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Denny Hamlin was the
class of the field at Richmond Saturday
night, until he came away with no class
at all. Hamlin, who won the Nationwide
race on Friday, won the pole for the Cup
event, and was GOOD on race day
dominating the field almost to
perfection. Then a tire started doing
down in the final stages. That allowed
Dale Earnhardt Jr to make the pass and
for a few minutes it appeared his nearly
two year victory drought would be over.
Then things got UGLY.
Rather than come in to get the tire
changed, Hamlin tried to limp it out as
he quickly fell out of the Top Ten. Then
he stopped. Too BAD it wasn't in the
pits. Hamlin stopped against the wall,
waited for the caution to come out, then
immediately took off with no problem to
the pits for the new rubber. BAD move,
as NASCAR parked him for a couple of
laps for the stunt.
Who was the biggest beneficiary of
Hamlin's move? Why, that would be his
team mate Kyle Busch, who was running
second to Junior but needed the field to
be tightened up to have a chance to
catch the fan favorite. Hamlin provided
that, and with four laps to go, things
went from BAD to worse as the prickly
one not only closed in near enough to
try to pass Junior, but got close enough
to wreck him. If there was any justice
on the night, it was that Clint Bowyer
slipped by the pair and held on to take
the bubbly away from Busch, who finished
second as Junior was left a little worse
for wear in fifteenth.
If you loved Dale Earnhardt, it is
pretty tough to then start tossing the
horse pucks at Busch for wrecking the
son while going for the win. Who am I
kidding? Sure it is, but it still isn't
really fair. What really turned this
UGLY was how Hamlin forced a caution
that did not need to happen, allowing
his team mate a chance to close the gap.
The way he raced, Hamlin should have
won. The way he stopped, he made sure
Earnhardt did not.
BAD boy, BAD boy, whatcha gonna do,
whatcha gonna do when Casey Mears hits
you? Well, if you are Michael Waltrip,
you come off the wall, close in right
tight to Mears, then floor the pedal to
the metal. If you are NASCAR, you then
park Waltrip for the rest of the night.
Another former BAD boy NASCAR had parked
was Super Bob Osborne. Richmond marked
the first time he was back as crew chief
for Carl Edwards after a six race hiatus
for that loose oil reservoir lid.
Edwards won that race, if you remember,
then added two others without Osborne
before finishing seventh Saturday
night. Robby Gordon went to Richmond
with a different crew chief, too. Frank
Kerr was out, Walter Giles was in, Robby
was 26th.
Patrick Carpentier is one talented
driver, darn GOOD in qualifying his car
week after week, though few seem to get
his name right. It is "Car-pont-chay."
It is like that fancy time piece,
Cartier, though if he were a watch
Carpentier would probably be more like a
Timex. He sure took a licking about half
way through Saturday night. With the
field stacking up, he slowed down, got
hit from behind, rebounded off the
infield wall to meet a bunch of friends
coming his way bringing with them more
fun and excitement. I counted five or
six impacts involving the Canadian's car
alone. With four laps remaining, it was
still our crash of the night.
Just for the record, I can't stand Speed
Racer. It was a BAD cartoon that made
Rocket Robin Hood look GOOD in
comparison. As for the movie, I'll get
around to finally watching my copy of
Brokeback Mountain long before I get
desperate enough to watch Speed Racer. I
just thought it needed to be said.
After Richmond, those in the Top 12 in
the standings remain at least 50 points
to the GOOD, with the exception of Kasey
Kahne. His pass to the party is down to
just six points over Jeff Gordon. As for
the Owner Point derby, the Top 35 are
pretty much decided for the rest of the
season, as the #77 driven by Sam Hornish
Jr holds a 71 point lead over the #22 of
Dave Blaney.
Joey Logano turns 18 before the month is
up, but the next GOOD..er...great one
got an early start to his celebrations
Sunday by winning the ARCA race at
Rockingham. It was his first attempt in
the series, dominating the field and
holding off Ken Schrader for the
victory. Logano is expected to make his
Nationwide series debut at Dover at the
end of May.
So, as we head to Darlington for another
Saturday night race, Junior's winless
streak now sits at 72. His daddy won
there nine times, not including three
Busch events. Team mate Jeff Gordon has
seven wins. Jimmie Johnson has claimed
two. Junior has yet to win at
Darlington. No time like the present.
Enjoy the race!
You can
contact Ron at
thornton@speedwaymedia.com
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