Double Clutchin’-A Few More Things About Richmond
Written by Rocky Kitts · May 7, 2008
After last Saturday night’s Crown Royal 400, there has really only been one story all week, and of course that was the shenanigans of the last several laps; the Kyle Busch/Dale Jr. fiasco. That subject has been analyzed to death, and honestly there’s not much left to say about the incident, other than that in many (Junior) fans’ minds, something underhanded happened, and you are not going to convince them otherwise. That statement being made, there was much more that happened at Richmond than just the Busch/Junior crash, and those things deserved to be discussed, before we move on to Darlington.
First off, in spite of what his caution caused at the end of the race, this track belonged to Denny Hamlin, and had it not been for a little bad luck, Hamlin wasn’t getting caught by Busch, by Earnhardt, or by a supersonic jet. He dominated the race with his 381 laps-led performance and it’s too bad that he’s going to be remembered more for bringing out the caution that caused the controversy; but Hamlin easily had the best car on the track Saturday night. Now whether or not you buy his comments that, “I didn’t even know where Kyle was out on the racetrack…for all I know, he was leading the race,” well now, that’s another topic.
Also lost in the aftermath was another accident that left one driver in NASCAR’s doghouse. When Michael Waltrip retaliated against Casey Mears for accidentally wrecking him, Waltrip was sat for the rest of the race, an act that cost him 60 points. I for one was surprised to see Waltrip retaliate; was he mad that Casey cost him a twentieth-place finish or what? Then next time that Michael sees victory lane, it’ll be because he snuck in. I am surprised that NASCAR left him without a fine, after that little incident, but hey, they discipline when they feel like it. That means that NAPA can keep putting Waltrip in all the commercials that they want to, and apparently, they really want to; I’ve seen so many Michael Waltrip commercials that they’ve almost got me convinced that he’s still popular. Almost.
Other notes from the race we might have missed:
Mark Martin continues to make his shortened schedule count, with his impressive third place finish Saturday night. Clint Bowyer owes Martin flowers, or a card, because it may have been Martin’s push for second that kept Kyle Busch from really challenging for the lead.
The Joe Gibbs team came close to having three cars in the top 10, and had Hamlin went on to win the race they might have placed three cars in the top five, people can argue about Toyota all they want to, beat them and it won’t be an issue, beat them and they’ll go away. There’s no money in losing.
Kasey Kahne finished tenth at Richmond, but his All-State commercial is still easily number one. The number one worst commercial on television. You know the one I’m talking about. The one where he’s dancing out front of his car with the little pink hearts on his uniform. Anyone who thinks that drivers today are as tough as drivers of the past, just needs to watch that commercial, and let me point at the scoreboard. It couldn’t be less masculine if he came out wearing Hello Kitty panties and holding a My Little Pony. Well, maybe that would be worse, but not by much. To paraphrase the old song, “I don’t think Dale done it this away”.
Until next time folks, I apologize to the one Michael Waltrip fan who may have been offended; don’t worry there’s a top 25 finish somewhere in your future, and to the rest of you remember this:
Where I’m from they shoot gophers.
“Boogity, Boogity, Boogity! Get In Your Hole Digger!”
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Kasey Kahne is a wimp in pink spandex. One has to wonder what All-state was thinking of dressing him like that. Better yet what was he thinking saying yes to doing that humiliating commercial. I have noticed that Budweiser has cut way back on any commercials with him in them. I guess they saw the pink spots on the wall about the time the ink dried on his contract with them.