For the first time this season, the Crappafoni Pictures crew brings you, in high-def reading perusal, NASCAR's version of the spaghetti western, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, after an off-season of tweaking, tinkering, and tempering. The crew will provide the best possible analysis after each race. And away we go!
THE GOOD
Kevin Harvick: as the race winner, he gets first billing. He had a stout car all evening, very rarely staying outside the top 5, and when he was outside the top 5, he quickly moved his way to the front. Even though Carl Edwards led most of the way early, once Happy got to the point, he pretty much stayed there the rest of the race. He most likely would have won even without the G-W-C finish. He became the fourth driver to win consecutive Shootouts.
Jamie McMurray: in his first race in a Chevrolet, he was racy. Seems to me the Bowtie Brigade agrees with Jamie Mac, as he had a strong car from the moment he unloaded it. NASCAR.COM has him in the #26 Crown Royal Ford, but he piloted the #1 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet to the third place finish.
Tony Stewart: Smoke got stronger as the race wore on. For awhile I thought Harvick was going to push him to the win. He was at the point for awhile before falling back to third, his eventual finish.
Jeff Gordon: in a classic case of "where the heck did HE come from?" he started near the back of the field and steadily worked his way to the front. Although he didn't lead a lap, he was lurking. An additional Good for narrowly escaping The Big One.
Kasey Kahne: in his first race in a Ford, he was strong throughout. He stayed near the front throughout the race and also escaped The Big One in finishing second.
THE BAD
Michael Waltrip: he was the cause of TWO cautions in 75 laps. That will get you in the Bad category every single time. He'll do better as a car owner than as a driver. A sub-Good to Mikey for turning in the fastest lap of the entire race, 187.426 mph.
Derrike Cope: I was wrong about not having a start and parker in the field. Cope ran about 11 laps before parking for the evening.
THE UGLY
The Big One: it happened on a green-white-checkered finish. Greg Biffle cut a right rear tire, causing the huge accident behind him. He took out BOTH of his RFR teammates, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards (who might have had something for Harvick at the end), as well as several other cars.
Those are my nominees for the race. Feel free to come in with yours!
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10 comments:
I have to go with you on these picks. Can somone just cut Mikeys tires before the race? I hate to see my boy embassas himself week after week again this year.
I meant to say embarrass but embassas sounds good too.
Congratulations again, Jon! No more Jimmie, please!!!
I would put Gordon in the "Bad" section. I know, shocker right? He should have ducked under Biffle on the backstretch and left him, and his old tires, out to dry. Instead of trying to win though, he pushed Biffle and didn't account for the fact he was going to have to lift for the corner on old tires and wrecked a bunch of people.
Photogr, I think he's just going to run the 500 and then hang up his helmet. At least that's what I heard.
Beverly, thanks. Jimmie was pedestrian today and was not really a threat. He was, in the words of Homer Simpson, "Meh."
Tyler, as good as HMS was in qualifying, they were merely average tonight, aside from Jeff Gordon. Gordon was strong, but he didn't have a winning car. A top five car, for sure. He MIGHT have had a chance had he hung Biffle out to dry. But I think he had agreed to push Biffle to the win, not figuring that Biffle would have a flat tire.
I thought TV analysis said Biffle's tire was up throughout the accident and really it was Gordon with an aggressive bumpdraft that got Bif turned?
I'd throw GoGranddaddy under Bad bus this week for obvious reasons.
JJ was pedestrian b/c he was testing which is exactly what Kurt was trying to do...
Congrats to Happy!
impressed with the pace of the Fords given how rubbish (the 21 excluded) they were in quals, lol
Nice GBU as always.
I'm glad that Mikee has finally decided to hang it up.
I agree with you that Harvick had the best car regardless of what type of finish there was.
Biffle may have cut a tire, but I still think Gordon helped him out a little.
Nice, Jon.
Biffle admitted after the race that he knew his tire was flat during the caution, yet he stayed out--- in front of the whole field! And, caused the Big One! Bad and Ugly!
Hey Kristen, I had heard that Biffle had a flat tire at the restart but he wanted to stay out because of the chance to win. He figured that was his best chance to win.
Tez, I think the Fords will be strong in the 500, and Roush, in particular, has dramatically improved his organization's restrictor-plate program.
Gonger, thanks. I was going stir-crazy about not doing a GBU in the offseason! I had thought of pulling a past random race and doing a GBU out of that! (I did that for the inaugural Brickyard 400.)
Gene, thanks. Biffle being put in the Ugly definitely has merit. We'll see how the Fords stack up at the 500. I think they'll be much improved, even have 2-3 drivers in the top 10. I'll have my predicted winner on Gas and Go later in the week.
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