This week, the Crappafoni Pictures crew is in the Valley of the Sun to bring you this week's desert heat version of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, spiced up with plenty of intrigue, served with salsa and guacamole dip, and washed down with plenty of Mountain Dew. Enjoy!
THE GOOD
Carl Edwards: he gets first billing as the race winner. He benefitted from saving fuel on the final green flag run and getting great fuel mileage (around 5 MPG, as compared to 3.8-4 MPG under normal green flag conditions). He also benefitted when his main rival, Denny Hamlin, had to pit with 14 laps to go. Edwards is one of the best, if not the best, at saving fuel. The Quack Attack was stout from the time the 99 was unloaded to the checkers. He would be on here regardless if he won or not. With the win, Edwards breaks a 70-race winless streak, dating to Homestead in 2008. This can be a springboard to him being the Edwards of 2008 and being a threat to win every race.
Ryan Newman: although he didn't lead a lap, it didn't take the Rocket Man to work his way to the front. He pretty much stayed in the top 10-15 throughout the race. He also got great fuel mileage and benefitted from that final run.
Joey Logano: how's this for finishes--in five consecutive races, Logano has finished seventh, sixth, fifth, fourth, and now third. At this pace, he'll finish second at Homestead, then be your 2011 Daytona 500 champion!
Greg Biffle: had his typical Biffle run--hanging around the latter half of the top 10 and being there at the end.
Jimmie Johnson: he started in the middle of the field and worked his way towards the front. For the first time in the last 10 Phoenix races, he did not lead a lap. He did an excellent job in saving fuel to finish fifth and gain ground on Denny Hamlin. Johnson is now 15 points behind Hamlin in the closest Chase in history.
Kevin Harvick: he started somewhere around Tempe (actually, 29th) and quickly worked his way up the field, all the way to fourth at one point. The 29 crew committed a very costly penalty in forgetting a lug nut late in the race. Fortunately, a caution flag came out 10 laps later, and Harvick came in for four tires and fuel (he was mired in 19th at the time, the last car on the lead lap). What could have been lethal actually worked to his benefit, as both he and Johnson finished ahead of Hamlin, who finished 12th. Harvick is now 46 points behind Hamlin and 31 behind Johnson.
Denny Hamlin: he was STOUT in the early part of the race. By lap 200 he had already clinched the 10 bonus points for leading the most laps in the race. But a long green flag run was his undoing. He did well in rebounding to a 12th place finish.
Bobby Labonte: I hardly ever put a driver that finishes a lap down in here, but with Edwards and Hamlin being so stout, I will. Labonte piloted the 09 to a top 20 finish, huge for that team. With him going to the 47 next season, I look for him to be competitive.
Sebastian Vettel: no, he's not a NASCAR driver. But he deserves a mention because he became the youngest driver to win a Formula One drivers' championship by winning the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix along with Fernando Alonso faltering. Vettel is six months younger than the previous youngest champion, Lewis Hamilton. Congratulations Sebastian from the folks here at Crappafoni Pictures and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly!
Honorable Mention: Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin, Kurt Busch, Jamie McMurray.
THE BAD
David Reutimann: whatever it was, the 00 team missed on the setup and he struggled. He went backwards at the drop of the green flag. Up to today, he's been running as well as any of the Chasers. Perhaps some home cooking next week will do the trick.
Kasey Kahne: he got nary a mention until somehow his fuel can got stuck on his spoiler after a pit stop under caution. A bad day got worse.
THE UGLY
Kasey Kahne: see above.
Those are my nominees for the race. Feel free to come in with yours!
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6 comments:
I don't know if it was Bad, or just Funny.... watching JJ try and get in Denny's head during his post-race interview. Pulled the old "Cliche Book" out and read word for word... not very intimidating. lol
How about the job Gordon's crew did on JJ's rig? That rated a good... Darn it.
yep, I agree with giving Seb a 'good'....ultimately, the right man won the title given he'd have sown it up a race or 2 ago had his car been reliable (lost certain wins at Australia and Korea and a bunch of points at Bahrain).
Denny's temper tantrum after the race deserved an ugly. But his post race interview made up for it, and deserves a good.
Seb has had little competition when his car makes it to the end. What was up with Webber? Almost like Red Bull gave him a sleepy-time tea for the weekend.
Gene, I think Denny's getting in his own head, and I think he's going to crack under the pressure.
Dwindy, they did do a good job on that rig. But I also overlooked the job Harvick's crew did in getting him consistent sub-12.5 second pit stops for four tires and fuel, plus adjustments.
Tez, had to give a shout out to the new F1 Champion! He earned it!
CR, you could see the frustration in Denny's face when he found out his pit strategy blew up in his face big-time. Harvick was also very fortunate he got that quick caution after the lug nut penalty. (I think he ended up getting two tires and fuel, if I'm not mistaken.) If it wasn't for a couple of drivers running out of gas, Hamlin would have finished in the mid-teens and the Chase would be even closer.
I was wrong on this past comment--Harvick did come in for four tires and fuel.
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