NNS: Las Vegas Motor Speedway - Sam’s Town 300
Danni
RESULTS
1. Mark Martin
25. David - 50LD
36. Brian - OUT
Not a good race for our drivers, as you can see!
It started out so well, with Brian on the pole and David taking the green in 5th. But you don't get paid or recieve points from where you begin!
The track seemed iffy at best and the first part of the race was burdened with cautions. Cars were just wrecking left and right. It was hard to tell whether guys were being overaggressive or if the asphalt was hot and slick. Maybe it was a combination of both. Accident after accident ocurred in Turns 3 and 4. During the broadcast they mentioned the wind that appeared to be blowing directly into the center of the turn and theorized that it may be assisting in the loose conditions there. When Bobby Labonte crashes all by himself, it tends to raise some eyebrows.
Brian and David were both running within the top-10 and looked hopeful to have decents finishes. Pretty much, when Brian blew a tire and went ot the garage a little less than halfway through the race, things started going downhill.
1. Mark Martin
25. David - 50LD
36. Brian - OUT
Not a good race for our drivers, as you can see!
It started out so well, with Brian on the pole and David taking the green in 5th. But you don't get paid or recieve points from where you begin!The track seemed iffy at best and the first part of the race was burdened with cautions. Cars were just wrecking left and right. It was hard to tell whether guys were being overaggressive or if the asphalt was hot and slick. Maybe it was a combination of both. Accident after accident ocurred in Turns 3 and 4. During the broadcast they mentioned the wind that appeared to be blowing directly into the center of the turn and theorized that it may be assisting in the loose conditions there. When Bobby Labonte crashes all by himself, it tends to raise some eyebrows.
Brian and David were both running within the top-10 and looked hopeful to have decents finishes. Pretty much, when Brian blew a tire and went ot the garage a little less than halfway through the race, things started going downhill.
On a Lap 104 pit stop, the #99 team let a tire get away and was penalized. David started far behind the leaders but gradually picked his way through the field. As he approached the top 10, a group of cars got mired behind the #7 of Mike Wallace.
Okay. I like Mike Wallace. He's a nice guy and a good driver. But man... when I see him around one of my guys, I get a pit in my stomach, especially when he's on old tires, like in this situation. Wallace has a bad habit of blocking the entire field and causing quite the mess in his wake.
So there was the #7 car, holding up drivers including Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart. It's not easy to pass at Vegas - the track is narrow and there are about one-and-a-half safe grooves. These guys were stacked up two-by-two behind Wallace when David joined the group. They ran haphazardly like this for a few laps. Eventually, Bowyer got by. David followed Harvick up high, with Stewart below him. Harvick got clear and went down low. From the in-car camera, it appeared like David went to trail the #33 down as they entered the turn and maybe didn't know Stewart was there, a little bit above the white line. He barely cut Stewart off, which caused Stewart to get loose and jump up into David.
The wreck followed!David backed the #99 Aaron's Toyota into the wall hard enough to mess up the rear end and they were forced to make repairs in the garage. I sat and waited for Tony's interview with some apprehension, since he seems to be rather threatened of David on the racetrack (read more about that on our Cali report!). To my surprise, he handled it well, but I could tell by the look on his face and the tone of his voice that he though it was David's fault. His quotes on Race2Win hint at that, but I guess it's possible he could have been in some pain since he said he hurt his foot. Who knows with Tony. 
The #99 crew got the car in limping condition and by the end of the race, David picked up two positions to finish 25th. It was disappointing, but I guess it could have been worse.
Despite that, the end of the race was quite interesting! Brad Keselowski did not pit for the last stint. He got a good restart, but was soon caught up by Carl Edwards, Mark Martin (in the #5) and Greg Biffle. Edwards attempted to pass him - not easy, remember - and Martin got right up on Edwards' rear end as they got on the frontstretch. Side by side, Keselowski and Edwards touched, causing Edwards to lift slightly. With Martin right on his tail, it proved unfortunate. The #5 nailed the #60, swinging Edwards into Keselowski and ending with both the leaders crashed! 
Several things made this interesting. Firstly, the #5 and #88 are teammates, so that automatically adds an awkward element to things. It was also Mark Martin who directly wrecked Edwards. A lot of people say Mark never whacks anyone on purpose, so he's off the hook. You know... I've watched him run into other drivers plenty of times. I kind of hate that just because you're Mark Martin, nothing you do is your fault - you must not have meant it. Of course, to Mark's credit, the first thing he said in Victory Lane (another interesting factor to the situation!) was that the accident was his fault. That's fine. You apologized and that's good.
I guess where I'm trying to get with this is that a lot of wrecks aren't done on purprose. So why are some drivers blamed 100% while others get away with everything just because of who they are? I try to see everything so objectively and this stuff makes me nuts. I could have thrown rocks at Tony for crashing David and come up with all kinds of reasons why it was his fault. But... looking at the replays, David didn't give him a lot of room.
I'm just saying... if that had been Kyle Busch in the #5, people would be calling for his head. Since it was Mark, people dismiss it without a second thought. Just frustrating. I don't know. 
POINT STANDINGS
1. Tony Stewart
7. David -103
