Newman finally wins one!
(a.k.a Junior loses points lead...)
What a great Father's Day treat that Michigan race was. Not only did the action on the track resemble racing for a change, but the right guy finally won (in my humble opinion). Career victory number 10 for the Rocket Man, and it came after he got into trouble early with a premature pit stop that left him a lap down for about half the race.
The real bummer of the day? My VCR didn't record the race! Thank God for Speed Channel.
Here's my Glenn's Ten recap. 6-for-10, not bad considering that at one point I had only two guys at the front:
* Jeff Gordon (winner) -- 38th, Jeff had the car to beat before engine failure on lap 88. In fact, he had led all but a half dozen laps up to that point. Still got the lap-leader bonus at the end of the day, but slips into a tie for sixth in points with his third sub-30th place finish in the past four races.
* Jimmie Johnson -- 4th, Did this without third gear. Car looked good otherwise.
* Ryan Newman -- 1st, Maybe this is the race Ryan needs to turn his season around. Coming in 10th in the standings and over 400 points behind put him in precarious position, but the win combined with Junior's awful day boosts him to ninth and back to *only* 361 out. (11 more races and that goes back to no more than 100...)
* Kurt Busch -- 11th, Damaged in an early crash but bounced back to finish well.
* Matt Kenseth -- 7th, Another good finish for Probation Boy.
* Bobby Labonte -- 8th, Was never really a factor, but benefited from the shuffle during and after the final caution.
* Tony Stewart -- 24th, Tony, Tony, Tony... He was doing so well until it got to crunch time and he got a little wobbly trying to past Greg Biffle. For Tony, it really was *crunch* time.
* Dale Jarrett -- 3rd, Great to see DJ leading laps again and contending for the win. It'll happen eventually.
* Rusty Wallace -- 22nd, Had transmission trouble after a strong start and ran mid-pack rest of the day.
* Kasey Kahne -- 2nd, No one knows how to be the bridesmaid better than this kid. A couple more laps under green and there would have been a different winner at Michigan. He recovered from going a lap down early and struggling with an ill-handling car to give Ryan Newman a run for the money. Last-lap caution flag spoiled another photo finish.
REST OF THE TOP 10:
* Elliott Sadler -- 5th, Should have known to pick Jarrett's teammate at MIS.
* Sterling Marlin -- 6th, Why pit under caution when you've got the lead with about 15 to go and maybe two guys who can beat you? Duh. Guess Sterling figured it was win or nothing. He settled for a worse finish than he deserved, in my opinion.
* Brian Vickers -- 9th, Another good finish for the rookie. Maybe these guys are starting to come around. Better pick it up on pit road, though -- 17 seconds under green doesn't get it done.
* Michael Waltrip -- 10th, Ran well and got a finish to match. But now that his contract issues with DEI are resolved he can go back to finishing in the 20s.
OTHER NOTABLES:
* Jeff Burton -- 13th, Very quietly starting to show signs of life. Won't be with Rousch after this fall.
* Kevin Harvick -- 17th, Probation hasn't changed his attitude much. He was blasting Chris Myers during the pre-race interview. Probation hasn't changed his rank in the finishing order much either.
* Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- 21st, Awwww. Would have had a top 10 if not for a flat tire on the last caution. I like the way the FOX boys qualified in their comments today that no one has given the championship to Little E yet ... as if we thought it was his. He's only 7 points behind Jimmie Johnson ... and just 173 ahead of Matt Kenseth...
* PJ Jones -- 25th, Had a good run today, crashing on the last lap. Road course ace will be at Sears Point next week. Can we still call him a road ringer since he's been running regularly the past couple of weeks?
Next week... A test that any future Nextel Cup champion should be required to pass: 110 laps on the undulations of Infineon Raceway.
