracking the points both ways.
I also strongly advocate a NCAA football playoff, so there will be some posts about that showing up here, although I have written this blog for over a year and haven't gone there yet.
I can be reached via e-mail or AIM at jayjaydean at gmail dot com.
