This week, the Crappafoni Pictures crew is in southern Virginia for this week's The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, served up with a Martinsville Hot Dog (or as many as your heart desires) and washed down with PLENTY of Budweiser! (But be sure to have a designated driver beforehand!) Enjoy!
THE GOOD
Kevin Harvick: he snags this spot as this week's race winner. He qualified ninth but fell backwards early. Not until about halfway into the race did he start coming to the front. He was 17th at the red flag on Lap 226. From that point on, he started moving to the front, benefitted by a very long green flag run in which he led a lap, then two very quick cautions that allowed him to take the wave around and pit again. The pit strategy proved to be very beneficial, as on the penultimate pit stop he took two tires and moved towards the front, then on the final stop, he went with four tires and came out third. (He subsequently moved to second when Jimmie Johnson was busted for speeding entering pit road.) After a slow restart in which he was shuffled to fourth, Happy made his move. He passed Dale Earnhardt Jr for the lead with five laps to go and was able to pull away for his second consecutive win. With the win (his first in Cup at Martinsville), he moves to sixth in the points, and now has won in all three NASCAR divisions at Martinsville. Somehow that blown engine at Daytona now seems like years ago. Could Harvick make it three in a row at Texas on Saturday night? He runs very well there. We shall see. Great job Happy!!
Dale Earnhardt Jr: he may have thought he didn't have a great car. He was strong all day. He was in the top 15 for pretty much the whole race. And his pit crew was on top of its game, as Jr often gained spots on pit road. For awhile it looked like he was going to win, as he passed Kyle Busch late. But he knew the 29 was gaining 0.5 seconds a lap. He made one bobble too many and Harvick took advantage of it. Seeing the 29 right behind you late in the race WILL cause a driver to bobble. Ask Jimmie Johnson. That win is coming sooner rather than later, as the 88 team is running very well. Jr is now eighth in the points.
Kyle Busch: he led the most laps but faded late. IMO he used up all his equipment earlier and had nothing left at the end. He can win, he knows how to win, and a win is coming soon.
Juan Pablo Montoya: although he never led a lap, he was strong at the Big Paper Clip again, with another top 5 finish. He was in the top 10 for much of the race, and that fourth place finish is what this team needed. He stays in seventh place in the points.
Jeff Gordon: he checked out when he was leading, and was strong on long runs. But he struggled on restarts and short runs. Still, he merits a place here because he was strong overall, leading 37 laps en route to a fifth place finish.
Clint Bowyer: Harvick's RCR teammate led 91 laps and got plenty of face time for BB&T. However he faded very late, and held on for a top 10 finish.
Jamie McMurray: he won the pole in Saturday morning qualifying and led 31 laps. He faded for awhile, but rallied for a solid top 10 finish.
Honorable Mention: Matt Kenseth, David Ragan, and Mark Martin.
THE BAD
Joe Nemechek: he was the first start and parker. He had the misfortune to draw the short stick at the prerace start and parkers meeting in the Todd Bodine Meeting Room. He declared himself done after 25 laps.
Tony Stewart: he uncharacteristically struggled today. Even though it's well-known he starts the season slow and picks up, he's usually in the top 25 at the end of a race. If it wasn't pit road penalties, it was something else. Smoke was even caught up in a wreck. He limped home in 34th, nearly 40 laps down. (Smoke, it's not often that I put you here, but I must today.)
THE UGLY
Dave Blaney: is he STILL causing an accident? He DID have a car that WAS competitive, and even after his first two accidents was still on the lead lap. The third accident doomed his chances of a strong finish. He did finish, but was 14 laps down at the end. And this relates to:
Tires: there were issues with the tires DURING the race. Blaney had three different incidents, and several other drivers cut tires and had to pit during green flag runs.
Martin Truex Jr/Kasey Kahne: these two were involved in a horrific crash on Lap 223 when Truex cut a tire and his throttle stuck. Kahne was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Truex hit the wall HARD and if it hadn't been for Kahne being a cushion, Truex would have hit the wall a second time. No matter what Truex tried to do to avoid Kahne, he couldn't. Truex even hit the kill switch on the #56 Toyota but THAT didn't work. Glad that both drivers are fine and will race again next week. A sub-Good to NASCAR for their improvements in safety.
Those are my nominees for the race. Feel free to chime in!
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6 comments:
I'm giving an 'ugly' to McDowell for ramming Marcos into the wall...and a 'bad' to NASCAR for doing sweet FA about it.
Tez, duly noted. I thought NASCAR should have parked McDowell for at least a couple of laps.
Agree with your awards, Jon.
I don't agree that Kyle used his car up. All race long it took 50 laps, or so, after a restart for him to get out front and pull away. His car was the best on long runs.... not exactly the best strategy at Martinsville.
I'd have to see the previous laps between Marcos and McDowell before I blame him or NASCAR.
Dang I was really hoping Junyer would pull out the win but it was so satisfying to see him make legit passes for the lead! However, I've got to give him a Bad for those interviews - both in car and afterwards - what is UP with that boy? He has gotten more awkward in front of the camera and the drawn out drawl is not appealing. More and more he is turning into a crazy ole recluse!
You can add Kurt in there with Smoke...
As much as I hate it that McD took out Marcos, I was impressed he came to race for once....
And the hits just keep on comin'!
Kevin's looking like the man in 2011! The Bakersfield Basher? I like it!
I'm thinking Junior deserves an ugly... Those chances to win don't come along very often for him and he let another slip away (worked for you though!)
Thanks jon!
Gene, Kyle was stout for about the first 400 laps IMO. He was stout on the long runs but that isn't conducive to winning on a short track. I think he was banking on a long green flag run at the end, and a late caution came out, and it bit him in the behind.
Kristen, I think he felt that he let the race slip away. He had a strong car, and a great run. A win will perk him back up again. I didn't put Kurt in there because he was on the lead lap for a lot longer time than Smoke. Plus he ran well early in the race.
Dwindy, that team has a championship look to it. I don't think Jr let it slip away as much as Harvick was almost a full MPH faster than Jr. Harvick, in fact, ran his fastest lap of the race around lap 490. I had heard that it was the fastest lap of the ENTIRE race. I just know he was BOOKIN'! I watched the race on Hot Pass (Ch. 796) on DirecTV. That channel was a dedicated Kevin Harvick channel. They would compare Harvick's lap times to the leader's, and more often than not, Harvick was faster. Gil Martin would often tell Harvick that he was faster than the leader.
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