AJ Allmendinger topped the chart in final Sprint Cup Series practice at Watkins Glen International. The driver of the No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 1:09.149 and a speed of 127.551 mph.
It was the Brickyard 400, presented by Kyle Busch. He led the first lap, he led the last one, and led most of the laps in between. If the focal point of a race is at the front, if the drama of a race is to see who is leading the way, this competition was pretty much done when they waved the green flag.
Brad Keselowski is one of the most generous drivers in NASCAR. When they opened the track in Kentucky, did Brad win it in 2011? He did not. No, he was gracious enough to let Kyle Busch take the inaugural event. In fact, he was thoughtful enough to let Kyle take it last year as well.
Sponsors pay for stuff. They pay enough cash that NASCAR and its track owners have sold their collective souls and it explains why they no longer promote a Firecracker 400, or a World 600, and why they actually dumped, for a time, the Southern 500. Money talks, tradition walks
We want drivers and fans to be safe. We want action that is anything but safe. It might sound hypocritical, but deep in our hearts, we know it to be true.
Frodo and Sam live. Shane kills the bad men. Cinderella gets the slipper and the fella. Tony Stewart wins at Sonoma. It was a fairytale end to the action, but on that last lap it looked like Cujo was going to win the day and break our hearts.
It is not always just about NASCAR, as most of us got a chance to check out other things since the boys and girl last ran at Michigan. There was a basketball game in Cleveland I understand of some note. The NHL has an amateur draft this week and it seems you will have yet another reason to go to Las Vegas in the winter soon enough.
Michigan brought us tremendous action. I mean, how could it not? Brad Keselowski tested the new aero package and he was excited about it. In the end, even ole Brad led 10 laps, as did Martin Truex Jr. Chase Elliott led 35, while of the other 145 circuits, 138 of them saw Keselowski’s teammate, Joey Logano, on point.
I have an admission to make. I am not all that excited about Pocono this weekend. I thought maybe it had something to do with just getting out of the wrong side of the bed, or that my transformation into a cantankerous old fart had finally reached its conclusion.
Let me be clear. Any race format that artificially moves entries from behind to plop them up front is a dumb one. I do not care if it is NASCAR’s All-Star Race or one that allows me to charge ahead of the Kentucky Derby field while wearing sneakers and a propeller hat. Dumb is as dumb does.
