This week, the Crappafoni Pictures crew is in Wine Country for NASCAR's lone visit to NoCal. This week's The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is served up with dungeness crab, clam chowder in bread bowls, and washed down with the wine country's finest wine. Enjoy!
THE GOOD
Kurt Busch: the Double Deuce has gotten better and better since his on-race rant a couple of months ago. He's looking like the Busch of 2004, when he won his only Cup championship while driving for Jack Roush. Kristen, I know you must be a happy camper--I can picture your smile from here in Victory Lane! Wish I were there to experience it, but I plan on being there next year. For Busch, this is his first win of the season, and his first Cup win on a road course. It is kind of unusual for him to get his first win of the season this late in the season. He is definitely gaining momentum as the Chase nears. The car was stout all day long, and he dominated the race. He could pick any groove and the car would run perfectly. He easily led the most laps, with 75. A shout out also goes to Steve Addington, his crew chief, and the crew members of the Double Deuce!! GOOD JOB GUYS!!
Jeff Gordon: the Vallejo native had a junk car to start with, but through a combination of pit strategy, good pit calls by Alan Gustafson, and good pit stops, the #24 car got better as the race went on. He had something for the elder Busch brother, but it was too little, too late, as he was gaining a second a lap on him.
Carl Edwards: if there's one thing I learned about him, it's that he's a vastly UNDERRATED road racer. While he's not won a road course race at the Cup level, he's won at the Nationwide level, so he knows how to get it done. The 99 team struggled all weekend to get speed and grip. He started mid-pack (23rd, to be exact) and quickly worked his way to the front. While he didn't lead a lap, he still keeps the points lead going into Daytona. Very solid third place run today.
Clint Bowyer: he has struggled on road courses in the past, but he's getting better. Today and throughout the weekend, he was strong. He had a good qualifying run (he started 9th) and was in the top 10 for pretty much the whole race. Could this be the race that the 33 team turns its season around on? It remains to be seen, but today is a good start.
Marcos Ambrose: he'd run strong, then get shuffled back, then run strong again. To finish in the top 5 is a testament to the stout car (and driver) he had today. He was patient, didn't panic, and took what the car gave him. He didn't try to overdrive the car, and the result was a top 5 finish, even though he didn't lead a lap.
Kevin Harvick: Mr. Where Did He Come From? strikes again. He started somewhere around San Rafael (actually, 26th, but it seemed like he started from there). He was hanging around mid-pack throughout the race until very late. With Happy's pit strategy, he was banking on a late caution, which happened when Brian Vickers exacted payback on Tony Stewart after an earlier incident between the two drivers. Harvick pitted, took four fresh tires and fuel, and was the first one out with those four fresh tires. He started 13th, and finished 9th after that run to the checkered flag. Great job by the 29 crew for turning a marginal top 20 car into a top 10 car. Harvick finished 9th and led six laps in the process. (This was prior to the final caution.)
Joey Logano: good job by the kid in getting his first career pole, and when you run JPM off the course, you earn your spot here. I'll say this: he's got spunk, and when he stood up to Harvick last year, he gained a lot of respect in my book, and I'm a Harvick fan.
Honorable Mention: Jimmie Johnson, Martin Truex, Jr., Brad Keselowski, and David Gilliland.
THE BAD
P.J. Jones: he was the first start and parker. He drew the short stick today at the start and parkers' meeting, held in the Todd Bodine Meeting Room. Jones ran a grand total of FIVE LAPS (at least he beat his two-lap effort of a couple of years ago) before declaring himself done for the day and hotfooting it out of town with his prize money.
Casey Mears: it's pretty bad when your only mention is for running out of gas and stalling at the entrance to pit road, and you bring out the first caution. I think he thought he might lead a lap by being the last driver to pit during a round of green flag pit stops. I don't think the Geico gecko likes THAT kind of publicity. Casey Mears' Great Adventure ended up putting him two laps down, and he never recovered. He actually had a pretty good car, and had he pitted one lap earlier, would have been in contention for a good finish. A bad also goes out to his crew chief, whose name escapes me at the moment. He would finish 34th, with those two laps down. (Thirty-three cars finished on the lead lap.)
TNT'S coverage: while it was better than last week, I never got the explanation or the replay of Dale Earnhardt Jr's mishap that ended up with a hole in the side of the engine of the 88 car. I'd have liked to know HOW that happened!!
THE UGLY
Juan Pablo Montoya: he was this year's Jeff Gordon, in the sense that he had several drivers mad at him during the race, most notably David Gilliland and Kasey Kahne. JPM punted Kahne for NO reason other than being impatient. Late in the race, HE got spun out and dropped from a sure top 10 to end up finishing 22nd.
Those are my nominees for the race. Feel free to come in with yours!
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5 comments:
JPM was u-g-l-y, he ain't got no alibi. Twice he was responsible for sending Kyle Busch off track and losing multiple positions!
I'll give Mears a break. I'm pretty sure it was not his idea to stay out and run out of gas. That whole deal falls on his crew chief.
woohoo! could you hear me yelling from Victory Lane Jon? =) Our car was bad fast and the crew deserves a lot of credit for coming up with that setup. Kurt kinda stunk up the show but it was great for me!
Missed ya - better be there next year!!
I'd give Smoke an Ugly too - he was knocking people around early and then had that very entertaining wreck in the tires!
I thought Montoya was supposed to be such a great road course driver but if yesterday is an example of how he gained that reputation then my idea of sportsmanship needs to be seriously revamped. Montoya must have changed over the years and forgot what bought him notoriety in the past.
He wasn't the only one bruising egos either and I have to admit it sure makes for some interesting confrontations.
Harvick just keeps sneakin' into the mix late each race, putting the 29 in position to win every time out. And you've gotta hand it to Cousin Carl. He seems to be following the same gameplan as the Harvick crew...
Will Carl, Kevin and Kurt bacome the big attraction as the season goes on? Will JJ fall off the pace? Will Jr. once again miss out on the Chase? And what about Stewart, Hamlin and Burton? Are they out?
Thanks jon!
I told ya, Juan ain't as great as a lot think. Yeah he won a handful of F1 races but, when it came to the crunch in '03 and he had the best overall package, Schumacher (and Kimi) beat him out for the title. I'm not saying he can't drive, just that he gets far more credit than I think is deserving....
Gene, I'll put it to you this way: he was UGLY. LOVED it when Keselowski would give him ZERO room late in the race. Then JPM complains about Kes not giving him room! Kettle, meet pot. Pot, meet Kettle.
Kristen, I sure did!! You guys NAILED the setup like I haven't seen since Kurt won at Pocono a few years back when he led something like 180 of the 200 laps in that race. I mean, it was PERFECT. Tell the crew congratulations for me next time you chat with them!! It was one of those races where a driver, crew chief, and crew are so in the zone it is just their day. I PLAN on being there next year with a friend from my high school days. He wants to join me.
Dwindy, maybe Montoya is just OVERHYPED as a road course racer. He did NOT race a smart race. He's got ALL the ability to win races, but he needs to race smarter. If he were a QB, he'd have a million-dollar arm and a ten-cent head. I'll blog on that in a day or two--the 10 Races To Go Edition. As far as Harvick, had there been a G-W-C finish, he may have been in the catbird's seat, as he had PLENTY of fuel for THREE G-W-C's. But as I stated earlier, the 22 team was in such a zone it was their day. NO ONE was going to beat them.
Tez, I think both you and Dwindy are right re Montoya. WHAT was he thinking becoming this year's Jeff Gordon, in the sense he was running over everyone including the emergency crew!! I think he ran over a wrecker or two under the last caution! He's got a LOT of drivers pissed off at him, and he SHOULD be expecting payback.
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