The Final Word – That was no pass in the grass at Texas

Sometimes when you mess with the bull, you get the horns. This past weekend, there was one ornery Texas Longhorn who made his displeasure known.

First to be gored were those fans who mosied on down to Dallas for a Sunday race. If they had no Plan B, the race was run on Monday while they were on the return trip home to Poughkeepsie. Rain took care of business on the scheduled day, and I wonder how many were like me and did not plan on a “what if” strategy. Fortunately, I did not need it, but some sure did this past Sunday.

When a roper misses, it often is forgotten in a week. Dale Earnhardt Jr. wrecked riding a bull instead, and when he poked his nose down to the inside in the opening laps, he went where no car should ever go.  It was his version of “the Crash in the Grass”, as his front end dug in to shatter his car before it even got thrown for a hard hit along the outside fence. The fact it then burst into flames was just a final touch of the torch, so to speak. Ten laps of caution to open, two laps of green, then a trip to the garage and an early flight home for Junior, dead last in 43rd.

Jimmie Johnson was like a rodeo barrel man. You know, that nice guy with the painted up smiley face who keeps the kids entertained while poking his head out of the barrel to tease the bull. Then the bull decides to hook the barrel and flip it high into the air, or just toss a piece of a deteriorating tire from Junior’s dying beast into Johnson’s windshield. It bent the bar meant to support the glass and even tore Jimmie a new one in the front end where not even the old one would have been located. His crew fixed him up, but he never got back to the lead lap, having to settle for 25th.

It is good that Kevin Harvick won at Phoenix, as four of the seven rodeos have seen him shoved face deep in the dirt. A broken hub left him 41st in Las Vegas, a lost oil line meant 39th at Bristol, then a blown tire left him 36th in California. Once again, his bronco came snorting out of the gate in Texas, twisted, turned, and then suddenly dropped dead.  Harvick lasted more than twice as long as Earnhardt, which is saying nothing, when his engine quit. He was 42nd, and the only race he was part of was to see which of the two got back to North Carolina the quickest.

Joey Logano thought he was also bound for heart break. With the white flag on the horizon, he was heading to the line when the left rear on Kurt Busch’s car let go to shred the quarter-panel to pieces. Out came the caution, four Goodyears went on Joey’s ride, but Jeff Gordon took two to start in front for the green-white-checker. That drama did not last long, as the Connecticut Yankee stormed back in front to win for the fourth time of his career and picked himself up a Chase place.

While things went well for Logano, team mate Brad Keselowski was out near the front almost the entire day. However, while Logano got his four feel goods in the pits, Keselowski was earning himself a speeding penalty to vacate his spot beside Joey at the re-start to finish 15th. Sometimes the bull just sits back and lets you kick your own butt.

In tallying up the standings, the first to be considered are the seven race winners before we worry about points. Too bad, as Jeff Gordon has no wins but more points than anyone else. He was consistently up front on Monday, to finish second, just ahead of Kyle Busch, Brian Vickers, and Kyle Larson.

Texas was tough on some, mild on others. Matt Kenseth remains winless yet his seventh place result on Monday leaves him just four points back of Gordon.  Danica Patrick was a barrel racer in the midst of the bull riding, finishing 27th to sit 29th in the standings. Nobody sits behind her other than those you would have bet on to be back there.

Austin Dillon is 12th, four spots ahead of Larson in the rookie race. Despite all the talk about the good crop of first year drivers this season, only those two will matter. Frankly, none of the others are in equipment worthy of challenging, with only Justin Allgaier (28th) joining the other two ahead of the “Danica line.” It should be interesting to see how they, and their teams, will fare the rest of the season. One point of measure might indeed be the Danica line.

As for Harvick and Kurt Busch, they need to stay within the Top 30 over-all to make their wins work for them. With more than a 30 point bulge over the 31st place David Gilliland, they both still look safe for the next few weeks. That Texas bull was bad, but nothing those two cowboys cannot recover from.

They replace the critter with the lady this Saturday night, as Darlington and the Southern 500 is next on the dance card.  Seven different drivers have won this season. Seven different drivers have won at Darlington since Greg Biffle won back to back in 2005-06. Jeff Gordon has won seven times there, the last in 2007. If he drove the No. 7, picking the winner for Saturday night would have been a no brainer.  Still, if he brings flowers maybe the Lady in Black will be kind to him one more time.

One more thing. When rain washed away Sunday’s date, fans wondered if they would get a chance to see the Monday attempt. Thanks to TSN2, I could and did. Thanks! Here is a look at the standings, with the priority given to our seven winners…