Truex stormed back from a flat tire that left him a lap down to win the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 at Chicagoland. The win automatically qualified him for Round 2 of The Chase For The Cup.
You got to be good to be lucky and lucky to be good. That is how the old saying goes. I wonder what the saying is when you are good, but everything just gets flushed down the toilet? Kevin Harvick had a bad case of the swirls, as in down the drain, for his Chicago experience.
As NASCAR swings into Chicago and begins the Chase, I can not help but notice that Denny Hamlin, and now Danica Patrick, have made mention that the season is too long. Reduce some races in length, reduce some altogether, run some mid-week are among their suggestions.
“Smoke” enters the Chase with a clear mind and nothing to lose, his final season ultimately being a success as long as he finishes it. The last time Stewart made the Chase with nothing to lose was 2011 when he said outright “We don’t deserve to be in the Chase.” Exactly three months after saying that, it was the Monday after winning his third Sprint Cup championship.
As we head to Chicagoland, you have to wonder if there are paybacks in the future. Will Newman wreck Stewart? Will Cole Custer get revenge on John Hunter Nemechek for the injustice he was victim to at Canadian Motorsports Park?
A funny thing happened on the way to Richmond. Ryan Newman finished eighth at Darlington, got to within seven points of Jamie McMurray in the battle for the final Chase place, and then it hit the fan.
Kevin Harvick: Harvick started on the pole after qualifying was rained out and finished second at Darlington.
“We faltered in the pits once again,” Harvick said. “We are losing so much time during pit stops, I understand the problem, this time, was a faulty air gun. Maybe it had trouble with lug nuts, but that gun had no problem shooting me in the foot.”
A classic. That is what the Southern 500 is. Born in 1950, it predates NASCAR’s jewel events in Indianapolis, Bristol, Talladega, Charlotte, and Daytona. It is the Southern 500, the Labor Day classic at Darlington.
Who is the greatest country singer ever associated with NASCAR? There has been Kid Rock, Sheryl Crow, Brad Paisley, Brooks and Dunn, Hank Williams Jr., Toby Keith, Cledus T. Judd, and lately Blake Shelton. That is a pretty impressive list of talent and it is far from complete. However, there is no question that the King of NASCAR Country was Marty Robbins.
