Deserted in the desert
There's simply no delicate way to say this, so I'll just be blunt: That sucked! I'm not just talking about Kurt Busch winning the race, which is in itself enough to spoil the evening. I'm referring to my abysmal picks performance. I should have known I was in for a rough night when I had 7 of 10 in the show at midway. That was before mediocre drivers started using pit strategy to move forward, and the favorites started having problems. The result was one of my most "off" predictions in many moons.
...And speaking of moons, we didn't see too much of the almost-full moon that hung over Phoenix Saturday night, thanks to the cloud cover that dropped rain about two hours before the green flag fell. Luckily, the crews got the track dry and it stayed that way until the checkers fell.
GLENN'S TEN (2-for-10 -- Aaaaarrrrgghhh!!!):
* Jimmie Johnson (winner) -- 15th, Jimmie had the look of a winner early on, making slow yet steady progress forward. Then he got shuffled backward on pit stops and wound up in a scuffle with Tony Stewart and others late in the race. This ends a streak of 13 consecutive top 10's for the #48 bunch.
* Greg Biffle -- 41st, Got a piece of Mike Bliss on pit road and damaged the radiator. This after having the second strongest car before the mishap. Ended the night behind the wall.
* Jeff Gordon -- 12th, The curse of winning the pole rears its ugly head. Jeff never had a car capable of the win. He led a bit near the closing stages, but only because he stayed out on old tires.
* Rusty Wallace -- 36th, Rusty had a crappy race, precipitated by his backslide through the field before his crash with Ricky Rudd.
* Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- 4th, Junior didn't look like much of a factor until the end of the race. He just stayed out of trouble and snuck into the top 5. This is becoming his signature this season. Almost back to the top 10 in points, and Talladega is... next week!
* Kurt Busch -- 1st, Had the dominant car all night. He deserved to win, as much as I hate to say it. I liked the door-banging move past Jeff Gordon as he was making his final charge to the front. He says he got a little tight out of the turn. Yeah. Right. Martinsville wasn't that long ago. Busch is all class -- Did you catch the comment about Michael Waltrip in the post-race interview? They asked him what he thought about Mikey clinging so tenaciously to the chase for the lead: "Yeah, I couldn't believe that..." Like Mikey shouldn't have been there to begin with. Just another entry in Busch's foot-in-mouth quotebook.
* Tony Stewart -- 33rd, Tony couldn't buy a break. Got his front grill bashed in on pit road, which led to overheating issues. Never did get him fixed up, then he got caught up in the wreckage with Jimmie Johnson and some others late in the race. Finished 7 laps down.
* Matt Kenseth -- 42nd, Can we safely count Kenseth out of the championship hunt for 2005? The car was halfway decent until he blew a right front and plowed the wall.
* Mark Martin -- 16th, Could have been better if not for the pit strategy bids that left him mid-pack late when he had been in the top 10.
* Kevin Harvick -- 19th, Symptomatic of my bad luck tonight, Harvick was on pace to finish 9th or 10th until he ran out of gas on the last lap.
REST OF THE TOP 10:
* Michael Waltrip -- 2nd, Mikey wanted this one bad and almost had it. He got a little too friendly with the wall while trying to chase down Busch, brushing it twice. Best finish for the #15 in many moons, and it didn't come at a superspeedway.
* Jeff Burton -- 3rd, Should have gone with my intuition here. Best run in nearly two years at a track where he won twice with Roush.
* Brian Vickers -- 5th, Wouldn't have predicted this at all. Brian finally gets a decent finish in Cup. He contended for the win early. lack of experience and inferior team still are liabilities.
* Bobby Labonte -- 6th, I am still a doubting Thomas until I see more of these finishes. Good run nonetheless.
* Carl Edwards -- 7th, Got nearly three laps down and recovered after his solo spin and tire problem. Had it not been for that he might have been in Victory Lane instead of his teammate. Had the best car near the finish.
* Kyle Busch -- 8th, Hendrick's B-Team drivers both come through under the lights. Kyle led a few laps, thanks to tire strategy.
* Johnny Sauter -- 9th, ANY time you see the "Lethal Weapon's" name in the show you know it's been a brutal night for the oddsmakers.
* Joe Nemechek -- 10th, The Hendrick engines are getting Joe closer to the front row at the finish.
OTHER NOTABLES:
* Elliott Sadler -- 11th, His paint scheme turned to the dark side of the Force and got him a decent finish.
* Ryan Newman -- 14th, At least he didn't fall a lap down this time. Did his typical fade in the closing laps. Don't know if it's just the new Dodge Chargers that are giving him grief, new tires, impound/testing rules or what. This team just doesn't have the spark it had a couple of seasons ago.
Next week... Dale Jr. gets a chance to put his season back on the fast track at Talladega.
