Did hell freeze over or did a pit road mistake cost Jimmie Johnson a race? Yes, Jimmie Johnson appeared to be the most dominant driver at Dover this weekend in the Autism Speaks 400, but he was assessed a drive through penalty for exiting the pits too quickly. These things just don’t happen with the great Johnson/Knaus duo, do they?
So what’s the damage?
He dropped two positions in the standings down to 4th but sits -131 from the top, is tied for the lead in victories with three, and is only five points behind Matt Kenseth who picked up two spots to hold down 3rd.
Thus it turned out to be a happy day for the brat, Kyle Busch, whose shrub blossomed in victory lane helping him move into second place in the standings, the only driver with two wins behind teammate, Denny Hamlin, who moved up one position in points, and Jimmie Johnson who have three positions each.
Dale Earnhardt can’t buy a break and could perhaps be described as the afternoon’s big loser having mechanical problems dropping four positions to 16th after flirting with the top 12. While that looks bad, he’s only 13 points behind Ryan Newman in 13th who’s 30 points behind Martin Truex who has now slipped into 12th.
Whatever dreams Brian Vickers had for the season were dashed when he was hospitalized with blood clots. Having missed this race dropped him seven positions, and there is no timetable for his return other than surely the next week’s race, the All-Star event in Charlotte is out of the question.
Two happy fellows must be Tony Stewart and David Reutimann both of whom moved up four places with their performance. With Newman in 13th and Stewart in 14th, it would appear the sophomore jinx is biting Stewart-Haas racing that performed so well in their first year working as a unit.
Surely it was a bright afternoon for Toyota with Kyle Busch winning the race, his teammate Denny Hamlin in 4th, David Reutimann in 5th for Michael Waltrip racing, and third Joe Gibbs entry, Joey Logano, in 10th.
Jeff Burton continues to quietly make an impact having spoken of he was determined for his team to be more aggressive saw his results pay off with a second place finish. That result was his 3rd top five of the year allowing him to move up one position in the standings. Adding to the Richard Childress success found Kevin Harvick in the top 10 with his 7th place finish.
Jack Roush and the Ford effort must feel some comfort in placing three drivers in the top 10 but once again no Ford has looked in serious position of contending for the win. Matt Kenseth finished 3rd, Greg Biffle – 6th, and Carl Edwards – 9th.
It’s sad to note that attendance was reported at 88,000 fans for a track seating 140,000. Given the Dover facility draws from three nearby major markets, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC despite unfortunately being the same weekend as the Preakness in Baltimore, the long expanse of back stretch seats covered over with trampolines was a sad recognition of NASCAR’s recent decline in fortunes. Dover is a great venue to enjoy racing and surely the season is most competitive at this point. Granted, some facilities don’t even seat 88,000 still there’s no happy spin on this issue.
The race was relatively calm for a Monster Mile excursion with five caution flags for 24 laps; however, all these cautions involved accidents and weren’t for minor problems like “debris on the race track.” From a competitive standpoint, eight drivers led the race changing the lead twenty times.
The “Monster” was rather gentle in so far as no real dreams were dashed by a notorious Dover episode. The Sprint Cup teams return home to Charlotte for two weeks of racing, the first All-Star weekend coming next week followed by NASCAR’s grueling marathon, the Coca Cola 600.
At the 1/3 point of the season, there’s still plenty of room for movement in to the top 12. Consider position #19 stands at 1322 points and #12, the first position in the chase has 1434 points, that’s only 122 points separating the field of seven cars competing to make it to 12th. Within the Chase bracket, less than 100 points divide 9th (1531 points) from 12th. The completion of the Coca Cola 600 marks half the distance to the Chase.
So what’s the damage?
He dropped two positions in the standings down to 4th but sits -131 from the top, is tied for the lead in victories with three, and is only five points behind Matt Kenseth who picked up two spots to hold down 3rd.
Thus it turned out to be a happy day for the brat, Kyle Busch, whose shrub blossomed in victory lane helping him move into second place in the standings, the only driver with two wins behind teammate, Denny Hamlin, who moved up one position in points, and Jimmie Johnson who have three positions each.
Dale Earnhardt can’t buy a break and could perhaps be described as the afternoon’s big loser having mechanical problems dropping four positions to 16th after flirting with the top 12. While that looks bad, he’s only 13 points behind Ryan Newman in 13th who’s 30 points behind Martin Truex who has now slipped into 12th.
Whatever dreams Brian Vickers had for the season were dashed when he was hospitalized with blood clots. Having missed this race dropped him seven positions, and there is no timetable for his return other than surely the next week’s race, the All-Star event in Charlotte is out of the question.
Two happy fellows must be Tony Stewart and David Reutimann both of whom moved up four places with their performance. With Newman in 13th and Stewart in 14th, it would appear the sophomore jinx is biting Stewart-Haas racing that performed so well in their first year working as a unit.
Surely it was a bright afternoon for Toyota with Kyle Busch winning the race, his teammate Denny Hamlin in 4th, David Reutimann in 5th for Michael Waltrip racing, and third Joe Gibbs entry, Joey Logano, in 10th.
Jeff Burton continues to quietly make an impact having spoken of he was determined for his team to be more aggressive saw his results pay off with a second place finish. That result was his 3rd top five of the year allowing him to move up one position in the standings. Adding to the Richard Childress success found Kevin Harvick in the top 10 with his 7th place finish.
Jack Roush and the Ford effort must feel some comfort in placing three drivers in the top 10 but once again no Ford has looked in serious position of contending for the win. Matt Kenseth finished 3rd, Greg Biffle – 6th, and Carl Edwards – 9th.
It’s sad to note that attendance was reported at 88,000 fans for a track seating 140,000. Given the Dover facility draws from three nearby major markets, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC despite unfortunately being the same weekend as the Preakness in Baltimore, the long expanse of back stretch seats covered over with trampolines was a sad recognition of NASCAR’s recent decline in fortunes. Dover is a great venue to enjoy racing and surely the season is most competitive at this point. Granted, some facilities don’t even seat 88,000 still there’s no happy spin on this issue.
The race was relatively calm for a Monster Mile excursion with five caution flags for 24 laps; however, all these cautions involved accidents and weren’t for minor problems like “debris on the race track.” From a competitive standpoint, eight drivers led the race changing the lead twenty times.
The “Monster” was rather gentle in so far as no real dreams were dashed by a notorious Dover episode. The Sprint Cup teams return home to Charlotte for two weeks of racing, the first All-Star weekend coming next week followed by NASCAR’s grueling marathon, the Coca Cola 600.
At the 1/3 point of the season, there’s still plenty of room for movement in to the top 12. Consider position #19 stands at 1322 points and #12, the first position in the chase has 1434 points, that’s only 122 points separating the field of seven cars competing to make it to 12th. Within the Chase bracket, less than 100 points divide 9th (1531 points) from 12th. The completion of the Coca Cola 600 marks half the distance to the Chase.
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