If rainy days and Mondays really get you down, your Bristol Cup experience must have truly sucked. Sunday was a dandy day to load up the critters two by two, pushing the event to everyone’s favorite day of the week. Then it turned into a tale of many chapters.
Chapter one was the story of the dominance of Kyle Larson. Being the friendly sort, he turned the pages over to be dedicated to the Martin Truex Jr. story. After that, the final half of the parchment was all about Joey Logano, at least until Jimmie Johnson decided to jump from support to main character. Now, you cannot have a good story without a few surprises. Larson left his number one pit box to jump straight ahead and surprise, he got tagged for speeding. That left him in 20th, hoping to fly through the field in order to reach the likes of Johnson, Truex, and Logano as the final 100 laps ticked down.
Then with 33 to go, Truex received his own citation. He was now 15 away, with the other aforementioned boys all near the front, but not at the front. Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin took the point to really mess up the narrative as they went green.
In the end, Johnson prevailed for his 82nd career victory, giving him a win every 6.72 attempts since October 7, 2001, when his adventure began. It also was his second win in as many races. The rest of our main cast finished in the Top Ten, but only Logano achieved a Top Five. That is because Clint Bowyer, Harvick, and Matt Kenseth took the positions right behind the race winner.
Now, we did notice Bowyer fighting for position outside the Top Ten much of the day. There is no Rosie Ruiz reference applicable to him. In fact, he came back from an early speeding penalty to make his claim. Harvick made some noise in the second segment and was up there when it counted late. As for Kenseth, we did not even know he was out there until near the end, but he was there taking his bows after they dropped the final curtain. With that, he replaces Dale Earnhardt Jr. among our Top 20 in the standings.
Junior had some issues develop during the second segment that caused him to pound the wall to end his day. One point for his troubles. Kyle Busch had a tire go down during the same segment, then blew it again to find the wall. Two points. Brad Keselowski struggled much of the day, had to go in to fix a host of mechanical issues that developed. Three points. Ryan Blaney lost his power steering early and needed to take the time to fix that issue. Four points.
It comparison, it was a 54 point day for Johnson, while Truex, Logano, Larson, and Harvick crested 40 in the tally. Sometimes, rainy days and Mondays just work out for you. Heading to Richmond next Sunday, or whenever the weather decides it shall run, Hamlin is the last man to win there. The winner last spring was some guy named Carl Edwards. I hoped he enjoyed Monday’s contest from his couch. I know I did.
