The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly -- 2011 Auto Club 400

We are California Dreamin' for this week's The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, brought to you by Crappafoni Pictures. Help yourselves to plenty of SoCal-style cuisine, and Grab Some Buds to wash it down along the way. (But be sure to have a designated driver BEFORE partaking!) Enjoy! THE GOOD Kevin Harvick: as this week's winner, he gets first billing. He started from fairly deep in the field (24th, to be exact). By Lap 55, he was in the top 10 at tenth, as he was a beneficiary of the longest green flag run to start a race in the track's history. The 29 was stout on the long runs, and he was able to make up ground on those long runs. You knew late in the race he was coming, especially when Kyle Busch started fading and dropping off speedwise. Happy benefitted from Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch racing each other late. Harvick passed Jimmie Johnson on the final lap coming out of turn 4 and took the checkered flag for his and Richard Childress Racing's first Cup win at the track he considers his home track, as Bakersfield is two hours north. (Harvick has won there in the Busch Series for RCR.) With the win, Harvick moves from 15th to 9th in points, and in the last two weeks, he has gained 11 spots in the points. Apparently, the engine woes at Daytona were an aberration. When he took the checkered flag, that was the ONLY lap Harvick led in the entire race. He gets 43 points for winning, plus the three bonus points for the win, plus one point for leading a lap. Way to go Happy!! Jimmie Johnson: like Harvick, he got stronger later in the race, but he wasn't as strong coming out of Turns 3 & 4 as Harvick. He was able to hold off Harvick until Turn 4. He was able to track down Kyle Busch with two laps to go. Kyle Busch: he led the most laps by far but faded at the end, being passed by both Harvick and Johnson. It looked like he was going to run and hide from the field, but on the last long run of the race, his speeds dropped off drastically, while Johnson and Harvick were the fastest cars on the track. Matt Kenseth: he took a page out of Harvick's book as he started 11th but went backwards, then his crew righted the car and in the second half of the race the 17 ran much better. Ryan Newman: he was solid all day, even leading a couple of laps during green flag pit stops. He drove a smart race, took what the car gave him, and rode it to a very solid fifth place finish. The race itself: you had the funny feeling that even though Kyle Busch led nearly every lap run, he would either a) barely hang on to win; or b) Johnson and Harvick would run him down. With three laps to go, Johnson caught him, and they were racing each other, which allowed Harvick to catch and ultimately overcome both Busch and Johnson. SWEET crossover move by Harvick! (Johnson thought Harvick was going to pass on the outside and Harvick dove inside, aided by a tremendous run coming off turn 4; Johnson was a sitting duck at that point.) Best finish at ACS ever! Honorable Mention: Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Brian Vickers, Juan Pablo Montoya (a sub-Good for winning the pole). THE BAD JGR engines: the JGR engineers HAD to be on pins and needles all day when Joey Logano had a previously undiagnosed engine problem this morning and they had to go to the rear of the field due to the ensuing engine change. That cost him the third starting position. Then Denny Hamlin's engine went away. Then Kyle Busch faded at the end. Logano ended up finishing 25th, the last driver on the lead lap. Phantom cautions: the first two cautions were for "debris" that WASN'T EVEN THERE or didn't affect the flow of the race. I can see debris cautions if an ACTUAL piece of debris came off one of the cars and affected the flow and integrity of the race; THEN you throw a debris caution. One of the three debris cautions WAS correct, when an axle came off the 78 car and shot across the track. Otherwise there would have been only THREE cautions, the other two being for both Bobby Labonte and Andy Lally slapping the wall in separate incidents. (Both Labonte and Lally cut tires and they led to the cautions.) This writer: I HAD changed from JJ to Happy in the Trifecta, then did ANOTHER change, to Carl Edwards. Should have stuck with Happy, as I would have had a chance to win. Oh well, it is what it is. I give myself a bad for changing from Happy to Cousin Carl. THE UGLY Tony Stewart: what happened Smoke? You were third going into the final restart and had a chance to win but dropped back like a stone and finished 13th. THAT in itself merited an Ugly. And you wouldn't explain WHY you dropped back, instead leaving without answering questions--ANOTHER Ugly for that! We get you want to win, but at least I'd have wanted an explanation WHY you dropped off the pace on the last restart. Those are my nominees for the race. Feel free to come in with yours (and razz me in the process for my picking Edwards).