Last Sunday we watched a home town hero return to a Sprint Cup victory lane, at the Martinsville Speedway, and take a beautiful grandfather clock home. We watched a very aggressive future star win the Nationwide Series race at Memphis and take home the last ever Elvis trophy. Then we saw the raw emotion of a first time NASCAR winner in the truck series race also at Martinsville. All in all it was a pretty good weekend for NASCAR. With those thoughts in mind let’s begin with:
HOORAH to Denny Hamlin for winning Sunday’s Tums Fast Relief 500 at the Martinsville Speedway. The grandstands were loaded with his fans watching the home town hero win the race. Hamlin only lives a few miles away from the speedway. It was Hamlin’s third win of the season and seventh career win. He scored max points with the win and led the race three times for a total of 206 laps including the final 139 circuits.
HOORAH to Jimmie Johnson for his second place finish at Martinsville. It was another stellar effort for the Lowes 48 team and Johnson left Virginia with his championship points lead over team mate Mark Martin now up to a season high of 118 points. It just seems that gaining points on this team is getting harder and harder to do.
WAZZUP with Juan Pablo Montoya’s aggressive tactics especially while racing with Jeff Gordon? Some of that beating and banging actually had Gordon wondering what he had done to make Montoya angry. But, at the same time, HOORAH to Montoya for providing some of the best video moments of the race while racing with literally everybody. This team came to Martinsville with the attitude that said “we have nothing to lose and everything to gain.” The result was a third place finish and his fifth top five finish in the six completed Chase races.
WAZZUP with driver John Andretti trying to move his wrecked race car on the final lap of the race? As the field took the white flag, Andretti’s car was hit and spun into the front stretch wall. By the time he came to a complete stop the field was already halfway down the backstretch en route to the checkers. The situation got a little tense when Andretti tried to drive his wrecked race car from the scene. The car stall facing the front stretch wall and was now in a precarious position as the field came roaring off of turn four. Many observers felt it would have been safer to Andretti to leave the car parked against the wall.
WAZZUP with Penske Racing driver Sam Hornish Jr? What a horrible Virginia weekend this man had. It started during a Friday practice session when he wrecked his primary car. Then, during Sunday’s race, he found himself involved in a double car crash with his Penske team mate David Stremme. Returning to the race following repairs, Hornish crashed again this time sending the car to the garage area for good. One has to believe that the body guys at Penske Racing are starting to get really tired of this routine.
You have to wonder if Dale Earnhardt Jr left Virginia asking “is it New Years Eve yet?” WAZZUP with this man’s ongoing bad luck? Three right front tires went flat on him. At one point he was two laps down which he eventually got back due to the lucky dog free passes only to have the final flat tire remove him from the lead lap and to a 29th place finish. At one point Earnhardt actually yelled “I’m getting pissed” over his radio.
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Saturday’s Nationwide Series race at the Memphis Motorsports Park got pretty interesting as well. HOORAH to Brad Keselowski for winning the Kroger On Track For The Cure 250. It was his fourth win, for JR Motorsports, of the season and his sixth career win. He also collected a $75,000 bonus from Nationwide’s Dash For Cash program. Keselowski will also get to take home that last ever Elvis Presley trophy that has been a victory lane trademark for many years at the Memphis track. Apparently the mold for this statue will now be broken and replaced with a newly designed trophy.
Keselowski gets another HOORAH for that brilliant race winning move where he dived low in turn one to create a three wide situation that garnered him the race lead for good. Let’s give him yet another HOORAH for controlling his car on the final lap after receiving a chrome horn from second place finisher Kyle Busch.
However, having said all of that, WAZZUP with some of that overly aggressive driving during the race? This is especially true after he rammed Carl Edwards and triggered a wreck. There has already been post race chatter that says Keselowski doesn’t want to be bringing that level of on track aggression to the Sprint Cup when he joins his new team at Penske Racing next year. But, then again, maybe Cup racing needs a little more aggression.
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