Harvick finally wins one
Who says that crime doesn't pay? The same week that Kevin Harvick's crew chief, Todd Barrier, starts his suspension for tampering with the #29's fuel tank during a qualifying run, the team responds by driving into Victory Lane at Bristol. Maybe Harvick should go without his crew chief every week!
This year's Food City 500 lived up to its reputation, delivering lots of lead changes and wrecks. Apart from the guys who got caught up in the crashes, my predictions looked halfway decent.
GLENN'S TEN (5-for-10... halfway!):
* Jeff Gordon (winner) -- 15th, One word: Tires. Make it two words: Bad tires. Jeff got down a couple of laps after his first tire problem. He made up both laps and had worked his way up to fourth before he cut another tire within about five laps of the finish. Good thing there were lots of cars many laps down.
* Rusty Wallace -- 13th, Rusty was on a rail early, leading a good chuink of the first 200 laps. But when he had his own tire issues and got two laps down on a caution, he never rebounded like Gordon was able to do.
* Kurt Busch -- 35th, What a tough way to end his spring Bristol win streak. He was on pace to get a top 10, but then Jeff Burton got turned around by Jimmie Johnson and Busch barreled head-on into him. A very scary crash, but the worst of it seemed to be that Busch got the wind knocked out of him. Wrong place, wrong time.
* Ryan Newman -- 30th, Ryan found the wall and spent some time in the garage. Another frustrating Bristol finish.
* Elliott Sadler -- 2nd, Started on the pole but didn't make much noise until the last couple hundred laps. Then he used some good pit stops to work his way back into contention.
* Kevin Harvick -- 1st, Talk about shooting himself in the foot! With his crew chief out on suspension, Harvick also lost a good qualifying spot and went to the back with carburetor problems. He also was penalized (sent to the end of the line) for heading to pit road under a red flag. Nonetheless, he overcame all the adversity with a dominant car and skillful driving. I wonder if this will be the start of a comeback for "Happy". He's solidly in the top 5 in points.
* Jimmie Johnson -- 6th, Can we call it a bad day when Johnson finishes outside the top 5? He kept the car clean all day until he got sandwiched against the wall by Michael Waltrip late in the race. He came in for four tires and repairs and worked his way back to a good finish. He might have given Harvick a run to the checkers if not for the mishap. Now 96 points in front of the field.
* Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- 4th, Had a very quiet run to the top 5. Avoided trouble and had a decent car. Needed this one to save what's looking so far like a bad season.
* Tony Stewart -- 3rd, had a top 10 car all day. He benefitted from Matt Kenseth's and Jeff Gordon's bad fortune late in the race.
* Mark Martin -- 31st, Got caught up in the 14-car pileup and spent many laps behind the wall. Car looked average before then.
REST OF THE TOP 10:
* Dale Jarrett -- 5th, I almost picked him. Nice to see him in the top 5 again (and in the points chase!)
* Travis Kvapil -- 7th, Rookie backs up a good qualifying run with a decent finish. Best of the Penske cars.
* Kyle Petty -- 8th, !!! First top 10 since Talladega, October 2002. Don't expect this sort of performance the rest of the season.
* Greg Biffle -- 9th, Should have taken tires with 75 laps to go. Everyone else did, hence this finish. Greg had the car to beat otherwise.
* Scott Riggs -- 10th, Solid run. This guy is making a little noise this season.
OTHER NOTABLES:
* Kasey Kahne -- 14th, At least he finished this year.
* Matt Kenseth -- 16th, Made a Kenseth-like run to the lead and looked like a contender for a top five, but then he had a tire problem while running third late in the race.
* Carl Edwards -- 26th, Suffered damage very early in the race and lost a lot of laps under repair, but what a recovery. Everyone else's misfortune contributed to a half-decent day.
* Bobby Hamilton Jr. -- 39th, Blames himself for triggering the 14-car crash that took out a share of the contenders. I don't know that it was really his fault, but that's a classy move to not point fingers at others.
Next week... More short-track action at Martinsville.
