Watkins Glen Real-time Analysis:  Left and Right, Just the Way I Like It

Covington (my living room), GA

August 13, 2006

NASCAR visits the East Coast version of Sears Point when it stops in New York’s own wine country for the second road course of the year.  Unlike Sonoma, Watkins Glen is not as technical and teams rely more on aerodynamics and horsepower versus pure balance and handling.  Don’t get me wrong, handling will determine who contends for the win and who ends up in the sand trap.  But if you bang up your fenders at the Glen, you’re in for a long day.

While Stewart hasn’t embarrassed the rest of the driver’s in the garage like he did this time last year, he returns to Watkins Glen knowing he can win this race.  In ’05 the Home Depot Monte Carlo was a full second faster than the competition…in qualifying.  When the green flag dropped on that balmy Sunday afternoon, Smoke dusted off the field and never was seriously challenged.  But don’t expect Stewart to dominate as clearly as he did last year.  The 20 team is fast so far, but some other guys have their cars tuned up.   Kurt Busch sat on the pole at Sonoma and has backed that up with his P-1 staring position at The Glen.  The Drivers Gordon will always be a threat.  And the road course aces always make it iterating.

Last year, Stewart and crew were untouchable.  They were putting the finishing touches up on one of the most dominating runs in NASCAR history while setting the tone for the team’s second championship and third overall for JGR.  This year, who knows what he hell is going to happen.  Can Jimmie Johnson pull off his second straight stunner?  Let’s sit back and take a Sunday drive.

Pre-race

1:19 – This weekend marks the 20 year anniversary of Tim Richmond’s lone win at Watkins Glen.  I never saw him race but I’ve read about him.  Many feel he would have won at least one championship.  NASCAR doesn’t do anything to recognize the guy.  It just goes to show NASCAR is still a southern sport and really wants no part of anything less than wholesome.   I hear the fans are going to charter a plane to fly over the track with a thank you message, much like Richmond himself did at the Daytona 500 in 1986.  Here’s to Tim Richmond. 

1:26 – Oh God.  Not this chick!  The (annoying as hell) girl from The West Wing is singing the anthem.  Is this joke?  She isn’t a singer (if you can’t tell).  I say again, oh God! 

1:40 – Start ‘em up fellas, it’s twisty time.

1:48 – The green is about to drop.  Benny Parsons sounds rough today.  It must be tough man.  Keep it going BP, we’re with you.

1:50 – The green flag is out, let’s see if they all get through one okay.  Busch is off the track.  There’s dust everywhere.  Tony just made a sweet two-car pass coming off the straight.

1:53 – Lap 3, Ryan Newman leads.  Busch and Stewart are on the move.  Smoke’s up to 4^th.  Kevin Harvick has a crushed fender while it looks like terry Labonte is out with rear end troubles.

1:55 – The 38 is off in the sand box.  Forget about it dude, you’re stuck!  Caution flag is out.  Stewart’s up to 3^rd.  Robby Gordon is looking like…well Robby Gordon.  NBC is reporting it is 70/30 on whether Sadler will be in the 19 car at Michigan. 

2:05 – Restart on lap 7.  Newman leads but I doubt for very long.  And, there goes that lead.  Busch up to the point, Stewart’s right there.  Smoke up to 2^nd.

2:07 – The two fastest cars so far this weekend are running 1, 2.  Busch leads while Stewart lurks.  Both cars are pulling away from the field.  Stewart is all over the bumper of the Blue Deuce.

2:11 – Were at commercial.  I’m not going to sweat that today.  What can we do about it anyway?  Exactly,  not a dang thing.  What do you want to bet something happened during the break?

2:15 – Lap 15, it appears as if everyone’s settling in.  The leaders are spaced out fairly evenly.  Busch still leads while Stewart runs 2^nd.  Kyle Busch is making some noise.  The 31 car is on pit lane.  Biffle in the 16 is also in for scheduled service.  It looks like green flag stops have begun.

2:20 – Mark Martin has cracked the top-20 thus making up over half of the positions he lost for going to the rear.  Who says you can’t pass at Watkins Glen?  Don’t we say that every weekend, at every track?

2:22 – Oops!  The 12 car just missed his pit box; another mistake for that team.  Are we still questioning why they aren’t in contention?

2:24 – Leaders are in.  Who’s  going to get out first?  Dead even on the stops and they’re bumper-to-bumper off pit road!  Stewart is all over Busch again.  The 20 to the lead (well as soon as the rest of the cars pit).

2:25 – Stewart takes the lead.  Let’s see if he has enough to hold it.  Both the 20 and 2 were mirroring each others lap times.  Like I though before the race started, those are going to be the two cars to beat. 

2:27 – Boris Said just pulled a pirouette.  Is that Boris or Carl Edwards driving the 60 car?   No caution.  Heck, even if he smashed into a tire barrier, if this were an F1 race, they would just hoist the car out of the way with a boom truck and the driver would hop into the seats to watch the rest of the race.

2:30 – Caution flag is out.  It looks like The Shrub blew a left rear tire.  It may be more than just a tire.  It looks like a broken track bar.  The 5 car is going to take a big hit in the standings.  It’s another suspension failure for a HMS car.  What is that, the third or fourth time between Busch and Gordon’s team?

2:36 – It looks like Busch (Ears) got back in front of Stewart.  The 20 won’t get his bonus points…yet.  NBC is reporting the 20 car is “saving his stuff”.  That makes sense.  I think he can run with the 2 car and that experience may pay off late in the race.

Former Watkins Glen winner and one-time apparent heir-apparent Kyle Petty leads. 

2:40 – Restart on lap 31.  The 21 car is between the 2 and 20 car.  Busch will be able to get some distance.  Stewart got a warning from NASCAR addressing his patented restart.  Remember when he jumped it back in ’02 to claim his first win at The Glen?  That prompted the restart line now used in competition.

2:45 – Caution’s out again.  Some idiot I’ve never heard of spun his junk in the inner loop.  No worries.  Stewart is 2^nd and will have a shot at Busch on the restart.  It looks like a couple of guys had trouble including Martin and Said.  Mark Goosens is the driver of the 90 car.  Isn’t that guy a golfer?

2:50 – Restart on lap 36.  Let’s see if the 7 car can dump someone.  Busch gets away clean with Stewart in tow.  Stewart really gets him into the chicane but Busch is able to hold him off each time.  Patience man.  Patience.

2:55 – Bill Elliot just got tossed to the sand trap.  So much for the 19 car climbing back into the top-35 in points.  It looks like Sadler’s going to have to get in on time at Michigan.  How’s that for your first day on the job. 

Hey man, welcome to EMS.  Here’s your crew and crew chief, but over here, we call them “Team Director”. That’s Kasey over there.  He’s currently pulling an Elliot Sadler from last year with his freefall since Sonoma.  The girl under Ray’s desk is Erin.  Here’s you car.  We need you to qualify this weekend on time.  Is that cool?

3:03 – Restart on lap 42.  Busch leads, everyone else follows.  Baring some craziness, this is the way it’s going to run all day.  Stewart is the only car that may have anything for the 2 car. 

Are you sure that isn’t Rusty driving that car? 

3:05 – I stated it during pre-race, Biffle may go down today.  He just brought out the caution.  NBC hasn’t showed what happened yet (go figure).  Now the replay shows that someone (probably Waltrip or Petty) got into the back of the 16, effectively knocking the radiator out and the sandwich off the stick.

I can’t get enough of the UPS commercials with the “Big Brown Truck”.  I’m going to miss Dale Jarrett if UPS doesn’t follow him. 

Khane just pit the 9 car.  I guess they can make it 45 laps on fuel.  Sounds good to me.  Kyle Busch is now 3 laps down.  Screw the lucky dog.  He’s done nothing to get those positions back.

3:15 – Restart after a 15 hour caution period.  Everything still looks the same.  The 2, 20 and now the 7 cars are all bumper-to-bumper.  I bet you could give R. Gordon a Busch car and that guy would finish in the top-10.

If Stewart can lay back in 2^nd and let Busch race harder than he should, he could have something for him late in the race.  If they get a green-white-checkered finish, who know what will happen.

3:25 – Burton just pitted, the 01 brought out the caution.  Busch took the big gamble and it looks like it didn’t work again.  Bang!  Just like last year with Gordon!  This race may have just been handed to the 20!  NASCAR is discussing it.  Red light was on boys!  Let’s go Tony!

They’re all pitting for free pit stops.  This race isn’t over for Busch but it sure did get interesting. 

What is BP talking about with the 8 car’s pit-stop?  Is Tony Eurey Jr. changing tires this weekend?

3:32 – Restart on lap 58.  Stewart’s sitting in 14^th with a bunch of hacks in front of him (including the 99 car).  Busch drops back to the rear for the penalty.  Harvick leads.  This will help Busch.  He’s not through yet. 

Retief Goosen just spun again.  The yellow flag is out.  I wish NASCAR would keep some of these guys off the track.

Kurt Busch has time to get back to the front, but how much car will he have left once he gets there?  I talked to Ron Fellows a couple of years ago, the year he finished 2^nd to Tony Stewart.  He told me it took so much of his car to get through the field that when he got in position, he couldn’t do anything.  He said the tries really change once they go through heat cycles. 

3:40 – NBC just showed a replay of the 29 car leaking fuel.  That may come back to hurt them if this race goes into overtime.

So Harvick leads.  That would be cool if he won.  He won’t, but I wouldn’t mind seeing that.  Tony did get his bonus points for leading during that Kurt Busch fiasco.

3:45 – Restart on lap 62.  Stewart just made it 10-wide going into turn 1 and picked up about 4 positions.  Whoa, the big one!  There’s a big crash in the esses.  Busch (Ears) skated through while The Shrubbery got the lucky dog for the 20^th time.  Fire the dang Lucky Dog already!

With all these cautions, Kurt Busch doesn’t have to use up his stuff as much.  Now NBC is reporting Busch caught a piece of the wreck.  I thought he might have been involved. 

Yep, the 2 car looks banged up pretty good.  Remember, fenders mean a lot here.  What about that alignment. 

Wow, look at the 17 car.  It’s about a foot shorter.  Busch’s car looks pretty bad too.  The 29 car is still leaking fuel.  You have to be excited if you’re in the Home Depot team’s pit box.

Man, these caution periods are very, very long.  We should not have to miss any green flag racing today.  Come-one NBC, let’s do this thing. 

4:00 – Finally, restart with 24 laps to go.  Speaking of 24, there goes Gordon around.  Is it me is there a lot of bumper tag going on today?

Stewart’s up to 3^rd.  The 20 car belongs in the lead.  He’s got two cars, wait; make it one more to pass.  He’s passing guys where you’re not supposed to be able too.

Meanwhile, Gordon (24) is back in 33^rd position.  Stewart is stalking the 29 car.  Big thumbs-up to the 20 team.  They have been patient and raced very smart today.

4:10 – Stewart seems to be content running 2^nd for now.  The interval hasn’t changed.  The 5 and 8 cars are trying their best to wreck. 

Give a big thumbs-up to Kyle Busch for doing nothing and making up those 5 laps.

And there goes Earnhardt Jr.  He’s taken his annual off track excursion at a road course.  It just wouldn’t be road racing without it.

4:16 – The 42 car has spun and won’t re-fire.  Caution has come out.  It looked like the 29 was actually pulling away from the 20 a little bit.  I still think he is saving his stuff.  We’re about to find out. 

Why is Jimmie Johnson running 25^th? 

There will be 9 laps left when we go green.  It looks like the 29, 20, 7 and 12 are all pretty equal.  This restart may get nasty. 

Johnson just pitted the 48 car from 25^th.  What the hell, right?  He better hope he doesn’t get caught up in anyone’s mess.

Kurt Busch is up to 18^th.  Nice rebound for that team.  I hate for the 2 car’s fans (have Rusty’s carried over, ‘cause I don’t think Busch has any).

4:26 – Restart with 9 laps to go.  Harvick got away clean.  Stewart didn’t get a very good restart.  Was that by design?

Holy Smoke!  I told you Stewart was sand bagging.  Dang that was a power move.  Tony Stewart takes the point.

Michael Waltrip just smacked the tire barrier.  A NASCAR race just wouldn’t be a race without Waltrip hitting the wall.  That guy is horrible.  Will someone please advise him to stop racing…please?

Harvick and his crew sound like they have just conceded this race.  Harvick says he can’t get into the braking zones like the 20 car.  I have to agree.  Tony is the best at out breaking a 3400 lb. stock car.

4:35 – Restart with 5 to go.  Stewart leads them to the green.  I’m still waiting for the 7 car to ball someone up. 

Pretty clean restart.  Robby Gordon is looking to pounce.  Stewart is out clean.

Kyle Petty just spun.  Now this race is official.  Petty and Waltrip have both spun.

4:38 – Three to go, Harvick just took back the lead.  That was almost as good of a move the 20 laid on him.    The front 4 are nose-to-tail.

White flag’s out.  It looks like the 29 car is going to victory lane.  Good job gentlemen.  You beat the best.  That’s the way to do it.

4:42 – Checkered flag is in the air-Harvick wins.  Stewart grabs 2^nd while the McMurray, Robby Gordon and Carl Edwards round out the top-5.  For the second consecutive race, there was last lap mayhem involving Kasey Khane.  There were about 15 wrecks all over the track.  Yeley, Newman, Said, probably Waltrip and Petty and of course, Kurt Busch, all involved in a wreck on the last lap.  The freefall for Kasey Khane continues. 

Look at that, that fat dude can run!  Tony Stewart just congratulated Harvick, but he had to run along side the 29 car like a dog chasing the mail truck.  There is a ton of respect there between those two guys.

Post Race

Overall, it wasn't a very clean race.  I'm a bit disapointed with that.  Kevin Harvick was a deserving winner.  That team really needed that win.  The RCR organization needed that.  Harvick drove a smart race.  I didn’t think he had a good enough piece to win, but those guys made some good adjustments and played the pit strategy just right. 

I think we can put the give-and-take issue to rest.  It’s safe to say, Stewart gave Harvick a lot of room for that last pass.  He could have blocked him, or at the very least, leaned on him.  But he didn’t.  He raced him clean, just the way those two race each other every week.  So you see everyone, that’s what Tony Stewart means by give-and-take.  If you give him respect on the track, he’s more than returns the favor. 

It was a good point day for The Home Depot team.  Stewart is now in 7^th place and has a bit of breathing room over 11^th place, Kasey Khane.  The weekly Chase contenders who had trouble include…just about everyone but Harvick and Stewart.  Khane, Biffle and Busch had the worst days for those drivers who are really in the mix.  Many feel this race was one of the two wild cards left on the schedule before The Chase begins.  Bristol looms large for everyone not named Matt Kenseth or Jimmie Johnson.  But before that chaos, the circuit goes to Michigan in what should be a fairly tame weekend.  Then it’s off to Thunder Valley where someone will wake up on the morning of August 27 very disappointed.  I just hope it isn’t Smoke and the rest of the Home Depot Crew.  Chances are it won’t be.  Because even if they have a bad run, Stewart won’t be up early enough in the morning to sulk about it.  The disappointment would have to wait until the afternoon.

NASCAR at the Brickyard: The Way I See It

My Living Room, GA

August 6, 2006

Welcome to the Brickyard.  I love this place.  I love to watch a race at Indy, no matter what types of cars are running the 2.5 mile messiah.   To my delight, Tony Stewart won this race last year.  After years of frustrations, Stewart finally captured what he refers to as his Holy Grail.  I still watch that race from time-to-time just for a pick-me-up. 

This year, Stewart comes back to Indy surrounded by a little bit of controversy.  He has been targeted as a hypocrite based on the inconsistencies between his on track actions and pre and post race comments.  Two weeks in a row he has preached give and take on the race track but has failed to live by his own mantra.  That has some (mostly chat room journalists and bloggers) calling for some intervention by Mike Helton and the boys in the Oval Office. 

What I know is NASCAR has had a much needed two-week break.  Everyone has had an opportunity to regroup and refocus; time to recharge the batteries for that final few races before the 26 race cutoff.  It’s time to start the championship push, especially for the drivers on the fence, hoping to get into the Chase.

2:32 – Some hack just butchered the National Anthem.  Why can’t people just sing the dang song?  Do you really think someone is going to notice you and say, “Wow, I need to sign that girl to a lucrative contract ‘cause man that was terrific!” 

It’s good to see Benny Parsons at the track.  Say what you will, that dude has a positive attitude.

2:39 – They just fired the engines.  I hope Zippy has the 20 car setup conservatively because they’ve been pretty slow so far.  Tires are going to be an issue.  They have some work to do.

2:53 – Green flag is out.  Jeff Burton looks strong at the drop of the flag; not surprising.

2:56 – Elliot Sadler spins hard into the wall on lap 3.  Smoke squeaked by.  The leaders stay out while a few guys decided o pit.

3:03 – Clean restart on lap 7.  Kasey Khane passes Burton for the lead.  He may have the car to beat today.

3:04 – Lead change on lap 8.  Jeff Gordon is off the pace.

3:05 – Lead change.  Burton retakes the lead.  Gordon pits for a tire going down.  The 24 loses a lap.  Something else may be wrong.  The 24 doesn’t need that.  Burton is flexing some early muscle.

3:11 – Gordon is way off the pace and may get black flagged.  Stewart’s up to 16^th.  He’s moving up quite nicely so far.  Who says it’s hard to pass at Indy.  The 20 is about to pass the Carl Edwards in the 99.  During pre-race interview, Edwards said the deal from Pocono between him and Stewart wasn’t settled.  Here we go.

3:14 – Competition caution flag on lap 16.  Maybe Stewart can pass the 99 in the pits.  Gordon’s crew is busy at work.  Crew chief Steve Letarte swiped someone’s helmet to go over the wall.  He looks like a buffoon right now.

3:20 – Restart on lap 19, Boris Said just got dumped.  Both rear springs are on the track.  Kurt Busch thinks he has a loose wheel and has to pit.

3:27 – Restart on lap 24.  Busch (Ears not Shrub) restarted 38^th; Stewart sits 15^th while Burton still leads.

3:41 – Lap 41, Jimmie Johnson blows a left front tire to bring out a caution.  He kept the fender on it and got the car back to pit row though.  It looks like the 48 team is the first victim of tire wear.  Stewart pits in 12^th.  The car seems to be a bit loose.  Fire in the 48 pit box!  Burton remains the leader. 

3:51 – Restart on lap 45.  Gordon restarts on the inside, 2-laps down.  It looks like his car isn’t fixed.  It may be fixed, but it doesn’t look fast.

3:54 – Lap 47, Stewart passes Edwards for the first time.  Edwards gets the spot right back.  Everyone seems to be playing nice so far.

3:57 – Lap 50, the 48 car is smoking again around the left front.  Let’s go boys.  This is starting to look familiar.

4:01 – Lap 57 and Burton still leads.  Greg Biffle has moved to 2^nd and looks pretty racy today.  Uh-oh, caution is out.  The 19 car had a problem.  The 24 just got another lap back.  He was running 3^rd quick before the caution.

Some guys are trying a little bit of pit strategy.  This will be interesting on the restart.  Restarts at Indy tend to be treacherous at best when everyone is on equal tires let alone different strategies.

4:10 – Stewart had to come back in to tighten a wheel.  Reports are an air gun jammed and he took off before they got the wheel tight.  That drops him back to 37^th.  Here we go again.  It’s time to rally.  How many mistakes can that team make before they’re luck is going to run out?

They say it’s hard to pass at Indy.  Tell that to Tony Stewart.  Smoke doesn’t seem to have much trouble, but then again, he has a ton of experience at Indy.  And he’s Tony Stewart.

4:20 – Kevin Harvick takes the lead on lap 72 and seems to be pulling away.  Right now Carl Edwards looks the strongest.  Stewart has worked his way back up to 23^rd and is coming.

The 48 car is back in the top-10 but that tire continues to smoke.

4:30 – Burton seems to be fading.  It looks like the 31 car hasn’t kept up with the track as well as a few of the other cars have.  The 99 looks like the car to beat right now.  Stewart has cracked the top-20.  It looks like Smoke has something for them if he can ever get up there.

4:33 – Caution is out for debris.  Gordon is back on the lead lap.  We didn’t actually see the debris but at least it put the 24 back on the lead lap.  Go figure. The two tires (or fuel only) didn’t work for the 25 car.  He dropped from 1^st to 14^th on that last run.  The 99 lost a few spots on pit road.  It looks like the 29 holds serve.

4:40 – Restart on lap 90.  Burton retakes the lead and appears to have made the right adjustments.

4:47 – On lap 100, Burton has dominated most of the race.  Could this be Burton’s race?  He’s looking awfully strong right now.  What a race to win to break back into victory lane.

4:57 – Stewart’s up to 12^th.  NBC reports he just roughed up the 07 car a little bit.  Of course they didn’t show anything.  Perhaps they are trying to borrow the strategy from their sister show Dateline and create some news for the purpose of reporting something dramatic.  Why not?  Responsible journalism is boring and highly overrated these days.  Apparently Bowyer is plotting a rebuke.

5:07 – Jimmie Johnson to the point.  If the 48 wins this race and goes on to take the Nextel Cup, he would have one of the most remarkable seasons to date.

5:12 – Green flag stops have started.  Burton continues to fade.  If this race goes green, nobody’s going to catch the 48. 

Well, there’s another commercial.  Look, I understand sponsors pay a lot of money for coverage.  But come on, this is pitiful.

5:20 – Johnson still leads with 28 to go but it looks like the 17 is still fast.  Mark Martin just called in a loose wheel.  Stewart’s up to 8^th, nice rally.  The 23 just blew up.  NBC is claiming they won’t have another commercial if the race stays green. 

Stewart is mirroring Johnson’s lap times.

5:36 – Restart with 14 to go.  Everyone’s scrambling.  No tires, two tires, this is going to get ugly.

5:40 – Write it down folks.  Jr. has taken the lead-for about a half a lap.  Johnson’s back in front.  This race is over.  With less than 10 to go, no-one in the top-5 has anything for the 48.

5:50 – Johnson takes the checkers.  NBC talks about the plane crash.  There’s chaos all over the track.  Two wrecks on the last lap.  What the hell did Tony Raines run over, the 9’s engine?  Man did Khane hit that wall hard!  Denny Hamlin limped across the line.  Biffle got into it with Robby Gordon.  And here I thought we would get through a race without Robby taking someone out. 

They got Stewart posted 9^th but it looked like he had position on the 99 before the caution.  Which wreck happened first?  Does anyone in the booth have a clue; NBC, NASCAR, anyone?  Maybe NASCAR will give Edwards the position based on his run-in with Stewart two weeks ago at Pocono.  Throw the 99 team a bone and tell them the incident is history and you better not wreck the 20.  Not next week-not at Bristol-not at all.  Tony Stewart means more to NASCAR than you do so get over it.

Post Race

Jimmie Johnson has won both the Daytona 500 and at the Brickyard in the same season.  That’s pretty cool. There was so much crap on the front stretch; he couldn’t do a burnout without the fear of tearing something up. Based on his victory lane speech, my suspicions were confirmed.  At no point of the race was he thinking about Rick Mears as was reported by NBC’s Bill Weber.  It just goes to show, Weber thinks he is Earnest Hemingway when he tries to, ever so eloquently, wax poetic.  It makes you wonder, does he really think up this nonsense himself?  Oh well, what are you going to do?  It was a good run for the 48 team.  They made a statement to the rest of the garage they won’t fold this year.  Now, can you win it all?

NASCAR at the Brickyard: The Way I See It

Welcome to the Brickyard.  I love this place.  I love to watch a race at Indy, no matter what types of cars are running the 2.5 mile messiah.   To my delight, Tony Stewart won this race last year.  After years of frustrations, Stewart finally captured what he refers to as his Holy Grail.  I still watch that race from time-to-time just for a pick-me-up. 

This year, Stewart comes back to Indy surrounded by a little bit of controversy.  He has been targeted as a hypocrite based on the inconsistencies between his on track actions and pre and post race comments.  Two weeks in a row he has preached give and take on the race track but has failed to live by his own mantra.  That has some (mostly chat room journalists and bloggers) calling for some intervention by Mike Helton and the boys in the Oval Office. 

What I know is NASCAR has had a much needed two-week break.  Everyone has had an opportunity to regroup and refocus; time to recharge the batteries for that final few races before the 26 race cutoff.  It’s time to start the championship push, especially for the drivers on the fence, hoping to get into the Chase.

2:32 – Some hack just butchered the National Anthem.  Why can’t people just sing the dang song?  Do you really think someone is going to notice you and say, “Wow, I need to sign that girl to a lucrative contract ‘cause man that was terrific!” 

It’s good to see Benny Parsons at the track.  Say what you will, that dude has a positive attitude.

2:39 – They just fired the engines.  I hope Zippy has the 20 car setup conservatively because they’ve been pretty slow so far.  Tires are going to be an issue.  They have some work to do.

2:53 – Green flag is out.  Jeff Burton looks strong at the drop of the flag; not surprising.

2:56 – Elliot Sadler spins hard into the wall on lap 3.  Smoke squeaked by.  The leaders stay out while a few guys decided o pit.

3:03 – Clean restart on lap 7.  Kasey Khane passes Burton for the lead.  He may have the car to beat today.

3:04 – Lead change on lap 8.  Jeff Gordon is off the pace.

3:05 – Lead change.  Burton retakes the lead.  Gordon pits for a tire going down.  The 24 loses a lap.  Something else may be wrong.  The 24 doesn’t need that.  Burton is flexing some early muscle.

3:11 – Gordon is way off the pace and may get black flagged.  Stewart’s up to 16^th.  He’s moving up quite nicely so far.  Who says it’s hard to pass at Indy.  The 20 is about to pass the Carl Edwards in the 99.  During pre-race interview, Edwards said the deal from Pocono between him and Stewart wasn’t settled.  Here we go.

3:14 – Competition caution flag on lap 16.  Maybe Stewart can pass the 99 in the pits.  Gordon’s crew is busy at work.  Crew chief Steve Letarte swiped someone’s helmet to go over the wall.  He looks like a buffoon right now.

3:20 – Restart on lap 19, Boris Said just got dumped.  Both rear springs are on the track.  Kurt Busch thinks he has a loose wheel and has to pit.

3:27 – Restart on lap 24.  Busch (Ears not Shrub) restarted 38^th; Stewart sits 15^th while Burton still leads.

3:41 – Lap 41, Jimmie Johnson blows a left front tire to bring out a caution.  He kept the fender on it and got the car back to pit row though.  It looks like the 48 team is the first victim of tire wear.  Stewart pits in 12^th.  The car seems to be a bit loose.  Fire in the 48 pit box!  Burton remains the leader. 

3:51 – Restart on lap 45.  Gordon restarts on the inside, 2-laps down.  It looks like his car isn’t fixed.  It may be fixed, but it doesn’t look fast.

3:54 – Lap 47, Stewart passes Edwards for the first time.  Edwards gets the spot right back.  Everyone seems to be playing nice so far.

3:57 – Lap 50, the 48 car is smoking again around the left front.  Let’s go boys.  This is starting to look familiar.

4:01 – Lap 57 and Burton still leads.  Greg Biffle has moved to 2^nd and looks pretty racy today.  Uh-oh, caution is out.  The 19 car had a problem.  The 24 just got another lap back.  He was running 3^rd quick before the caution.

Some guys are trying a little bit of pit strategy.  This will be interesting on the restart.  Restarts at Indy tend to be treacherous at best when everyone is on equal tires let alone different strategies.

4:10 – Stewart had to come back in to tighten a wheel.  Reports are an air gun jammed and he took off before they got the wheel tight.  That drops him back to 37^th.  Here we go again.  It’s time to rally.  How many mistakes can that team make before they’re luck is going to run out?

They say it’s hard to pass at Indy.  Tell that to Tony Stewart.  Smoke doesn’t seem to have much trouble, but then again, he has a ton of experience at Indy.  And he’s Tony Stewart.

4:20 – Kevin Harvick takes the lead on lap 72 and seems to be pulling away.  Right now Carl Edwards looks the strongest.  Stewart has worked his way back up to 23^rd and is coming.

The 48 car is back in the top-10 but that tire continues to smoke.

4:30 – Burton seems to be fading.  It looks like the 31 car hasn’t kept up with the track as well as a few of the other cars have.  The 99 looks like the car to beat right now.  Stewart has cracked the top-20.  It looks like Smoke has something for them if he can ever get up there.

4:33 – Caution is out for debris.  Gordon is back on the lead lap.  We didn’t actually see the debris but at least it put the 24 back on the lead lap.  Go figure. The two tires (or fuel only) didn’t work for the 25 car.  He dropped from 1^st to 14^th on that last run.  The 99 lost a few spots on pit road.  It looks like the 29 holds serve.

4:40 – Restart on lap 90.  Burton retakes the lead and appears to have made the right adjustments.

4:47 – On lap 100, Burton has dominated most of the race.  Could this be Burton’s race?  He’s looking awfully strong right now.  What a race to win to break back into victory lane.

4:57 – Stewart’s up to 12^th.  NBC reports he just roughed up the 07 car a little bit.  Of course they didn’t show anything.  Perhaps they are trying to borrow the strategy from their sister show Dateline and create some news for the purpose of reporting something dramatic.  Why not?  Responsible journalism is boring and highly overrated these days.  Apparently Bowyer is plotting a rebuke.

5:07 – Jimmie Johnson to the point.  If the 48 wins this race and goes on to take the Nextel Cup, he would have one of the most remarkable seasons to date.

5:12 – Green flag stops have started.  Burton continues to fade.  If this race goes green, nobody’s going to catch the 48. 

Well, there’s another commercial.  Look, I understand sponsors pay a lot of money for coverage.  But come on, this is pitiful.

5:20 – Johnson still leads with 28 to go but it looks like the 17 is still fast.  Mark Martin just called in a loose wheel.  Stewart’s up to 8^th, nice rally.  The 43 just blew up.  No repeat for the 2000 champ this year.  NBC is claiming they won’t have another commercial if the race stays green. 

Stewart is mirroring Johnson’s lap times. 

5:30 - Caution for debris, again.  It must have been a hot dog wrapper out of the window of the 20 car.  Okay Jimmie whatha gonna do?  Remeber last year, Smoke stayed out and went on to win the race.  Someone's going to gamble.

It looks like that someone was Dale Jr.  Helluva call.  Let's see whathcha got.

5:36 – Restart with 14 to go.  Everyone’s scrambling.  No tires, two tires, this is going to get ugly.

5:40 – Write it down folks.  Jr. has taken the lead-for about a half a lap.  Johnson’s back in front.  This race is over.  With less than 10 to go, no-one in the top-5 has anything for the 48.

5:50 – Johnson takes the checkers.  NBC talks about the plane crash.  There’s chaos all over the track.  Two wrecks on the last lap.  What the hell did Tony Raines run over, the 9’s engine?  Man did Khane hit that wall hard!  Denny Hamlin limped across the line.  Biffle got into it with Robby Gordon.  And here I thought we would get through a race without Robby taking someone out. 

They got Stewart posted 9^th but it looked like he had position on the 99 before the caution.  Which wreck happened first?  Does anyone in the booth have a clue; NBC, NASCAR, anyone?  Maybe NASCAR will give Edwards the position based on his run-in with Stewart two weeks ago at Pocono.  Throw the 99 team a bone and tell them the incident is history and you better not wreck the 20.  Not next week-not at Bristol-not at all.  Tony Stewart means more to NASCAR than you so get over it.

Post Race

Jimmie Johnson has won both the Daytona 500 and at the Brickyard in the same season.  That’s pretty cool. There was so much *** on the front stretch; he couldn’t do a burnout without the fear of tearing something up. Based on his victory lane speech, my suspicions were confirmed.  At no point of the race was he thinking about Rick Mears as was reported by NBC’s Bill Weber.  It just goes to show, Weber thinks he is Earnest Hemingway when he tries to, ever so eloquently, wax poetic.  It makes you wonder, does he really think up this crap himself?  Oh well, what are you going to do?  It was a good run for the 48 team.  They made a statement to the rest of the garage they won’t fold this year.  Now, can you win it all?