Wow!!! What else can anyone truly say? Today’s finish of the Aaron’s 499 from Talladega, ties the closest finish since electronic scoring came to be in 1993. This leaves us with the same “gut feeling” of the 2003 Darlington race, where Kurt Busch and Ricky Craven battled to the line (both races were separated by .002 sec). As Mike Joy said in the Television booth, “what other sport can you say, you can’t tell who won, when you’re only 100 feet away?”
[media-credit name=”(c) CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”255″]
[/media-credit]More than anything, Hendrick Motorsports needed this performance today. All 4 cars were there as they crossed the line, more so than any other race team. Not to mention, to start the Aaron’s 499, all 4 Hendrick car’s were in the top 4 as well.
What surprised me were the lack of cautions. Granted we did have some today, and 2 that come to mind took out some really good cars, but we didn’t see the “Big One” that we typically see at the Superspeedway tracks.
There wasn’t a single car that totally dominated this week, unlike last weeks shellacking Kenseth put on the field. All this does is add to the excitement of a NASCAR season where in 8 races, we have had 7 different winners. Most of the cars that ran toward the front all day, had great drafting help. I couldn’t help but be reminded of when Kenseth and Ragan hooked up for the first half of the race. They were one of the few pair-ups that seemed to stick toward the front.
Talladega was just one of those places that you really couldn’t pick a single driver to win, being that it is so unpredictable, and everyone has a shot to win. Who would have thought that out of Tommy Baldwin’s Racing team, Dave Blaney would be leading with just under 5 laps to go? Or how about David Gilliland’s P9 finish. This is what makes Talladega so great, it’s not the 2 car drafts we hate so much, but the great runs these drivers have, when they typically wouldn’t have them.
Only one more race before we close out April, and head into “All-Star Month”. There are plenty of great races, with great race cars ahead, and what NASCAR fan couldn’t be more excited about that?
Next Week: Off week for Easter (Nationwide Series at Nashville Saturday)
As we enjoy a week off, let’s get prepared for what is before us: Richmond, Darlington, Dover, All-Star race, and Charlotte to close out May!
Until next time~ “Let’s go racin’ boys!” -DW
Gilly’s 9th place was another great result for him. He worked with Smoke all day and they would have finished a lot higher if was not for a certain mr K bush;) Hope FRM and Gilly get a few more top tens this season!