This week, the Crappafoni Pictures crew is in the Heart of Dixie, Talladega, Alabama, for this week's The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, complete with all the fixin's you can muster, and washed down with plenty of your choice of beverages! Enjoy!
THE GOOD
Jimmie Johnson: this wasn't a typical, JJ-dominated victory. Yes, he did lead a total of 11 laps, but he ran the smartest race, hanging back and giving himself a chance to be there at the end. Good strategy, as he was able to avoid two Big Ones. And he was there at the end, beating Clint Bowyer by .002 of a second, tied for the closest finish in NASCAR history.
Clint Bowyer: he was the victim of that dreaded aero push coming out of Turn 4, allowing Johnson to catch up and eventually overtaking him. Otherwise, he was stout. He led the most laps in the race (38), gaining an additional point.
Jeff Gordon: for awhile, it looked like HE was going to take the checkered flag, with Mark Martin giving him a push, but he and Martin got separated close to the finish line.
Dave Blaney: he was STOUT, giving Blaniacs around the world hope that he would get his first Cup win, particularly with Kevin Harvick pushing him for most of the race. Kurt Busch changed all that when he punted him. More on Busch later. (I'm saving my ire for that.) Blaney led 21 laps and was en route to a strong finish when he was punted. An extra Good goes for the subsequent save he made. He finished 27th, the last car on the lead lap.
Kevin Harvick: no matter who he pushed, whether it was Blaney or Bowyer, they charged into the lead. His car was much better when he was doing the pushing than when he was being pushed. He started deep in the field and charged to a fifth place finish.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.: he was in a similar boat as Harvick, as he was better when he was pushing JJ. He gave JJ that final shove into the win. You could tell WHO was in the lead with the roar of the crowd being louder than the roar of the cars. Jr led 11 laps en route to a fourth place finish, further solidifying his place in the top 10 in points.
Honorable Mention: Jeff Burton, Mark Martin, David Gilliland, Joey Logano, Carl Edwards, and Greg Biffle.
THE BAD
Kevin Conway: he ran a total of TWO laps before parking and hotfooting it out of town with his winnings. (He probably was faster hotfooting it out of town than actually on the track!)
Kurt Busch: this is going to take ALL I have as an honest, semi-professional, semi-amateur writer to keep from going off on him. Here goes. Was this Talladega, or was this bumper cars at the local amusement park, Busch? You kept punting several good cars and putting them into walls, or causing Big Ones. Let's see: do the names Brad Keselowski (YOUR OWN TEAMMATE!), Trevor Bayne, and Dave Blaney ring a FRIGGING BELL? The Blaney incident in particular was what fired me up, because he HAD A CHANCE TO WIN, BUT YOU EFFED IT ALL UP!!! Remember what they say, PAYBACK'S A REAL BIATCH, and you just drew a HUGE bulls-eye on yourself. You were good enough with the right drafting partner to win the race, but you kept punting them into the wall!!!
THE UGLY
Kurt Busch: see above.
Those are my nominees for the race. Feel free to come in with yours!
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8 comments:
I tell you the ugly...the Penske meeting this week. How ticked off will Roger be seeing his Cup guys wreck each other followed by his Indycar guys a couple hours later?! :o
I don't blame Kurt for the wrecks. All he was doing was 'pushing', not 'punting'. Same as Logano turning Kyle... it's just the nature of the beast now with the 2x2 drafting.
Tez, you got that right! Penske's going to be working OT to soothe PLENTY of hurt and angry feelings!!
Gene, I disagree to a point. The fact of the matter is he effed up a LOT of drivers' chances to win, particularly Blaney's. That's what I'm most upset about. Blaney WAS strong, particularly with Happy pushing him. Happy would have been content to push Blaney to the win had the situation arose. On one hand, you have Kurt Busch driving for an elite team. Dave Blaney drives for a rag-tag team. Today, Blaney had a chance to pull a mega-upset and be the feel-good story of the week. Thank you, Kurt Busch, for effing that up!!
OMG I just wrote a book and stupid Blogger didnt post it...lets see if I can remember! Dang it!
First, every driver that Kurt "wrecked" did not blame Kurt for the result (you forgot Landon in your rant Jon! LOL). When the lead car has to make a move to avoid traffic ahead the pushing car cannot be communicated with fast enough to adjust, they just do the best they can to follow. The result is they often end up pushing on an angle and off the front car goes.
One of the reasons Kurt "wrecked" so many people is that he is really good at staying on the back bumper - he doesnt lose the draft like many others do (Martin for ex) so many more opportunities for the cars to not be perfected lined up.
Also Kurt was pretty upset about losing Blaney - he worked with him at Daytona and likes and respects him - no way did Kurt intentionally wreck Blaney and he would have been stoked to push him to the checkers.
Finally a couple of BADS could have been added like where the heck was Smoke all day? He needs a good run! And to Fox for "Speed Dating" as the name of this new racing...LAME!
Kristen, I heard it in Blaney's voice and his body language after the race. That's all I needed to know. I know Kurt was trying to push Blaney to the front, and I'm sure he felt bad when he effed up Blaney's chance to win. The fact of the matter is he did. I DO agree with you re Fox and "Speed Dating." LAMO!!
Racing blind at close to 200 MPH, depending on the lead driver to make the right moves, all without direct radio communication is, like it or not, a definite safety issue.
Teams like Penske are at a disadvantage right off the bat. If their two drivers don't run together then it's a crap shoot. Kurt and Brad end up working blind and then get blamed for creating havoc under circumstances beyond their control... It was no coincidence the top finishers were working directly with teammates who happended to be in direct communication with each other. They had worked together the whole race.
This is not only a safety issue, it's an unfair advantage that the four car teams have... One possible answer would be a radio system capable of allowing every driver to talk with any other driver...
Thanks jon!
Dwindy, with all the alterations of the car from the old template (pre-2007) to the COT (2007-2010) to today's car came unintended consequences. With the old car and even the COT you had racing in packs. With this car, you have drafting tandems, and a lot of times it's a crapshoot. But after the first round of superspeedway races, there could be a competition to see who can get the best drafting partners at future Daytona and Talladega races.
No matter what style of racing they have at Daytona and Talladega, it is most often going to be a crapshoot. Still, it's amazing how the cars with the strongest engines usually end up at the front at the end. Notice there was no Toyota in that final pack at the finish even though guys such as Truex and Ruetimann were hooked up together.
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