This week, the Crappafoni Pictures crew is in the Irish Hills region of Michigan for this week's The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, complete with lots of snack foods and washed down with plenty of Coke. Enjoy!
THE GOOD
Denny Hamlin: he gets this week's top spot as the race winner. Despite starting 10th, he fell backwards early. But the 11 got stronger as the race went on, and a great final pit stop put him out in front, and he led the final 8 laps. He must have got advice from Kevin Harvick this week on how to close, and paid attention. In times past, he would have settled for a top 10, but he was in desperate straits entering the race. Now he's in ninth place in the standings with a win in hand. It's still tenuous, but aside from the road courses, he's entering a favorable stretch of the season for him. Good job Denny!
Matt Kenseth: he had one of the best cars today, leading 16 laps. He spun the tires on the final restart, and had a self-imposed bobble on the final lap, costing him any shot at a win. A win would have tied him with Kevin Harvick for most wins this season. Next up is serpentine Sonoma, a track that has NOT been kind to him. Plus, he got bit by small mistakes on pit stops.
Kyle Busch: he was stout, leading 60 laps, and looked like he had the car to beat in the second third of the race. But on the final restart, he got shuffled back. He rebounded well enough to finish third.
Paul Menard: haven't seen you in awhile in this neck of the woods, Paul! He was strong in practice, had a good qualifying run (he started 9th), and spent a good part of the race in the top 10. He was bit by the last caution because had it been a fuel mileage race, he had enough to go the distance and the top 3 didn't. (Hamlin and Busch were a half-lap short, and Kenseth was a lap short.) A very solid run to go with strong practice and qualifying efforts.
Carl Edwards: he led a good portion of the first thirds of the race, leading 30 laps, and was always lurking. Although he started 23rd, he greatly benefitted from a lightning-fast first pit stop. (Maybe the fastest pit stop of the season so far.) That put him near the front, and he did the rest.
Greg Biffle: Biff led the most laps (68) but was shuffled back on the final restart. For awhile it looked like he was on a Sunday afternoon drive, with clean air and the field in the distance. A very solid all around run--good pit stops, no major issues in the pits, and a strong car added up to a very good run, save for the final five laps.
Kurt Busch: he was stout from the time the Double Deuce was unloaded. He won his third straight pole and led nine laps and might have had a chance to win if not for the final caution.
Honorable Mention: Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Mark Martin, and Brian Vickers.
THE BAD
Michael McDowell: he ran a grand total of 28 laps before declaring himself done for the day. The official cause listed was "electrical." ME: Start and Park. He drew the short stick at the start and parkers' meeting held in the Todd Bodine Meeting Room prior to the race.
The race itself: it was a FREAKING SNOOZEFEST. It was between the U.S. Open golf tournament or this race. The Open won out more often than not. I should have recorded it to play it back every time I have trouble sleeping. If you're a smart doctor out there who has a patient or two that has trouble sleeping, get a tape of this race and GIVE it to your patients. They'll LOVE you for it. When you have GOLF winning out over a NASCAR race, it shows you how bad a snoozefest the race ACTUALLY was.
TNT (NOT dynamite): their race coverage was HORRENDOUS. Lindsay Czarniak is the one oasis in the desert that is TNT. Hopefully they'll get better for the Coke Zero 400.
THE UGLY
Jimmie Johnson: JJ was involved in an early crash, and by the time the damage was fixed, he was two laps down. A sub-Good to him for gaining spots through attrition. But he lost a few spots in the standings and is now fifth. While he'll still make the Chase, it's going to be harder for wins to come by. Every driver save the start and parkers is gunning for Five-Time, no one more so than Kevin Harvick.
Juan Pablo Montoya: he made a MAJOR tactical mistake when he realized that he was about to run out of gas and made a hard left turn right into Andy Lally. The subsequent damage put JPM two laps down and he never recovered. A shame, really, because that "Cars 2" scheme was SWEET.
Those are my nominees for the race. Feel free to come in and post your comments.
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6 comments:
I'll give a shout out to Landon Cassill with his best finish of 12th ever in Sprint cup! Impressive!
Gotta agree with TNT coverage - bad! I hate their play by play guy.
Ugly - Kurt beating up the poor in car camera for direct TV afterwards so he could throw a tantrum. Guess its good that they still need their shrink!
PS. Gonna miss you this week Jon!
Hey Kristen! I'm gonna miss you guys as well! ANY chance I had of going went out the window last week when I HAD to take the car into the shop and the repair bill came out to nearly $600. As soon as one thing was fixed in the A/C unit, ANOTHER problem arose. Then THAT problem was fixed, only to find ANOTHER problem! I'll plan on being there next year. I'm not planning to have the perfect storm of issues come up again. Now as far as the race. A definite shout out goes to Cassill. He was running with the big boys again this week. He led late at Pocono last week before he had to pit. I'm wondering how he would do in an RCR car should Bowyer leave. (Bowyer's contract is up at the end of the year. RCR could have these drivers for 2012: Harvick, Menard, Cassill, and Austin Dillon in the revived #3 car with Bass Pro Shops as his sponsor. Dillon COULD replace Jeff Burton IF Burton consistently runs poorly.) I caught a glimpse of Kurt berating the car, and anyone that would listen! Ask his crew what's going through their heads when Kurt goes Kurt on the radio.
Agree with your awards this week, Jon. Especially the UGLY for JPM. if someone had done to him what he did to Lally, Juan would have blown a gasket.
I'm sorry to say it was, just as you depicted jon, a snoozefest. I was really paying attention though with Cousin Carl in the lead with a few laps to go then Jr. drove into the wall...
Thanks jon!
Gene, that happened earlier this season, at Darlington. JPM was complaing about Ryan Newman roughing him up on the track. They both went to the NASCAR hauler, where Newman allegedly threw a punch at JPM.
Dwindy, had Dale Jr not hit the wall to bring out that last caution, the last part of the race might have been worth watching. You'd have had some drivers run out of fuel on the final lap, and Menard could have had that first Cup win. HE could have made it to the end, the only one in the top 5 that could have.
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