Double Clutchin’-The G, B, And U From Michigan: Part Two
Written by Rocky Kitts · August 18, 2008
Busch>Edwards>Everybody Else.
If you wanted to sum up this season in NASCAR. you could use the formula above to sum it up and it would be hard to dispute. There have been 23 races this season and 13 of them have been won by the duo. And that’s just in the Cup. The two have also combined for nine wins on the Nationwide Series, which gives them a grand total of 22 wins in both series. A little elementary school math, carry the one, gives me…Wala-46 percent of the races at NASCAR’s top two levels have belonged to Bush and Edwards. Everyone else can help themselves to some parting gifts because this is a two man race. Now, onto the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly:
The Good:
Yay, back-flips. Another win for Carl Edwards, and while it wasn’t exactly a great finish, we were treated to a little bit of tension as we wondered whether or not Kyle would try some bumping on the last restart, in his attempt to claim all races as his own. But, a good restart from Edwards put an end to Mr. Busch’s plans to conquer the world. Well, at least for one more week. How scary is it that Busch says that now he can just concentrate on winning races? What was he doing before, playing Tetris?
Also, am I the only one who was happy that this race didn’t come down to a fuel mileage gamble? I didn’t think so. We haven’t had that many good races this season, and it was nice to see a race decided on the track this week. I’m not trying to imply that this was a great race, but at least it was a race that was decided on the track. I like strategy as much as the next fellow, but I’m tired of races being decided in the pits.
Great runs by the also-rans. David Ragan and Greg Biffle pulled third and fourth place finishes, and Ragan in particular had a very good car all day. Brian Vickers turned pole position into a seventh place finish, and Kevin Harvick was able to take advantage of poor finishes from those ahead of him in the Chase, by finishing eighth and moving up to eighth in the driver standings. Biffle also was able to jump up three spots in the Chase, shooting up the charts to seventh. Good job by those guys, and Michigan could go down as the race that really shakes up the Chase and puts a bunch of newer names into the NASCAR consciousness for the final weeks of the season.
The Bad:
Bad luck struck Junior again. After leading at several points during the race, Junior took some serious damage after a less than romantic encounter with the wall and had to settle for a 23rd place finish. When asked if he expected this many bumps in the road this season, Junior responded:
“It ain’t had that many bumps, you know. Last year had a lot of bumps.”
Take out of that quote, what you will.
The Ugly:
“Originally I thought that I ran right into him (Johnson). My spotter didn’t say anything until the last second and he said two cars on the outside instead of three-wide but ultimately we’re responsible because our pit stops have just been terrible today. You know we finally had an awesome race car and just didn’t have the total package. Its disappointing because that is the way our season has gone. We get the pit stops awesome and we can’t get the car right. So, you know, what are you going to do?
That was Jeff Gordon after the race. I doubt that I’m the only person who thought that Gordon looked like he was going to break into tears when he had to bring his car into the pits, after he was pin-balled by Tony Stewart into Jimmie Johnson. I wrote last week that Gordon’s team had very little momentum going into these last weeks before the Chase. Well, now they have momentum; they have negative momentum. Gordon stayed on his team for their pit stops while he was on the track and he continued to harp on the poor pit stops even after his day was finished. A 42nd place finish isn’t going to help matters or team morale and Gordon saw his stock tumble down to ninth in the Chase. Gordon has a real shot of falling out of contention with another bad race. Maybe Gordon can rebound at Bristol, a track that he’s had success at throughout his career, but it’s easier to say that you’re going to just “pin your ears back and try to win races” than it is to actually go out an do so. Gordon has given no reason to think that he’s even close to contending for victories, and the way this are going right now there are other drivers who are just waiting to take his spot in the Chase away from him.
Oh, and someone needs to tell Kasey Kahne to go easy on the mascara. Just a suggestion, KK.
That’s it for this week’s G, B, and U. Next week I’ll be able to recap my live experience from the best race of the season (IMO), the Sharpie 500, night race at Bristol. I really wish that Daytona and Bristol could be incorporated into the Chase, but that’s another post, for another day.
Rocky Kitts can be reached at wwwthreestrikesandout@yahoo.com. His math is slightly better than a third graders, so any formulas should be reworked (several times). He did; however, win his seventh grade spelling bee.
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[...] News » News Double Clutchin’-The G, B, And U From Michigan: Part Two2008-08-22 00:51:44And could use the formula above to sum up this season in NASCAR. you wanted to [...]