Crappafoni Pictures presents to you in high definition this week's The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, served with California wines and cheeses. Enjoy!
THE GOOD
Kyle Busch: as the race winner, he gets first billing. Had the best car much of the day and as such he's earned his first road course win.
David Gilliland: an impressive career-best second place run by the native Californian, considering he's had a more down than up season.
Jeff Gordon: he turned a crappy car into a top-5 car at his home track. Home cooking has been good to him this week.
Clint Bowyer: excellent run. Was caught in the first caution by bad pit strategy. He decided to pit with his RCR teammates and the caution came out shortly afterward, locking him in excellent track position.
Casey Mears: like Bowyer, used excellent pit strategy to lock himself in great track position. Took advantage of the wreck that his fellow Bakersfielder Kevin Harvick caused to gain even more positions.
Honorable Mention: Juan Pablo Montoya, Ryan Newman, Matt Kenseth.
THE BAD
Kevin Harvick: a bonehead move not only cost him a top 5 finish, but he's in danger of missing the Chase. His bonehead move was that he went into the turn too hard and took out THREE good cars. The silver lining is that he's coming to tracks that have been good to him throughout his career.
David Reutimann: never felt confident up in the wine country of California. A late race crash was the capper to his crappy week.
Robby Gordon: for someone that was expected to contend, he was never really a factor. Finished three laps down in 36th.
Brian Simo: a field filler. He was the first driver out of the race just 20 laps in. This will probably be the only time this year I'll mention him.
Boris Said: see Robby Gordon. He finished even worse than Gordon, finishing 41st, 18 laps down.
THE UGLY
Marcos Ambrose: he had a GREAT run spoiled by an accident. The accident damaged his gear box and spewed oil and other liquids all over the track.
Kevin Harvick: rarely does a driver make both the Bad AND Ugly categories, but I must put Happy there. The Ugly being the result of dropping out of the top 12 and having to scramble to make the Chase. He'll make the Chase IF he doesn't make any bonehead moves the rest of the season. He needed a strong run at Sonoma and for the longest time it looked like he was going to be in the top 5.
Those are my nominations for the race. Feel free to come in with yours!
Didn't get to see the race... Did Kyle wreck everybody to win or what? Isn't this his first win on a road course? Wasn't one of those road course ringers supposed to win this race? Just curious why Kyle won when all the odds were stacked against him... He must have done something illegal...
Yes, Kyle won for the first time on a road course. No, he didn't wreck everybody, LOL! Actually, he kept his car clean throughout the race. And he had the best car from the last half of the race on.
jon...I wouldn't explain Kyle's win by simply saying "he had the best car". He drove his #### off, and didn't make any mistakes. On a track where the road 'ringers' made plenty, all day.
NASCAR road course wins are more driver than car. More so than any other kind of track.
You pretty well summed this race up nicely. Well done.
This road race should dispell any disenters about Kyle Busch's talent. Comes from 30th place to lead the race for 78 laps. And he did it cleanly as well as staying out of trouble. I also noticed the open wheelers had a bad day. Makes you wonder doesn't it?
Ahh..The UGLY, Bonehead, Stupid..Ok you get my point. Harvick took out three good cars with a shot at a top five or better. Wonder if his OLD buddy Smoke will rember this? Things that make ya go Hmm..
jon- I would add Tony to the honorable mentions on the good list; he did manage to come back from the Harvick incident to finish 10th. It could have been so much worse.
Noahspop, he's mired in a terrible slump, and when you're in that bad a slump, you do desperate things. The thing is, he didn't have to take his car that hard into the corner because he was about to pass Gilliland for fourth anyway. Gilliland was all but conceding the spot because his spotter recognized Harvick had a run on him. Good rally by Smoke to finish in the Top 10.
Jbroomy, it pains me as a Harvick fan to see him in that bad a slump. As I said above, desperate drivers go to desperate measures. He needs to relax and realize he can't win the race with 5 laps to go.
SB20, my bad for not putting Smoke in the H.M. He's there now.
Jon - I'm not so sure that Stewart should go in the HM. That late crash that moved him from 15th to 10th could have been due to his aggressive driving, especially since it was immediately after the Harvick mess. Or it could be cars checking up in front of him, I don't know. I wondered if anyone else thought it was Smoke using the bumper to pick up a few spots.
IowaGirl, I'd have left Smoke off the HM list had Marcos Ambrose's day not ended early due to Elliott Sadler (who else?). Ambrose was having a stellar day and was in contention much of the day.
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.
