Danni
RESULTS
1. Denny Hamlin
6. Dale Jr.
7. Casey
21. Martin (1LD)
23. Brian (DNF)
35. Michael (17LD)
36. David (DNF)
I don't like Martinsville. Never have. I don't like the style of moving around the track; the only ways you can pass are to be extremely patient or, in most cases, put a nose to someone's bumper. There is really no room for error. You make one mistake and you can lose ten spots in one lap.
But really, everything seemed to be going okay during the start of the race. Our guys that qualified well remained around the same vicinity and the ones who had a bad Friday began their march forward. There were plenty of wrecks, of course, including an awkward Kurt-Kyle contact (no harm intended, no harm given). But even though it looked pretty good, I never feel comfortable about my drivers' current positions until they cross the finish line.
Junior was very good early on and easily drove away from the cars behind him. During this time, the #41 was shown spun on the track, but an explanation was never given as to why. A minute later, David said over the radio to tell Reed Sorenson that he didn't mean to get into him!
Maybe it was for David's own good that no one watching the race on TV knew he was the culprit, but objectively I was rather disappointed in FOX's coverage. They would constantly show the crash vicitims and then go immediately to commercial. Upon return, they could barely catch the green flag, much less reveal the cause behind the wrecks. 
Even some of the live altercations were not given clear reviews. At one point, Michael dove in deep and nearly ran into the back of Dave Blaney. He let off sharply to avoid the #22 and was subsequently knocked aside by Kurt. The booth acted like Kurt just bumped and ran when in reality Michael's car lost its momentum. At one point much later, Martin pitted under green. We were never told why.
But they certainly showed what happened to David on Lap 119! Aric Almirola apparently lost patience and plowed his #8 Chevy into the back of David's car, sending him spinning awkwardly into Almirola's teammate Paul Menard.
It was then that I retracted the benefit of the doubt I had given him for wrecking Bobby Labonte earlier!! Luckily, the UPS Toyota suffered little damage save for some dents and black scuff marks. He stayed on the lead lap and was just making up more spots at the tail end of the field when the #15 of Menard evidently executed some "revenge" for the previous incident, whacked the UPS car and caused David to be passed by the leader. 
Fortunately, the team had made the car better and they were able to get the free pass a little later.
Meanwhile, Michael was having a rough day. He was running decently until a restart in which several cars got checked up in front of him. Unable to slow in time, he ran into Almirola (
) and severely damaged the front of his car. From watching PitCommand, it appeared that he hit the wall afterwards as well. The car sat on pit road for 6 laps before getting back on track. It wasn't long before trouble found Mikey again - in the form of freakin' Almirola! The #8 turned the #55! What the heck is wrong with him?! His second race of the year and he thinks he can run into whoever he wants! As if it couldn't get any worse, I guess Michael didn't watch the truck race and didn't see that you can get stuck on the curb. 
I'm assuming he needed a push or pull off of it, but he stayed there for a long time and the broadcast didn't say.
Things started looking up when David's car got good enough for a gutsy call by Ryan Pemberton - stay out! I was excited until I saw that Blaney didn't pit either and Jeff Gordon was behind David. Nerves were pretty high on that restart, especially when Blaney putted out and all the lapped cars blew by him! I guess he had an ignition go, but since Martinsville is so narrow David could barely get around him. Finally, he bumped the #22 and then passed him - FOR THE LEAD!! DAVID!! LEADING!!!! We were so excited! He didn't just lead one lap, either! He led THREE before Gordon's new tires and Martinsville prowess took over. Even though he was passed by more cars, he kept the track position advantage.
Then came the words you never want to hear on the radio - "It ain't gonna make it."
The rear end was blowing up. After a few laps, David took the same UPS Toyota that looked so sharp leading the field to the garage. The crew worked feverishly and about 25 laps later he returned to the track, but the car ultimately succumbed. DNF. 
Just when they desperately couldn't afford it.
In the meantime, the battle for the win was heating up. Michael McDowell was the only MWR car left running half decent, but he sort of ruined his day when he lost a lap to leader and future winner Denny Hamlin and planted himself between him and the second place driver Jeff Burton. Despite potentially altering the finish of the race, McDowell would not allow Burton to pass. Held up and overusing his stuff, Burton was passed by Gordon and ended up finishing 3rd. Things didn't end well for McDowell either. He continued to get in the way and was shoved aside by Carl Edwards, later hit by Jamie McMurray and forced to pit after cutting a tire and running on his rim. Burton voiced his displeasure with McD after the race, saying that he needs to learn some manners. McD claimed that he had every right to do what he did because he was fighting for the free pass. Frankly, he should have yielded to Burton. One spot. He's lucky Burton is classy enough and didn't punt him after a few laps like everyone else would have. It's true - a car one lap down has the right to run his own race. However, this was within 20 to go and at a place like Martinsville, there is neither the time nor room to mess around. And what eventually happened? He went from being in the top-20 to finishing 25th and getting criticized by one of the sport's most respected drivers in his first race.
You can't say that looks too good.
The race wrapped up on a sour note for Brian also. While running in the top-10, he ran out of fuel with a few laps to go. Martin had a disappointing day when he had a flat tire during a green flag run and had to pit.
On the other hand, Dale Jr. and Casey both finished in the top-10 and even got bumped up an extra spot each when Edwards ran out of gas on the last lap. It's another solid run to add to Junior's chain of consistency. But for Casey, this marks the first time all year he's actually finished where he's performed all race long.
He really, really needed this!
It was good seeing Hamlin win. I know he's wanted to win in Virginia since he's from the state. He's grown on me, even though his sponsor is a rival of our own UPS.
Oh well, UPS still has better-looking drivers, both on and off the track! 
Not saying Denny isn't attractive or anything! I've just always had a fetish for those men in brown... 
We didn't get any quotes from David's team this week. In all reality, it was mostly depressing based on all the crap that happened to them. But also, we were not on our regular computer since our room has been in the process of renovation for two weeks and the other computer in the house could not record audio for some frustrating reason.
On a side note, I wish NASCAR.com would show live OWNER points, not driver points. It's so misleading. We didn't 100% know David dropped out of the top-35 until they showed it on TV. It's so upsetting. (Grumbling) Should've kept him in the #00.
POINT STANDINGS
1. Jeff Burton
4. Dale Jr. -69
13. Martin -220
16. Kurt -246
18. Brian -284
27. Casey -401 (29th in owner points +79 from 36th)
28. David -403 (37th in owner points -20 from 35th)
32. Michael -455 (33rd in owner points +25 from 36th)
1. Denny Hamlin
6. Dale Jr.
7. Casey
21. Martin (1LD)
23. Brian (DNF)
35. Michael (17LD)
36. David (DNF)
I don't like Martinsville. Never have. I don't like the style of moving around the track; the only ways you can pass are to be extremely patient or, in most cases, put a nose to someone's bumper. There is really no room for error. You make one mistake and you can lose ten spots in one lap.
But really, everything seemed to be going okay during the start of the race. Our guys that qualified well remained around the same vicinity and the ones who had a bad Friday began their march forward. There were plenty of wrecks, of course, including an awkward Kurt-Kyle contact (no harm intended, no harm given). But even though it looked pretty good, I never feel comfortable about my drivers' current positions until they cross the finish line.
Junior was very good early on and easily drove away from the cars behind him. During this time, the #41 was shown spun on the track, but an explanation was never given as to why. A minute later, David said over the radio to tell Reed Sorenson that he didn't mean to get into him!
Maybe it was for David's own good that no one watching the race on TV knew he was the culprit, but objectively I was rather disappointed in FOX's coverage. They would constantly show the crash vicitims and then go immediately to commercial. Upon return, they could barely catch the green flag, much less reveal the cause behind the wrecks. Even some of the live altercations were not given clear reviews. At one point, Michael dove in deep and nearly ran into the back of Dave Blaney. He let off sharply to avoid the #22 and was subsequently knocked aside by Kurt. The booth acted like Kurt just bumped and ran when in reality Michael's car lost its momentum. At one point much later, Martin pitted under green. We were never told why.But they certainly showed what happened to David on Lap 119! Aric Almirola apparently lost patience and plowed his #8 Chevy into the back of David's car, sending him spinning awkwardly into Almirola's teammate Paul Menard.
It was then that I retracted the benefit of the doubt I had given him for wrecking Bobby Labonte earlier!! Luckily, the UPS Toyota suffered little damage save for some dents and black scuff marks. He stayed on the lead lap and was just making up more spots at the tail end of the field when the #15 of Menard evidently executed some "revenge" for the previous incident, whacked the UPS car and caused David to be passed by the leader. Fortunately, the team had made the car better and they were able to get the free pass a little later.Meanwhile, Michael was having a rough day. He was running decently until a restart in which several cars got checked up in front of him. Unable to slow in time, he ran into Almirola (
) and severely damaged the front of his car. From watching PitCommand, it appeared that he hit the wall afterwards as well. The car sat on pit road for 6 laps before getting back on track. It wasn't long before trouble found Mikey again - in the form of freakin' Almirola! The #8 turned the #55! What the heck is wrong with him?! His second race of the year and he thinks he can run into whoever he wants! As if it couldn't get any worse, I guess Michael didn't watch the truck race and didn't see that you can get stuck on the curb. I'm assuming he needed a push or pull off of it, but he stayed there for a long time and the broadcast didn't say.Things started looking up when David's car got good enough for a gutsy call by Ryan Pemberton - stay out! I was excited until I saw that Blaney didn't pit either and Jeff Gordon was behind David. Nerves were pretty high on that restart, especially when Blaney putted out and all the lapped cars blew by him! I guess he had an ignition go, but since Martinsville is so narrow David could barely get around him. Finally, he bumped the #22 and then passed him - FOR THE LEAD!! DAVID!! LEADING!!!! We were so excited! He didn't just lead one lap, either! He led THREE before Gordon's new tires and Martinsville prowess took over. Even though he was passed by more cars, he kept the track position advantage.
Then came the words you never want to hear on the radio - "It ain't gonna make it."
The rear end was blowing up. After a few laps, David took the same UPS Toyota that looked so sharp leading the field to the garage. The crew worked feverishly and about 25 laps later he returned to the track, but the car ultimately succumbed. DNF. Just when they desperately couldn't afford it.In the meantime, the battle for the win was heating up. Michael McDowell was the only MWR car left running half decent, but he sort of ruined his day when he lost a lap to leader and future winner Denny Hamlin and planted himself between him and the second place driver Jeff Burton. Despite potentially altering the finish of the race, McDowell would not allow Burton to pass. Held up and overusing his stuff, Burton was passed by Gordon and ended up finishing 3rd. Things didn't end well for McDowell either. He continued to get in the way and was shoved aside by Carl Edwards, later hit by Jamie McMurray and forced to pit after cutting a tire and running on his rim. Burton voiced his displeasure with McD after the race, saying that he needs to learn some manners. McD claimed that he had every right to do what he did because he was fighting for the free pass. Frankly, he should have yielded to Burton. One spot. He's lucky Burton is classy enough and didn't punt him after a few laps like everyone else would have. It's true - a car one lap down has the right to run his own race. However, this was within 20 to go and at a place like Martinsville, there is neither the time nor room to mess around. And what eventually happened? He went from being in the top-20 to finishing 25th and getting criticized by one of the sport's most respected drivers in his first race.
You can't say that looks too good.The race wrapped up on a sour note for Brian also. While running in the top-10, he ran out of fuel with a few laps to go. Martin had a disappointing day when he had a flat tire during a green flag run and had to pit.
On the other hand, Dale Jr. and Casey both finished in the top-10 and even got bumped up an extra spot each when Edwards ran out of gas on the last lap. It's another solid run to add to Junior's chain of consistency. But for Casey, this marks the first time all year he's actually finished where he's performed all race long.
He really, really needed this!It was good seeing Hamlin win. I know he's wanted to win in Virginia since he's from the state. He's grown on me, even though his sponsor is a rival of our own UPS.
Oh well, UPS still has better-looking drivers, both on and off the track! Not saying Denny isn't attractive or anything! I've just always had a fetish for those men in brown... We didn't get any quotes from David's team this week. In all reality, it was mostly depressing based on all the crap that happened to them. But also, we were not on our regular computer since our room has been in the process of renovation for two weeks and the other computer in the house could not record audio for some frustrating reason.
On a side note, I wish NASCAR.com would show live OWNER points, not driver points. It's so misleading. We didn't 100% know David dropped out of the top-35 until they showed it on TV. It's so upsetting. (Grumbling) Should've kept him in the #00.
POINT STANDINGS
1. Jeff Burton
4. Dale Jr. -69
13. Martin -220
16. Kurt -246
18. Brian -284
27. Casey -401 (29th in owner points +79 from 36th)
28. David -403 (37th in owner points -20 from 35th)
32. Michael -455 (33rd in owner points +25 from 36th)