Watching the NASCAR weekend at the Chicagoland Speedway was often tedious but it did turn up a few exciting moments here and there. That was especially true regarding who parked his car in victory lane. There was also a surprised Colorado couple became America’s newest millionaires. With those thoughts in mind let’s begin with:
HOORAH to Mark Martin for that dominating performance during the LifeLock.Com 400. The “old man” took the youngsters to school last Saturday night by leading 195 of 267 laps en route to his fourth win of the season and his 39th career win. More importantly, he elevated himself back into the top 12 which determines the Chase For the Championship line up.
Another HOORAH goes out to Martin’s crew chief, Alan Gustafson, who made the call to have his driver restart from the outside lane coming off of the final yellow flag of the race. That decision, along with Martin’s very good restart maneuver, led to the trip to victory lane.
Speaking of crew chief decisions: HOORAH for Steve Letarte, Jeff Gordon’s chief, for his late in the race pit call. With his car struggling in 14th position, Letarte called his driver to pit road following a caution flag for tires and adjustments. It was a great call. Gordon roared his way to a second place finish..
Yet another HOORAH goes out to the Hendrick Motorsports teams who finished first, second, seventh and fifteenth. Their performance was a very nice present for team owner Rick Hendrick who celebrated his 60th birthday on Monday.
Once again a HOORAH goes out to NASCAR’s decision to initiate the double file restart. The first 230 laps of the LifeLock.Com 400 was a real snooze festival. If modern medical science could have bottled that portion of the race it would have been turned into an instant cure for insomnia.
However, the final 35 laps turned up some caution flags, and more importantly double file restarts, that made the race highly entertaining. There was a lot of good old fashioned beating and banging during the waning laps of the race as drivers did whatever was necessary to improve their race positions.
That leads to either a HOORAH or a WAZZUP, depending on your opinions, over some interesting post race comments. The usually calm Jeff Burton has every reason to be frustrated. He’s had a roller coaster of a season in his Richard Chidlress Racing Chevrolet and he’s watching his hopes of making the Chase For The Championship slip away. Burton was caught up in one of the late race incidents and it turned out to be the difference between a badly needed top fifteen and the 37th place finish that he wound with. Commenting on double file restarts, he said “this is the fourth time in a row we’ve been in a wreck on these restarts. I’m about done with that.”
Equally frustrated was Kurt Busch whose Penske Racing Dodge was the victim of contact with Jimmie Johnson’s Chevrolet in the final laps which resulted in a 17th place finish. After the race a clearly upset Busch said “the 48 ran into us at Sonoma and he did it again tonight. I’m starting to lose faith in his ability to be a three time champion on the track. A couple of good runs for us were spoiled by the 48. I’m not digging it.”
Speaking of trimming the Busch’s, WAZZUP with Kyle Busch turning in another bad finish in a race that he was heavily favored to win? Busch had to endure handling issues early on to the point of hitting the wall on lap 63. That was followed by a loss of a cylinder that eventually turned into a blown engine, a spin caused by his own oil and a 33d place finish. Once again an angry Busch stormed off without speaking to anyone. This latest setback drops him back to 10th in the championship standings. One more bad night like this one could impact his presence in the top 12 and hurt his championship ambitions.
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