Sofa Sideline – Dodge Up Front Everywhere!
Hank Parker Jr.’s Dodge took the win in the Busch Series
at Pikes Peak; Robert Pressley, winner in the Craftsman Truck Series race held
in Michigan; the ARCA RE/MAX race in Pocono brings Casey Atwood a much needed
boost, and became a prelude to the final act where teammate, Bill Elliott, took
the lead from Sterling Marlin with 19 laps to go, to win in Sunday’s running
of the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway located in Long Pond, Pennsylvania.
Sterling Marlin led the most laps and looked like he would
stay the leader, but after a late race caution, Elliott managed to get by Marlin
on the outside, and from there just took off. Marlin lost second place as well
to Kurt Busch, but managed to hold on to bring it home third.
The races at Pocono always seem to drag on forever. Sunday’s
race was even longer as a result of a one hour delay to repair the back after a
horrific accident on lap one involving Rusty Wallace, Steve Park and Dale
Earnhardt Jr. Park had started to pass Wallace on the outside, however, Rusty
moved up at the same time, tagging the front end of Park. Park’s car made a
sharp left, with Earnhardt Jr. right there with no place to go. The entangled
cars slid through the grass with Park’s car slamming into the backstretch
guardrail, flipping and landing on its side. Dale Jr.’s compassion for his
fellow teammate was very evident as he rushed to the to Park’s car to make
sure Steve was all right. It was kind of neat to see them walking together to
the ambulance, the only concern was that Park was okay.
However, such aggressive driving on the first lap –
everyone anxious to make the move before they get all spread out? We hear Rusty
talking about being in position to win the championship, but this kind of sloppy
driving on lap one, just isn’t going to make it happen. As a result, Wallace
finished in 40th place and has now slipped to 8th place in
the points.
Following this accident, the race was red-flagged in order
to make the necessary repairs to the approximately 100 feet of guardrail that
had been torn up.
Then, twenty laps into the restart, the rains came causing
another two hour delay. The race was subsequently shortened by 25 laps due to
the onset of darkness; in all, this race took over six hours to get off. For
those of us watching from home, the good news was there was time to take a nap
while waiting for the restart. For everyone in attendance, it made for a very
long day; let alone the trials and tribulations of getting out of that track.
Most of the Chevy’s struggled. Jeff Gordon never even
got a call; barely heard his name mentioned throughout the day. The best
finisher was Kevin Harvick who wound up in 6th place; getting past
Tony Stewart in the last few laps to pick up that spot.
Stewart started off well and early on it looked like he
would be a contender. However, as the race progressed the car seemed to start
off well after a pit stop, but then would fade after a few laps. Toward the end,
it looked he was just hanging on to an ill-handling car.
Terry Labonte ran steady all day; finished 9th.
This team has had some decent finishes as of late; now they just need to start
finishing consistently in the top ten and ya never know, that elusive win may
just show up one of these days.
Other Notes:
This week I had a conversation with an "unnamed
source" that happened to have some involvement in the application of the
surface at NHIS. The second coat put down in June did not have enough time to
"cure." As a result, the top layer of crushed stone is what came up
and messed up the cars. According to this person, this second resurfacing was
made at the request of a manufacturer of equipment involved in the sport; not
NASCAR or the Bahre family. Does this sort of thing really happen? Are the
manufacturers way too involved in dictating the dynamics and thus taking away
more and more from the sport?
The Bahre family members are good people; trying to
continually make this track better for the obvious fan base in the area. The
decision to not do anything to the track before the September race is probably
the best one at this point; give it a chance to set up. The cars seemed to be
"banging" on each other more than usual, and the wider track has the
potential to make for more passing – hopefully, by September, it will be
working to the drivers’ advantage.
The ARCA RE/MAX series ran Saturday at Pocono Raceway –
Casey Atwood made his debut in this series and came up with the pole and the
win. The Dodge sponsored team made it hard for the "regulars" to
compete. The series number one and two in points both kept pace with Atwood,
until engine troubles caused both cars to fall back in the field. Kimmel, who
dropped a cylinder finished 13th while Blount, whose engine also went
sour, finished in 14th.
Deborah Renshaw, after all the troubles in Nashville,
finished respectably in 11th position after starting the race in a
back up car. The car apparently had some mechanical difficulties, but all in all
a solid finish for only her second attempt in this series.
This week the Winston Cup Series moves on to the Brickyard
400 in Indianapolis; by far the most famous race track in the world. Many
drivers feel that winning at Indy is an even bigger thrill than winning at
Daytona. It’s a place steeped in tradition and history, and it’s nice to
experience once as a fan. However, the sight line is minimal, and for me, this
is one track that was nice to visit, but I’d rather watch from the comfort of
my home where I can see a little more of what’s going on.
That’s it for now.