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Bow we down in
adoration. We are not worthy. I hear
that there is a fine line between genius
and madness. On Saturday night, that
margin proved to be less than half a
gallon of fuel. After all of the other
contenders had pulled in for a dash of
go juice at Phoenix, Chad Knaus noticed
that left Jimmie Johnson 10 seconds to
the GOOD over the next guy. Gas? He
didn't need no stinking gas. So, with no
one pushing him, Johnson was able to
baby the car home for the 34th win of
his career, while his crew chief once
again came away looking like a pretty
smart guy. Now, had Johnson had a few
drops less in the tank, we probably
would have been saying how Knaus was a
louse or that Chad was BAD. Fate can be
kind of funny that way.
Imagine what folks would have been
saying if Dale Earnhardt Jr, who led a
GOOD portion of the event, had finished
second to his former ride. It appeared
that could be the result for a while
after Mark Martin made the pass to put
the 8 ahead of the 88. Then both hit
the pits, Johnson did not, end of that
story. For the record, Martin came out
ahead, fifth place compared to seventh.
It sounded like Martin figured he had
saved enough fuel to have also stayed
out to the end, but I don't think that
would have necessarily been a GOOD
thing. Well, it could have been for
Clint Bowyer, as I'm guessing Martin and
Johnson would have wound up battling for
the lead. With the amount of fuel such a
duel would have eaten up, it probably
would only have opened the door for the
second place Bowyer to vault himself to
Victory Lane. Then again, with more
permanent and long flowing hair, a tad
more height, along with six-pack abs
instead of a keg, I could have been
Fabio. Instead, fate was kind to me. My
bald, stubby, tubby self has never had
to develop a taste for eating birds on
the fly.
Carl Edwards finished fourth, behind
Denny Hamlin, Saturday night. With three
wins, I think Edwards still GOOD enough
to be my choice as the star of the
season to this point. Hey, not everyone
gazes at the points, with those they
wind up remembering come Monday morning
coffee having the most impact. Even a
casual fan would have noticed Johnson,
with four Top Fives in eight races. Same
goes for Kyle Busch, who was tenth last
weekend. He seems to either lead a
bunch, finish in the Top Ten, or both.
Not even the current points leader has
been as memorable as this trio.
Mind you, points are what it is all
about if winning a championship is on
your mind. Jeff Burton finished sixth on
Saturday, to lead Busch by 80 points in
the standings. Earnhardt is 86 away,
followed by Johnson, 99 points in
arrears. Others who came away with GOOD
weekends included another DEI car, with
Martin Truex Jr in eighth, finishing
just ahead of Greg Biffle.
Jeff Gordon went from UGLY to, as Randy
Jackson might say, alright. He didn't
blow us away at Phoenix, but neither was
he blown away to 43rd place oblivion
this time either. He was just alright,
dawg. Gordon is just eight points behind
Ryan Newman for the 12th invite to the
Chase. Truex and Matt Kenseth, who
suffered through his own little race of
horrors, are also within 50 points of a
playoff spot.
Things have turned UGLY for J.J. Yeley,
who found his car transformed in to a
pinata after Newman's discharge of power
steering fluid greased up the track. His
BAD fortune tumbled him out of the Top
35, handing his free pass to Talladega
over to David Reutimann. If that wasn't
bad enough, now he has an extra week to
think about it before qualifying. So
much for enjoying the time off.
With many of our Cup favorites having
this weekend to do other things, what to
do, what to do? Well, as Amy and I are
celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary
this week, she might have some ideas.
On the same day, sister-in-law Doris has
a birthday and I bet she also has some
non-race related ideas for my brother.
Of course, not everyone has an
anniversary or a birthday coming up to
get them through. For you, we have the
ARCA race from Iowa at 12:30pm CDT on
SPEED and the Nationwide race from
Mexico Sunday at 2pm EDT on ESPN/TSN.
Enjoy the racing!
You can
contact Ron at
thornton@speedwaymedia.com
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on this site are not necessarily those of the publisher. All
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the author. Copyright 2000-2008 SpeedwayMedia.com.
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