This week, the Crappafoni Pictures crew is in Thunder Valley, bringing you this week's version of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, Southern-style, complete with smoked meat, Southern-style fries, and PLENTY of beer to wash it down with! Enjoy!
THE GOOD
Kyle Busch: as the race winner, he automatically gets first billing. He started 15th, and hovered around the top 10 for much of the race before making his move in the last fifth of the race. His car got better as the race went on, and he took the lead late in the race. He had enough to hold off Mark Martin in a dramatic four-lap shootout at the end of the race.
Mark Martin: he led a race-high 240 laps, and had several opportunities to move Busch out of the way, but didn't have enough. Congratulations to Martin on his 1,000th Cup start. He was big-picture racing, knowing his Chase chances got a lot better.
Marcos Ambrose: the likable Aussie scored his career-best finish on an oval with his third-place finish. (He finished fourth at Talladega earlier in the season.) Although he never led a lap, he got stronger as the race went on.
Greg Biffle: he sorely needed a top-5 run, and he got it. He led 76 laps in the race. Great comeback from being barely in the top 15 at one point in the race. He moved up two spots to eighth in the standings because of that solid run.
Denny Hamlin: where the hell did he come from? He started WAY back somewhere around Nashville. (Actually, he started 41st; it only SEEMED like he started somewhere around Nashville.) He even was the beneficiary of a free pass. He took advantage of that to finish fifth, all but locking in his position in the Chase, as he has a 230-point lead over Kyle Busch with two races to go. All he has to do next week is be 153 points ahead of 13th place AFTER the Atlanta race and he's in the Chase.
Other Goods: Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson for clinching Chase spots.
Honorable Mention: Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch, Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Matt Kenseth.
THE BAD
Tony Stewart: Smoke was uncharacteristically bad. He had issues starting with his radio and they never let up. He went a lap down early and never recovered. Near the end of the race, his car stalled. Fortunately, he has already clinched a Chase spot, so one bad race won't affect him.
Juan Pablo Montoya: I've gotta put him in this category. He had an opportunity to pit for four fresh tires under a caution when a tire was going down, but opted not to pit. It bit him in the rear at the restart, then he had to pit under green. As a result, he lost two laps, then he took a hit in the points, losing two positions and having a VERY tenuous hold on his Chase position.
ESPN's coverage: they were par for the course, immediately cutting away to SportsCenter for the latest Brett Favre coverage.
Kevin Harvick: he caused a big wreck when he checked up after making contact with his teammate Clint Bowyer, then Jamie McMurray had no room and punted Harvick into the wall. Not-so-Happy ended up with a DNF, finishing 38th.
THE UGLY
Clint Bowyer/Michael Waltrip/Joey Logano: these three drivers were involved in a late crash. Waltrip got turned around and when Bowyer checked up to try to avoid Waltrip, Logano had no room and slammed into Bowyer, turning him around to the point that the rear of the #33 slammed into the front of the #55. Like that crash, Bowyer's Chase hopes took a major hit. In my opinion, Bowyer's Chase chances are gone. They're done.
Those are my nominees for the race. Feel free to come in with yours!
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7 comments:
amazingly, after my harsh comments last week, I have to give TSN a 'good' this time....they didn't cut away at the end and got interviews in for a few of the drivers :)
and oh yes, that was, without question, the best drive of Ambrose's Cup career so far. I know he got top 5's at Daytona and 'dega with little drafting help and 3rd at Infineon from the back, but this was Bristol and that #47 with a rookie stripe on the back was stout all night, man! :D
My Kyle Busch inkling paid off!!! He was so good in the NW race and I think he would have won if the rookie hadn't ran into him.
Did Michael Waltrip's wreck look familiar? Remember the big one at the Sharpie 500 last year when Clint Bowyer called Mikey the "worst driver in NASCAR period."lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVU8QkGg7Tg
August 23, 2009 5:50 AM
Good stuff Jon.
The race was not as bad as I thought it would be. Although plenty of follow the leader during the middle when Martin was leading.
Hard to give the drivers a bad or an ugly at Bristol. A lot of times the car responsible for the wreck is five cars up and never gets hit.
The view from their in-car cameras is amazing....things just happen WAY too fast. Hornish and Bowyer looked like they were inside a pinball machine.
Tez, Ambrose did have a car that could contend for the win, and could have had a chance were it not for the late red flag due to that wreck. He was stout all night.
Beverly, I remember that wreck. This wreck reminded me of it only in the sense Waltrip was involved. But this one was no one's fault; Mikey got loose, Clint checked up to avoid him, Joey had nowhere to go and slammed into Bowyer.
Gene, thanks. The race was better than I expected. Mark didn't quite have enough for Kyle at the end; Kyle saw his chance late and took advantage of it. Hopefully he'll learn that he doesn't have to have the best car to win; he just has to put himself in a situation TO win and take advantage of it.
It seems Kyle finally did some strategic thinking this time and was able to take the win when it counted.
Somebody needs to take Mikey Waltrip and put him behind a desk and let the younguns do the driving.
Too bad about Stewart. That is what happens when every body is not on the same page.
Photogr, you're right on all counts. Kyle ran perhaps his smartest race of his career. He and the 18 crew put the car in a position to win late, and Kyle took advantage of it. As for Mikey, he's wise hiring Truex for next season and putting him in the #56 Napa Auto Parts Camry.
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