Another Saturday night race is in the books. Crappafoni Pictures presents to you the spaghetti western version of Darlington, served with a Palmetto State twist. Welcome to the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Darlington style.
THE GOOD
Kyle Busch: as the winner of the race, he gets first billing. Also had to overcome numerous issues in the pits, mainly involving lug nuts. Also had to overcome a pit penalty. At 23, he becomes the youngest driver to ever win at Darlington. He tamed the "Track Too Tough To Tame."
Roush Fenway Racing: aside from Greg Biffle, the other four drivers finished in the top 20. Great run by them. Even Biffle led numerous laps before his transmission blew.
Jeff Gordon: very strong run by the four-time champion. Showed why he's a four-time champion by fighting an ill-handling car much of the race to finish third.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: a very strong run all race long. Had a top-five car and finished about where he should have. A win is coming very soon.
Travis Kvapil: he went old-school by displaying Fred Lorenzen's original paint scheme and did him proud, finishing in the top ten. Maybe Kvapil hit on a great idea..
Honorable Mention: Dave Blaney (his best run of the year), Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart/Juan Pablo Montoya (both made up a lap the hard way--by being faster than the leader and passing him near the end of the race).
THE BAD
Kyle Petty: as good a guy as Petty is (and he is one of sports' great humanitarians), it's time for him to step out of the car and run Petty Enterprises' racing operations. It pains me to say that because he is such a good guy.
Robby Gordon: had a bad car all evening and finished six laps down. Was hardly mentioned and seldom got "face time", meaning that his car was hardly shown on TV.
Reed Sorenson: a season of maddening inconsistency continues. He'll run well one week and horrid the next. He's got the talent to compete on a consistent basis, but he's got to learn to put together consecutive good races.
THE UGLY
Kevin Harvick: was running sixth when his car suddenly and inexplicably snapped loose and crashed, rearranging the car's rear end in the process. After major repairs, he finished 39th, 102 laps down. He also took a hit in the points standings as far as number of points. He only lost two positions in the standings. A silver lining: he keeps his streak of consecutive races without a DNF alive at 55 races. (He holds the record at 58, and if memory serves me correctly has finished 113 of his last 114 starts)
Greg Biffle: was leading the race when he reported a vibration and came on to pit road. A few laps later, he was done, the victim of a transmission failure. He finished dead last.
Patrick Carpentier: was having a very strong run until he blew an engine; in fact, he led at one point in the race after starting 43rd. Give this guy time; he has shown flashes of talent.
Those are my nominations. Feel free to chime in with yours!
Kyle had pretty well sanded down the right side of his car as the M&Ms were showing through the Indiana Jones logo... I still say Stewart should have had the "Indiana" tie-in... Kyle is better suited to Nevada Smith!
Please add Darrell Waltrip to your 'bad' list permantly. He gets worse every week. He started out by saying there was no way Kyle Busch could run his car so hard. That he needed to save something for the end. DW, I-D-I-O-T!! The sport has passed him by.
he keeps his streak of consecutive races without a DNF alive at 55 races
This has got to be the most meaningless stat NASCAR keeps, if they include Harvick's result in the total, which they will. If they are trying to create some sort of "Iron Man" streak for finishes, they should make it for races where the driver ran at speed the ENTIRE race, and not include races where they spend 100 laps in the garage area making repairs.
jon 464
What it is to be Kyle Busch as of now. He's either loved or hated by a great number of people . But then again who isn't nowadays when it comes tp the realms of sports ? You've got to have a hero and a villain no matter what. See my latest post on Danica Patrick and let me know what you think as to the merits of the piece ? I'll look forward to reading you comments.
The piece is titled A Word Of Advice Danica It'd Help If You Slowed Down When Entering The Pits. Chimin' out.
Kyle may be hated by those who have long time fan relationships with long time drivers but he's very appealing to new fans particularly women his age. He's young, he's very fast, he's rich, he's good looking and he's not afraid of anyone. Very appealing. Trust me.
Last edited by NiqueDodson on May 11th at 8:04 AM.
JJD...True fo sho. I've seen teams wait untill the last lap, then send their torn up car out on the track, just so they don't get a DNF. Not saying Harvick's done this, but no DNFs is way overrrated. A better stat may be DNWH---Did Not Wreck Himself. Or, in Elliott Sadler's case, DNWH&O(others).
JJD, that stat shows that Harvick is very good at taking care of his car. He goes out there and races cleanly. That accident was a freak of nature. Cars don't normally snap loose going into a straightaway unless there was some sort of failure in the rear end. Fortunately he was able to resume racing and he ended up gaining a few positions.
Tophatal, I'm sure it doesn't suck to be in Kyle Busch's position. He's putting together a season for the ages. I'll be sure to check out your post and comment.
Nique, in other words, eye candy?
Sweetkena, I could have sworn you weren't a day over 29! He can sure drive the wheels off the car. Thanks for the props!
Hanahan, as stated above, Harvick's accident was a freak accident. Most of the time his car is a little on the tight side. No one could have gotten out of that one!
Tsfan, you could call Kyle Busch "Wild Thing" or "Rowdy." Just don't call him "Late for dinner."
My boy Elliott Sadler. Just having a nightmare streak. Crashed himself (and Smoke) on Lap 2. Lap 2!!! Finished 42nd. And this after qualifying seventh! Don't get much uglier than that.
Good looking?lol My how money and being on tv seems to make people that way.
I have to say Kyle is a great driver who is determined, has absolutely no fear, makes a lot of money and is probably only going to get even better as a driver however, I'm not blind. I have to respectfully disagree with you on that part Nique.lol
He's bad hair away from being Boris Saids twin brother.
Last edited by sixfigurefan2 on May 11th at 3:13 PM.
Moseby, Ragan is easily the most improved driver on the circuit. Blaney had a stout car when he needed it most (he was 36th in the standings prior to the race; he's solidly in the top 35 now). It's painful to watch Kyle Petty run laps and finish between 35th-42nd each race.
I am from Central California. I am passionate about sports, particularly the NFL and NASCAR. My favorite teams are: Panthers (NFL), Lakers (NBA), Flyers (NHL), and Dodgers (MLB). I am also a Kevin Harvick fan in NASCAR. I am a Fresno State honk. (I'll admit it!) And I am also a fan of MMA. Jackie Robinson to this day represents what is right about baseball. I also enjoy discussing the relevant (and sometimes irrelevant) issues of the day pertaining to sports. I will never understand why televised poker is so popular. Who wants to see a bunch of people sitting around a table, muttering to themselves? I do my best to keep politics out of my sports discussions. That is why I recently created a nonsports blog, cencalscribe. blogspot.com. That is where I post my nonsports topics.
