Chicagoland Speedway - USG Sheetrock 400
RACE WINNER: TONY STEWART
Casey Mears: 5th (started 1st)
- The #25 National Guard team started off the race weekend by ripping out a pole-winning lap during qualifying. Even though they didn’t match it with a win, 5th is another excellent finish for the team. They ran wonderfully all race long. I sense another win coming for them before the year is out.
- Quotes:
“I feel real good. Just real proud of the National Guard/GMAC Chevrolet guys. We wanted more than that. We wanted to try to win today but we had a great start to the weekend with sitting on the pole. A good solid day. We started off the day really, really loose. The guys worked on the car all day long and got it to where it was working pretty good there at the end. It actually ended up a little too tight right there at the end. But I'm real proud of all the guys for this weekend. It was a good weekend all the way around.”
- This bumps Casey up to 17th in standings and 18th in owner’s points.
Kurt Busch: 6th (started 35th)
- Starting in 35th isn’t like Kurt, but a broken engine discovered in practice cut down preparation time and put Kurt in the back of the field. But immediately he began picking off positions. The car was great and the pit stops matched the #2 Miller Lite Dodge’s performance. It’s good to see momentum returning to this team with Pat Tryson as the crew chief. The Chase might be a long shot, but at least it’s a shot!
- Quotes:
“Well, we thought we had a really good run today. We just kept creeping up on them and kept creeping up on the set-up. Starting 43rd we just had to take our time and really put a maneuverable set-up on the car – one that could go low and one that could go high. It turned out really positive. The team had good pit stops. We thought we had a top five and ended up sixth.”
- Kurt moves up a spot to 14th in points.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.: 19th (started 5th)
- Junior was having a great day running the high line and hanging out in the top-10. At the end of the race, he was in 3rd place when all of a sudden, his power steering went out. He thought it was funny at first because despite his many years of racing it had never happened to him. However, driving a car without power steering is no fun, and 50 laps later at the end of the race, it was all he could do to finish the last car on the lead lap.
- Quotes:
“We had a really good car and the Bud team had a real good pit stop there that put us in third place there near the end of the race. We had a power steering pump lock up and I can't drive and keep up like that. We did the best we could. But Tony Jr. said to just make the best you can out of it and we did.”
- Junior is still 12th in points, but is only 30 points ahead of the hard-charging Ryan Newman. I have faith that Dale can make the Chase, but it sure is getting close.
Michael Waltrip: 30th (started 28th)
- He held his starting spot during the start and things didn’t get interesting until he and Jeff Green were racing side-by-side. Green got loose under the #55 NAPA Camry and spun, barely touching Mikey. It was exciting, to say the least! Unfortunately, the contact cut down Michael’s left-rear tire and he pitted with the leaders. Since he was a lap down at the time, he was charged with pitting too early and was sent to the back of the pack. After that, the car just sucked. According to Michael’s race report, Bobby Kennedy was the one giving orders (er… where was Buddy Sisco?) and apparently they ended up changing a shock upon other things. It made the car better, but three laps down is a lot to make up. He ran better than Kasey Kahne, though!
Martin Truex Jr: 39th (started 2nd)
- He was running good all race and lost some spots when some teams took two tires during a round of pit stops. Just as he was making his way forward, the engine let go. It’s disappointing, but I’m sure it won’t bring the team down long.
- Quotes:
“Something broke in the motor. I'm not sure what. The car was real good. We lost some track position earlier. We were running second there for a while. A bunch of guys got two new tires and we got hung back in traffic but we were getting our car better and we were getting spots one by one and we were up to eighth right there. We were getting the car better; it was looking good for us. It's frustrating.”
- Martin drops to 11th in points and 12th in owner points.
David Reutimann: 43rd (started 21st)
- Another typical day! David was climbing up in position when poof! There goes another engine. I guess a piston broke. It’s such a shame and so frustrating. It seems like every time he has a good car something stupid happens. A last place finish sucks!
- Quotes:
“It was running fine, then all of a sudden it dropped a cylinder and started smoking. It was just blowing smoke out of the exhaust, so it's sucking oil from somewhere. Things were going okay. We had a good day going. We were moving forward and the car was driving good. The car was much, much better that what it was when we practiced, and then we just had a failure there. It's extremely disappointing. We were running well, so if you can take anything good away from it I think we learned a lot.”
- David remains 41st in driver points and 40th in owner points.
Dale Jarrett: DNQ
Brian Vickers: DNQ
Other Notes:
- This was TNT’s last race. After an off weekend, ESPN takes over. For the rest of the year. God help us all, I don’t know how long I’m going to be able to tolerate the horrible and desperate coverage they are sure to give. If they still insist on playing “Back In The Saddle”, I will go insane before the Chase.
- I would have rather seen almost anyone win but Stewart. Of course, after all that crap he started last week when he nailed Denny at Daytona, he sits and smugly tells the camera that the teams weren’t as affected by the incident as the media seemed to be. Which is interesting, considering Denny had pretty much spewed out what he felt earlier in the day. Then, it all came to a head when Joe Gibbs showed up and pulled Tony and Denny away from the first half hour of Happy Hour to have a chat. Afterwards, Tony acted like Denny was his little best buddy. Just sickening! Tony is such a baby it’s not funny. He seriously lives in his own fantasy world and only comes back to reality when someone chews him a good one. It won’t last – it never does. He’ll find someone new to pick on sooner or later.
Casey Mears: 5th (started 1st)
- The #25 National Guard team started off the race weekend by ripping out a pole-winning lap during qualifying. Even though they didn’t match it with a win, 5th is another excellent finish for the team. They ran wonderfully all race long. I sense another win coming for them before the year is out.
- Quotes:
“I feel real good. Just real proud of the National Guard/GMAC Chevrolet guys. We wanted more than that. We wanted to try to win today but we had a great start to the weekend with sitting on the pole. A good solid day. We started off the day really, really loose. The guys worked on the car all day long and got it to where it was working pretty good there at the end. It actually ended up a little too tight right there at the end. But I'm real proud of all the guys for this weekend. It was a good weekend all the way around.”
- This bumps Casey up to 17th in standings and 18th in owner’s points.
Kurt Busch: 6th (started 35th)
- Starting in 35th isn’t like Kurt, but a broken engine discovered in practice cut down preparation time and put Kurt in the back of the field. But immediately he began picking off positions. The car was great and the pit stops matched the #2 Miller Lite Dodge’s performance. It’s good to see momentum returning to this team with Pat Tryson as the crew chief. The Chase might be a long shot, but at least it’s a shot!
- Quotes:
“Well, we thought we had a really good run today. We just kept creeping up on them and kept creeping up on the set-up. Starting 43rd we just had to take our time and really put a maneuverable set-up on the car – one that could go low and one that could go high. It turned out really positive. The team had good pit stops. We thought we had a top five and ended up sixth.”
- Kurt moves up a spot to 14th in points.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.: 19th (started 5th)
- Junior was having a great day running the high line and hanging out in the top-10. At the end of the race, he was in 3rd place when all of a sudden, his power steering went out. He thought it was funny at first because despite his many years of racing it had never happened to him. However, driving a car without power steering is no fun, and 50 laps later at the end of the race, it was all he could do to finish the last car on the lead lap.
- Quotes:
“We had a really good car and the Bud team had a real good pit stop there that put us in third place there near the end of the race. We had a power steering pump lock up and I can't drive and keep up like that. We did the best we could. But Tony Jr. said to just make the best you can out of it and we did.”
- Junior is still 12th in points, but is only 30 points ahead of the hard-charging Ryan Newman. I have faith that Dale can make the Chase, but it sure is getting close.
Michael Waltrip: 30th (started 28th)
- He held his starting spot during the start and things didn’t get interesting until he and Jeff Green were racing side-by-side. Green got loose under the #55 NAPA Camry and spun, barely touching Mikey. It was exciting, to say the least! Unfortunately, the contact cut down Michael’s left-rear tire and he pitted with the leaders. Since he was a lap down at the time, he was charged with pitting too early and was sent to the back of the pack. After that, the car just sucked. According to Michael’s race report, Bobby Kennedy was the one giving orders (er… where was Buddy Sisco?) and apparently they ended up changing a shock upon other things. It made the car better, but three laps down is a lot to make up. He ran better than Kasey Kahne, though!
Martin Truex Jr: 39th (started 2nd)
- He was running good all race and lost some spots when some teams took two tires during a round of pit stops. Just as he was making his way forward, the engine let go. It’s disappointing, but I’m sure it won’t bring the team down long.
- Quotes:
“Something broke in the motor. I'm not sure what. The car was real good. We lost some track position earlier. We were running second there for a while. A bunch of guys got two new tires and we got hung back in traffic but we were getting our car better and we were getting spots one by one and we were up to eighth right there. We were getting the car better; it was looking good for us. It's frustrating.”
- Martin drops to 11th in points and 12th in owner points.
David Reutimann: 43rd (started 21st)
- Another typical day! David was climbing up in position when poof! There goes another engine. I guess a piston broke. It’s such a shame and so frustrating. It seems like every time he has a good car something stupid happens. A last place finish sucks!
- Quotes:
“It was running fine, then all of a sudden it dropped a cylinder and started smoking. It was just blowing smoke out of the exhaust, so it's sucking oil from somewhere. Things were going okay. We had a good day going. We were moving forward and the car was driving good. The car was much, much better that what it was when we practiced, and then we just had a failure there. It's extremely disappointing. We were running well, so if you can take anything good away from it I think we learned a lot.”
- David remains 41st in driver points and 40th in owner points.
Dale Jarrett: DNQ
Brian Vickers: DNQ
Other Notes:
- This was TNT’s last race. After an off weekend, ESPN takes over. For the rest of the year. God help us all, I don’t know how long I’m going to be able to tolerate the horrible and desperate coverage they are sure to give. If they still insist on playing “Back In The Saddle”, I will go insane before the Chase.
- I would have rather seen almost anyone win but Stewart. Of course, after all that crap he started last week when he nailed Denny at Daytona, he sits and smugly tells the camera that the teams weren’t as affected by the incident as the media seemed to be. Which is interesting, considering Denny had pretty much spewed out what he felt earlier in the day. Then, it all came to a head when Joe Gibbs showed up and pulled Tony and Denny away from the first half hour of Happy Hour to have a chat. Afterwards, Tony acted like Denny was his little best buddy. Just sickening! Tony is such a baby it’s not funny. He seriously lives in his own fantasy world and only comes back to reality when someone chews him a good one. It won’t last – it never does. He’ll find someone new to pick on sooner or later.
