Tony times two
What for so many weeks seemed inevitable finally happened on Sunday as Tony Stewart claimed his second Cup championship. It wasn't elegant, as has been the case in recent years at this track. But Tony got the finish he needed to hold off the competition, and it didn't hurt that his nearest challenger, Jimmie Johnson, cut a tire and crashed midway through the event, spoiling his chances.
The fact that Greg Biffle beat Mark Martin in an exciting duel to the checkers to capture the final race of the year was lost in the post-race fireworks. A very good race to bring a fine conclusion to a verrrrry loooong season.
And I got a good conclusion as far as my picks were concerned. It is gratifying to go out by picking the winner...
GLENN'S TEN (7-of-10... Matches my best for the year):
* Greg Biffle (winner) -- Winner! And how he did it I'm not sure, because Greg's car looked average most of the day. He managed to overcome handling problems from early in the race to overtake Mark Martin on the final restart. He held Mark off by a fraction of a second at the checkers to get his sixth win of the season and defend his win here from a year ago. Finishes second in points, 35 back.
* Jeff Gordon -- 9th, Jeff locked up the 11th-place points spot with this finish. For a time it looked like he might be the driver to beat, but as usual the car wasn't its strongest in the final laps when he was racing all the Roush cars. Getting caught in traffic wasn't to his benefit. Wait till Daytona...
* Mark Martin -- 2nd, Darn near won it all. Mark was his usual consistent self, working his way to a late lead that he couldn't hold when teammate Biffle got by him. I don't think Mark realized The Biff was as much of a threat as he proved to be. Winds up fourth in points.
* Carl Edwards -- 4th, Carl won the pole and led the most laps, but he didn't get the win he needed. It wouldn't have made any difference in the bigger picture of the championship, but it did affect his finish in the standings -- tied with Biffle at 35 points back, but third for the year based on number of victories (Biffle's 6 to his 4).
* Bobby Labonte -- 34th, One of my two low spots. Bobby spun out and brushed the wall. It was light damage, but severe enough to take away the aerodynamics and ruin his afternoon.
* Ryan Newman -- 7th, Ryan had a good run going until he and Jeff Gordon made contact and it damaged Ryan's fender. He had to bring the car in early to change tires. He managed to get back on the lead lap, but he never got back up to the front like he'd done earlier in the race.
* Kyle Busch -- 41st, 2005 Rookie of the Year won't want to remember this race. He drove around for a few laps with a tire rub caused by pit contact with Mike Skinner -- (note to Kyle: Avoid Mike Skinner at all costs) -- until the tire blew and put him behind the wall for almost 50 laps.
* Casey Mears -- 5th, There was a point where we actually believed Casey might be headed to his first win. But of course the caution came out while he was leading and ruined his day. Not a bad run overall.
* Matt Kenseth -- 3rd, Great day for all the Roush regulars. Matt's team mouring the death of Crew Chief Robbie Reiser's dad, but they won one for the Gipper. OK, so they didn't win, but you get the idea.
* Rusty Wallace -- 13th, Rusty didn't get the win he would have loved in his final race in his final season, but he goes out with class. I liked the subtle message to Kurt Busch, his successor in the #2 next season, when he told a TV interviewer that he loved all the good things happening with gNA$hCAR and that he'd hate to see anyone screw it up the sport's reputation, old or young. Were you paying attention, Kurt?
REST OF THE TOP 10:
* Dave Blaney -- 6th, Remember this day, because you might not see Blaney's name at all next season. He's still looking for a ride.
* Kevin Harvick -- 8th, There are days when you see flashes of the driver Kevin used to be and should be. Today was one of them. He was up around the top 10 all race.
* Keremy Mayfield -- 10th, Just so we wouldn't completely forget that Jeremey at one time was in the Chase for the Nextel Cup, he came through with a top 10. Yay. Hooray. He'll be a force to reckon with in '06. Right.
OTHER NOTABLES:
* Tony Stewart -- 15th, Who cares where Tony finished, so long as he won the title? He drove a conservative race, never getting higher than about 9th. Once Jimmie Johnson crashed there was very little drama left. When the final caution came out just before Mears would have put him a lap down, Tony was locked into no worse than a 16th-place finish. He needed 25th or better to beat Edwards for the title. A well -deserved second title, which Tony will wear better than the first one he got while on probation.
* Jimmie Johnson -- 40th, An awful day all around for Team Hendrick. With the exception of Jeff Gordon, no other driver finished better than 40th. Jimmie had tire problems reminiscent of Busch's. The tire blew right in front of Gordon as Jimmie was sliding back through the field. Unlike Labonte's solo wipeout earlier, Johnson suffered heavy damage and had to retire from the race. The disastrous finish leaves him 5th overall for the season, much worse than he deserved. But he will have his day in the future, I'm convinced.
Next week... That's all folks! (Well, I'll do my recap of my preseason predictions in the next few days or so.)
