A cautionary tale at Lowe's
Take a deck of cards and shuffle it enough times and eventually even the jokers will find their way to the top. That's sort of what happened in the Caca-Cola 600 tonight. Hendrick-owned cars essentially dominated the competition until all but one of them got caught a lap down after making untimely green-flag pit stops. But then there was the one who got the benefit of the all-time record 22 cautions that juggled the pack substantially. That someone was Jimmie Johnson, who captured his third straight 600 in thrilling fashion, nipping Bobby Labonte at the finish line after a 6-lap shootout.
This was an entertaining race apart from the yellow fever that raged between laps 200 and 300. All that caution time, including the red flag following Joe Nemechek's wreck with 10 laps to go, took me right to the end of my 6-hour video tape. FOX should just start tacking on an extra hour for all its broadcasts this year. I don't think many of them haven't gone into OT. My predictions got hosed late in the race, as they always seem to. Here's how I did:
GLENN'S TEN (4-for-10. Sigh):
* Tony Stewart (winner) -- 24th, It was clear from the start that this was a mediocre-Tony night. The car seemed to forever be in the high-teens to twenties. He got caught a couple of laps down after briefly surfacing in the top 10.
* Ryan Newman -- 5th, Could we please put a little more of that black duct tape over the ugly new Alltel logo? The car did what it always does -- started out fast and faded. He suffered some front end damage that was repaired, leaving him a lap down. He eventually got back on the lead lap and raced his way forward, but the high attrition is what got him here. Still, we'll take the points.
* Jimmie Johnson -- 1st, Jimmie didn't make much noise until the final few laps. His car was in the top 10 most of the night, but the caution shuffles left him deep in the field at one point. He kept his nose clean and used that Hendrick power to muscle his way past Bobby Labonte on a thrilling last-lap pass. Did he lead more than two laps all night?
* Jeff Gordon -- 30th, For the second time in his career Jeff was done in by a crumbling track. Some of the rubber patching material they used on the track surface came up and found its way through the front grill. Before that, Jeff had a solid-looking car. He worked his way back to the front, but then got caught a lap down after a green-flag pit stop when Kasey Kahne brought out a caution. Then he suffered more terminal damage when teammate Brian Vickers caused a wreck right in front of him. DNF. Another big hit in the points.
* Kyle Busch -- 25th, The kid had a car to beat, but like Gordon he was trapped a lap down on the Kahne caution. Wound up a couple laps behind.
* Kurt Busch -- 43rd, Big Bro made brother Kyle's night look not so bad. Kurt made a solo spinout into the wall on the eighth lap, was out of action for about 150 laps, then came back and wrecked again. Another DNF for the 2004 champion.
* Greg Biffle -- 6th, Not his strongest steed, but he stayed out of trouble coming from the 29th starting spot to wind up with a good finish.
* Mark Martin -- 28th, Mark got caught up in all the shuffling and was in the wrong place when Brian Vickers caused the late pile-up. His car got torn up pretty seriously. Before that, he'd had a car capable of a top 10.
* Bobby Labonte -- 2nd, The normally mild-mannered Bobby kicked his car after the finish, he was so mad. He had good reason to be. He had to start last after a transmission change and escaped all the other incidents to find himself with the lead on the final restart. But Johnson had the stronger car, and Labonte couldn't hold him off on the final lap, losing by 6 one-thousandths of a second. Labonte had to carry the FedEx colors tonight because teammate Jason Loeffler failed to qualify. A better finish FedEx will never get with Loeffler at the wheel. (With Daytona coming up in a few weeks the clock is ticking on how long he'll be in the car. Still waiting for Ward Burton's return...)
* Jamie McMurray -- 21st, Jamie overcame a brush with the wall to crawl up to the top 10, but then he suffered other problems late in the race that left him a lap behind. The top finisher of the three Ganassi cars.
REST OF THE TOP 10:
* Carl Edwards -- 3rd, Got a bit too aggressive and nearly wrecked Dale Jarrett, who didn't appreciate it. He punctured a hole in his front grill and hurt his downforce, so pretty amazing he finished as well as he did.
* Jeremy Mayfield -- 4th, remember what I said about the jokers shuffling to the top of the deck eventually...
* Martin Truex, Jr. -- 7th, Top DEI finisher, despite an early tire problem that put him in the wall.
* Dale Jarrett -- 8th, I almost picked him. Experience definitely paid.
* Ken Schrader -- 9th, That deck got shuffled really good... A nice 50th birthday present. He led a few laps too.
* Rusty Wallace -- 10th, Might have been better, could have been worse. Ho-hum. He and his favorite teammate Newman were 1-2 at one point.
OTHER NOTABLES:
* Mike Bliss -- 15th, Not a top 10, but hey, at least he finished better than Brian Vickers. That has to feel good.
* Joe Nemechek -- 18th, Had this race in the bag until he spun out while leading.
* Brian Vickers -- 31st, I thought I'd regret not picking him when he was running up front late in the race. But youthful impatience got the better of him. He took the air off Bill Elliott's spoiler and triggered the largest wreck of the night that took out teammate Jeff Gordon among others. Vickers didn't win any friends the past two weekends at Lowe's.
* Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- 33rd, Vickers had company in the bonehead department. Junior's car wasn't very good most of the night, but that didn't stop him from trying to bump draft on teammate Michael Waltrip. Result: Both cars in the garage. Way ta go...
* Matt Kenseth -- 37th, If it wasn't for bad luck he'd have no luck at all. Victim of another's wreck. (Earnhardt, I think.)
* Terry Labonte -- 38th, Looked stout and led a few laps. All the Hendrick cars led tonight. But alas, he was involved in the Earnhardt wreck. He took a pretty hard lick, but apparently is OK.
Next week... 400 laps around the Monster Mile of Dover.
