Let the Chase begin
Well, so much for my theory that Dodges would rule and that Chevys had extra incentive at tonight's Richmond race. It was Fords that stole the show, and specifically the Fords of Roush racing. That would seem only fitting, however, when one considers that all five of the Roush drivers are in the Chase. Let's see... that's a 50 percent chance that Jack Roush will score his third champion in as many years.
This is getting me more depressed. Time for the postmortem...
GLENN'S TEN (6-for-10... And it could have been even better 8-/ ):
* Kasey Kahne (Winner) -- 8th, Ran in the top 10 all night and led briefly, but wasn't one of the elite.
* Jeremy Mayfield -- 6th, This just seems to be a good track for Evernham and company.
* Jamie McMurray -- 40th, For the second year in a row, Jamie blows his Chase dreams on the final night. He found his way into the top 10, but as things got desperate in the final 50 laps he made a couple of ill-advised passes. One of them caused him to slide up the hill and get into Tony Raines, who slid into Ricky Rudd and caused Rudd to crash. McMurray continued on, banging with Raines, and took himself out seconds later when he spun into the inside wall. Chase dreams up in smoke.
* Ricky Rudd -- 38th, Ricky was robbed! He had a top 10 sorta night happening when the McMurray incident ended things prematurely.
* Matt Kenseth -- 2nd, As I predicted, a good run. Watch out for Matt in the Chase.
* Tony Stewart -- 7th, Another top 10. What is that now, 11 straight? Tony leads the pack going into the money round.
* Jeff Burton -- 18th, How did he manage to finish here? This looked like a bust of a pick when he went down a lap early. But he managed to eventually get that lap back and hung in for an OK night.
* Ryan Newman -- 12th, Flyin' Ryan got a gift when McMurray crashed out. Still, he had a nail-biter of a night that saw him barely sneak into the Chase in the 10th spot. Wonder now if he can do a Kurt Busch and parlay the 600 points he gains from the field reset into a championship. I can hope.
* Kurt Busch -- 1st, Why is it that I start yawning every time KB talks about his team's work ethic? OK, the guy has a dominant organization behind him, but he's so dang boring. Ah well, at least the victims of Hurricane Katrina benefit from his victory.
* Rusty Wallace -- 5th, This was the "quietly decent night" I forecasted. He will start the Chase in third -- 10 points out -- which is probably as close as he's been to a championship since he won one in '89.
REST OF THE TOP 10:
* Greg Biffle -- 3rd, OK, I shouldn't have doubted him.
* Kyle Busch -- 4th, The only one of the Hendrick drivers to have a good night. Maybe no one told him that Hendrick cars have sucked here lately.
* Terry Labonte -- 9th, A double-red letter day: Texas Terry finishes in the top 10 AND the FedEx car does too. Would this be the #11 team's best finish of the year?
* Kevin Harvick -- 10th, I nearly picked him. He led most of the first 200 laps of the race before the car faded down the stretch. May not have ended with the best car, but he had the best-looking paint scheme with country rocker Gretchen Wilson sprawled across the hood.
OTHER NOTABLES (AND NOT-SO-NOTABLES):
* Mark Martin -- 13th, Recovered nicely after a failing tire brought him into the pits early and left him running near the tail of the pack. Starts 6h in the Chase next week.
* Elliott Sadler -- 17th, Needed a stronger run to have a shot at knocking Newman out of the top 10. Spin on the track didn't help.
* Carl Edwards -- 21st, Rookie makes the Chase in his first attempt.
* Jimmie Johnson -- 25th, Good thing he didn't have to have this race to make the field. Car spent much of the night in the low 30s.
* Jeff Gordon -- 30th, All too predictable. Started 6th, but immediately fell back and then the handling went away. This is becoming the rule rather than the exception. Jeff and company have a lot of soul searching to do before Daytona '06. I think we may finally be seeing the effects of that plane crash in Martinsville a year ago that took out some of Hendrick's best and brightest. All the organization's teams have seemed to struggle this season, with Busch the possible exception of late. I wonder if Robbie Loomis will be job hunting at the end of this season. There will be some serious changes coming in the offseason, particularly if Johnson doesn't do well in the Chase. Stay tuned.
* Robby Gordon -- 35th, Served a 5-lap penalty for rough driving. On his bad nights he's a menace to society.
* Ganassi cars -- Casey Mears was the standard bearer, finishing 23rd. McMurray (40th), Sterling Marlin (41st), and the future Sterling (David Stremme, 42nd) all had equally futile finishes.
Next week... The Chasers get down to business at Loudon.
