The Force was with him
I should have known I was in big-time trouble with my picks when less than 10 laps from the finish I had seven of my remaining eight drivers in the top 10. I had dodged the Big One that wrecked 25 cars, losing just two of my drivers. I was on the verge of my best race prognostication in weeks. And then Talladega's penchant for the big wreck reared up for the second time in the same race and bit me. In what I call "The Little One," four or my cars tangled and spoiled an excellent day, not to mention thinned the field of contenders for the win.
When it came down to it, no one had anything for Jeff Gordon, who scored his fourth restrictor plate win in the last five attempts. I think they're gonna have to start calling Gordo "Mr. Restrictor" from now on.
GLENN'S TEN (4-for-10... Drat!):
* Dale Earnhardt Jr. (winner) -- 15th, The crowd went wild when Junior pulled around Gordon mid-race and led a few laps. He overcame the poor qualifying effort to hang out with the leaders most of the race, and factored into the Big One on lap 132 when he assisted Mike Wallace in wiping out in front of half the field. But Junior unfortunately was one of the cars that tangled in the lap 186 crash that spoiled my day.
* Jeff Gordon -- 1st, Jeff dominated this race from flag to flag. The green-white-checker finish gave lesser cars a chance to catch him, but with Yoda on the hood of his Pepsi machine, how could he lose?
* Jimmie Johnson -- 20th, A victim of the Little One. He took a hard lick on the inside retaining wall and was done for the day. The poor finish helped a lot of guys struggling in the points race, but he's still the leader by 230 over Kurt Busch.
* Greg Biffle -- 13th, Caught up in the Little One. Had been nowhere most of the day, going down a lap at one point, but was running up front after the Big One, thanks to the high attrition.
* Kurt Busch -- 7th, Defending champ has a decent day.
* Kevin Harvick -- 12th, He didn't run like the pole sitter for most of the day, suffering overheating problems early. But once that got cleared up, Kevin was at the point a couple of times. But he couldn't escape the Little One.
* Tony Stewart -- 2nd, This seems to be Tony's preferred finishing spot at the restrictor tracks. He had a shot at Gordon on the final lap, but the #24 was the class of the field and threw the blocks when he needed to give them.
* Mark Martin -- 33rd, One of my two drivers who got caught up in the Big One. He'd had a top 10 sort of car before that.
* Joe Nemechek -- 31st, A horrible weekend for "Front Row" Joe -- wrecked in the Busch race Saturday and then again in Sunday's Big One.
* Michael Waltrip -- 3rd, I had my DEI picks backward. Mikey (who runs these days with Junior's former crew) got to the front of the pack before the final caution, but Gordon passed him right back a lap or two later. He helped push Stewart past Jamie McMurray and Elliott Sadler during the final two laps. (At least I picked the top three!)
REST OF THE TOP 10:
* Jeremy Mayfield -- 4th, Shows what keeping your nose clean at the big tracks can do.
* Jamie McMurray -- 5th, Looked like he might make a run at Gordon on the final restart, but he made his move too early and allowed Stewart and Waltrip to get underneath him, then he got hung out to dry.
* Elliott Sadler -- 6th, Picked McMurray as his drafting partner on the final restart. Big mistake. Went from third to this.
* Ken Schrader -- 8th!, Shows you what kind of a day it was. But Schrader knows how to drive at the restrictor tracks when he doesn't get caught in the big wreck.
* Dale Jarrett -- 9th, Another guy who kept out of trouble and got a good finish, despite a pair of pit road speeding penalties. Jumps six spots to seventh place in the points standings.
* Jeff Burton -- 10th, Bested all the RCR entries. Burton is getting better.
OTHER NOTABLES:
* Matt Kenseth, 11th -- This team needed the good finish big time, but still 93 points beyond making the cut for the Chase for the Championship.
* Casey Mears -- 14th, First car a lap down.
* Martin Truex Jr. -- 21st, This kid's got a future in Cup. He won the Busch race here Saturday, but was robbed of a potential top 5 Sunday when he was caught up in the Little One. With the #1 out there running well, it looked like the good old days of DEI when they regularly fielded a competitive third team.
* Bobby Labonte -- 23rd, Bobby avoided the Big One. But the "Hard Luck Kid" couldn't avoid engine failure.
* Ryan Newman -- 39th, *Sigh* Once again a crash not of his making, but one of the few victims of the Big One who couldn't get going again long enough to preserve any points.
Next week... The death of tradition continues: Darlington in the dark on a Saturday.
