1. Richard Childress Racing – Enjoyed their first ever 1-2-3 finish with Jeff Burton in Victory Lane, followed closely by a racy Kevin Harvick and stealthy Clint Bowyer on Sunday at Bristol. The trio were in the top five most of the day and benefited from a gutsy call to get new tires with 10 laps to go. I’ll say it again, they are the best all-around Chevy team on the track.
2. Joe Gibbs Racing- Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, and Kyle Busch combined to lead over 300 laps at Bristol but just couldn’t seal the deal. Busch was bit by a power steering problem relegating him to a 17th place finish but he retained the points lead. Stewart led the most laps until he was taken out by Kevin Harvick with 2 laps to go. He ended up 14th and got his back waxed by Harvick on Monday for charity…double ouch! Hamlin was headed for the win when he had a fuel pick up problem on the final restart and finished 6th. Despite the unsatisfying finish, the Gibbs Toyotas were dominant most of the race.
3. GregBiffle- Yet another Roush driver vying for the spotlight. The Biff has quietly worked his way up to 2nd in the standings, only 30 points out of the lead, with his 4th place finish at Bristol. Even better, he did it all without breakin’ a single rule.
4. Aric Almirola – If you weren’t paying attention you might have assumed the #8 Army Chevy that finished eighth at Bristol was driven by veteran Mark Martin. Nope! The rookie drove like a veteran and stayed on lead lap all day for his best career finish…so far.
5. Dale Jarrett – Much loved 1999 Cup Champion retired with a disappointing race at Bristol but goes out with grace and a love tap from Jimmie Johnson. Congratulations on a successful racing career, thanks for the memories, and can’t wait for your insights from the broadcasting booth. Signed, sealed and delivered.
NOT
1. Jamie McMurray- His completely luckless season continued as McMurray’s last place finish caused him to fall out of the Top 35 in owner pointsand now he has to qualify his way in at least for Martinsville. He could be saved by Roush Fenway Racing exploiting NASCAR’s rules with a teammate point swap, or they could just hire a witch doctor to remove the curse once and for all.
2. Dario Franchitti – Got the royal rookie treatment at Bristol and caused the only “big one.” With a left rear tire going down, Franchitti got punted into the wall by Paul Menard to finish off a bad day in 36th. Welcome to short track racing Dario!
3. Petty Enterprises- Kyle Petty was the first car to be lapped at Bristol and he ended up 5 laps down. Petty is now well out of the Top 35 in 40th. Bobby LaBonte had an early pit road violation that put him at the back of the pack, and then he ran into Franchitti’s mess ending up 38th. Bristol was not-so-Cheerio for these guys.
4. CaseyMears- Slowly faded throughout the race until he was given a Bristol smack by Denny Hamlin. Mears was on and off pit road and in the garage to fix the damage only to come back out to finish 42nd. Mears is only inside the Top 35 by 16 points, 16!
5. Ryan Newman- An engine change forced Newman to start at the back and then he too failed to ‘dodge’ Franchitti’s wreck. Newman’s day also included a black flag, almost hitting the race leader, and having a tire go down. The Daytona 500 winner finished 33rd and dropped four spots in the standings to eighth. I hope this isn’t a sign his season has gone to the dogs.
My weekly picks are dedicated to the memory of Cindi Redding who was respected and loved by all who knew her, especially her friends in the FOXSports.com community.
good stuff kristen. it is interesting with jamie and greg. the media had been leading me to believe that greg's contract was up at the end of the year and he would be the roush driver left out in the cold when the teams pear down to 4 cars, but i gotta think jack will be looking to get rid of jamie. don't get me wrong, i do like him, but his results are so inconsistent.
Kristen,
Your picks are dead on again this week. However I think you could add the whole crew of my boy JJ's car to the "Not" list. Something just isn't right there.
Kristen,
Excellent as usual. I'd add Goodyear to the "Hot" list at Bristol. We saw some great lap after lap side-by-side racing and lots of passes without the use of the old bump and run tactic. I know the new variable banking configuration helped but Goodyear still brought a great tire this week. Kudos to them and great job for RCR.
Also kudos to Tony Stewart for a more professional post-race interview. I know he melted the team radio right after Happy hit him but he gets props from me for the interview he did on TV. I think almost all fans expected a typical Tony tirade and he proved us wrong. WTG Smoke.
ALL NASCAR teams tweak the rules in their favor!! Some teams do it more than others and get caught more often. Thus why teams get more fines, points docked and Crew Chiefs get suspended. NO ONE is totally innocent!!
I agree with your choices. I do think that Brian Vickers and especially Michael Waltrip Racing should get a nod for getting their cars into the top 35. What a difference a year makes!!
Kristen - Good picks again this week. Im glad you recognized Aric Almirola finishing in the top 10...great job for a rookie. I loved that the RCR finished 1-2-3.
Unfortunatley McMurray makes your NOT list again. He seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time again. Too bad to see Ryan Newman not measuring up to his success at Daytona.
WW- I don't know how Jack can overlook Jamie's horrific performance this year and he wasn't exactly burning up the charts last year either...Sad to see but maybe he needs a different team anyway.
Gambit- I flirted with Knaus on the not list but I felt a few others had worse races. Your right about something being off about that entire team and Chad's "we could tune it anytime we wanted to" answer the other day was pretty lame.
Aric is certainly a hot one. This kid has great talent.
On the Gibbs trio. You can lead all the laps you want but if you can't lead the last lap to the checkered, you loose. Too bad for Tony. His spotter should be fired.
Hoosier- Thanks. I agree the tires and the COT seemed to be hooked up better at Bristol, probably b/c they had something to go on from last year. I thought Tony looked to be ready to implode/cry or ?? in that interview, I found it a bit painful to watch and prefer his fiery side better. However, I am DYING to see some pics of him newly waxed! :)
Hey RA6AN- Sorry for the jab about the cheating, it was just too easy...I know your a huge Roush fan and you should be, they are kicking bootie this year! =( Poor Jamie, so bad even the spiders are faster!
Sportsfan- Thanks! and thanks for coming by to comment.
"no name" - Nope, no one is innocent and if they are they are stupid! I like it when teams bend the rules as far as you can and get creative. I also thought important to note the Biff is running strong without "obvious creativity"! LOL Thanks for commenting.
cons- You are right, what a difference a year makes. MWR has all 3 drivers in the top 35 and Vickers had a great race last week. He would have been in the Hot list had he not faded at Bristol.
Gerrel- Thanks. Aric drove confident and clean and it was something to watch. Quite the contrast to many others with way more seat time. I hate putting Jamie on the Not list, he is one of my favs and Ryan too...but both need to turn things around.
I will 2nd (or 3rd) the sentiment about Tony. We watched that 'incident' and both said "Oh boy this should be good" - really surprised when he didn't implode on someone.
I had to remind myself a few times that Mark Martin wasn't in the car.
Looks like DJ will get some extra recognition at the All Star race too. He's "racing" the truck!
Yee- Thanks...I felt like I was watching that wreck in slo-mo and just waiting to hear Tony go crazy. I thought both Harvick and Smoke handled it very well. Yipee! Race the truck!
RA6AN- OMG!!! Thank YOU for that link!!!! What a freakin crack up!! They have to post more pics. Wonder if they will ebay those strips of hair! LOL
Tez- Jr and Kasey were definitely "warm" at Bristol! Its very hard to pick only 5 and this week I felt I had to give a Hot spot to DJ, not for his race but his career. Your boy will be there again I have no doubt!
It is nice to see the Joe Gibbs teams running so well. If they could just figure out their fuel pick up problems and their rear gear problems. I think they actually be able to dominate like HMS did last year.
Kasey didn't benefit from Tony Stewart's mishap any more than Tony benefitted from Kasey's bad green-flag pit stop. Also, Tony was most likely a victim of same setup that brought him to the front. He probably was able to lift a little less because he had more camber in the front, and the camber came back to bite him when it wore the tire out.
Let's give Kasey credit for a great race. He earned the victory, it wasn't a gift.
Tony Stewart is a big cry baby. He whines and crys, and drives like a spoiled brat kid. I think his team should let him go, and bring up another young driver. I can outdrive Tony. He would more than likely wreck, if he was on the track by himself, lol.
A rare SF NASCAR fan who loves her Arizona Wildcats as well. By day, a well respected Psychologist, on weekends "Start Your Engines!!"
Winner of the 2007 "Miller Lite Next Great Sportswriter" Contest and contributing writer on FOXSports.com .
