For the final time this season, the Crappafoni Pictures crew is in South Beach (actually a few miles inland) for this week's serving of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, complete with Cuban sandwiches, paella, and washed down with plenty of drinks of your choice. Enjoy!
THE GOOD
Jimmie Johnson: I put him here because he won his fifth championship in a row. And he finished second in the race to Carl Edwards. He becomes the first driver since the late Alan Kulwicki in 1992 to win the championship on the final race when trailing in the points going into the race. (Kulwicki was about the same number of markers behind Bill Elliott as Johnson was today.)
Carl Edwards: as the race winner, he would normally get first billing, but the championship winner does in this case. He earns an extra Good for winning the final two races of the season and stamps himself as a legitimate championship contender next season. And an EXTRA Good for this race for leading the most laps and being dominant.
Kevin Harvick: although he didn't lead a lap, he ran the wheels off the 29 in a desperate attempt to win the title and the race. He came up short on both accounts. He also suffered a speeding penalty coming onto pit road with less than 100 laps to go, wiping out his exiting pit road in first place and taking five bonus points off the board. He was able to overcome that with timely cautions falling into place and coming in for four tires and fuel with every stop. (Harvick was using tires allotted to Jeff Burton, as he had crashed earlier and was many laps down.) He finished third in this race, and third for the season. (He wins the points under the pre-Chase scenario, though!) He'll also be a legitimate title contender next season.
Aric Almirola: his best run by FAR in the #9. He was in the top 10 all afternoon, thrilling the home-state crowd. My question is: why isn't this guy in a full-time ride in Cup?? He's shown in limited opportunities he CAN get the job done. He'll be in the 88 full-time in the Nationwide Series next year.
AJ Allmendinger: way to finish strong AJ! He'll know tomorrow if he even has a ride next year with Richard Petty Motorsports, as that whole enterprise may be shuttered due to circumstances beyond his control. He's shown he has earned a ride in Cup. Let's hope he does have a ride in Cup next year.
Kasey Kahne: his sixth place finish bodes well for him and Red Bull as he steps into the 82 car vacated by Scott Speed. (Brian Vickers will return to the 83 next year.) Kahne and his crew seemed to be clicking as the season ended.
Stewart-Haas Racing: Tony Stewart (7th) and Ryan Newman (8th) finished strong, which bodes well for them next season. Newman, in particular, looks like a legitimate Chase contender next year. (I'll have my predictions in late January.)
Bill Elliott: Awesome Bill from Dawsonville was stout in qualifying, and was in the top 10 late in the race before fading and finishing 15th. Even as a part-time driver, he's still competitive. Still a good run from one of NASCAR's all-time good guys. Great job!
THE BAD
Mike Ford: Denny Hamlin's crew chief made some bad decisions in the last two races that cost his driver the championship. At Phoenix, it was bad fuel strategy. Today, it was a missed pit stop. He had Hamlin stay out while a lot of other drivers pitted. It backfired as Hamlin went backwards in a hurry. Ford will learn from his mistakes and he'll be a better crew chief for it. He is fortunate that Hamlin is ultra competitive and can drive the wheels off the car.
THE UGLY
Kyle Busch: he made contact with Harvick coming out of Turn 4, spun out, and crashed into the inside wall right in front of the start/finish line. Replays clearly showed Busch sliding in front of Harvick, who had NO WAY of avoiding him. He blamed Harvick for the crash, calling him among other things, "two-faced." Busch will see things differently when he sees the replay. Harvick had a tremendous run coming off the turn and if he slows down, both he and Busch crash. That's why Harvick stayed on the gas. Just a racing incident. If anything, it was Kyle's fault for being reckless.
Jeff Gordon: what a way to end the season--a blown engine. It was a snapshot of Gordon's season: runs strong, then something unforeseen pops up. He's still 0-for-Homestead.
My final thoughts on the season: it was a very interesting one, to say the least. Gotta thank the crew for a fantastic season. Most of all, I thank the fans for making NASCAR the great sport that it is. Hope you all have very great and blessed Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. We'll see you all at Daytona next season!! Congratulations again to Jimmie Johnson for making it five in a row!!
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8 comments:
I liked Kevin's comment after the race; "he (Kyle) was driving like a clown all day" LOL
Yeah, and his dumb@$$ move in front of Kevin cost him a shot at winning the race! Kevin makes for interesting and truthful quotes!
Wondering if the NW driver that Kev rammed from behind, on the straightaway, Sat nigh had been driving like a clown? Happy = Clown Patrol?
Must say I didn't see Kevin barreling directly into Kyle when he made the same move he'd made all race long (running the low line to high line each lap and not only this whole race but the whole season in general) as driving like a clown. I saw it as punting KB out of the way.
I do have to say that of the three contenders Harvick was the most proactive. I looked forward to more of the same from Hamlin and Johnson but it just didn't happen.
Keep up the good work jon!
ultimately it came to only 1 of the 3 drivers not screwing up; Denny spun out, Kevin sped in the pits while Vader's team did their best to make the mistakes for him instead. But Jimmie himself was pretty much perfect and that's why he'll have the #1 on his car nex...oh wait, they don't do that, never mind.
Gene, I didn't see the NW race so I can't comment on what happened. I can say that IMO in the Cup race Kyle was driving VERY recklessly and cut Harvick off NUMEROUS times when he didn't have to. When Kyle and Kevin made contact, Kevin didn't let up off the gas; had he done so, he would have wrecked along with Kyle and cost him any shot of running down JJ. As it was, he didn't, because JJ was that much better. Plus he had his hands full with Aric Almirola, who was stout. In the accident, it was two drivers vying for the same spot on the track, and Kevin got the spot. Kyle could have had the inside; Kevin was giving it to him, and he went outside and cut him off. We can agree to disagree on this.
Dwindy, thanks! IMO it was two guys vying for the same position on the track, Kyle got the worst of it. Bad break for him.
Tez, good point. JJ made the fewest mistakes. Harvick's was the most glaring; with the five bonus points he would have finished in second behind JJ. But what also cost Harvick was his lack of leading laps IN the Chase.
This season couldn't end without a feud between two drivers, could it? I have to say I think Harvick dumped KB, but drivers did that in what seemed like half of the races this season anyway. Hopefully next year is more of the same.
JM, it couldn't end any other way, especially if one of the drivers is named Kevin Harvick!!
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