gNA$hCAR Notes
Backflips in Atlanta
Don't know what it is about Atlanta that produces such exciting finishes. This one was reminiscent of the spring 2001 race where Kevin Harvick got his first Cup win by edging out a hard-charging Jeff Gordon. This time the scenario was a little different, with Carl Edwards coming from behind to edge Jimmie Johnson at the checkers and take his first career victory. I will say that Edwards' backflip was at least as good as Harvick's burnout that day.
Other than that, this race sucked eggs as far as my predictions went, thanks to a first lap crash that scattered the field and took a couple of my picks in the process. It only got worse from there
GLENN'S TEN (4-for-10. Pffft!):
* Tony Stewart (winner) -- 17th, The Home Depot Chevy never got it right, despite repeated trips to pit road to make changes. The car was good on the short run, but was only saved from being lapped by timely cautions.
* Jimmie Johnson -- 2nd, Looked like he had this one in the bag, but Edwards was determined. He spent most of the race running door-to-door with Greg Biffle. His ninth top five in the last 10 races. Back in the points lead, despite being docked 25 points after last week's win for a car that didn't meet height specs.
* Jeff Gordon -- 39th, Jeff paid the price for his poor qualifying run, getting swept up in the lap 1 crash caused when Casey Mears found his way against the wall. Jeff got back out on the track 75 laps down. Second straight disastrous Atlanta finish.
* Ryan Newman -- 14th, Same story, different weekend. Ryan qualified on the pole but slipped back quickly. He got a lap down and spent many laps trying to get un-lapped. Finally managed to do that with about 40 to go. Up to 6th in points.
* Carl Edwards -- 1st, This kid's the real deal. The charge for the win over the final 10 laps or so was just classic Atlanta racing. It looked like he'd burned the tires off after running down Johnson once only to slide up near the wall coming through the turns. He cooled down the tires and made one last run that got the job done, making contact with the #48 to slow his momentum before the scoring stripe. I'll give the backflip a 6 out of 10, but for the victory I'll give him a 10. It doesn't get much sweeter.
* Greg Biffle -- 3rd, Turned in consistently awesome pit stops to pace the field most of the day, but got beaten out on the last one by Johnson. He didn't have his best stuff in the final green sequence. Still, another solid run by the Roush camp.
* Brian Vickers -- 6th, I feel somewhat vindicated by this correct pick. Vickers sank into the 20s early in the race, but the car got better as the laps progressed. The #25 always seems to do well at Atlanta no matter who is driving it.
* Kurt Busch -- 32nd, Ugh! Suffered some damage in the opening lap fracas. Got that repaired and stayed on the lead lap, and looked strong until he cut a tire that blew apart the right rear quarter panel. Had to spend some time behind the wall.
* Kevin Harvick -- 21st, Got caught a lap down and never recovered.
* Bobby Labonte -- 37th, Another casualty of the race opening crash. Not a good day for Joe Gibbs cars.
THE REST OF THE TOP 10:
* Mark Martin -- 4th, Knew I should have picked him. The car ran in the top 5 much of the day.
* Kasey Kahne -- 5th, He has a knack for Atlanta. I missed the fact he had two previous top 5's here.
* Michael Waltrip -- 7th, Awesome finish by a team that desperately needed one.
* Dave Blaney -- 8th, Blaney also has a good history at this track. Best finish by him in a while.
* Scott Riggs -- 9th, I continue to overlook the fact that he is much improved from the first half of last season.
* Elliott Sadler -- 10th, Quietly made his way into the show with good pit stops.
OTHER NOTABLES:
* Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- 24th, The crew chief swap thing hasn't helped Little E so far. He's struggled three races in a row, and this one at a track he one on a year ago. The car started deep in the field and stayed there. Only reason he finished this high was attrition.
* Jason Leffler -- 25th, FedEx isn't gonna tolerate this too long. At least the UPS-sponsored entry is stinking up the joint as well. I think they all better start racing their delivery trucks.
* Matt Kenseth -- 31st, Two years ago at this time he was the championship leader. Right now he's nearing the cut for not making the Chase.
* Ricky Rudd -- 33rd, If not for losing his brakes late in the race this might have been a car to contend with. Fatback McSwain is going to make an impact on this team at some point this season, but first they've got to overcome the mechanical issues. Rudd was as high as 4th.
Next week... No race on account of Easter. (Phew!) Bristol is coming up in two weeks.
Week 4 -- Atlanta
Ryan Newman won another pole on Friday. Ho-hum. That makes 29 for his career, and five straight at Atlanta, where he has yet to win. I'd like to think his luck is about to change, but I'm not quite sure what to make of the Rocket Man so far this season. He looks hot in qualifying and shows good stuff early, but then something seems to go wrong and he can't finish strong. At least so far this year he hasn't been burned by the disastrous sub-40th finishes that killed his title chances the past couple of seasons.
Atlanta is a fast and usually fun race. I'm ready to pick my winners...
GLENN'S TEN:
* Tony Stewart -- Tony might seem an unlikely pick, given his struggles last week, but this is a track where the Gibbs cars seem to do well, and Tony's starting 9th. He was runner-up in Saturday's Busch race.
REST OF THE TOP 10 (in no particular order):
* Jimmie Johnson -- Coming off the big win at Las Vegas. Another top-five seems highly likely.
* Jeff Gordon -- Knows this track well. Starts 25th, but he'll get the ship righted pretty quickly.
* Ryan Newman -- Winning the pole hasn't helped him win at this track in four previous, where most of those finishes were mid-pack. Look for him to crack the top 10 this time, if not as the winner.
* Carl Edwards -- Saturday's Busch race winner. That's gotta be a confidence booster.
* Greg Biffle -- The guy is running well. Starts sixth Sunday.
* Brian Vickers -- It's the #25 magic at Atlanta. I know I've said that before and Vickers proved me wrong, but this is a new season.
* Kurt Busch -- Defending champ will find a way to be up front when it matters.
* Kevin Harvick -- Qualified (if we can call it that) a disappointing 36th, so perhaps I'm being too optimistic. But given that this is the site of his first career victory four years ago, maybe that will give him extra incentive.
* Bobby Labonte -- Bobby used to own this track. The way he's been running the past year it might be unrealistic to expect a win, but he might make the top 10.
AND WHAT ABOUT... Kasey Kahne? (Doesn't seem to be catching the breaks, but we've seen some breakdowns.)... Mark Martin? (Might just surprise us all.)... Matt Kenseth? (This isn't looking like his year so far.)... Dale Earnhardt Jr.? (Last year's winner sucked eggs with a 35th-place start. He won't finish that low, but will he make the show? This race could tell us a lot about the rest of his season.)
Vegas recap
I'm beginning to think that we've reached a point in this sport where the two or three dominant teams are becoming more dominant while the also-rans are rapidly becoming more also-ranish. If you could take the Roush drivers and the Hendrick drivers and put them all in their own league (and probably DEI too), what would you have left?
I only ask this because look who paved the way at LVMS most of today. If it wasn't Greg Biffle or Kurt Busch, it was Jimmie Johnson (and Ryan Newman, but we'll get to that later).
Overall this was an interesting race, with a couple of good storylines taking place with the Busch brothers battling for bragging rights, and Kevin Harvick's penalty-laced weekend.
GLENN'S TEN (6-for-10):
* Kurt Busch (winner) -- 3rd, He had one of the cars to beat, but in the end he was no match for Jimmie Johnson or his younger brother, Kyle. Getting sent to the end of the line for a pit violation late in the race didn't help matters.
* Matt Kenseth -- 8th, It's hard to believe that Kenseth was two laps down at one point. He developed a tire rub and the call was made to take four tires instead of the two he wanted. That put him deep in the hole, but he was able to make up both laps -- both of them earned by outracing the leader. He used his crackerjack pit crew to gain track position late in the race.
* Mark Martin -- 30th, Mark dropped a cylinder and was in the garage for a time for repairs. He never thought he had a car capable of winning.
* Greg Biffle -- 6th, This race looked a lot like Fontana two weeks ago when Biffle surged to the front. But he couldn't stay there. His strong car faded a bit in the closing laps. But still, nothing to be ashamed of here.
* Carl Edwards -- 14th, Rousch drivers didn't dominate here as they have in the past. Edwards had a decent race, but he got roughed up during a wreck not of his making. They got the dents banged out well enough that he got a good finish. He's in the top 10 in points currently.
* Jimmie Johnson -- 1st, The only spinning through the grass JJ did on Sunday was the doughnuts he made during his victory celebration. The Lowe's team clearly has something to prove and are showing why they are the class of the field with races like this one. Johnson hung around the top 10 all day, but while the competition started to show signs of fatigue late in the race, his car just kept getting better and better. No one was going to catch him at the end, even though Kyle Busch gave it a good effort.
* Jeff Gordon -- 4th, Jeff hurt his chances with pathetic pit times and some bad luck on the track. Every time he seemed poised to sneak up to the lead, there was a caution and a bad pit stop. Then there was the door-to-door duel with Ryan Newman that led to some bumper tag between the two. Ryan had to check up when he got bumped out of the groove and Jeff had to slow up too. They both lost three spots from which they never recovered fully. Otherwise, Gordon probably had at least a second-place car.
* Kasey Kahne -- 38th, Kasey was mediocre most of the day, and that was before he backed into the wall. The poor finish comes on the heels of 40th at Fontana. Nothing like last year's phenomenal start to his season.
* Kevin Harvick -- 5th, Trouble just seemed to find him on Sunday. He worked his way up from his 42nd-place starting spot, but then was penalized for speeding on pit road late in the race and had to restart something like 26th. The car was definitely good, but it's hard to be competitive when you lose that much track position.
* Jamie McMurray -- 15th, Yawn. Never ran very far toward the front. This is about all he was worth all day.
REST OF THE TOP 10:
* Kyle Busch -- 2nd, Awesome run for this rookie. It probably didn't hurt that he wanted to beat his older brother at their home track. I didn't pick him because I'm not convinved the #5 team is ready for prime time yet. But give it time. Best finish for anyone in this car since Terry Labonte won Darlington in September 2003.
* Casey Mears -- 7th, Whoever came up with the puke purple and pink Energizer paint scheme on this car ought to be forced to sit through an hour of DEI Vegas highlight films. Best of the Gnassi teammates just seems to like to finish 7th.
* Tony Stewart -- 9th, Knew I shouldn't have counted him out. The #20 team made a lot of tweaks to the car after a mediocre qualifying and practice series. Tony charged forward early, but he could never quite get over the hump, and was racing in the teens most of the day.
* Ryan Newman -- 10th, Barely hung on for a spot in the show afte being a dominant car much of the day. The laps he led came late in the race, but his brush-up with Gordon wasn't what he needed. The handling went away after that, and he was doing the rapid fade in the waning laps. At least he's into the top 10 after three races.
OTHER NOTABLES:
* Joe Nemecheck -- 19th, Hendrick power got him as high as second late in the race. What the heck was he doing back here at the finish?
* Michael Waltrip -- 21st, At least he finished for the first time this season, which is better than we can say for...
* Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- 42nd, What a fast exit! Lap 16 found him out of position as Brian Vickers worked the line above him, and the result was that Junior clipped Vickers and wrecked the two of them along with Bobby Labonte and Ricky Rudd. Even Junior admitted the error. As I said, Atlanta next week can't come soon enough.
Next week... Junior hopes to turn his luck around at the track where he won a year ago, Atlanta.
Vegas recap
I'm beginning to think that we've reached a point in this sport where the two or three dominant teams are becoming more dominant while the also-rans are rapidly becoming more also-ranish. If you could take the Roush drivers and the Hendrick drivers and put them all in their own league (and probably DEI too), what would you have left?
I only ask this because look who paved the way at LVMS most of today. If it wasn't Greg Biffle or Kurt Busch, it was Jimmie Johnson (and Ryan Newman, but we'll get to that later).
Overall this was an interesting race, with a couple of good storylines taking place with the Busch brothers battling for bragging rights, and Kevin Harvick's penalty-laced weekend.
GLENN'S TEN (6-for-10):
* Kurt Busch (winner) -- 3rd, He had one of the cars to beat, but in the end he was no match for Jimmie Johnson or his younger brother, Kyle. Getting sent to the end of the line for a pit violation late in the race didn't help matters.
* Matt Kenseth -- 8th, It's hard to believe that Kenseth was two laps down at one point. He developed a tire rub and the call was made to take four tires instead of the two he wanted. That put him deep in the hole, but he was able to make up both laps -- both of them earned by outracing the leader. He used his crackerjack pit crew to gain track position late in the race.
* Mark Martin -- 30th, Mark dropped a cylinder and was in the garage for a time for repairs. He never thought he had a car capable of winning.
* Greg Biffle -- 6th, This race looked a lot like Fontana two weeks ago when Biffle surged to the front. But he couldn't stay there. His strong car faded a bit in the closing laps. But still, nothing to be ashamed of here.
* Carl Edwards -- 14th, Rousch drivers didn't dominate here as they have in the past. Edwards had a decent race, but he got roughed up during a wreck not of his making. They got the dents banged out well enough that he got a good finish. He's in the top 10 in points currently.
* Jimmie Johnson -- 1st, The only spinning through the grass JJ did on Sunday was the doughnuts he made during his victory celebration. The Lowe's team clearly has something to prove and are showing why they are the class of the field with races like this one. Johnson hung around the top 10 all day, but while the competition started to show signs of fatigue late in the race, his car just kept getting better and better. No one was going to catch him at the end, even though Kyle Busch gave it a good effort.
* Jeff Gordon -- 4th, Jeff hurt his chances with pathetic pit times and some bad luck on the track. Every time he seemed poised to sneak up to the lead, there was a caution and a bad pit stop. Then there was the door-to-door duel with Ryan Newman that led to some bumper tag between the two. Ryan had to check up when he got bumped out of the groove and Jeff had to slow up too. They both lost three spots from which they never recovered fully. Otherwise, Gordon probably had at least a second-place car.
* Kasey Kahne -- 38th, Kasey was mediocre most of the day, and that was before he backed into the wall. The poor finish comes on the heels of 40th at Fontana. Nothing like last year's phenomenal start to his season.
* Kevin Harvick -- 5th, Trouble just seemed to find him on Sunday. He worked his way up from his 42nd-place starting spot, but then was penalized for speeding on pit road late in the race and had to restart something like 26th. The car was definitely good, but it's hard to be competitive when you lose that much track position.
* Jamie McMurray -- 15th, Yawn. Never ran very far toward the front. This is about all he was worth all day.
REST OF THE TOP 10:
* Kyle Busch -- 2nd, Awesome run for this rookie. It probably didn't hurt that he wanted to beat his older brother at their home track. I didn't pick him because I'm not convinved the #5 team is ready for prime time yet. But give it time. Best finish for anyone in this car since Terry Labonte won Darlington in September 2003.
* Casey Mears -- 7th, Whoever came up with the puke purple and pink Energizer paint scheme on this car ought to be forced to sit through an hour of DEI Vegas highlight films. Best of the Gnassi teammates just seems to like to finish 7th.
* Tony Stewart -- 9th, Knew I shouldn't have counted him out. The #20 team made a lot of tweaks to the car after a mediocre qualifying and practice series. Tony charged forward early, but he could never quite get over the hump, and was racing in the teens most of the day.
* Ryan Newman -- 10th, Barely hung on for a spot in the show afte being a dominant car much of the day. The laps he led came late in the race, but his brush-up with Gordon wasn't what he needed. The handling went away after that, and he was doing the rapid fade in the waning laps. At least he's into the top 10 after three races.
OTHER NOTABLES:
* Joe Nemecheck -- 19th, Hendrick power got him as high as second late in the race. What the heck was he doing back here at the finish?
* Michael Waltrip -- 21st, At least he finished for the first time this season, which is better than we can say for...
* Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- 42nd, What a fast exit! Lap 16 found him out of position as Brian Vickers worked the line above him, and the result was that Junior clipped Vickers and wrecked the two of them along with Bobby Labonte and Ricky Rudd. Even Junior admitted the error. As I said, Atlanta next week can't come soon enough.
Next week... Junior hopes to turn his luck around at the track where he won a year ago, Atlanta.
Vegas recap
I'm beginning to think that we've reached a point in this sport where the two or three dominant teams are becoming more dominant while the also-rans are rapidly becoming more also-ranish. If you could take the Roush drivers and the Hendrick drivers and put them all in their own league (and probably DEI too), what would you have left?
I only ask this because look who paved the way at LVMS most of today. If it wasn't Greg Biffle or Kurt Busch, it was Jimmie Johnson (and Ryan Newman, but we'll get to that later).
Overall this was an interesting race, with a couple of good storylines taking place with the Busch brothers battling for bragging rights, and Kevin Harvick's penalty-laced weekend.
GLENN'S TEN (6-for-10):
* Kurt Busch (winner) -- 3rd, He had one of the cars to beat, but in the end he was no match for Jimmie Johnson or his younger brother, Kyle. Getting sent to the end of the line for a pit violation late in the race didn't help matters.
* Matt Kenseth -- 8th, It's hard to believe that Kenseth was two laps down at one point. He developed a tire rub and the call was made to take four tires instead of the two he wanted. That put him deep in the hole, but he was able to make up both laps -- both of them earned by outracing the leader. He used his crackerjack pit crew to gain track position late in the race.
* Mark Martin -- 30th, Mark dropped a cylinder and was in the garage for a time for repairs. He never thought he had a car capable of winning.
* Greg Biffle -- 6th, This race looked a lot like Fontana two weeks ago when Biffle surged to the front. But he couldn't stay there. His strong car faded a bit in the closing laps. But still, nothing to be ashamed of here.
* Carl Edwards -- 14th, Rousch drivers didn't dominate here as they have in the past. Edwards had a decent race, but he got roughed up during a wreck not of his making. They got the dents banged out well enough that he got a good finish. He's in the top 10 in points currently.
* Jimmie Johnson -- 1st, The only spinning through the grass JJ did on Sunday was the doughnuts he made during his victory celebration. The Lowe's team clearly has something to prove and are showing why they are the class of the field with races like this one. Johnson hung around the top 10 all day, but while the competition started to show signs of fatigue late in the race, his car just kept getting better and better. No one was going to catch him at the end, even though Kyle Busch gave it a good effort.
* Jeff Gordon -- 4th, Jeff hurt his chances with pathetic pit times and some bad luck on the track. Every time he seemed poised to sneak up to the lead, there was a caution and a bad pit stop. Then there was the door-to-door duel with Ryan Newman that led to some bumper tag between the two. Ryan had to check up when he got bumped out of the groove and Jeff had to slow up too. They both lost three spots from which they never recovered fully. Otherwise, Gordon probably had at least a second-place car.
* Kasey Kahne -- 38th, Kasey was mediocre most of the day, and that was before he backed into the wall. The poor finish comes on the heels of 40th at Fontana. Nothing like last year's phenomenal start to his season.
* Kevin Harvick -- 5th, Trouble just seemed to find him on Sunday. He worked his way up from his 42nd-place starting spot, but then was penalized for speeding on pit road late in the race and had to restart something like 26th. The car was definitely good, but it's hard to be competitive when you lose that much track position.
* Jamie McMurray -- 15th, Yawn. Never ran very far toward the front. This is about all he was worth all day.
REST OF THE TOP 10:
* Kyle Busch -- 2nd, Awesome run for this rookie. It probably didn't hurt that he wanted to beat his older brother at their home track. I didn't pick him because I'm not convinved the #5 team is ready for prime time yet. But give it time. Best finish for anyone in this car since Terry Labonte won Darlington in September 2003.
* Casey Mears -- 7th, Whoever came up with the puke purple and pink Energizer paint scheme on this car ought to be forced to sit through an hour of DEI Vegas highlight films. Best of the Gnassi teammates just seems to like to finish 7th.
* Tony Stewart -- 9th, Knew I shouldn't have counted him out. The #20 team made a lot of tweaks to the car after a mediocre qualifying and practice series. Tony charged forward early, but he could never quite get over the hump, and was racing in the teens most of the day.
* Ryan Newman -- 10th, Barely hung on for a spot in the show afte being a dominant car much of the day. The laps he led came late in the race, but his brush-up with Gordon wasn't what he needed. The handling went away after that, and he was doing the rapid fade in the waning laps. At least he's into the top 10 after three races.
OTHER NOTABLES:
* Joe Nemecheck -- 19th, Hendrick power got him as high as second late in the race. What the heck was he doing back here at the finish?
* Michael Waltrip -- 21st, At least he finished for the first time this season, which is better than we can say for...
* Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- 42nd, What a fast exit! Lap 16 found him out of position as Brian Vickers worked the line above him, and the result was that Junior clipped Vickers and wrecked the two of them along with Bobby Labonte and Ricky Rudd. Even Junior admitted the error. As I said, Atlanta next week can't come soon enough.
Next week... Junior hopes to turn his luck around at the track where he won a year ago, Atlanta.
Week 3 -- Las Vegas
Following a bye week, the Cup teams return to action Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. That should be good news for Roush Racing fans, as their teams basically have owned this place the past couple of years. Matt Kenseth looks to make it three in a row on this track. Is there any reason to suspect he won't?...
GLENN'S TEN:
* Kurt Busch (winner) -- KB has been the runner-up in the first two races this season. The defending champion will finally make it to Victory Lane at his home track.
THE REST OF THE TOP 10 (in no particular order):
* Matt Kenseth -- Can't count him out here. He had the fastest time in final practice, and starts an un-Kenseth-like 8th. But it's hard to win three in a row anywhere.
* Mark Martin -- Winner of Saturday's Busch race. Gotta believe he's riding the crest of a retirement wave.
* Greg Biffle -- (Are Roush fans sensing a trend here?) Coming off a dominant win at California. He seems to suddenly be living up to the unrealized potential of his initial Cup season.
* Carl Edwards -- Could Roush make it 5-for-5 in this race? Quite possibly. Carl starts 20th and went for a wild ride in Saturday's race, but I still believe in this kid, and he's got a great franchise behind him.
* Jimmie Johnson -- Another top 5? Maybe, if he can avoid spinning through the grass this year.
* Jeff Gordon -- This used to be a great track for Super G. He's 11th on the grid, which gives him room to improve gradually over the course of 400 miles.
* Kasey Kahne -- I feel like I'm taking my chances here, but he did chase Kenseth across the line a year ago.
* Kevin Harvick -- Trouble just seems to find this guy. He qualified 4th, but then was relegated to the end of the starting grid because his fuel tank wasn't full for his qualifying run -- a gNA$hCAR no-no. To make matters worse, it was determined the tank had been tampered with to make it appear full. I hope the hanky-panky police penalize this team big time. That aside, don't count Harvick out. He'll march into the top 10 if he doesn't get wrecked along the way by the likes of Hermie Sadler or Eric McClure.
* Jamie McMurray -- One of the Gnassi drivers has to make the cut, but it could be Sterling Marlin. I'm going with Jamie all the same.
MISSING IN ACTION: Ryan Newman (Starting on the pole is usually a curse)... Tony Stewart (What's with starting 23rd? Another mediocre day in the making?)... Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Can't wait to leave the West Coast behind)... Michael Waltrip (See comments for Jr.)
