The fat lady is on stage, the band is ready, the curtain has gone up. All we need now is a nod from the conductor for her to sing her song. Jimmie Johnson finished third at Phoenix. Matt Kenseth had problems, came home 23rd, and the gap between the two leaders is now 28 points. With only 48 left on the table at Homestead, Five Time needs to finish 23rd or better to amend his nickname yet again.
There was the bursting of the bubble that had Jeff Gordon as an actual Cup contender. When his tire blew, when his car slammed into the fence, when he left with just a couple of points to his credit, that fantasy came to an end. To be honest, even if he had ran tenth, it would have mattered little.
We were wrong about Martinsville, which should be renamed Johnsonville the way Jimmie lays it down there. While Jeff Gordon tied Five Time in wins at the paper clip, claiming his 8th at the track and the 88th of his Cup career.
We waited with anticipation for the action, and Talladega once again delivered. Once again, we watched the cars (and trucks for those watching on Saturday) go flying around inches apart in aircraft formation, in wonder that they could pull this off lap after lap without it all going up in smoke and torn sheet metal. In the end, they could not avoid the unavoidable.
Charlotte has come and gone for another season, so what can one say about the race that was. Well, "thank God that is behind us" comes to mind. I can not remember if it was sponsored by Nyquil or was simply the To Hell With A Cure for Insomnia 500, for me it turned out to be NASCAR's version of English Premier League soccer. That is, best watched with PVR in hand.
Dover in a nutshell? Well, Jimmie won, Matt did not, and Kyle had to settle for a mere Top Five. What has not changed is that the trio remain the only relevant drivers as they head to Kansas for Sunday's fourth round of the Chase.
No one wishes Matt Kenseth any bad fortune, but if something should happen, like a 35th place at Dover next weekend, I am sure a dozen other fellows would not be terribly upset.
After the week's worth of who is in, who is not, who has been naughty, who has been wronged, we got back to racing. Sadly, the most exciting thing about the day was watching Kyle, Larry, and Kenny discuss the week that was. The race, for me, turned out to be a bit of a let down.
Carl Edwards jumps the late re-start and NASCAR says nary a word as he beats Kurt Busch for the win at Richmond. Yet, that is not the story of the week. Carl may have stole three bonus points for the Chase, may have kept Busch from taking his Furniture Row team to Victory Lane, but few fans were lost to the non-call. What happened a few laps earlier to bring out that caution with seven to go, well that is entirely another matter.
Scott McLaughlin had a great time in the first practice Friday for the inaugural Java House Grand Prix of Arlington, and his pleasure didn’t come just from the fast digits next to his name on the results sheet.
Scott McLaughlin, in the No. 3 DEX Team Penske Chevrolet, was the quickest of the drivers sporting a Bowtie during the first practice of the inaugural Java House Grand Prix of Arlington.
Max Taylor was the star student in the opening practice for the Grand Prix of Arlington, leading the field by more than a second Friday as 24 drivers in the INDYCAR development series learned the new circuit at this inaugural event.
Larson who fended off a young racer in the making and Hendrick Motorsports developmental Corey Day in the waning laps of the 25-lap feature by 0.096 seconds.
