(Apologies for late posting - could not get thru to my server on Monday.. - Mr N.)
Before we begin this week's report, let's pause and think about the tragic incident at Charlotte on Saturday night. From [email protected]:
"Three spectators were killed and at least eight injured when struck by debris that flew into the stands after a three-car crash in the VisionAire 500 Indy Racing League event Saturday night. Spectators sitting in the area where the crash occurred said a tire and suspension parts flew into the fourth-turn grandstands at Lowe's Motor Speedway and struck the spectators.
"This is a terrible thing," said speedway president H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler, who went into the stands where the debris landed and tried to comfort some of the spectators. "It's very regrettable. It's something we'll live with for a very, very long time."
I was watching the race, and wondering why, in what seemed a relatively routine incident, it was taking so long to clean up. One look at Humpy's face, when he announced the shutting down of the race, said it all... Our prayers are with the victims and their families...
Now back to today's race - and on a much less sombre note...
A Plague on Buffalo! A double plague on Channel 7 (ABC/WKBW)!! What is it about that moronic little hamlet across the lake?? Why haven't they seen the light, and begun to give NASCAR the recognition it gets everywhere else in North America?? 'KB, in particular, seems to have a downright aversion to auto racin', especially NASCAR, invariably replacing the ABC feed with even more of the tawdry infommercials that are such a staple of the Northwestern New York state entertainment scene. Now, I don't know if this is the station's read on the preferences of the good folks of Buffalo, or some irrational dislike of auto racin' on the part of those in charge of "content" at 'KB - but c'mon people, get with the times!
As you can likely guess, 'KB had managed to mess me up... I'd promised to go out to help with a local model car show Sunday afternoon, so after consultin' the TV listings, saw Buffalo was broadcasting the race at 2:00. (I always believe what I read in TV listings - it's the only Truth Out There in media...)
Cool - set the tape - help out a bit at the contest, come back in at about 3:00 - to see some World Vision thingie from somewhere or other... not the promised NASCAR... dang!!! I KNEW I shoulda gone with Rochester!!!!
So, you'll find this report a tad truncated at the front end, now that I've gotten thru this rant... I picked up the race from Rochester as soon as I realized I'd been fooled again....
The following is from Mike at the StockCarFans electronic newsletter, to set the stage for the race before I rejoined:
Songs have been written, and natives also claim that "It Never Rains in Southern California". I think they need to re-write their songs and re-think their claims. Both Winston Cup and Busch Grand national qualifying and practice sessions were washed out on Friday. Both series' had their starting line-ups determined by owner's points standings and postmarks. The top 35 starting positions are based on the 1999 car owners points standings, with positions 36-43 based on the dates of the postmarks for race entries for the race."
And from Henry Dubret's RAMBLINGS (also from StockCarFans electronic newsletter)
"We had to do the old "points & postmarks" shuffle this weekend, and there were 4 teams that were bound to come out on the short end of that dance. Proving once again how important those points are the teams that went home were Boris Said (#14), Hut Stricklin (#90), Buckshot Jones (#00), and Butch Gilliland (#38). If the starting grid looks conspicuously like the Top-43 in the Owner's Point list, it's because it is. I would assume that the entry forms for the cars in positions 36-43 all came in on the same day and the tie-breaker is Owner points. NASCAR really didn't have much they could do. Once they were unable to get any practice in yesterday for the Cup cars, and with the schedule as tight as it was already, there wasn't any time for practice and qualifying today. Had they been able to get an hour or so in late yesterday, we may have seen one round of qualifying this morning."
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But on with the race - the starting lineup, based on the above, for the top twelve was Jeff Burton, Jarrett, Martin, Bobby Labonte, Gordon, Rusty Wallace, Stewart, Terry Labonte, Earnhardt, Skinner, Ward Burton, and Andretti. (Kenny Schrader snuck in in 13th, just for the record...)
It was obvious there would be no one high in the Points Chase buried back in the pack who would need to make a dramatic charge thru the field, to stay in the hunt - the default system put them where they needed to be... Mayfield and Mike Waltrip, in 14th and 15th, had potential to get up there and mix it up, Irwin and Irvan were side-by-side in row 13 - that's always fraught with portent... but overall, it looked like a tame lineup.
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At some point after this, and before I joined in to watch, around lap 100, it appears that Derricke Cope, in one of his few appearances, musta lost it in whichever iteration of the 30 car he was in, and went out of the race - probably not mechanical, but an accident, as there had to have been a caution... I saw only the last three yellows.. (Jeez - I shoulda been a detective - Hercule Poirot woulda been dazzled by my logic!) Tough break for Derricke, but, hey! at least he made the race this week!
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| The Derby... He's a Kentucky lad... |
Green flag stops began for the leaders around lap 125 or so. One of the first in was Jarrett, followed by Jeff Burton, Mayfield and others, who had to go down a lap to Gordon, and other leaders who had not yet pitted. Finally Gordon hit pit road. This put Martin into the lead.
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Anyhoo, once things had sorted out, you had the four tailenders, then Gordon - the race leader, Martin, and Bobby Labonte, when the green flew on lap 138.
Gordon seemed slow off the mark, allowing the tailenders to get well out front, and Jeff was passed by Labonte and Martin.
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| did a favour for several drivers... |
This produced caution number four, and allowed the Burton's, Jarrett, and Mayfield to scurry around the track, and line up behind the race leaders for the green. Only fly was in Jarrett's ointment, who, bein' the last one on the lead lap, decided to duck in for a splash 'n tires. Only problem was, pit road was closed, and altho he did not stop, he was assessed a go-to-the-back-of-the-longest-line penalty - a pain, makin' you fight more lapped traffic...
The green flew once more on lap 146, with Gordon, Martin, Terry Labonte, Skinner, and Stewart leadin' them over the line as top five. Following them were the rest of the twelve cars still on the lead lap - Bobby Labonte, Dallenbach, Jeff Burton, Geoffrey Bodine, Ward Burton, Mayfield, and Jarrett. Nemechek's little contretemps was HUGE in benefit for those latter drivers!
Stewart had a moment, as his car went high, lookin' for a wall to bite, but Tony reined 'er in, altho he did drop to 11th place in the process... but it was a nice save...
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All the lead lap cars pitted, with all but Terry Labonte takin' four tires. (Couldn't figger out why he didn't take two - still woulda given him position...) Labonte took none, in an effort to gain track position. This would be informative later for him and the other teams on the next stops...
When the green flew, on lap 160, Terry, thanks to his zero-tire strategy, led the field, with Mayfield, Ward Burton (maybe two tires?), Martin, Gordon, Skinner, Bobby Labonte, Jeff Burton, Dallenbach and Geoffrey Bodine comprising the rest of the lead lap cars. The ever-interestin' Dale Earnhardt was in thirteenth, so was lined up beside Terry Labonte on the restart.
We immediately saw Earnhardt pass Labonte to get back on the lead lap, then Mayfield, and Ward Burton quickly relegated Labonte to third, with Martin and Gordon all over him. Forget two tires! Mayfield now had a moment of his own, doing a lurid fishtail, but stayin' off the wall, finally gatherin' it up, around eighth place or so. This gave Ward Burton the lead. (Note: this guy is killin' me - I chose Benson over him in a pool at work...)
Around lap 166, Gordon had worked up to challenge Burton for the lead, as they ran side-by-side, Earnhardt put some distance out front, prayin', no doubt, for a caution - preferably not involving him - so he could get back in the hunt.
Didn't happen. On lap 170 or so (we were in commercial), Gordon, havin' disposed of Ward Burton, put Dale (and Rusty, who had been just behind Earnhardt) back down a lap. Over the next several laps, Gordon stretched out his lead, while Martin and Burton worked their way forward. Meantime, Terry Labonte was fadin' and Skinner had developed a vibration, and was falling back. Thus, on lap 189, twelve cars were still on the lead lap, with Gordon dominating, two seconds in front of Martin, who was a second out on Bobby Labonte, On his tail, in fourth, was Jeff Burton, then brother Ward, with Stewart, Dallenbach, Jarrett, Terry Labonte Skinner and Bodine rounding out the lead lap cars. Thirteenth and fourteenth, a lap down, were Rusty Wallace and Earnhardt.
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No caution, as he got out of the groove quickly, and wheeled the VALVOLINE Machine right to the garage.
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Thus, once all the stops had cycled thru, Gordon found hisself five seconds out front with Bobby Labonte second, and Burton third.
Jeff Burton had his moment when Spencer blew up, oilin' part of the track Burton planned to use... Jeff had to get out of the throttle to gather the car back up, losing three or four seconds in the process, but keeping third place, such was the spread on the field by this time.
Lap 217 saw Gordon well out in front, chased by Bobby Labonte, Jeff Burton, Stewart, Ward Burton, Jarrett, Mayfield, Terry labonte, Dallenbach and Skinner on the lead lap. Poor Geoffrey Bodine had had to park with a blown engine a few laps earlier. Rusty Wallace and Earnhardt continued to lead the down-a-lappers, in 11th and 12th respectively.
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| says Brooke... |
Some impressive stats were thrown out on Tony Stewart towards the end of the race: he is currently on track for a stronger rookie year than Gordon had. After nine races, he is 7th in points, while Gordon was eleventh. Their backgrounds are similar, and Gibbs is in about the same place Hendrick was back in '93... could Tony be the key to make Joe into the next Rick Hendrick, as a dominating team owner? The sports does keep evolving - look at the fade Childress Racing is doing these days... should be interestin' over the next couple seasons...
So, with next week being Mothers' Day and all, the boys don't go out and play, gettin' a much-needed weekend off. Comin' up, in two weeks' time - a night race from Richmond. The Pontiac Excitement 400!!
See y'all there... From My
Couch!!
"Mr. NASCAR" |