Watkins Glen Int'l - Centurion Boats at The Glen
RACE WINNER: TONY STEWART
Martin Truex Jr.: 6th (started 12th)
- The day was uneventful until the infamous restart on Lap 72. Juan Pablo Montoya was in front of Martin, but a long gear caused him to be slow on acceleration. Martin attempted to pass him into Turn 1. Montoya blocked him all the way to the inside of the track and, because he was holding Martin up, Martin got into the back of him. A big wreck ensued, taking out Montoya, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Jamie McMurray. Martin was unscathed. More on that wreck later.
- Martin is still 11th in points.
Kurt Busch: 11th (started 13th)
- He ran great all day, but in order to capitalize on Dale Jr.’s misfortunes, crew chief Pat Tryson made a call to bring Kurt in for fuel. It was a smart move to avoid running out of gas at the end of the race and put as many points between Kurt and Junior as possible.
- Quotes:
“It was a good day. We worked our way up all the way to second at one point. We tried to be conservative on fuel and that put us in the back of the pack. All those yellows at the end made it too tough to pass.”
- Kurt remains 12th in points, 163 markers ahead of Dale Jr.
Casey Mears: 15th (started 19th)
- Despite getting spun out by the #66 of Jeff Green, Casey had a good solid day. The contact lost him some spots, but since road racing can be very difficult, the finish was nothing to complain about.
- To further satisfy the #25 team, Casey moves up three spots to 16th in points and up two positions to 17th in owner points.
Dale Jarrett: 29th (started 37th)
- Pit strategy put the #44 Toyota out in front early in the race, but a long green flag run forced them to pit and shuffled them to the back again, where he stayed for the rest of the race. Apparently there were some horsepower issues, for DJ claimed he struggled through the esses.
- Dale is still 41st in driver points and 42nd in owner standings.
Brian Vickers: 41st (started 36th)
- Progress was made at the start of the race, but soon the brakes became a problem. Brian spun the car and was hit hard by Regan Smith. The foam that sits inside the New Car’s doors burst and littered the track. The #83 team patched up the car as best they could and Brian was able to soldier on. During a fuel stop, he got busted for speeding and had to make a pass-through penalty under green. Eventually, the transmission gave out, putting the team out of their misery.
- Brian remains 39th in driver and owner points.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.: 42nd (started 14th)
- The #8 team’s demise came earlier in the week during practice. The car was horrible, causing Junior to over-rev the engine. The crew made whole-sale changes to the car and it ran excellently during the race, but the abuse from practice proved too much for the engine and it blew on Lap 63.
- Quotes:
“I am real proud of my team. We were terrible all weekend but that car was good during the race. It was fun to drive. I thought we were putting on a show, we were working really hard and had something to be proud of and now all kind of disappointed but we will come back next week. We just beat on the motor too hard. I think we was just too rough on it. The motor was good. The car was really, really good.”
- Things aren’t looking very good for Junior now in the points race. He dropped to 14th, 100 points away from Kurt Busch.
David Reutimann: DNS
Michael Waltrip: DNS
Other Notes:
- Okay. Of course I have to talk about the Montoya fiasco. Plain and simple, Montoya put himself in that position. He knew he was slow and chose to block Martin anyway. And the whole, “The 1 hit me!” excuse was a bunch of crap. How the heck was he planning on cutting into Turn 1 that tight in the first place? He hit the rumble strips for God’s sake. I say, he was going to get into Harvick whether Martin hit him or not. As for the whole fight afterwards, Harvick did nothing wrong. Juan was out of the car first and Juan made an aggressive move first. Yes, Harvick did approach him and touch him, but I saw nothing violent when he put his hand on Montoya’s helmet. Not like the shove Montoya gave Harvick’s helmet a second later. Montoya did all the pushing and shoving, even having the gall to try to shove past an official. Gotta give props to Jeff Burton! The moment he went up to Harvick, Harvick cut off the fight. Yeah, yeah – Harvick’s had his share of scuffles. But Montoya marched into NASCAR thinking he owned the series and it’s about time someone stood up to him. I guarantee most of the garage agrees.
- What was with Tony’s nonexistent celebration? No burnout, no fence climbing. What a ripoff, and the boos from the crowd showed the fans thought the same.
- I felt really bad for Jeff Gordon. He looked so upset. It probably wasn’t the embarrassing solo spin as much as realizing he was going to have to explain why he screwed up to reporters for the next week or so.
Martin Truex Jr.: 6th (started 12th)
- The day was uneventful until the infamous restart on Lap 72. Juan Pablo Montoya was in front of Martin, but a long gear caused him to be slow on acceleration. Martin attempted to pass him into Turn 1. Montoya blocked him all the way to the inside of the track and, because he was holding Martin up, Martin got into the back of him. A big wreck ensued, taking out Montoya, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Jamie McMurray. Martin was unscathed. More on that wreck later.
- Martin is still 11th in points.
Kurt Busch: 11th (started 13th)
- He ran great all day, but in order to capitalize on Dale Jr.’s misfortunes, crew chief Pat Tryson made a call to bring Kurt in for fuel. It was a smart move to avoid running out of gas at the end of the race and put as many points between Kurt and Junior as possible.
- Quotes:
“It was a good day. We worked our way up all the way to second at one point. We tried to be conservative on fuel and that put us in the back of the pack. All those yellows at the end made it too tough to pass.”
- Kurt remains 12th in points, 163 markers ahead of Dale Jr.
Casey Mears: 15th (started 19th)
- Despite getting spun out by the #66 of Jeff Green, Casey had a good solid day. The contact lost him some spots, but since road racing can be very difficult, the finish was nothing to complain about.
- To further satisfy the #25 team, Casey moves up three spots to 16th in points and up two positions to 17th in owner points.
Dale Jarrett: 29th (started 37th)
- Pit strategy put the #44 Toyota out in front early in the race, but a long green flag run forced them to pit and shuffled them to the back again, where he stayed for the rest of the race. Apparently there were some horsepower issues, for DJ claimed he struggled through the esses.
- Dale is still 41st in driver points and 42nd in owner standings.
Brian Vickers: 41st (started 36th)
- Progress was made at the start of the race, but soon the brakes became a problem. Brian spun the car and was hit hard by Regan Smith. The foam that sits inside the New Car’s doors burst and littered the track. The #83 team patched up the car as best they could and Brian was able to soldier on. During a fuel stop, he got busted for speeding and had to make a pass-through penalty under green. Eventually, the transmission gave out, putting the team out of their misery.
- Brian remains 39th in driver and owner points.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.: 42nd (started 14th)
- The #8 team’s demise came earlier in the week during practice. The car was horrible, causing Junior to over-rev the engine. The crew made whole-sale changes to the car and it ran excellently during the race, but the abuse from practice proved too much for the engine and it blew on Lap 63.
- Quotes:
“I am real proud of my team. We were terrible all weekend but that car was good during the race. It was fun to drive. I thought we were putting on a show, we were working really hard and had something to be proud of and now all kind of disappointed but we will come back next week. We just beat on the motor too hard. I think we was just too rough on it. The motor was good. The car was really, really good.”
- Things aren’t looking very good for Junior now in the points race. He dropped to 14th, 100 points away from Kurt Busch.
David Reutimann: DNS
Michael Waltrip: DNS
Other Notes:
- Okay. Of course I have to talk about the Montoya fiasco. Plain and simple, Montoya put himself in that position. He knew he was slow and chose to block Martin anyway. And the whole, “The 1 hit me!” excuse was a bunch of crap. How the heck was he planning on cutting into Turn 1 that tight in the first place? He hit the rumble strips for God’s sake. I say, he was going to get into Harvick whether Martin hit him or not. As for the whole fight afterwards, Harvick did nothing wrong. Juan was out of the car first and Juan made an aggressive move first. Yes, Harvick did approach him and touch him, but I saw nothing violent when he put his hand on Montoya’s helmet. Not like the shove Montoya gave Harvick’s helmet a second later. Montoya did all the pushing and shoving, even having the gall to try to shove past an official. Gotta give props to Jeff Burton! The moment he went up to Harvick, Harvick cut off the fight. Yeah, yeah – Harvick’s had his share of scuffles. But Montoya marched into NASCAR thinking he owned the series and it’s about time someone stood up to him. I guarantee most of the garage agrees.
- What was with Tony’s nonexistent celebration? No burnout, no fence climbing. What a ripoff, and the boos from the crowd showed the fans thought the same.
- I felt really bad for Jeff Gordon. He looked so upset. It probably wasn’t the embarrassing solo spin as much as realizing he was going to have to explain why he screwed up to reporters for the next week or so.
