This week's delayed version of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly comes from deep in the heart of Texas and served Texas BBQ-style, with beef brisket and hot chili. Enjoy!
THE GOOD
Denny Hamlin: as the race winner, he gets first billing. So much for that ACL tear. He's been on a tear of a different sort, winning two of the last three races and showing why he's a threat to Jimmie Johnson's reign of championships.
Jimmie Johnson: stout as usual. He was bearing down on Hamlin and nearly stole one. He takes advantage of Kenseth's and Biffle's tire issues and increases his lead to 108 over Kenseth and 128 over Biffle.
The Busch Brothers: Kyle finished third and Kurt finished fourth. Both brothers had strong runs throughout the race.
Dale Earnhardt Jr: I have questioned his desire and committment on more than one occasion, often falling back to the reasoning of "he has a new crew chief." He looked like the Dale Jr of old, a Dale Jr his fans have been yearning for for a LONG time. He started fifth and very rarely was out of the top 10. He either stayed put or moved forward. Good job Jr!!
Kasey Kahne: he was strong throughout the weekend, giving Rick Hendrick a sneak preview of what may be to come in 2012. He was strong in qualifying, strong in the one practice, and strong in the race.
Honorable Mention: Mark Martin, Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex, Jr., and Greg Biffle.
THE BAD
Dave Blaney: he drew the short stick in the Todd Bodine Meeting Room before the race, as he was the first to park it for the day. He ran a grand total of--wait for it--20 laps before he declared himself done for the day.
Brian Vickers: he brought out TWO cautions for tires going down. All in all, not a good day for the Red Racer.
THE UGLY
The mini-Big One: this happened on Lap 317, and took out a number of good cars. Six drivers ended up taking their cars to the garage: Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Juan Pablo Montoya, Clint Bowyer, Paul Menard, and Carl Edwards. Could this be a preview of things to come at Big Bad Talladega?
Weather: a persistent, misty shower yesterday was the cause of both the Nationwide and Cup races being postponed until today.
Those are my nominees for the race. Feel free to come in with yours!
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6 comments:
JON,
GREAT POST, COVERED IT REALLY WELL.
WE SAID SORT OF THE SAME THING BUT GUESS I JUST GOT LAZY AND CONDENSED IT.
STILL THINK THIS WAS THE BEST RACE TAHT HAS BEEN RUN THIS YEAR SO FAR.
GUNAQUAT
Hey Gunaquat, I was able to see the first third of the race before I went to work. Perhaps NASCAR should have more Monday racing? The Monday races seem to be the best ones so far this year!
Nice recap, Jon.
Jeff Gordon deserves to be in the Good category. He dominated the race until Tony Stewart--- who should be in the Bad---caused the Big One.
Gene, thanks. And thanks for pointing out the oversight re Gordon and Stewart. If I had a redo, I'd put Stewart in the Ugly category for starting the Big One.
Nice recap as always. Once again, Johnson had the four tires at the end of the race. That seems to always happen.
Thankfully, there was no caution there at the end because Johnson would already have four wins this year and all the complaining would come forth again. lol.
Held off on reading and commenting til I saw the entire race...spot on Jon!
I agree with Gene - Smoke was Bad, Gordon was Good and Rooty Tooty on fire was Ugly IMO!
So you see Kevin going to MWR with Bud at all???
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