Sofa Sideline – Kenseth, What is it Five Now?
Calling the two-tire pit stop is what did the trick – that and the fact that the early race leader, Dale Earnhardt, ran out of gas and never made it back to the front. Earnhardt finished in fifth place. Matt Kenseth picks up his fifth win for the season; more than anyone else. Phoenix is Kenseth’s kind of track if there is such a thing; most tracks these days appear to be to his liking. Being eighth in the standings has to mean there were some instances where the finishes just haven’t been all that good, but right at the moment, they just don’t come to mind.
Just keep shaking your head saying – where did those Roush cars come from? Mark Martin, second in points, I’ll have to eat crow on that one.
Okay the kinder, gentler Tony Stewart was evident during the post-race interview. He actually stood there and told the world the car was good all day. The TV commentators kept telling us that the number 20 had handling problems, yet Stewart never said a word about it. I guess Stewart’s not too polite prose following Rockingham caught up with him, and apparently he was trying to "manage his anger" after this one. Realizing that an eighth place finish is not all that bad and just moving on is the ticket.
So they’re off to Homestead (yawn), and one cannot see Tony losing this championship. Going into the race he’s 89 points ahead, and the word is that all he has to do is finish 22nd or better and he cinches the title.
The points race – what can you say. When Ryan Newman has a so-so finish and slips from third to seventh, then you know the race is tight. There are just nine points separating third through eighth, with Ryan just 23 points behind Kurt Busch who moved into third place.
The rookie points race; it’s a tough one to call, but still have to go with Ryan Newman. The second half of the season for this young driver has been nothing less than stellar, and with all those top tens and poles, he more than likely will come out on top of the heap. Discretionary points given out by the five member panel comprised of NASCAR officials and the Winston Cup Champion are based on such things as interaction with fellow competitors, NASCAR officials and members of the media. Normally Jeff Gordon would have been part of the mix, but for obvious reasons, he will not be part of the panel, and is being replaced by Bobby Labonte. Since both Johnson and Newman fare about the same in each of those categories; the outcome should be based on performance; Newman’s the winner in my book.
Rusty Wallace finished second. He’s pushing hard to not lose that sixteen season winning streak, but with one race to go, chances are more that it won’t happen, rather than it will. But the race is sponsored by Ford, and maybe it’ll be like last year when the race was sponsored by Dodge; a Dodge won. Maybe a Ford will win this time. Tony is looking for the win at a track where he should have picked up the win last year, so the best bet still may be on that number 20 to pick up the win and pick up the championship.
From where I sat, it sure looked like Robby Gordon just booted Scott Wimmer to take him out of the race. The questions was whether or not Wimmer gave him room, or did he come down on Gordon, but from the replay it looked as though Gordon just got into Wimmer, and turned him causing Wimmer to hit the wall.
And Christian Fittipaldi – what was that hit by Jason Leffler? It looked like Leffler just rammed the 44 sending him spinning into the wall.
Other Notes:
I’ve read all the complaints regarding Mark Martin’s fine, and that there is a possibility that Roush may appeal NASCAR’s decision. In my book, it’s fairly simple. When you get caught trying to bend the rules, you pay the price. The car was illegal, period. Aren’t we forgetting an earlier incident this year when the #6 was found illegal after winning the Coca-Cola 600; a $50,000 fine imposed against the crew chief? I guess in this case, it was two strikes you’re out.
Everyone’s talking about poor Jimmy Spencer and how hard it must be for him to be losing his ride. But the fact remains, he’s shown really nothing this season, well basically that’s been the case throughout most of his Winston Cup career. I guess we’re supposed to like him because he’s from the old school and speaks what’s on his mind. He is entertaining, there’s no doubt, but having a lot of sympathy when he has not been able to perform coming out of one of the hottest teams on the circuit, nope, not there.
The speculation continues as to who is going to pick up that ride, with names like Bobby Hamilton, Casey Mears, Scott Riggs and Scott Pruett (yup, you heard right) it’s anyone’s guess who will land the job at this point.
This one’s been bugging me. I read an article some time last week about the reasons why Winston Cup races should not be moved to Saturday nights. There were two arguments presented, one (totally ludicrous) was based around the notion that this would be inconvenient to the media; that being rushed with their deadline on Saturday night, well we might not see their best reporting. Okay, so moving on to the second argument – it hurts the local Saturday night racing events.
Call me crazy, but I just don’t see it. I guess I’m just thinking about this from a personal experience standpoint, and I’ll concede to any legitimate argument based on statistics, etc., but from my many years of being a "fan" and making trips to races, I generally was traveling either Friday or Saturday to get to my destination and as a consequence would not be partaking of any Saturday night racing anyway.
And the other thing I keep thinking about is that in any location where the conflict does present itself; why not switch the local track’s racing event to Sunday afternoon – sort of a role reversal.
Just a thought…
That’s it for now.