Qualifying saw Kyle Busch extend his lead over second place due to the fact that neither Dale Earnhardt Jr or Carl Edwards managed to crack the top 17 in Richmond. In fact, there were just minor shuffling for the top 14 but Reed Sorenson stormed into the top 20 (15th) while Kevin Harvick and Juan Montoya join Reed to bump out Michael Waltrip and Matt Kenseth with Mike Skinner hanging in thanks to being tied for 20th with Juan. Possibly most interesting (for me anyway) was that now there's a three-way tie for 10th...interesting that all three guys scored points this week yet still manage to equal the others.
Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - top 20 standings after 10 rounds:
The race was rather dull for the first 350 odd laps as Denny Hamlin showed his pole position was no fluke and he set about relighting Nigel Mansell's famous saying of "home race is always worth an extra couple of tenths a lap" (or something like that...apologies to Mr Mansell if you're reading this and know that's not the exact quote) by leading all but one lap. Unfortunately for Hamlin, but good for us watching, circumstances dictated that a slowly deflating tyre (yeah, yeah, I know I'll have to get used to the other spelling in a few weeks time) ruined his chances for a win and provided what should have been the second and third most talked about incident; Denny stopping on the track, Dale and Kyle having some fender bashing.
But, since Jr was involved, that incident jumped straight from three to #1 while the Michael Waltrip ramming Casey Mears thing got swept under the carpet...which I blame the commentators for doing that. Any other driver and Darrell would have been all over them but blood thicker than water and all that.
Anyway, Clint Bowyer snuck through the havoc to score his second Cup win while Kyle pulled out some more points on the field (again) by finishing right behind him. Amazingly, there's just one new face this week (Truex for Mears) but a few spots were swapped around which is possibly due to Richmond being the fourth 'half point' race as even with the green-white-chequered finish, it still didn't reach my 400 mile cut-off.
Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - top 20 standings after 10 rounds:
Gordon might need more than that, but he has a way of getting around this place.
I agree about your Denny Hamlin comment -- being no fluke. Especially since it was an impound race. He was perfection in motion, and it was a heartbreaker.
Have fun this weekend Tez. I guess you are able to watch these Saturday night races on what... Sunday afternoon instead of missing them? Cool!
I agree with everything that you and Lori have said. :o? What's up with that? Lol Had to laugh at "third to first" but you're spot on. Heartbreaking for Denny (and me) and DW and the team should be ashamed of the way they called the 'incident' between Mikey and Casey.
Tez is a rare creature; an Australian living in New Zealand. He's also a Civil Engineer who generally spends his Monday to Friday sitting in front of a computer surfing the inter...uh, working hard for an Engineering Consultant. 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.
