Sofa Sideline – The Bristol Stomp
Kurt Busch gets his first Winston Cup win on the half mile
track at Bristol Motor Speedway!
From where I was sitting, Busch had the best car, drove a
great race and was the man to beat. With less than 40 laps to go Busch retook
the lead from Jimmy Spencer after giving him a little "rap" in the
rear, and from then on there was no catching him. Congratulations go out to Kurt
on a job well done!
Jimmy Spencer finished in second place but not without his
"whining" about how he got hit, and how he won’t forget. Tell me
Jimmy – if this had not been a young 23-year old sophomore driver in the
series, would you even be speaking up? And isn’t that part of short-track
tracing? The "bumping and banging" thing is part of the experience. In
other words, quit your complaining, as it was nothing you wouldn’t have done
under the same circumstances now, eh? You lost the race, and if you had been
able to catch him, you’d have hit him back and tried to take him out.
Winding up in third place was Ricky Rudd who started from the
20th position. Rudd finally had a decent run, and basically just made smart pit
stops, while staying out of trouble, and had a good run for the Yates team.
Unfortunately his partner, Dale Jarrett continued to struggle; 29th
for the day.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 4th after leading the
race for a total of 181 laps. After a caution on lap 404, Junior opted for new
tires, and never was able to regain the lead. Both he and Bobby Labonte may very
well have caught Ricky Rudd had it not been for the lap car of Robby Gordon
trying to race with them, with a little over ten laps to go.
After the race was over Junior tapped Gordon as if to say
"what the heck," but then Mr. Robby pulled one of his little stunts,
after the race was over by running into Junior’s car on pit road. Gordon
complained that Earnhardt had turned him sideways earlier in the race.
Dale Jr. summed it up in these words; "Damn, (Gordon)
racing the leaders with about ten to go. That’s why it takes three or four
times for him to get into the Winston Cup. He was a moving chicane the whole
race, he wouldn’t move!"
And, of course, Gordon getting black-flagged for jumping the
gun at the beginning of the race was Jeff Gordon’s fault – he supposedly
pulled him off. Ummm, the last I knew the pole-sitter brings the field down for
the green.
That pretty much says it all, and I’m just wondering if
Richard Childress is listening. Otherwise, he’d better have pretty deep
pockets, as this guy is just not getting any better.
Tony Stewart’s injury from last week finally got to him,
and he and Todd Bodine "swapped" places on lap 366. At one point
Stewart was leading the race, but after dropping a few positions, the soreness
overcame him, and while running third, Stewart spun out alone on turn two. It
was at that point he decided to make the change. This team managed to keep the
car on the lead lap, and after coming out in 21st position, Bodine
was able to bring it home with a 15th place finish.
Congratulations go out to Bobby Labonte for hitting the 300
mark and for taking home the prize money for the 5th position after
starting 32nd. This was Labonte’s best finish ever at Bristol Motor
Speedway.
Sterling Marlin had some problems during the race. On lap 131
Marlin tried to pass Johnny Benson, but Benson came down and Marlin spun. Damage
was minimal and Marlin opted not to pit, but that was not the end of his
troubles. On lap 308 Marlin attempted to pass Mark Martin, but he cut down a
tire and lost two laps. He was able to make up one lap and finished in 19th
place. The car was running well; he just ran up against regular Bristol racing.
Marlin still holds a 99 point lead over Matt Kenseth in the race for the
championship.
Rusty Wallace moved into third place in the point’s race,
as a result of finishing 9th in the race. But, there’s something missing. That
"spark" that used to be there hasn’t shown up yet, and yesterday we
never saw him in contention for the lead. That’s just not the norm, especially
at Bristol, and we’d like to see him get back in "winning" form
soon.
Rookie report – after crashing early in practice, Jimmie
Johnson managed to pull out a 7th place finish. Ryan Newman was not
so lucky. After getting tangled up with Tony Stewart early in the race, Newman
wound up with a 37th place finish.
One almost has to feel sorry for Jeff Gordon. On lap 158, he
basically just lost it in turn two while trying to catch the leader, slamming
into the wall, and losing two laps. He has now gone a total of 14 races without
a top five finish. It was a shame, as the car was good and Gordon said he just
lost control.
One last note on Sunday’s race – congratulations go out
to Kyle Petty for his 12th place finish. It looks like this team (at
least part of it) is finally getting back on track! Okay Andretti – your turn
now!
Other notes:
Biffle – Harvick are at it again! During Saturday’s Busch
Series race, we saw the re-emergence of the "feud" from last year.
While jockeying for the same position, Biffle hit Harvick in the rear end,
causing Harvick to hit the wall hard and basically demolishing his race car.
Harvick was waiting for Biffle at race end, and "leaped" the car to
get to him. All "heck" broke loose for a few minutes as the two got in
each other’s face about the incident. As a result, Harvick more than likely
faces a heavy fine and disciplinary action from NASCAR.
Next season, with these two, once again, competing in the
same division, it should prove interesting!
Steve Park – didn’t look good, spun out a couple of
times, and the word is DEI is planning to reassess the situation as to whether
or not he came back too early. We may see Kenny Wallace back in that ride for
the upcoming Texas race.
Michael Waltrip – also had a tough day. It may be time to
reassess there as well.
Fan notes:
I always have a good time when I meander about, just being a
regular fan, and this race was no exception. I met a couple from Michigan who
were so excited to be there – it was there first ever venture to a Winston Cup
race. They were big Junior and Kenseth fans, and were buying all the
"stuff" and just having a grand ‘ole time. We were joined at the
picnic table under the grandstands by three guys from Ohio who had come down for
the race. They were all wearing Dale Earnhardt jackets and hats, and it’s
always fun to sit and banter about the drivers with people from other parts of
the country. I hope everyone had a good time!
Another good thing to note (at least for me personally), is
the fact that there seems to be a lot less drinking going on in the stands. Now
I’m not going to say that no one is getting drunk – I’m not entirely
crazy, but I just seem to be running into more and more people who are there to
actually watch the race and not get ‘fallen down’ drunk, and become
obnoxious.
It’s refreshing…
A break this week for the Easter Holiday, and then it’s off
to Texas!
That’s it for now.