So, you think that with the way things turned out at Richmond we had a race that was a total waste of time? Oh no, my friend. I mean, with Kevin Harvick managing to keep Carl Edwards behind him as they came to the line, Happy got his fourth win of the season. He is now tied with Kyle Busch atop the Chase standings with 2012 big points. See, it meant something.
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[/media-credit]It allowed Jimmie Johnson to retaliate for the accidental bump he got from Kurt Busch to get into the little fella’s head. Kurt went ape on a reporter after he simply asked if this feud could hurt both their chances, then denied to another about saying something he had said earlier, then tearing up the transcript that proved the former champ was wrong in his assumption. Yet, Busch claims that it is he, King Kurt, who has somehow gotten into Johnson’s head. Something tells me the boy could be wrong about that, too.
If not for Saturday night’s broadcast, look at all the bent metal we would have missed. We would have not seen why Brian Vickers got so upset with Marcos Ambrose, and why NASCAR sat Vickers down for a time out in the middle of the race. We would have been left wondering how Junior can be involved in three incidents, get down a couple of laps, be riding around 29th at one point, and still finish 16th.
It was a good thing Earnhardt was out there, beating and banging. I mean, if not for that, his boys would have had to take a sledgehammer to that auto of his in order to create the same work of modern art. Junior was minding his own business when he ran into a sideways Clint Bowyer. Of course, this was immediately after he had ran into a braking Matt Kenseth. A little later, he noticed that Ambrose was not being bothered by Vickers, so he bothered him. He later got a bump from Travis Kvapil, and not long after he returned the favor by putting that fella right into the fence. Nothing but good times.
So, Junior fell to tenth in the pre-Chase standings, but he and the rest who had a position a week ago have one as they head to Chicago. Only a dozen drivers really hold our interest as we head towards autumn, though there are others who will be looking to either find a job, or keep the one they got. Harvick and Shrub may lead the parade heading to the Windy City, but a finish outside the Top Twenty on Sunday would change that in a hurry.
Chicago, a track where they have raced ten times, where Harvick won the first two, Stewart also has a pair, with Ryan Newman, Jeff Gordon, Junior, and Kyle Busch each with one win to their credit. It is where Carl Edwards was the 2010 runner-up, but nobody who has won there also went on to claim the Cup championship that season. Mark Martin won in 2009, but finished second behind some guy named Johnson in points. So, am I saying Chicago will prove to be just a big waste of time? Something tells me that won’t be the case. Enjoy the week.
