Junior feels the burn
Don't look now, Earnhardt Jr. fans, but your guy is fading down the stretch. Why, he's almost 200 points out of first, less than 400 points from being out of the top 10! Horrors! Oh yeah, this is the new gNA$hCAR, where you are allowed to be hundreds of points behind and still win a championship.
So, Junior had a bad day at New Hampshire, they didn't have to use the green-white-checker rule despite 12 cautions, Tony Stewart didn't wreck anyone, and the race was blessedly interesting. Here's how Glenn's Ten fared for the Siemens 300 (6-for-10, not bad):
* Jimmie Johnson (winner) -- 11th, He couldn't make it three in a row here. Chad Knauss admitted that he got the setup wrong. Still, 11th is not a disaster, and he emerged with a bigger lead than before the day began.
* Ryan Newman -- 3rd, 187 laps at the point wasn't enough to hold off Kurt Busch.
* Martin Truex/Dale Earnhardt Juniors -- 31st, Junior gets the attaboy for toughing out the first 60 laps with his burns and putting Truex in a position to have a good points day. Unfortunately, the car wasn't handling well and Truex couldn't keep it off the wall. He managed to keep it running till the finish, though.
* Kasey Kahne -- 8th, Solid day paid off with a top 10.
* Jeff Gordon -- 2nd, Looked like he was going to do a classic last-lap victory. Ascended steadily from his 24th-place start and pressured Busch several times for the lead, but couldn't quite get there.
* Tony Stewart -- 5th, Tony drives much better when he's in the eye of the storm.
* Ward Burton -- 29th, At least he finished on the lead lap.
* Greg Biffle -- 35th, Biffle burns me again! I'm through picking this guy!
* Matt Kenseth -- 4th, Got there the way he always does. Started deep in the field and clawed his way up to a good finish.
* Dale Jarrett -- 9th, It's getting fun to watch DJ again. He used some good pit strategy to gain about 16 spots and ran as high as second. And he goosed Rusty Wallace late in the race, putting the blue deuce in the wall. Still a longshot for the Chase.
THE REST OF THE TOP 10:
* Kurt Busch -- 1st, I completely discounted Kurt, starting so deep in the field (32nd). But Jimmy Fennig got the car dialed in and produced a trip to Victory Lane. This is the same car that loist a fan belt at Richmond while leading the race. Maybe Jimmy picked up a new fan belt from Rick's Automotive. (Now, let's go back to the dream about the clowns...)
* Michael Waltrip -- 6th, Another top 10 for Mikey. Ran second to Ryan Newman for the first half of the race.
* Jamie McMurray -- 7th, When I pick him he doesn't finish well, when I don't...
* Jeremy Mayfield -- 10th, Only got in because Rusty Wallace hit the wall.
OTHER NOTABLES:
* Jeff Burton -- 12th, 4-time New Hampshire winner had a solid day.
* Mark Martin -- 14th, Nice afternoon for the Rouschies.
* Bobby Hamilton Jr. -- 19th, Good finish running in crappy equipment. Like to see what he can do in the good stuff.
* Casey Mears -- 26th, My dark horse stayed in the dark.
* Ricky Craven -- 38th, Crashed twice at his home track. His days with Cal Wells can't end too soon.
Next week... Back to Pocono, where maybe we can run more than half the race under green this time.
