NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Watkins Glen
Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.
1. Carl Edwards: Edwards finished a solid 12th at Watkins Glen, Roush Fenway Racing’s top finisher in Monday’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips At The Glen. Edwards is now tied with Kyle Busch for the lead in the Sprint Cup point standings.
“Should I be worried that I no longer sit alone atop the point standings?” Edwards said. “Of course not. I’m NASCAR’s resident pretty boy, and like it or not, I even look good in a ‘tie.’”
I hear Boris Said has it out for my Roush Fenway Greg Biffle. Boris said one day soon, a driver will show up at the race track with a black eye. I tend to believe him. Stranger things have happened. Heck, twice a year, a driver shows up at the track with an afro!”
2. Kyle Busch: Busch led 49 of 92 laps at Watkins Glen and was leading on the race’s final restart with two laps to go. But both Brad Keselowski and Marcos Ambrose slipped by on the restart, and Ambrose muscled his way to the win. Busch finished third, his series-best 11th top 5 of the year, and is now tied with Carl Edwards atop the point standings.
“M&M’s may simply melt in your mouth,” Busch said, “but apparently, leads evaporate altogether in my hands.”
How about poor Denny Hamlin, losing his brakes on lap 66 and crashing hard into the Turn 1 wall? He’s okay, but with brake issues on top of all the engine problems he’s experienced this year, you have to believe there will be some changes with that team. I say it’s time for Viagra to return to NASCAR sponsorship, and Hamlin’s No. 11 car would be a perfect fit for a product with a proven solution to equipment failure.”
3. Jimmie Johnson: After a week of feuding with Kurt Busch, Johnson finished 10th at Watkins Glen, scoring his 13th top-10 finish of the year. Johnson is now third in the point standings, trailing Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch by six.
“So, Kurt Busch says he’s ‘in my head?’” Johnson said. “Well, he’s out of his mind. Now, he needs to get out of mind. Anyway, I finished 28 places better than he, which just goes to show that Kurt’s a punk, and karma’s a bitch.”
4. Kurt Busch: After winning Saturday’s Nationwide race subbing for Penske teammate Brad Keselowski, Busch found the going much rougher during Monday’s rescheduled Sprint Cup race. Busch spun out on lap 4, then blew a tire and slammed the Turn 5 tire barrier on lap 49. He finished a disappointing 38th, and dropped two places to sixth in the point standings, 40 out of first.
“It’s nice to know,” Busch said, “that I can get in Keselowski’s car and win a race. Especially since I, the former driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, have witnessed Brad get into my car and win. Twice.”
At The Glen, I barely made it to the halfway point of the race. You could say I couldn’t ‘break a sweat,’ which, incidentally, is exactly what Jimmie Johnson said about my fighting ability.”
5. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished sixth at Watkins Glen, posting his first top-10 result since Daytona on July 2nd. Harvick is now fourth in the Sprint Cup point standings, 14 behind Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch.
“I’m certainly pleased with the result,” Harvick said. By no means am I a road course ringer. Now, if I would have been in Boris Said’s shoes, I would have been a road course wringer, because somebody would have been choked.”
You may have seen me throw out the first pitch at the Angels-Yankees game inNew Yorklast week. One thing’s for sure: that baseball won’t get a ticket for speeding on pit lane. My incident with Kyle Busch at Darlington, coupled with my pitching skill, just goes to show that his right arm can’t hit a target, moving or otherwise.”
6. Jeff Gordon: Gordon led six laps at Watkins Glen on his way to a 13th-place finish in the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips At The Glen. He remained seventh in the point standings and is 52 behind Carl Edwards.
“What I finish,” Gordon said. “That last lap was a lot like a Kurt Busch radio tirade, because all ‘hell’ broke loose. And David Reutimann was much like Indy Car driver Will Power at New Hampshire—they both flipped. Of course, Power’s middle finger salute to the race officials drew a fine. I guess that’s the ‘Power’ of ‘one.’ You would never see a Sprint Cup driver flip off NASCAR officials. Not because our manners are any better than Power’s, but NASCAR officials don’t have a problem not throwing a caution. And they don’t need any rain to do it.”
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[/media-credit]7. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth suffered an early setback at Watkins Glen, running out of gas midway through the race, but fought back to come home 14th. He moved up one spot to fifth in the point standings, and is now 28 out of first.
“Thanks to Greg Biffle for the push back to the pits after I ran out of gas,” Kenseth said. “According to Boris Said, that’s the only ‘push back’ Biffle’s good for. If Biffle does show up for an upcoming race with a black eye, then he’ll be the only ‘Said head’ who’s not a member of Boris’ fan club.”
8. Tony Stewart: Stewart finished 27th, the last car on the lead lap, after his No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil Chevy spun and was hit by another car. Stewart fell one spot in the point standings to tenth, and is 25 ahead of Clint Bowyer in 11th.
“I wouldn’t classify my finish as ‘Heluva Good,’” Stewart said. “I would, however, classify Boris Said’s challenge to Greg Biffle as a ‘heluva goad.’”
9. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski nearly captured his second-consecutive win of the year, leading with one to go at Watkins Glen before Marco Ambrose bulled past him. Keselowski settled for second and further solidified his wildcard chances.
“Ambrose is the first Australian to win a NASCAR race,” Keselowski said. “I say that’s ‘Aus-some.’ He’s establishing quite a few milestones. Last year, he became the first Australian to stall his engine while leading the race.”
10. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt finished 15th in the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips At The Glen, joining Hendrick teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon in the top 15. Earnhardt improved one position in the Sprint Cup point standings, and is in ninth with four races before the Chase opener.
“I like my chances to make the Chase For The Cup,” Earnhardt said, “if the Chase started tomorrow. Hopefully, I can survive these next four races and maintain my position. One thing’s for sure: I won’t be winning my way into the Chase.”
Watkins Glen – A Siren’s Song
If Sonoma is the wicked witch of the west, with her short track tendencies and her hot temper attitude. Then Watkins Glen is the evil witch of the east, with her high speeds and dangerous tempting of drivers to drive in just a little deeper go just a little faster. After a days delay due to rain, she rewarded patience and collected those who gave into her sirens song.
After coming close enough to see the checkers wave. After having fate rip the flag from his hands. Marcos Ambrose finally silenced the reminiscing of his close calls when he took the checkers in very convincing style. Ambrose held off a hard charging Brad Keselowski in the final turns to bring home his first Sprint Cup win.
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[/media-credit]Although the checkers flew with the yellow for two serious wrecks on the final lap both occurred behind the leaders leaving Ambrose, Keselowski and Kyle Busch to bring them all to the finish line wide open and going for broke.
As the wind caught the checkered flag, a sickening stillness spread on the breeze as the carnage of the wreck involving David Ragan and David Reutimann became apparent via the big screen on the front stretch. Reutimann was air born. He hit two walls and the car appeared to disintegrate around him. Ragan hit an oblique wall dead head on after contact from Boris Said and then bounced into Reutimann sending him airborne when they both hit the outside Armco retaining wall.
This was the third serious wreck of the day. The first saw Kurt Busch lose his brakes entering turn 5 and go head on into the tire barrier. “I had a big problem getting into the braking zones today — just rear brakes locking up,” Busch said after the crash. “I had to crank eight rounds of front brake into our [car] just to survive. All that does is generate brake heat, and I blew out the left-front tire.
“It was a bummer of a day and not anything that we expected. It must have been something with the brake package. Whatever Keselowski found at Road Atlanta [during his Aug. 3 testing accident], I had a problem with today.”
The second of the day was Denny Hamlin’s crash in turn 1 on lap 65. Hamlin’s car lost its brakes and hit a tire barrier and guard rail head on at 60mph moving a fence backwards almost 2 feet whose posts were set in concrete.
“This was just terrifying,” Hamlin said, “because you know there’s nothing you can do, and you’re heading straight for the fence. It’s the [most scared] I’ve been, by far.”
“You’re obviously traveling fast. This is obviously the fastest road course,” said David Ragan after his crash, “It’s crazy, though, in this day and age to not have SAFER barriers and a little better design. That guardrail and all has probably been here since the 1900s when this race track was built. It’s kind of absurd. There are dirt tracks that have better SAFER barriers and wall systems.”
Reutimann who was struck in the leg by a piece of flying debris that cut through his uniform, when he became air borne and struck both inside and outside armco guard rails. “This is one of the bigger hits I would say, but it’s part of the gig,” Reutimann said. “You sign up to do this stuff, every once in a while you’re going to hit something. As fast as we’re going, you hit stuff pretty hard. I’m good and will be ready for Michigan next week. I’m thinking where I hit would probably be a good place for SAFER barriers. So, maybe we should look at that next time we come back. Overall, I’m OK and ready to get out of here.”
Jeff Gordon was a victim in the same spot in the track last year and was fortunate enough to walk away from a very nasty crash. Although Gordon finished 13th and was not involved in the wreck, he certainly sympathized with the drivers who were involved.
“You can’t have walls like that. You’re going to find those places eventually, so they’ve got to fix them. And unfortunately, this one has been found before. And we’ve seen what can happen, and we’re very fortunate we don’t have any injuries coming from that, because obviously it could have been much worse. But anytime you’re in a race car and you’re trying to go fast, accidents are going to happen. And when they do, you have to make sure they have a clear path for cars to exit the race track. In this situation, they’ve got a wall that [produces] not only a big impact, but puts it right back out into traffic.” Stated the four time champion.
In fairness not every driver voiced a concern about the barriers. Race winner Marcos Ambrose had a different perspective on the tracks barriers coming from a road course back ground. “I don’t drive around this place looking at any one spot saying, ‘Ooh, that looks nasty to me.’ I think they’ve done great with what they’ve got,” he said. “If you don’t have a guardrail off Turn 2, you end up going down a bank, so that’s not good, either. So I think the track itself is fine. I think we just have to keep working on safety. All the drivers walked away. I’ve got no complaints about this place. I think it’s a safe race track. We’re just driving these cars flat out, and it creates problems. … I think the track is a classic road-racing circuit. You don’t want to make it too sterile. You’ve got to have bumps and lumps and change of camber and roughness and all that kind of stuff that makes it what it is.”
But the facts remain that one more time NASCAR has taken a wait and see attitude. It took the death of J.D. McDuffie here to create the bus stop chicane to insure that the heavy high powered stock cars could make the turn safely. One would think with the history of serious career and life threatening injuries that Watkins Glen has that NASCAR would want to take a proactive stance and say Ok we need you to look into making changes here and here. But that is simply not the case.
Nascar will review the black box information from all the wrecked cars and see if the G Spikes were high enough to warrant S.A.F.E.R. barriers being placed in the trouble spots. G Spikes occur at impact and are a measurement of the gravitational force that the driver sustains. It takes a certain level for the sanctioning body to mandate the S.A.F.E.R. barrier technology be placed in the area by the track.
For the third week in a row, there were safety concerns for drivers. For the third week in a row lives were at risk. Again it calls into question the Driver Safety First Initative of NASCAR. Obviously this car has incredible safety systems. But is that enough?
If the technology exists to make the enviroment safer to race in why on earth would you not have it in place? If driver safety first is your first priority, so much so that unlike other series, Sprint Cup does not race in the wet, why would you not insist that the technology be in place at tracks where they race?
Spokesman for Watkins Glen International Speedway, Ryan Lake stated post race, “Driver safety is certainly our No. 1 concern, and I think our past shows that we’re more than willing to do what’s necessary — such as two years ago, when we made those changes with the extended runoffs and SAFER barriers,” track spokesman Ryan Lake said. “After this race, we’ll certainly speak with NASCAR, and if they come back and say we need to make changes, we’re certainly going to do that.” The key words here are “if they come back and say we need to make changes, we’re certainly going to do that.”
Why after the crashes we saw this weekend would you need NASCAR to tell you that you have a problem? It’s apparent that there is a problem and it’s not the first time the problem has shown itself. Why? Because S.A.F.E.R. barriers are expensive. Very expensive. It’s in the neighborhood of $500 a foot. That isn’t the only problem. Dr. Dean Sicking, creator of S.A.F.E.R. barriers said, “The truth is, along with the expense, there wasn’t enough steel tubing in the world to do it. [put safer barriers on every wall]
“We would have used it all and still come up short. We had to select the areas where a crash was most likely to occur.”
The S.A.F.E.R. barrier is comprised of hollow rectangular tubes in front of foam padding, which is in front of the concrete walls. S.A.F.E.R. stands for Steel and Foam Energy Reduction.
NASCAR is aware of the risks. “Obviously, we want to have the S.A.F.E.R. walls in the areas where we have the most risk,” NASCAR CEO Brian France said, “I know we’re always looking at it, and every track is a little bit different.
“Some are road courses, so you can’t just say every wall. It may not be practical or it may not be necessary. But clearly in areas of high risk, we have to do better.”
Now, the restrictions are understandable. The outside factors are very apparent. But the fact remains that if NASCAR is going to put driver’s safety first then as a whole the sport should be proactive in the area of driver safety not reactive. It should not take losing a driver or having one seriously injured before we take the steps to prevent it. This is the second consecutive year that this turn and area of the track has been shown to be unsafe. Yet we wait and see what happens. The time is here for NASCAR to say this is what happens and if you want to keep this date, you will fix this area of the track.
The sky was growing dark over the track and teams were hurriedly preparing to finally go home. Some breathed sighs of relief. Some celebrated a victory over the evil witch. Some just sighed happy to be returning home with limited pain. As the thunder rumbled far off more than one looked over their shoulder towards the chicane where the destruction had occurred and wondered out loud, how close did we really come? The slowly falling rain drops seemed to whisper the answer they all knew as they hit the tops of metal trailers and sent a universal shutter down the spines of all present.
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Congratulations to Kurt Busch and the Ruby Tuesdays/Discount Tire team on their victory in the NNS this weekend. Kudos to Jimmie Johnson on racing to win a race in a series, where he had nothing to gain or lose.
Congratulations to Marcos Ambrose and his Stanley Tools team. It was awesome to see the King and Todd Parrot back in victory lane. It’s been too long. It was also a great thing to watch Marcos finally put to bed all the almosts.
That said, to all the competitors in all the series thanks for giving us everything you have to give, you are our heroes. Most importantly, thanks to all the families who shared their loved ones with us so we could cheer our favorite driver and favorite teams. You are the true heroes of the sport and we are forever in your debt.
HOORAHS AND WAZZUPS: IT WAS A HELUVA GOOD MONDAY RACE
Over the previous weekend we observed mother nature wreak havoc with NASCAR’s best laid plans and schedules at the Watkins Glen International Raceway. There was simply no way the Heluva Good Sour Cream Dips At The Glen was going to see a green flag start on Sunday afternoon. What we saw instead was one Heluva Good Sprint Cup race on Monday morning. We witnessed the joy of our favorite “Aussie” after winning his first ever Cup race, we witnessed a hair raising green-white checker finish and we got treated to some rather entertaining comments from a pair of angry drivers after the race. With those thoughts in mind, let’s begin with:
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[/media-credit]HOORAH to Marcos Ambrose for scoring that long sought first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory at Watkins Glen. He led a total of 21 laps including a three wide move at the end of the race that allowed him to lead the most important lap of all. That famous grin was wider than ever in victory lane where Ambrose announced that he was going to “crack a few tinnies and enjoy this victory.”
WAZZUP with the naysayers who are already claiming that this driver is expected to win a Cup race on a road course and to prove his mettle he needs to win on an oval? Yes, it’s certainly true that he’s won a lot or road racing events and titles in his native Australia. There’s no question that his road racing skills are superior to many. He certainly proved that at Watkins Glen. But, why do we need to go there in middle of this driver’s first Cup victory? Can Ambrose win on an oval? If you look at his marked improvement on ovals over the last year alone the answer is yes he can.
HOORAH to Richard Petty Motorsports for an outstanding day at the Glen where their two car team finished in the top ten. A J Allmendinger also had a good run and brought his car home to an eighth place finish. This is a well deserved turn around for RPM especially when you consider that, less than a year ago, we were all wondering if they were going to have to lock the doors to their shop for good.
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HOORAH to Brad Keselowski for his second place finish at Watkins Glen. Despite the pain from an ankle and back injury, he found a way to overcome medical issues and drive a very strong race. On an equally important note, that finish moves him to 11th in the championship standings and he’s now the leader in the wild card competition. It’s extremely possible that this injured driver could drive himself into the Chase line up.
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Okay, let’s get to it. WAZZUP with that Boris Said versus Greg Biffle confrontation after the race? On the final lap of the Watkins Glen Cup race, Said got into the back of David Ragan’s Ford who in turn collected David Reutimann’s Toyota. The result was a horrendous accident that concluded the green-white-checker finish with a yellow flag. Reutimann’s car hit the retaining wall so hard it barrel rolled and was approximately four feet shorter than its original length. Both Reutimann and Ragan were clearly shaken up from the hard hits and exited their cars very slowly. Boris Said referred to the incident as a close quarter road course racing deal but did say he was glad to hear the two drivers were okay.
Apparently Biffle took a great deal of exception to his team mate, Ragan, being treated that way. It was alleged that Biffle presented Said with a series of one finger salutes before they left the track after the race. Once in the garage area, Said probably made the situation worse by parking his race car behind BIffle’s hauler. Biffle was observed reaching into Said’s window and threw a punch at him. By the time Said was able to get out of his car to continue the confrontation, Biffle was already surrounded by members of his team. It prompted Said to announce that Biffle was the “most unprofessional scaredy cat he’s ever seen” and further complained that Biffle wouldn’t even “fight me like a man. Said also announced that he needed someone to text him Biffle’s address so he could go to his house and “show him what he really needs.” Biffle later responded, via “Twitter”, that Said shouldn’t have parked his car behind his team hauler and that his first concern should have been to check on the condition of Reutimann and Ragan. BIffle referred to that lack of concern for the drivers as being both “unprofessional and disrespectful.”
WAZZUP with that curious comment from NASCAR that followed this incident? NASCAR Spokesperson Kristi King said “we’re evaluating the situation, any potential penalties likely would be announced on Tuesday or Wednesday.” Wait a minute, why isn’t this covered under the “have at it boys policy”? The race cars were parked, there was no chance of innocent victims getting caught up in a two driver confrontation and you really couldn’t even call that a fight. Compared to other “have at it boys” incidents from the past, this was probably the safest, maybe even the lamest, one we’ve seen. Both drivers reportedly had already left the track before NASCAR officials could even speak to them about the incident. Why would there be penalties?
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A combined HOORAH and WAZZUP goes to the Busch Brothers for their up and down weekend at Watkins Glen. Subbing for the injured Brad Keselowski in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race, Kurt Busch started on the pole and won the race. In fact, the Busch brothers were a tower of strength in this event and combined to lead all 85 laps. However older brother’s win came at little brother’s expense. In the waning laps Kyle Busch had serious fuel mileage issues and had to come to pit road for a splash of gas. He eventually charged his way back through the field to finish fourth.
However, Kyle Busch gets a WAZZUP for refusing to do a network television interview after the Nationwide Series race. Okay I get that the passion of a race driver had him upset over giving away a win that would placed him on top of the series’ all time winner’s list. The truth be known, he probably wasn’t too thrilled about giving away a race to his big brother. I also get that losing a race due to fuel mileage is enough to make a preacher cuss. But once again Kyle Busch needed to be reminded that a small army of people worked above and beyond the call of duty to provide him with the best race car on the track. He needed a reminder that a corporate group put up the resources so he could drive a car that good. The interview would have been an excellent time to thank them. The bottom line is: you always do the interviews, to promote your sponsors and your race team, no matter how lousy your day was.
On the Cup side of the Glen weekend, Kurt Busch had no luck at all. He found himself standing in a hole following an early race spin and then left the race, at lap 50, following a hard crash in turn five. Meanwhile Kyle Busch started the Cup event from the pole position, and led a race high 49 laps, before giving another race away this time due to sliding high in a turn on the final lap. At least this time he did the post race television interview.
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In some final thoughts, HOORAH to the die hard NASCAR fans who returned to Watkins Glen International Raceway on a Monday morning determined not to miss the Sprint Cup race. NASCAR figures indicated the crowd was estimated at approximately 85,000. But it does make one wonder how many of them called in sick to work that day.
HOORAH to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series whose 2011 season has turned up 15 winners in 22 races with five of them being first time Cup winners. Now that’s a level playing field.
Sadly, the final WAZZUP of the week goes to the Watkins Glen International Raceway because it appears there are still some sections of the track’s retaining walls that are not covered with an energy absorbing SAFER barrier. We saw first hand the driver safety issues, as well as the sheet metal carnage, this situation caused. Driver David Ragan, who took a hard hit in a late race accident, probably put it best when he said “I’ve been on dirt tracks that has better walls than here.” This is an area that needs to be addressed immediately.
