Martinsville saw Denny Hamlin finally collect his first grandfather clock. He's been rather handy at the paperclip track but until now hasn't been able to pick up a win...mind you, with Jimmie Johnson practically monopolising this place, that's not really surprising. Speaking of Johnson and the HMS boys, they had a fantastic race and had all four cars running in the top 10 for the most part and wound up second, fourth, sixth and seventh just to remind us that they are still a threat this year. Jamie McMurray and Regan Smith had solid races and finished in the top 15.
Hamlin guided his #11 Camry to score Toyota's second Cup win in his home state.
Texas saw a snoozefest that made me wish I had taped the Indycar race instead. The F1 race from Bahrain was far more exciting since you had Kimi trying to close down on Felipe during the middle stint and also the three-way tussle between Kovalainen, Trulli and Webber. Anyway, back to the Cup race and Carl Edwards scored his third win of the season to go past Dale Earnhardt Jr for second in the standings, a fraction behind Kyle Busch who maintained his lead due to finishing third behind Edwards and Johnson. Jeff Gordon had a torrid time and finished last after struggling with the handling of his Impala SS until it finally caught him out (no photo for Carl since I can't find a decent one of his Texas car).
Edwards and Johnson gained the most the last two races, going from sixth to second and thirteenth to seventh respectively while Greg Biffle drops down from equal third to ninth. Reed Sorenson is the only driver to drop out of the top 20, making way for Mark Martin.
Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - top 20 standings after 7 rounds:
Tight at the top with just half a point between two of the 'new generation' but there's a whole bunch of experienced guys lurking in their wheelpaths as we head to Phoenix and the first Sunday afternoon race for me :)
Those points are so much closer with your system. It doesnt seem as drastic of a change with a bad week. Still those 1/2 points make me think a bit more.
Tez is a rare creature; an Australian who was living in New Zealand before moving to Canada. He's also a Civil Engineer who is hoping to spend his Monday to Friday sitting in front of a computer surfing the inter...uh, working hard for an Engineering Consultant or Contractor when he finds a job. His heart is torn between his two loves; F1 and NASCAR.
Due to his high interest in those, his blogs will likely focus on them with the occasional foray into sports that don't get much (if any) mention on this website. All blogs and/or comments will more than likely have his usual dollop of sarcasm and general Aussie spin on them.
Amazingly, he also managed to score 2 MiB nominations on consecutive days (August 5 & 6, 2007) after announcing he had been keeping track of them...he's considering hiding under his bed as a result.
