Darlington is one tough place to play. NASCAR's oldest track being an asymmetrical oval and narrow in the curves makes it truly as the slogan says, "too tough to tame." Some body's favorite driver will be exiting a heap of twisted metal before the race is close to a conclusion. The big media story is that this will be Danica Patrick's second Sprint Cup race having started with the Daytona 500, talk about hazing a rookie. She did well finishing 12th in Nationwide competition, but now it's life with the big boys. Amother big story is the Hendricks' team's quest for win 200, while Jeff Gordon is buried deep in the standings having a miserable season, 70 points out of the top ten with the summer stretch ahead. Who'd think that Dale Earnhardt Jr. would be the team's most consistent, highest performing driver.
Greg Biffle sits on the pole but two Hendricks' cars are in 2nd and 3rd ready to make a statement, Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne. Anxious to show his remarkable win last year was no fluke, Regan Smith starts in the top 10, 9th, to seek a 2nd trophy for the Furniture Row team. One can't look at tonight's starting line up from 29th down to 43rd without seeing how much pure garbage is on the track with marginal and fraudelent teams that simply do not belong in the sport's most elite series. We'll consider the BK racing and Front Row teams as legit, but beyond them, how many of these teams have any prospect of ever being competitive teams? Tonight's race could set the record for "start and park" entries if they don't HOPEFULLY wreck first. If bounty were ever desirable in a sport, it would be wrecking start and park cars before they can sneak off the track. This has to be the absolute dumbest practice in any major sport except perhaps the tolerance for fighting in the NHL.
Here's the link to tonight's starting lineup.
Darlington Lineup
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