1. DennyHamlin- The Virginia native led the first lap and, more importantly, the last lap. Hamlin overcame a miscommunication mid-race in the pits and gave Toyota Sprint Cup victory number two. Wonder how much FedEx is going to charge him to ship that grandfather clock home?
2. Hendrick Motorsports- Early on it looked like Team Hendrick would dominate as Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson all took turns leading with Casey Mears playing wing man. Much of the race they were running nose to tail inside the Top 10 but pit strategy, adjustments, and a few minor setbacks ultimately took its toll. They all had Top 10 finishes and are moving up in the points but it is AMP that’s driving this camp.
3. JeffBurton- The veteran was involved in an early mishap on pit road with Matt Kenseth but was persistent and ran a smart race. He stayed out late for track position and held on for a 3rd place finish. The new points leader took his leadership role seriously and had some strong words for rookie Michael McDowell about respect after the race. Sing it Aretha!
4. JamieMcMurray – Finally off the “Not” list with an impressive qualifying run and race last weekend at Martinsville. There was not a mark on the No. 26 Irwin Tools Ford on Sunday as McMurray drove it home to an 8th place finish. He is now solidly in the Top 35 in owners points for Texas and should treat himself to a famous Martinsville hotdog for that effort. A nod to his Roush teammates Carl Edwards and David Ragan for solid runs as well.
5. Team Ibuprofen – Elliott Sadler wrenched his back working out (wink, wink) and had Dennis Setzer ready to get in the car but he toughed it out for a solid 15th place finish on Sunday. Speaking of backs…Tony Stewart had an uneventful race and quietly finished 5th. Could it be that waxing his back was enough excitement for Smoke this week?
NOT
1. Kurt Busch- Started off on the wrong foot by sharing some brotherly love with Kyle, and then had a fender feud with Michael Waltrip. Busch was involved in several other wrecks as the Blue Deuce took a beating. His 33rd place finish dropped him out of the Top 12 in points. Some good news…at least probation is over.
2. Matt Kenseth - May well have switched personalities with Tony Stewart this week as the normally stable driver was involved in numerous wrecks, was penalized twice (once for going all ‘agro’ on David Gilliland in a payback maneuver). He battered his way to finish 30th and is now 15th in points. Maybe he just gets cranky when the race temperature is colder than Wisconsin.
3. AricAlmirola- Had a promising start as he qualified in 3rd but wrecked his way through the race and damaged his teammates’ cars (Martin Truex Jr. and Paul Menard) in the process. Almirola’s race finally went up in smoke on lap 121 and dropping him to a 42nd place finish. Clearly, the rookie still has much to learn about short track racing.
4. MichaelWaltrip- Apparently didn’t gain much helpful information from Roush’s proprietary sway bar as he swayed all over the track hitting everyone in sight until he finally got stuck on the curb. Waltrip ended up finishing 35th giving Roush a good reason not to sue him.
5. Bill Elliott- Continues to be a field-filler with a championship provisional. Awesome Bill was penalized early for a cone violation, and brought out the eigth caution as he spun himself. With a 34th place finish, it pains me to watch him continue to race with no hope of going out in style.
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.
Yuck...now we have the Service Not Available "bug".
Glad to see McMurray move up into the HOT list. He showed us he can still be a contender. Burton was pretty diplomatic with the rookie in his post race interview.
But...I can't believe Kurt Busch made the NOT list this week. Oh well, everyone has a bad race some week's, and apparently this was not a race to remember. I love how the "sway bar" incident made it into Waltrip's already bad week in the NOT list.
Gerrel- The "Service Unavailable" is worse than the "Whoops!" I was happy to see Jamie bounce back when his back was against the wall. Lets just hope he maintains. Kurt had an awful race, have to be objective! Jr might even get Not one of these days...!
Some body needs to tell Awesome Bill that he ain't awesome any more. More like a nuisance taking away a spot in a race for a more ambitious driver by using his provisional all the time.
Ok Jamie didn't wreck his car. At least we know he can drive with out wrecking.
Amp driving this camp? That may not be altogether true. Dale Jr. is well known for being able to drive a piece of junk to a respectable finish as evidenced last year. At least now he has engines with out sugar in the gas.
Aric Almirola? Yep he does.
Mike Mc Dowel? He came out of no where. Wasn't he on American Idol as a finalsit a couple years ago. Boy you got to learn not to hold up traffic when you are many laps down. Better still learn how to drive first.
A great hot and not list. Just my thoughts. I know. I think too much..
Great Stuff Klvalus - I think NASCAR could have over looked the pitting out of the box on Matt, It wasn't his fault he got knock side ways.
IMO. Cheers :)
I don't think so. He was my favorite driver back in the day. To me it diminishes his legend by getting into races on a provisional today just so that particular team can have a car in a race. Bill should not be selling his self short in doing that..
Mc D wasn't holding up cars when he was "laps" down. When he was holding up Burton, he was in line for the lucky dog. Like it or not, the lucky dog rule forces drivers to run a very different race which might get in the way of traffic.
He was doing what he gets paid to do.
It was only after the flat tire that he went laps down.
All good thoughts Photo..I thought for sure someone would have wanted Kyle on the Not list for his Truck race antics and poor finish but I just can't deal with Awesome Bill anymore. Thanks for your always insightful thinking!
Tez- Would love to see Marcos get that ride...
bjt- True enough I guess, but I think he deserves a more dignified exit to the sport. He is now becoming associated with poor racing not the excellence he once had.
Forensic- Matt had a rough go this week for sure. Doesnt matter if you park it or you get smacked into the pit stall, you still have to be in it apparently!
Photo- well said re: Bill.
Napa- Good to see hungry rookies racing hard. I am not fond of people pulling out of the way but at the end of races with little to gain, and likely NASCAR was giving him the "move over for the leader flag" he probably should have been a bit more aware. Fun to see Burton fired up about something other than safety though eh?
I strongly disagree with napagirl about McDowell. It doesn't matter that he was in line for the "lucky" dog. Burton was on the lead lap, racing for the win, right behind the leader. It was the last green flag run of the race and lapped cars have to move over for those on the lead lap. His flat tire resulted from the fact that Carl Edwards punted him coming off turn two immediatley after Burton got by. Jeff, as usual, was a complete gentleman, but Edwards did the right thing in this circumstance. The spotter and the crew chief need to play bigger roles in helping the inexperienced drivers understand what the racing etiquette is.
Great question, Lori. Shouldn't they treat it like the black flag, where after three postings, they stop scoring laps completed?
I don't blame McDowell for not knowing the etiquette. But if we're going to put young guys out there in harm's way, the teams need to be responsible, not only to their own driver, but to their competitors as well. I'm not saying Burton would have won, but he should not have been put in that position with a CHANCE to win the race.
Yeah Tez, it's one of the few infractions that the sanctioning body gets right. The problem I have with F1 is when they issue those "...incidents currently under investigation" warnings in the middle of the event. Then you see someone coming down through the pits to serve their penalty. I understand that they want to be clear on circumstance - but sheessh! Why do they take so long to review it?
If Bill Elliott was not in the 21 the 21 would not be even at the track on Sundays. If the wood Bros ever get a clue they will get some better testing and build better cars they are out of the loop and falling fast. Bad equipment will make a great driver look bad..sometimes a great driver is making a real crappy car look better then it is! Bill just loves to go fast the wood boys were fast 20 years ago they never will be again maybe they are the ones that should hang it up for good.
i think you are way off for saying that elliott is hot hot, so what if he did all that, he's a legend in nascar and one of the level headed drivers out there after all of the years he drove and you still don't hear him snapping at someone if he gets wrecked by another driver. the man has class and deserves better comments.
Moseby- Skinner was definitely on the short list! Still say good to see a rookie hungry and racing but should have moved over once the leader passed him...Loved how Carl played the hit man when Burton would not.
Lori - Great question...I'm gonna ask about that in the garages next week, I bet the team scorer will know.
dirttrack- Good point, perhaps its the Wood Brothers who are not hot. Either way, its painful to watch for me...because I respect Bill's history in the sport so much.
mycki9- Hot or Not is based on the current race, not history, you could be Hot today and Not tomorrow (see Aric Almirola). Bill is a legend but not racing like one. Good to see he has plenty of supporters out there!
SORRY SO LATE WITH THIS, GRANDKIDS DRIVING ME NUTS, AND IT IS A SHORT TRIP. GOOD ARTICLE AND AGREE RIGHT DOWN THE LINE, THINGS SHOULD BE WILD IN TEXAS TODAY.
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 .
