Sofa Sideline: Kenseth Up to Three Now
For the third time this year, Matt Kenseth was able to bring it home to pick
up the win Sunday in the Sirius Satellite Radio 400 at Michigan International
Speedway. A late race caution; red-flagged with five laps to go, ensured a
somewhat dicey finish, but Kenseth, on old tires, held on for the win.
Kenseth had taken the lead from Jimmie Johnson on lap 189 and had built up
almost a 5 second lead, but a spin-out by Elliott Sadler brought out the red
flag. The restart saw Dale Jarrett, on fresh tires, charge to the front to
overtake Newman for the second place position, but not able to make the pass on
Kenseth.
In that final three lap shootout, Jimmie Johnson faded to 14th place. He had
been down a lap earlier in the race, but a miscommunication between Jarrett and
his spotter, gave Johnson the opportunity to get his lap back. No wonder Gordon
was upset when Jarrett didn’t do the same for him.
Rounding out the top ten were; Ryan Newman 3rd; Michael Waltrip 4th, Jeff
Gordon 5th, Johnny Benson 6th, Rusty Wallace 7th, Ricky Rudd 8th, Mark Martin
9th, and Kurt Busch in 10th.
This race was typical for Michigan. The cars get fairly spread out, and those
of us watching at home get a little bored. As a result, NASCAR officials seem
quick to throw the caution, i.e. Andretti’s scrape with the wall, brought out
the yellow, and the cars were able to bunch up again for a few laps anyway.
Another caution for "debris" (soda can); lap 115, gotta do something –
only 11 cars on the lead lap with 85 laps to go.
The third caution came on lap 138 when Ward Burton blew an engine. Again, it
produced a little more excitement. However, there were so few cars left on the
lead lap, it didn’t much matter at that point.
The red flag with five laps to go; still seems arbitrary. One track it comes
out, the next, it doesn’t. In my opinion, I think there should be a
"rule" that is followed; things might not seem so
"orchestrated" as they appear to be at times. It kind of makes you
wonder who really was supposed to be in the mix; maybe Bill Elliott???
The new rules for the Pontiacs didn’t help much. Johnny Benson fared
reasonably well ending up sixth, but still never was a serious threat for the
win. Stewart, Labonte, and Schrader had a terrible day, never showing anything.
Amateur analysis says the problem is still the tires and the lack of balance and
grip.
Other Notes:
Silly season – ahh, the rumors are running rampant! Let’s see; I’ve heard
"stuff" about Nadeau, Benson, Schrader, Andretti, Grissom, Park,
Waltrip. Let’s not forget Rudd and Sadler; also drivers moving on from other
series, such as ARCA. Then there are the stories about DEI, the Childress,
Harvick and R. Gordon situation. Is Childress going to buy DEI? (Best guess on
that one, probably not.) Then we have the manufacturers; Penske to Dodge, Gibbs
to something beside Pontiac, and then what will Pontiac do?
Its way too early for this stuff – such a distraction; geez, right now we
just want to see some good, honest racing.
ARCA RE/MAX Series:
I received a post-race phone call with the recap of events from my friend,
Michael Vergers, who raced probably his final ARCA Series race this past
Saturday at Michigan. He’s been running this series in a Bob Schacht owned car
to gain experience on "ovals" as he put it. His background is fairly
extensive in Europe; mostly on road courses. Vergers finished in fifth place,
but after watching the race on Speed Channel last night, I had the opportunity
to see how well he had actually run. The car had problems at the beginning of
the race, a plug wire not attached. After the first caution, Michael started at
the tail end of the lead lap (26th) and had worked his way up to third position
with somewhere around 35 laps to go; sticking with both the leaders, Chad Blount
and Damon Lusk. Vergers pitted for gas with 16 laps to go; the caution came out
with 14 left. Blount and Lusk were able to put new tires on and they couldn’t be
beat.
Tough luck for Michael, but it was great to see Blount pick up his first win.
He is only 22 years old and it appears the future will hold even greater things
for him. Congratulations Chad!
Frank Kimmel had engine trouble, which we don’t often see. This seemed to be
the most competitive race so far this year for the ARCA RE/MAX series; these
"young guns" might actually give Frank a run for his money this year!
The Winston Cup Series is off to Sonoma next week – first of two road course
events in 2002. I was in town (SF) briefly a week ago, had an opportunity to see
some of the new renovations put in place out at the track. From what I saw, it’s
looking great; the new grandstands definitely give fans a better view. There are
many who complain about the road course; but after experiencing firsthand last
season, I liked it, had a great time.
That’s it for now.