Sunday, October 25, 2009

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly--Tums 500

After a one-week hiatus, the Crappafoni Pictures crew is in the hills of Virginia to bring you this week's The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, served with Martinsville Hot Dogs and plenty of Coke to wash it down. Enjoy!

THE GOOD

Denny Hamlin: he gets first billing this week as the race winner. He proved to be best on restarts and drove away from Jimmie Johnson on restarts. He also got the five bonus points for leading the most laps in the race. A very popular and very good win in his home state.

Hendrick Motorsports: led by Johnson's runner-up finish, they also placed Jeff Gordon (5th) and Mark Martin (8th) in the top 10. Unfortunately, Dale Earnhardt Jr. had tire issues and finished 29th, two laps down. But prior to the tire issues, Jr was stout and running in the top 10. It appears that the Cup trophy will stay in-house with Johnson. Even with a runner-up finish, Johnson increases his points lead.

Juan Pablo Montoya: he was stout, and led laps, but due to his finishing behind Johnson, he lost ground. While he had an excellent car, he couldn't quite get up to the front when it counted. Still, his fifth top-5 of the Chase bodes well for him, with Big Bad Talladega coming up, and 'Dega being one of his best tracks.

Kyle Busch: it's been awhile since we've seen you here. Welcome back. He led laps for the first time in the last seven races. Very un-Kyle like. Perhaps it's an indicator that your season is turning around and that you'll be a threat next season.

Jamie McMurray: it's been eons since we've seen you here, Cupcake. Glad you made it here. While he didn't have a particularly strong qualifying session, props go out to the crew for making the #26 stronger as the race went on and putting him in a position to finish just outside the top 5.

Honorable Mention: Ryan Newman, Kevin Harvick, Brian Vickers, and Joey Logano.

THE BAD

David Stremme: I'm going to have to call him out for causing the wreck that collected Sam Hornish Jr., and being a nuisance and a PITA. Once again, he was driving with his head up his arse, just like at Watkins Glen when he took out two top 10 cars in one wreck. Just four races left before he's no longer in Cup, and BK is in that rig. I'm counting the days.

THE UGLY

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: tire issues on two separate occasions kept Jr from a top 10 finish. He had a top 10 caliber car if not for the tire issues.

Kasey Kahne: he was the cause of two cautions. I could put him in the Bad, but chose to put him in this category.

Those are my nominees for the race. Feel free to chime in with yours.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's the "but prior to blah, blah, blah, Junior was running up front" that stinks every week!lol

It turned out to be a good race at the end just as I woke up from my nap!lol

jon_464 said...

Beverly, I wonder why he was the ONLY HMS driver that had tire issues and the other three had none. I'm wondering if they're using the #88 team as an R & D team in the absence of testing.

Gene Haddock said...

Come on Jon you can put Harvick in the Good section. He ran in the top 5 a lot of the race....of course I only heard the announcers mention his name one time all day. It's a Chase thing.

Maybe I'll give him a green flag.

Anonymous said...

Everyone remember to watch DAVE DESPAIN at Jefferson, Georgia tonight on WIND TUNNEL. Speed Channel/9:00 p.m. EST.

Anonymous said...

Delayed reaction....

HMS using Junyer as a "guinea pig"? Where were you last week when wrote my blog with all of 3 different theories as to what is going on with Dale, Jr.? Oh yeah, you had a hot date!lol

http://belleofsavannah.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-10-23T18%3A20%3A00-04%3A00&max-results=1

photogr said...

Denny ran a good race I will toot for any one that can beat the Jimmy and Chad show. Now lets see Tony get some spunk and mix it up in the chase.

jon_464 said...

Gene, I thought about it, before deciding to put him in Honorable Mention. He gave up track position for that very late pit stop, and he made it pay off, as he started 16th on the restart and nearly pulled off a top 5.

Beverly, this was a delayed reaction to your blog, LOL.

Photogr, anyone that beats Jimmie and Chad is good in my book!

klvalus said...

Nice GB&U Jon - I'd have put Team Penske in the bad and Stremme in the Ugly! LOL

Kurt is out of it now...wonder if Pat Tryson will make an early exit. Anyone think Steve Addington might come over to Kurt??

Tsfanpc said...

At least Denny is having a good chase. Too bad he waited until he was out of it to get hot. Maybe JJ would not be running away and hiding with the championship, with four races left. lol