Charlotte Motor Speedway - Coca-Cola 600
Danni
RESULTS
1. Kasey Kahne
5. Dale Jr.
10. David
16. Kurt
27. Michael (3LD)
29. Casey (4LD)
34. Martin (5LD - ACCIDENT)
42. Brian (DNF - ACCIDENT)
The people attending the Coke 600 observed a moving prerace dedicated to Memorial Day, complete with bagpipes playing "Amazing Grace", which, personally, was my favorite (I love bagpipes). It's always nice to see the men and women who protect and have protected our country get recognized - it is because of them that we even get to watch NASCAR every weekend!
This is the longest race of the year that goes from evening to night - a challenge for both driver and crew chief to keep up with the changing track conditions and subsequent shifts in the car's handling. At the drop of the green, polesitter Kyle Busch left the field in the dust, but the top-5 saw a few of our drivers - Brian, Kurt and Dale Jr. On Lap 34, Brian took the lead and showed off the strength that he had in his previous spring start at Charlotte. As has been the trend much of the year, the cars were forced to pit road undeer green. Relief wasn't found until Lap 61 when Robby Gordon brushed the wall and brought out the caution. Under this yellow, Casey, who would struggle with an extremely loose car for most of the night, stayed out to lead a lap.
Kurt would lead during the following green flag run, which was just awesome to see! It was also part way through this stint that some foreshadowing would fall upon the #83 team when Brian reported that it felt like he had a loose wheel. Fortunately, he got saved when the caution came out, but unfortunately it was Kurt blowing a tire and hitting the wall while running 2nd.
Talk about luck! It was pretty depressing, but it could have been a lot worse. Despite everything, the #2 crew would mend the car back into shape during the course of the race and Kurt would salvage a decent finish. It's just a shame because he had a race-winning piece under him.
Back beyond the top-5, David was charging his way forward only inches from the wall. Even though the car wasn't exactly to his liking, he drove it as best as he could and it really showed. Go David!
Brian led some more and then dropped back to second. Again, he radioed to his crew that it felt like he had a loose wheel.
Moments later, his left rear wheel bounced violently and then came right off! Brian spun and hit the wall pretty hard. The wheel went on an adventure of its own. It ricocheted off the catch fence and then hit David Gilliland's hood, understandably causing him to wreck. The wheel continued on down the banking, picking up speed, jumped over the inside wall and narrowly missed the ambulance and a photographer. It then climbed the fence leading to the infield and hit the awning of a pop-up camper while the fans around the area raised their arms in victory! 
As unbelievably upset as I was about Brian's great day gone horribly wrong, I was amazed at that wheel. But the cause of it all is odd - this is the crew that won the Challenge a couple weeks ago. It just seemed that the lugs were coming loose. Just one of those freak situations that do a good job of ruining your race... 
Dale Jr. led his first green laps of the night after the caution and David, through helpful pit strategy by Ryan Pemberton, broke the top-10 and flexed some muscle with the best racers in NASCAR. It was great to finally see him get recognition for his abilities and I'm sure UPS wasn't complaining about the positive coverage they got during the race.
Junior went on to lead more laps on and off through the next few stints. Then came Lap 296. Now, as probably even the non-Junior fans know (
), Dale has gotten the habit of rim-riding, which often causes a few stripes on the side of his car. So when he came off of Turn 4 and put it into the wall rather hard, I wasn't particularly surprised, althought by that time I was so exasperated that all my drivers who had led and run great ended up wrecked that it was almost numbing to watch. When JJ Yeley slammed into the back of him, I kind of woke up a bit. 
However, it did more damage to the #96 and Junior scraped along the wall for a while because of two flat right side tires. In spite of being more frustrated than anything, I had to chuckle at this - he was directly in front of all those insane fans that I abhor so much. I love my June, but man, do I hate a large bunch of those idiots who wear his gear.
Then followed a series of events that left me a little confused but quite disgusted. Junior was able to keep going and went flying down pit road to get his car assesssed. Now, I personally saw him zip by a safety truck that was clearing up Yeley's fluid. That's a big no-no. To make it worse, nobody forget that he had two tires down at the moment. And he was clearly speeding, obviously to beat the pace car so he could stay on the lead lap. NASCAR has rules about these things for safety reasons! I remember one year at Pocono I watched Junior have a really bad race. He sped on pit road to beat the pace car and was penalized at least one lap. During the commercial here, NASCAR landed him with a one lap hold for what the broadcast explained as endangering a safety truck. Then, upon further review, they revoked it! WHAT? From what I've heard more than one other driver had negative opinions of this move and frankly I agree with them. Even if he didn't endanger the truck (which is crap because a car on two flats is dangerous by itself), he was speeding to avoid the pace car. It's this ridiculous favoristism that makes me crazy and makes people hate Junior! I don't give a crap if I'm called a bad fan - the #88 deserved a one lap penalty, no ifs ands or buts! UGH!!
But anyway... life went on.
And came another things that pissed me off. With Junior out of winning contention, Tony Stewart took the point. He led the field to the green grossly slow, causing everyone to bunch up behind him. Either he brake-checked or just shot off because all of a sudden he was way ahead while the rest of the cars ran into the back of each other. Just behind David - who was 12th - a massive wreck ensued, taking out Martin.
And what happened to Stewart? NOTHING!!! God!! It was very clear that he screwed with the field and he crashed a group of cars! By now I was royally annoyed at NASCAR for being soft and careless.
However, karma does come back and bite! A long green run at the end of the race resulted in some pit strategy for fuel (which is why Junior finished so well). Stewart was leading by a huge amount with about 3 to go when he got a flat tire and had to come to pit road!
HA!!
David barely missed finishing 9th when Carl Edwards ran out of gas and just made it over the line ahead. But I'm definitely not whining! David and his crew proved that they are capable of running with the big boys and, yes, I'm going to say it - they can win this year! They can! This performance came at a wonderful time to demonstrate to UPS that the #44 team is where they should stay. Come on UPS!
On the flip side, Michael ran terrible all night. This came at the worst time - with Sam Hornish Jr. doing better, Michael is now in immediate danger of falling out of the top-35 in owner points.
I keep thinking back to his temper tantrum with Casey and then getting parked. If he hadn't lost his cool, he'd have more of a cushion. To make things even more dismal, Michael McDowell is also in peril of being forced to qualify with only a 14 point buffer. With sponsor troubles already on the #00, he just has to start finishing better. But asking that out of someone who was thrown to the wolves much like David was last year is really hard. I feel for him - we might not be seeing his big smile for much longer.
#44 Quotes of the Race
After the race
David: "Where'd we end up?"
Ryan: "Tenth, tenth. You almost got 9th there, the 99 ran out...those guys are pushing it. The 24, he made it on fuel...he finished 4th. You had a great run there, nice job, good hard work, guys. We take that and make it a touch better and we'll get top-5s. You do that a few times, then we'll do what we need to do. Great job."
David: "Thanks guys, good [solid?] night."
Ryan: "Ten-four, nice job. Lotta hard work guys!"
Shawn: "Good job, David! Did a hell of a job tonight!"
David: "That was fun!"
Shawn: "Ever peel the right side off that thing? Watch your left side here - 20 car coming inside here and he's not happy. Watch out!"
David: "What the hell is he going after?"
Karma! Michael also came on the radio and congratulated the team, which was nice.
POINT STANDINGS*
1. Kyle Busch
3. Dale Jr. -139
15. Martin -569
20. Brian -657
21. Kurt -668
26. David -759 (28th in owner points +77 from 36th)
27. Casey -779
33. Michael -927 (35th in OP +3 from 36th)
*Updated to show the 150pt penalties assessed to the #66 and #70 cars
1. Kasey Kahne
5. Dale Jr.
10. David
16. Kurt
27. Michael (3LD)
29. Casey (4LD)
34. Martin (5LD - ACCIDENT)
42. Brian (DNF - ACCIDENT)
The people attending the Coke 600 observed a moving prerace dedicated to Memorial Day, complete with bagpipes playing "Amazing Grace", which, personally, was my favorite (I love bagpipes). It's always nice to see the men and women who protect and have protected our country get recognized - it is because of them that we even get to watch NASCAR every weekend!
This is the longest race of the year that goes from evening to night - a challenge for both driver and crew chief to keep up with the changing track conditions and subsequent shifts in the car's handling. At the drop of the green, polesitter Kyle Busch left the field in the dust, but the top-5 saw a few of our drivers - Brian, Kurt and Dale Jr. On Lap 34, Brian took the lead and showed off the strength that he had in his previous spring start at Charlotte. As has been the trend much of the year, the cars were forced to pit road undeer green. Relief wasn't found until Lap 61 when Robby Gordon brushed the wall and brought out the caution. Under this yellow, Casey, who would struggle with an extremely loose car for most of the night, stayed out to lead a lap.
Kurt would lead during the following green flag run, which was just awesome to see! It was also part way through this stint that some foreshadowing would fall upon the #83 team when Brian reported that it felt like he had a loose wheel. Fortunately, he got saved when the caution came out, but unfortunately it was Kurt blowing a tire and hitting the wall while running 2nd.
Talk about luck! It was pretty depressing, but it could have been a lot worse. Despite everything, the #2 crew would mend the car back into shape during the course of the race and Kurt would salvage a decent finish. It's just a shame because he had a race-winning piece under him.Back beyond the top-5, David was charging his way forward only inches from the wall. Even though the car wasn't exactly to his liking, he drove it as best as he could and it really showed. Go David!
Brian led some more and then dropped back to second. Again, he radioed to his crew that it felt like he had a loose wheel.
Moments later, his left rear wheel bounced violently and then came right off! Brian spun and hit the wall pretty hard. The wheel went on an adventure of its own. It ricocheted off the catch fence and then hit David Gilliland's hood, understandably causing him to wreck. The wheel continued on down the banking, picking up speed, jumped over the inside wall and narrowly missed the ambulance and a photographer. It then climbed the fence leading to the infield and hit the awning of a pop-up camper while the fans around the area raised their arms in victory! As unbelievably upset as I was about Brian's great day gone horribly wrong, I was amazed at that wheel. But the cause of it all is odd - this is the crew that won the Challenge a couple weeks ago. It just seemed that the lugs were coming loose. Just one of those freak situations that do a good job of ruining your race... Dale Jr. led his first green laps of the night after the caution and David, through helpful pit strategy by Ryan Pemberton, broke the top-10 and flexed some muscle with the best racers in NASCAR. It was great to finally see him get recognition for his abilities and I'm sure UPS wasn't complaining about the positive coverage they got during the race.
Junior went on to lead more laps on and off through the next few stints. Then came Lap 296. Now, as probably even the non-Junior fans know (
), Dale has gotten the habit of rim-riding, which often causes a few stripes on the side of his car. So when he came off of Turn 4 and put it into the wall rather hard, I wasn't particularly surprised, althought by that time I was so exasperated that all my drivers who had led and run great ended up wrecked that it was almost numbing to watch. When JJ Yeley slammed into the back of him, I kind of woke up a bit. However, it did more damage to the #96 and Junior scraped along the wall for a while because of two flat right side tires. In spite of being more frustrated than anything, I had to chuckle at this - he was directly in front of all those insane fans that I abhor so much. I love my June, but man, do I hate a large bunch of those idiots who wear his gear.Then followed a series of events that left me a little confused but quite disgusted. Junior was able to keep going and went flying down pit road to get his car assesssed. Now, I personally saw him zip by a safety truck that was clearing up Yeley's fluid. That's a big no-no. To make it worse, nobody forget that he had two tires down at the moment. And he was clearly speeding, obviously to beat the pace car so he could stay on the lead lap. NASCAR has rules about these things for safety reasons! I remember one year at Pocono I watched Junior have a really bad race. He sped on pit road to beat the pace car and was penalized at least one lap. During the commercial here, NASCAR landed him with a one lap hold for what the broadcast explained as endangering a safety truck. Then, upon further review, they revoked it! WHAT? From what I've heard more than one other driver had negative opinions of this move and frankly I agree with them. Even if he didn't endanger the truck (which is crap because a car on two flats is dangerous by itself), he was speeding to avoid the pace car. It's this ridiculous favoristism that makes me crazy and makes people hate Junior! I don't give a crap if I'm called a bad fan - the #88 deserved a one lap penalty, no ifs ands or buts! UGH!!
But anyway... life went on.
And came another things that pissed me off. With Junior out of winning contention, Tony Stewart took the point. He led the field to the green grossly slow, causing everyone to bunch up behind him. Either he brake-checked or just shot off because all of a sudden he was way ahead while the rest of the cars ran into the back of each other. Just behind David - who was 12th - a massive wreck ensued, taking out Martin.
And what happened to Stewart? NOTHING!!! God!! It was very clear that he screwed with the field and he crashed a group of cars! By now I was royally annoyed at NASCAR for being soft and careless.However, karma does come back and bite! A long green run at the end of the race resulted in some pit strategy for fuel (which is why Junior finished so well). Stewart was leading by a huge amount with about 3 to go when he got a flat tire and had to come to pit road!
HA!!David barely missed finishing 9th when Carl Edwards ran out of gas and just made it over the line ahead. But I'm definitely not whining! David and his crew proved that they are capable of running with the big boys and, yes, I'm going to say it - they can win this year! They can! This performance came at a wonderful time to demonstrate to UPS that the #44 team is where they should stay. Come on UPS!
On the flip side, Michael ran terrible all night. This came at the worst time - with Sam Hornish Jr. doing better, Michael is now in immediate danger of falling out of the top-35 in owner points.
I keep thinking back to his temper tantrum with Casey and then getting parked. If he hadn't lost his cool, he'd have more of a cushion. To make things even more dismal, Michael McDowell is also in peril of being forced to qualify with only a 14 point buffer. With sponsor troubles already on the #00, he just has to start finishing better. But asking that out of someone who was thrown to the wolves much like David was last year is really hard. I feel for him - we might not be seeing his big smile for much longer.#44 Quotes of the Race
After the race
David: "Where'd we end up?"
Ryan: "Tenth, tenth. You almost got 9th there, the 99 ran out...those guys are pushing it. The 24, he made it on fuel...he finished 4th. You had a great run there, nice job, good hard work, guys. We take that and make it a touch better and we'll get top-5s. You do that a few times, then we'll do what we need to do. Great job."
David: "Thanks guys, good [solid?] night."
Ryan: "Ten-four, nice job. Lotta hard work guys!"
Shawn: "Good job, David! Did a hell of a job tonight!"
David: "That was fun!"
Shawn: "Ever peel the right side off that thing? Watch your left side here - 20 car coming inside here and he's not happy. Watch out!"
David: "What the hell is he going after?"
Karma!
Michael also came on the radio and congratulated the team, which was nice. POINT STANDINGS*
1. Kyle Busch
3. Dale Jr. -139
15. Martin -569
20. Brian -657
21. Kurt -668
26. David -759 (28th in owner points +77 from 36th)
27. Casey -779
33. Michael -927 (35th in OP +3 from 36th)
*Updated to show the 150pt penalties assessed to the #66 and #70 cars
