The Final Word – If TNT can make Pocono enjoyable, there is hope for Michigan
Pocono. Jimmie Johnson. His 63rd career Cup victory. Did I leave anything out? Sunday was all about Johnson pretty much all of the time. Greg Biffle and Dale Earnhardt Jr, who both won at Michigan last season, were the runners up at Pocono as Five Time claimed his third checkered flag of the season.
Johnson and Matt Kenseth are tied for most wins, one more than Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick. Four others have single wins, with Tony Stewart able to convert his into a wild card berth for the Chase. With last week’s Top Five, he is now just 17 points out of tenth place in the over-all standings.
David Ragan has a win, but sits more than a hundred points out of the Top Twenty. As for Denny Hamlin, he needs wins to make the Chase, but has 76 points to make up before they can do him any good. Not only does he need some victories, but he could use some bad luck to hit Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Ryan Newman, and Jamie McMurray for good measure.
Not all race teams are created equal, which brings us to the 30-somethings, those we usually find buried 30th or worse. Sometimes good things do happen to bad… or underfunded… teams. On Sunday, that team was the #93 of BK Racing, driven by Travis Kvapil. His 20th place finish marked their best effort of the season.
With rain forcing the Nationwide race to Sunday, and Joey Logano back to Pocono, the Iowa event was won by Trevor Bayne. It marked only the third time this season a series race was not won by a Cup regular, and only the eighth time in 14 runs the winner was not Kyle Busch.
For those of us who think having Cup drivers competing in the other circuits as being just plain stupid, back in the day the Grand National series was like Cup, Nationwide, and even the trucks all mixed together. In 1964, for example, Richard Petty won nine races in running 61 of a 62 race campaign. His first win was the Sunshine 200 at Savannah, beating 21 others, half of which never did win a Grand National race and for two it was their only such race. The season was longer and the fields could range to over fifty to less than twenty entries. As for the talent level, it was similar to having the likes of Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, and Brad Keselowski being challenged by Kyle Fowler and Tanner Berryhill. Sound familiar?
It was a great weekend for the sons of former Cup stars. Ward’s son Jeb Burton won the truck race, while the ARCA event was claimed by Bill’s son Chase Elliott. Hey, even Dale Earnhardt’s boy did not do so bad over the weekend.
Rating Pocono – 8/10 – Starting in Brooklyn back in 1950 and continuing to describe the action of the Los Angeles Dodgers today, 85-year old Vin Scully is the absolute pinnacle of play-by-play artistry. Armed with an almanac’s worth of informational tidbits we weaves a narrative that not only compliments the action on the field, but often transcends it.
Pocono was a one man race with Johnson dominating from start to finish and the rest of the field strung out behind him. Action filled, it was not. Yet the TNT crew of Kyle Petty, Wally Dallenbach, Adam Alexander, and Larry McReynolds kept us entertained and informed as they presented the story of the race. Their chemistry is spot on. That is how it should be done. FOX is good, TNT was better. ESPN? Let us not go there.
Too much? I don’t think so. This race had none of the action provided on the high banks of Daytona or Talladega, or the fender rubbing we see at Bristol, nor was the field even in the general proximity one might expect at Charlotte. Yet, it was an enjoyable broadcast to sit through. If the action did not keep us tuned in, it must have been the narrative provided by the broadcasters.
Michigan is the venue for this upcoming Sunday. It is where Junior won last June. Is it an exciting track to watch a race? If history is any indication, nope. Here is hoping the TNT crew is up for another challenge. We know that ESPN most certainly would not be, but that is a cross we won’t have to bear for a few more weeks. Enjoy this week.
Trevor Bayne wins in a wild weekend in Iowa!
Trevor Bayne won the 3rd Annual DuPont Pioneer 250 for his first win of the season. He won on Sunday afternoon after the race got postponed Saturday night due to rain and with 86 laps to go, delayed for rain once again. Austin Dillon, who led 204 of 250 laps, finished 2nd followed by Elliott Sadler, Sam Hornish Jr and Kyle Larson rounded out the top 5.
After getting postponed until Sunday morning, it was Dillon once again leading the field to the green under cloudy conditions. Hornish Jr led the first lap and led until the caution came out. The first caution came out due to Brad Sweet and Kevin Swindell getting together after getting bumped from Cole Whitt on lap 3.
There was a long green flag run through lap 50 but it went back to yellow as Brian Vickers got together with Bayne. Bayne was getting held up with a lap car and Vickers went three wide and Vickers got turned around.
At 100 laps in, It was all Dillon. He had a pretty good lead on Hornish Jr, Scott and others and were just cruising along.
The third caution waved for debris and all of the leaders went in for pit stops. They went back to green and a huge wreck occurred! No. 99 of Alex Bowman got loose and spun No. 20 of Vickers and No. 60 of Travis Pastrana was there and just got hit. Pastrana then went down the track and got clobbered by the No. 33 of Max Papis. Pastrana got out and was okay while Vickers went to the garage and Bowman and Papis drove their cars to pit road. Pastrana will be done for the day as the 3 other cars have a ton of work to do.
All of a sudden, a MASSIVE downpour just hit the speedway and soaked the race track and all of the cars were heading down pit road. As of 12:31 ET, covers have been put on the cars and people have been advised to take shelter.
12:37 ET: Sun is out and jet driers are now on the track.
1:36 ET Driver have refired their engines.
After a 1 hour and 9 minute rain delay, we went back to green in Iowa! Dillon did not seem concerned as he continued to lead and pull away from Bayne and the others, he is looking for his 3rd career win. The green did not last for long as the No. 43 of Michael Annett spun off of turn 2 and barley touched the inside wall. None of the front leaders came to pit but Drew Herring, who is in the #54 ride, came in. Herring is driving for KBM due to Busch driving in Pocono right now. Annett spun again trying to catch up to the field due to blowing his left rear tire.
With about 20 to go Dillon caught lap traffic and Bayne got caught up to him. When they cleared, Bayne got side by side and bumped him a little bit. Dillon did the same and finally passed Dillon with 11 to go.
