New Hampshire recap
Now that was a good race. I'm not just saying that because I
finally managed to get more than four of my picks correct, but because there was some good, hard racing all day. I've never been much of a fan of New Hampshire, and I'm not sure why. I seem to predict fairly well here, as it looked like I was going to do today.
I say "looked" because my superb afternoon got spoiled over the final 100 laps. Would you believe that as late as lap 198 I had nine(!) cars in the top 10 and all of them in the top 15? With 50 laps left i still had 8 of 10. But alas, when the checkers fell I had just six left.
GLENN'S TEN (6-for-10... Shouldn't be disappointed, but I am.):
* Jimmie Johnson (winner) -- 13th, Jimmie had a top 10 car most of the day, but he drifted back with less than 40 to go.
* Jeff Gordon -- 25th, When things are going bad they seem to go bad in a big way. Jeff was poised for a top 5 and seemed ready to get his season back on track. But with less than 15 to go he lost his brakes and limped around to dinish a lap down, knocking him further behind Johnson and away from the top 10. With just 7 races until the Chase I think we can safely assume that Jeff's chances are toast.
* Ryan Newman -- 7th, Hung out in the top 10 all day. A good, solid run if not a spectacular one.
* Kurt Busch -- 2nd, Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. Kurt spun out once, had two horrifically bad pit stops, and each time clawed his way back to the front thanks to the fact that he had the best car in the field. But he didn't have enough to keep pace with Tony Stewart.
* Brian Vickers -- 11th, *Sigh* I thought Brian had an excellent shot at a top 10, but he came up just a bit short, as did all the Hendrick drivers.
* Kyle Busch -- 4th, Kyle had one of the three strongest cars most of the afternoon, but he had handling issues near the final few laps that prevented him from challenging for the lead.
* Greg Biffle -- 5th, Biff was one of Kyle's handling problems. These two were beating on each other over the final 30 laps or so, with Busch nearly wrecking on at least two occasions. They had a little discussion on pit road at the end of the race. No fists, but you might wonder.
* Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- 9th, Junior did what Gordon needed to do, having a decent finish in a car that wasn't quite right. Difference is that Gordon couldn't hang with his bad equipment down the stretch.
* Tony Stewart -- 1st, When Tony climbed the fence at Daytona two weeks ago he said he was too big and fat to be climbing fences. If he keeps this up, he'll slim down enough to climb the fence and accept his Nextel Cup at Homestead in November. That's three wins in four races for the Home Depot bunch. His car dominated the race. This is the Smoke we all know and love -- cocky, confident, joking with the reporters and celebrating with the fans. The fence-climbing routine is gonna get old in a hurry, though. Hey, Tony, stick to winning races and leave the fence antics to the IRL guys.
* Mark Martin -- 15th, Until Gordon's disappointing finish, Mark was the only one of my drivers who clearly wasn't top 10 caliber. He rand between 15th and 20th most of the day.
REST OF THE TOP 10:
* Bobby Labonte -- 3rd, Nice to see Labonte having a good race. Maybe all of Tony's luck is rubbing off on his teammate. He was in the top 5 all afternoon.
* Kasey Kahne -- 6th, I nearly picked him, but Istill don't trust the consistency of this kid yet. He's not going to make the Chase, so he should start working on getting more finishes like this so he'll be poised for a championship run next season.
* Rusty Wallace -- 8th, Rusty is making his title bid count with unglamorous finishes like this one. Usually he's just outside the top 10 (when I pick him) or just inside it (when I don't).
* Matt Kenseth -- 10th, Nothing personal, Matt, but you screwed my day over by edging out Vickers.
OTHER NOTABLES:
* Michael Waltrip -- 17th, He won't be back in the #15 next season. I hope he lands with a decent team and can get more finishes like this or better.
* Joe Nemechek -- 18th, Last car on the lead lap at the track where he got his first career win.
* Robby Gordon -- 30th, Roughed up a couple of cars on pit road. Roughed up a car or two on the track. Got roughed up by Jeff Gordon, who gave him the chrome horn at one point. Robby, for today at least, was a menace.
* Elliott Sadler -- 39th, Late crash may have dealt a devastating blow to his hopes for making the Chase. Still in the top 10, but it ain't by much.
* Jamie McMurray -- 40th, Had a little help from Kenseth finding the wall.
Next week... Back to Pocono.
