Alrighty then, Dover saw Roush-Fenway somehow lose a race that they should have won…and no guesses on picking who the driver was that spoiled their party.
Qualifying had Greg Biffle collect his second pole of the year, fending off both Busch’s from securing a brotherly front-row. Kyle kept increasing his lead over the rest of the field as Dale Earnhardt Jr failed to score any points this week.
One new face in the top 20 this week as Jamie McMurray relegates Reed Sorenson.
Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - top 20 standings after 13 rounds:
On to Pocono where Jeff Gordon won by dint of leading when the rains came and everyone will be hoping Kyle has a bad finish to tighten things up a bit at the top…well, everyone except Kyle of course.
Another side note, that’s it from me for a while…and also the end of my "Trans-Tasman Traveller" title as I make my move further overseas this weekend. Hope the race/s I don’t get to see are great and thanks everyone for putting up with me this past year and a bit *laugh*
Well, after the washout in Bristol, the qualifying title headed to NASCAR's smallest track where Jeff Gordon proved, again, that he's rather handy around that place as he picked up his second pole position for the season. Dale Earnhardt Jr couldn't crack into the top 17 so Gordon extended his lead to more than a round (78 points), but as we saw last year, certainly not safe from being caught.
A few surprises in the top 10 with Aric Almirola, Jamie McMurray (after a horrid start to his 2008 campaign) and Ken Schrader all starting from the first five rows while Denny Hamlin continued his march up the pecking order as he lined up next to Gordon on the front row.
Texas saw a role reversal for the Hendrick boys as Dale Jr took the pole while Gordon failed to score any points. David Ragan's strong recent form stayed with him, qualifying seventh behind David Reutimann while Sam Hornish Jr picked up his first point of the year.
So, from Atlanta, no change at the top with Gordon leading Jr in a HMS 1-2 but Kyle Busch does manage to get past Carl Edwards for third. Michael Waltrip drops from outright seventh to equal 13th with Hamlin going the other way to move from equal 13th to outright sixth. Almirola, Ragan and Reutimann push out Casey Mears, Scott Riggs and Reed Sorenson to make up the top 20.
Oh, and I've given full points for qualifying unlike what I'm doing with the races...sort of hard to set a cut-off distance in qualifying.
Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - top 20 standings after 7 rounds:
I shall put up the TNRC for both rounds tomorrow most likely...no pictures this week since both Jeff and Jr have had pikkies this season anyway so I didn't really see the point *shrugs*
Less than a week from having a huge shunt at Vegas, Jeff Gordon snared pole position and headed an all-HMS front row as Dale Earnhardt Jr had to settle for second. This also means that Jeff jumps up from third to first followed by Jr, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson round out the top five (Jimmie getting it over Mark Martin by dint of his Daytona pole).
Kurt Busch, Patrick Carpentier, Matt Kenseth and Elliott Sadler all fall out this week while Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr sneak their way into the top 20.
with his pole position, Jeff assumes the lead from his teammate, Dale Jr.
Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - top 20 standings after 4 rounds:
After last weeks race, Carl's car failed post-race inspection and he was docked points from both his points standings as well as the bonus points he'd get for the win should he make the Chase...well, he might prefer reading my standings since I never bothered with taking points off a driver last year and am choosing to do the same; win on Sunday and get the points for TNRC, end of story.
Moving on, Atlanata saw Jr, Kyle, Clint Bowyer and Carl all take turns out front but Carl's visions of three in a row when up in smoke as he had to pull off with around 50 laps to go which all but gifted the win to Kyle...the first for Toyota. Tony Stewart backed up his teammate to finish second and jump from equal sixth to equal second overall while Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne dropped from third and fourth to seventh and eighth respectively.
Out completely this week are Robby Gordon and Travis Kvapil, making room for Clint Bowyer, Denny Hamlin and Bobby Labonte.
Kyle managed to translate his early season pace into a win.
Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - top 20 standings after 4 rounds:
Next week sees the series head to Bristol...and the Busch brothers have won the last two races there at this time of year so we'll have to see if that trend continues. Amazingly, this blog also happens to be done exactly a year to the date (snuck in by three minutes the timer reckons) that my first foxsports blog was posted...can't believe it's been that long already.
Ahh, Homestead...site of Greg Moore's final victory in the old CART series before his death in Fontana during the final race.
But this NASCAR, where they race with roofs and stuff so you're not interested in openwheelers...well, ignoring Messrs Montoya, Carpentier, Hornish Jr and Villeneuve I guess. Anyway, Miami has basically been Greg Biffle's personal playground the last few years so I must say I was surprised that he didn't score any points in qualifying. The main battle was whether or not not Jeff Gordon could pinch this title off Jimmie Johnson. To do so, he needed to grab the pole and hope that Jimmie was behind five other qualy-chasers...well that certainly worked....assuming he and Jimmie swapped cars this weekend and Jeff is driving the #48.
No?
Well then I guess that means Jimmie can celebrate for the second week in a row having clinched my TNRC title last time out at Phoenix. A sterling effort from Johnson, continuing his red-hot form to nab pole from Ryan Newman while the 2008 Budman will line up third.
Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - Chase for the Plate, final standings
1 - Jimmie Johnson, 79 points 2 - Jeff Gordon, 63 points 3 - Ryan Newman, 57 points 4 - Kurt Busch, 49 points 5 - Kasey Kahne, 47 points 6 - Denny Hamlin, 28 points =7 - Dale Earnhardt Jr, 23 points =7 - Carl Edwards, 23 points 9 - Juan Montoya, 21 points 10 - Elliott Sadler, 20 points (sorry mate...been spelling your name with one 't', my bad) 11 - Kyle Busch, 14 points 12 - Jamie McMurray, 9 points
Carl Edwards and Dale Earnhardt Jr end up tied in 7th with 1 pole each for the season...and I can't be bothered going through the whole season to figure out who had the better starting positions so they end up equal. I suppose the biggest story out of these 12 guys are the GEM boys of Kasey Kahne and Elliott Sadler. Compared to where they currently sit in the TNRC (Kahne in equal 22nd, Sadler in equal 31st), this has to be the best example of how big the difference is between getting a car to go fast for a few laps and a race distance...those guys just haven't had it in the races, maybe next year will be better.
So, another congratulations to Jimmie Johnson and the #48 bunch for winning the inaugural...I'm starting to sound like a broken record, sheesh *rolls eyes*...TNQC.
fine, so that's not a plate, but he still wins the TNQC anyway...and he's very pleased as you can see
Ok and here's the rest...I say preliminary since I have to check Mark's tally again.
Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - Best of the Rest, preliminary standings
13 - Martin Truex Jr, 75 points (1 pole) 14 - Greg Biffle, 51 points (1 pole) 15 - Kevin Harvick, 42 points 16 - Bobby Labonte, 40 points 17 - Mark Martin, 36 points (must check this...he only had 25 in my post last week so maybe I stuffed up that number when I posted) 18 - Matt Kenseth, 35 points 19 - Scott Riggs, 34 points 20 - Clint Bowyer, 33 points (2 poles) 21 - Tony Stewart, 31 points 22 - Dave Blaney, 30 points (1 pole) 23 - Casey Mears, 29 points (1 pole) 24 - JJ Yeley, 28 points (1 pole) 25 - David Gilliland, 24 points (1 pole) 26 - Reed Sorenson, 21 points (1 pole) =27 - Jeff Burton, 19 points =27 - David Stremme, 19 points 29 - Ricky Rudd, 16 points 30 - Johnny Sauter, 15 points 31 - Michael Waltrip, 13 points (1 pole) 32 - David Ragan, 12 points 33 - Dale Jarrett, 10 points =34 - Joe Nemechek, 9 points =34 - Tony Raines, 9 points =36 - AJ Allmendinger, 8 points =36 - Robby Gordon, 8 points =36 - Brian Vickers, 8 points =39 - Sterling Marlin, 6 points =39 - Ken Schrader, 6 points =39 - Kenny Wallace, 6 points =42 - John Andretti, 5 points =42 - David Reutimann, 5 points =42 - Boris Said, 5 points 45 - Jacques Villeneuve, 3 points =46 - Ward Burton, 2 points =46 - Bill Elliot, 2 points =46 - Mike Skinner, 2 points 49 - Paul Menard, 1 point
And that's it until next year for this thing...thanks for (pretending to anyway *laugh*) being interested in it and I hope next years battle is as good as this one has been.
Ok so this hasn't been updated since Dover where Carl Edwards dominated. Fortunately, Jimmie Johnson decided to make things a bit easier for me by thumping everyone else the past month (ta for that mate, much easier to keep the points up to date if I know who's going to win each week).
I'll just put up the top 15 drivers and it's rather interesting to note that my top 12 matches the Chase drivers...and I didn't use a Chase format so they really have been the best 12 drivers this year.
Tez's NASCAR Race Championship (TNRC) Standings - after round 35
And there we go, it's all over since the gap is more than ten points. So say what you want about how Jeff's been robbed by having such a big lead or whatever, but with the F1 format, Jimmie has the most wins and has wrapped it up with a race to spare.
It's over; Jimmie wins the 2007 TNRC
Well done to everyone who works on the #48 Lowes Chevrolet. You guys have managed to do what I thought no one could three months ago; overhaul Jeff Gordon.
And congratulations to Jimmie Johnson; the inaugural winner of the TNRC title.
Ok so I haven't updated this since Talladega...urgh, great, five weekends ago *rolls eyes*
At that stage Jimmie Johnson had taken a good grip on the qualifying title and that hasn't changed. What has changed is that Jeff Gordon has moved up to second (how ironic since they're also 1-2 in the race standings; both NASCAR's and mine) with Ryan Newman dropping to third.
While Johnson has been on a tear in the races, doing a three-peat, it's been his consistancy that has seen him keep his points lead over Gordon. Not that Jeff hasn't been trying, he's outscored Johnson 39-31 over the last five races...he just let Jimmie get too far ahead at the start.
Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - Chase for the Plate after Qualifying 9
So with one qualifying session to go, Jeff must outscore his teammate by nine points to win this thing outright and save me doing a countback...the bonus point for pole would be very helpful as would some bad luck for Jimmie. But, as this season has seen, those HMS cars are pretty much bulletproof so it's really Johnson's title to lose.
Down to two; only these guys can win the first TNQC title next week in Miami
To the rest then where, after this weekend, Martin Truex Jr has wrapped up 13th with Greg Biffle doing the same for 14th.
Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - Best of the Rest after round 35
13 - Martin Truex Jr, 74 points (1 pole) 14 - Greg Biffle, 51 points (1 pole) 15 - Bobby Labonte, 40 points 16 - Kevin Harvick, 37 points 17 - Scott Riggs, 34 points 18 - Clint Bowyer, 33 points (2 poles) 19 - Dave Blaney, 30 points (1 pole) =20 - Casey Mears, 29 points (1 pole) =20 - Tony Stewart, 29 points 22 - JJ Yeley, 28 points (1 pole) =23 - Matt Kenseth, 25 points =23 - Mark Martin, 25 points =25 - David Gilliland, 21 points (1 pole) =25 - Reed Sorenson, 21 points (1 pole) 27 - David Stremme, 19 points 28 - Ricky Rudd, 16 points =29 - Jeff Burton, 15 points =29 - Johnny Sauter, 15 points 31 - Michael Waltrip, 13 points (1 pole) 32 - Dale Jarrett, 10 points =33 - Joe Nemechek, 9 points =33 - Tony Raines, 9 points =35 - AJ Allmendinger, 8 points =35 - Robby Gordon, 8 points =35 - Brian Vickers, 8 points =38 - Sterling Marlin, 6 points =38 - David Ragan, 6 points =38 - Ken Schrader, 6 points =38 - Kenny Wallace, 6 points =42 - John Andretti, 5 points =42 - David Reutimann, 5 points =42 - Boris Said, 5 points 45 - Jacques Villeneuve, 3 points =46 - Ward Burton, 2 points =46 - Bill Elliot, 2 points =46 - Mike Skinner, 2 points 49 - Paul Menard, 1 point
Well, well, for the second straight week the pole man has gone on to win the race. A masterclass by Clint Bowyer ensured that he'd wind up with his first Cup race victory which makes him the fourth first-time winner this year...fifth if you want to throw in Jamie McMurray who snapped, what must have felt like to him, a ten million race winless streak earlier this year.
Clint dominated from green to chequer, leading over 200 of the 300 laps...rather eerily similar to Kurt Busch's effort at the second visit to Pocono. Next best was Jeff Gordon who broke his tie with Jimmie Johnson (who wound up sixth) at the head of the field while Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr rounded out the top five.
This was the view Cint gave everyone else as he secured his first Cup win
Speaking of five, Matt Kenseth ruined the most perfect run of that as had he failed to finish in the points, car number 5 would have been in fifth place in the standings with 55.5 points...but Matt did get a couple points and Kyle has to make do with sixth overall.
Tez's NASCAR Race Championship (TNRC) Standings - after round 27
(* denotes half points only awarded as race did not reach 75% completion)
More spoils for Chevrolet this year, it's getting rather predictable really. If it's not HMS then it's Gibbs, if not them then it'll be RCR...a very impressive CV the bowtie boys have on their books, no question about that. The battle for the title would appear to be down to three; Jeff, Jimmie and Tony.
If Denny wants to be part of it, he'll have to start winning...and that's something he's only done once this year.
Righto, NHIS kicks off round one of the Chase for the Plate with Jeff Gordon looking to extend his points lead over the other 11 drivers. Now, first things first; my Chase format.
Similar to what JJD is using, but mine will focus purely on qualifying since I'm not doing a race one this season. Now, I have tallied up the top 12 drivers' performances and have given them 2 points for each pole position they scored during the opening 26 races (the exception being the 3 rainouts we had). Jeff gets an additional 2 points for being top of the pile after last week.
Why am I dishing them out in 2 points you ask? Because that's the gap between first (10) and second (8).
The other thing I'm doing is to cut out the Chase guys from the rest...so I'll have two points systems going and will give a Chaser and additional point if they manage to start the race from pole instead of just being the fastest Chase driver. So yes, two points standings, both using the same system (F1), but assume Jeff Gordon starts one of these ten races from pole, he gets 11 points. But if, say Kevin Harvick lines up next to him, he gets 10 points for the 'Best of the Rest' title.
Clear as mud? Meh, you'll soon pick it up since you're all clever so let's get on with qualy 1 of 10 and 27 of 36.
Clint Bowyer took great offence to the fact that he missed the Qualifying Chase by sticking his #07 Jack Daniels chevy on pole, denying any of the Chasers that bonus point. It was Clint's second pole of the season, and also keeps him as the only RCR driver to score a pole. Starting alongside Clint will be Martin Truex Jr who got bumped out of the Chase last week by Carl Edwards.
Clint takes his second pole of the season
The best Chaser is Kurt Busch who will start in third and gets the 10 points for being the best of the 12. Jeff keeps his lead but Ryan Newman has closed the gap from six points to one. Jimmie Johnson also jumps up the order by dint of being the second fastest Chase driver while Kasey Kahne went the other way and drops from third to sixth in the standings. Ironically, his teammate, Elliot Sadler, made the biggest move going from twelfth (equal ninth if you want to get picky) to fifth.
Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - Chase for the Plate after Qualifying 1
To the rest then, where Clint and Martin make the jumps from 15th and 14th to equal 13th...had Clint made the Chase, he'd now be sitting pretty in third place, one point behind Ryan but he didn't so the best he can hope for is to stay where he is in 13th.
Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - Best of the Rest after round 27
=13 - Clint Bowyer, 29 points (2 poles) =13 - Martin Truex Jr, 29 points 15 - Tony Stewart, 28 points 16 - Greg Biffle, 21 points =17 - Dave Blaney, 20 points (1 pole) =17 - Reed Sorenson, 20 points (1 pole) 19 - David Gilliland, 18 points (1 pole) =20 - Kevin Harvick, 16 points =20 - Mark Martin, 16 points =20 - Ricky Rudd, 16 points 23 - Scott Riggs, 15 points =24 - Casey Mears, 14 points (1 pole) =24 - JJ Yeley, 14 points (1 pole) =24 - Bobby Labonte, 14 points =27 - Jeff Burton, 13 points =27 - David Stremme, 13 points 29 - Robby Gordon, 8 points =30 - Sterling Marlin, 6 points =30 - David Ragan, 6 points =30 - Ken Schrader, 6 points =30 - Kenny Wallace, 6 points =34 - Boris Said, 5 points =34 - Johnny Sauter, 5 points =36 - Matt Kenseth, 4 points =36 - Joe Nemechek, 4 points 38 - Bill Elliot, 2 points
Well, well, the battle for 13th appears to be just as hot as the one for the overall lead. Jeff stays out front and can thank the sole point he scored this week...could be the difference after Miami.
Well, well, the pole man wins the race for the first time since round nine...but it wasn't as clear cut as that. Jimmie Johnson had to fight for the win as Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr all had strong cars and, given the right circumstances, could have walked away with the race.
Alas, as has happened a few times this year, Jr (and Carl) saw his chances of victory go up in smkoe (no, not from Tony), while Denny had pit problems, Newman crashed, and Gordon and Stewart didn't have enough for Jimmie when it came to the crunch at the end...in fact, if David Ragan didn't have to start from as far back as he did, he could very easily have pulled off a win in his rookie season as he was the fastest car out there at the end.
With back-to-back wins, Jimmie is full of confidence going into the last 10 races
Anyway, with Jimmie's win and Gordon's fourth place, this leaves both men tied in points at the top of the standings. Johnny Sauter had a great run and scored his first points of the year with a fifth placed finish.
Tez's NASCAR Race Championship (TNRC) Standings - after round 26
(* denotes half points only awarded as race did not reach 75% completion)
The HMS domination continues then...and I daresay that Jr would like my points system since he is in the top 12 in points with ten races to go. but, since this isn't going to be a Chase format (that's just for the qualifying one this year remember), the only race that matters will be the last one in Miami.
After a mad dash back across the USA, the NASCAR group arrived in Richmond for the final race before the Chase starts. Qualifying wasn't washed out so we had a battle royale going on for the last spot in my Chase. Martin Truex Jr had the inside running by dint of scoring that solitary point last week which broke the tie we had for 12th but it wasn't enough to lock him in as both Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart scored points this week.
It's an all-Hendrick Motorsports front row with Jimmie Johnson securing his first pole of the season while Jeff Gordon assured that he'd get the bonus points for leading the title as it heads into the final 10 races.
Jimmie will start where he left off last time at Richmond...in front
Strange thing that was his first pole actually since Jimmie is noted to be a reasonably strong qualifier...and equally as strange is that there is just one RCR car in the top 15 so, despite being quite good in race trim, they're pretty much #### in qualifying. Juan Montoya hangs on to make the Chase in his rookie season, a sterling effort from the Columbian.
Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - Standings after round 26
And there we go, Tony misses out just like last year in the race Chase. If you have a problem with your driver missing out...tough, take it up with NASCAR for being wusses and having 3 qualifying sessions that were rained out which ruined a few drivers' chances. It's not my problem they can't reschedule.
Jeff Gordon sees his nine point lead over Ryan Newman cut to six as the Chase begins
Jeff Gordon will be hoping he can carry on the form he had over the first 26 races while the other 11 are all eager to be crowned the inaugural Qualifying King.
Hmm, well that was an interesting race actually. Quite a few cars seemes to be in contention until Jimmie Johnson got to the front. How exactly he managed to hold on and win is a mystery considering photogr and my luck at picking him in Williamwilman's trifecta but that isn't the point. The fact that he won and Jeff Gordon had some trouble meant that the gap is now just five points with 11 races to go (not doing a Chase format with this one remember).
Jimmie managed to get his first win since round 10 and closed the gap to Jeff at the top.
Tez's NASCAR Race Championship (TNRC) Standings - after round 25
(* denotes half points only awarded as race did not reach 75% completion)
So HMS have pulled away a bit from JGR over the last month, depsite Tony Stewart being in great form. However, like he has all season, Jeff Gordon still leads the standings...and the scary thing for the rest is that he's probably due for a few good results.
Might as well do both at the same time since I've got back into my GT Legends PC game and doing this seriously cuts into my playing time.
To the all-new-and-improved Bristol...where tradition demands tempers to run hotter than engines. Qualifying saw Kasey Kahne trundle (when compared to the Busch and Truck series anyway...the new car remember) around fastest of the lot and since Jeff Gordon couldn't get any points while Ryan Newman only managed two for starting in seventh, Kasey jumped past Ryan into second place and sits just 12 points behind Jeff. Juan Montoya also made a move and squeezes into the top ten for the first time since I started this idea.
Has Kasey finally managed to find his 2006 form?
Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - Standings after round 24
With only two more chances to make the Chase for qualifying...chances are it'll get rained out so the field will now be set. Hope that doesn't happen since she's a battle royale for the final spot right now.
To the race then where, considering the season Kahne's been having, everyone was waiting for him to fade...and it came after leading 300 odd laps...and he only got passed by Carl Edwards...hmm, guess that's a mighty good 'fade'. Anyway, Carl got his second win of the year and was the only frontrunner to actually score any points of consequence really. Kurt Busch had yet another strong race as did Dale Earnhardt Jr, but it was Kasey who made the biggest jump going from equal 32nd to outright 20th.
Carl will look to build on the momentum going into the final 12 races
Since none of leaders scored points, it's the same as it was after Michigan for the top six.
Tez's NASCAR Race Championship (TNRC) Standings - after round 24
(* denotes half points only awarded as race did not reach 75% completion)
With the season heading into the final third, both titles are still wide open and if Jeff wants to get a clean sweep, then he better find the form that took him to the top of both standings in the first place. The rest of the field don't intend on rolling over and letting him win either championship.
Alrighty then, after a two day delay from the weather we finally got a race in...amazing. Anyway, Carl Edwards wasn't able to repeat his run earlier this year and Kurt Busch waltzed away with the win. Martin Truex Jr pushed hard but there wasn't anyone who could catch the #2 Miller Lite Dodge once Kurt got to the front. Jeff Gordon spun away some points (he blamed Matt Kenseth for it but I don't care; no points for Jeff) to Jimmie Johnson and his lead is now only 15...very catchable with 13 races remaining.
Kurt breaks into the top ten in points after posting his second win in three races
As a result of this, Kurt now is tied with Truex in points (eighth) while the top four guys still have a good break on Kenseth while the top 11 still have a win in hand on Mark Martin in 12th.
Tez's NASCAR Race Championship (TNRC) Standings - after round 23
(* denotes half points only awarded as race did not reach 75% completion)
And there we go, sorry about my own delay of a couple days before posting this up but work has finally become a bit busier so I'm not going to complain. I have an all new idea for next year now actually; might use the V8 Supercar points system instead as they give points to the top 15 drivers (should make it a bit better since eight into 43 is a rather low percentage). The Chase will still be done using the F1 style however so we shall see how that goes (might play around in the offseason to see how the points would have varied if I'd gone with the V8's this year). Either way, I'll let you know before we get to Daytona in February.
Ok, it's official...I've decided to only do my Chase format for this Championship to see how it might stack up for 2008. If it's a success, I'll use it for both title next year but if it's a flop then I shall send it to the scrapheap next to my fridge which finally broke down yesterday (but don't worry, I bought another one...second hand too. Actually, it's one of those little bar fridges so it keeps my drinks cold, uh, everythingI put in there cold).
Now where were we this weekend? Ahh yes, Oran Park raceway is...wait, sorry, that's where the V8's are racing today and tomorrow. To Michigan then, where Kasey Kahne looked to be in control and take a further ten points out of Jeff Gordon's lead...until both Jeff and Greg Biffle ruined it and took the front row for themselves having been the final two cars out on track. Neither Ryan Newman or Dale Earnhardt Jr could manage to crack the top 8 so Jeff extends his lead out to 15 points on Ryan, with Kasey now three in front of Jr and just seven behind his fellow Dodge driver.
This is the seat the rest of the field wish Jeff would use so they can catch up to him
No points were awarded last week due to the rain so tough bikkies if you think Jeff should be further in front than he is as I don't count any washouts.
Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - Standings after round 23
So Jeff obviously read my last QC update and figured that Ryan was getting a little too close for comfort...15 points is a nice cushion to have (though not as good as that seat...notice the holder on the right? Perfect for the remote or a can of L&P), but so is the extra two pole positions he now has over Ryan. As I said earlier, I'll use my Chase idea but only in this championship...so let the battle to make the final 12 begin.
The final road course of the season...and what a send off! Wheel ####ing, tempers flaring, leaders spinning off...and that was just on the pace laps!
Ok, so maybe that's not quite right, but Watkins Glen saw a really hard fought race between two of the best road racers going around; Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon.
Tony looked to have the race in his pocket but wheel-hopped into turn 1 and rejoined outside the top ten. After storming his way up to second, he and Jeff then proceeded to trade laptimes until Jeff did the same thing and spun away any chance of winning his fifth race of the year and extending his points lead over Jimmie Johnson.
Either no one saw my comment on JJD's post or no one found it remotely amusing...too bad if you didn't since I'm going to put up what Tony and Zippy (should have) said on the radio after spinning in the 'Centurian Boats at the Glen' here anyway;
Tony - "Zippy, I think my outboard has a misfire!" Zippy - "Tony you doofus, you don't have an outboard!" Tony - "Oh, so you're saying it cut out completely?" Zippy - *hitting his head on the monitor* "Just shut up and drive, Tony." Tony - "Don't you mean row?" Zippy - "IT'S A CAR, NOT A BOAT!" Tony - "Oh...could've fooled me with the way this thing handles."
I am guessing that Jeff may have said something similar. As a result, Jimmie ended up pegging back six points on Jeff while Tony, due to winning for the third time in four races, closed to within seven of Jimmie. Carl Edwards threw away seven points on the final lap when he suffered a complete brain fade and flew off into the gravel when he was second but recovered to finish the race in eighth. Nothing else to be said on the Truex/Montoya/Harvick/Burton/McMurray thing since that topic has been pretty much thrashed to death this week so I'll just put up the points.
The moment 'Smoke' fans were praying for; Jeff spinning out of the lead
Again, only the top 8 finishers score any points (10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1) just like F1.
Tez's NASCAR Race Championship (TNRC) Standings - after round 22
(* denotes half points only awarded as race did not reach 75% completion)
So there we have it, the race for second has closed up a bit more and Tony might very well go into my revamped Chase format with a lead if he can score a couple more wins before Richmond. I'll run the standings both ways just to see how it would pan out...actually, I am still unsure over exactly what to do with that. I may yet just decide to do the Chase thing TNQC (no points this week due to yet another washout) instead, we shall see.
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.
