Sprint Cup Series race results and happenings

[HossC]

Now you mention it, I've seen the Carl Edwards crash before:

It looks like Carl Edwards' flaps were working fine, and he was unlucky to be hit by Ryan Newman just at the wrong moment.

At least NASCAR drivers have a load of bodywork around them. Here's a crash from the 2007 F1 Grand Prix in Canada.

The driver, Robert Kubica, went on to a make a full recovery, and won the race in 2008.

[Garrett Duke]

Wow Hoss...that looks to be a scary ride! I am so glad to hear that he recovered and sounded like he succeeded afterwards. I think I would be afraid to climb back in the car after wrecking like that. Looks worse than NASCAR, at least NASCAR their heads are inside the car and not bouncing on the cement like that. I watched the Indy 500 last year and I can't remember what happened, but remember a bad accident happening and wondering how he could just climb out of the car and be OK after that. They look so vulnerable with the open air around their head like that.

NASCAR has a lot of safety things around them. From the track, the walls, the car,and the uniforms...even their shoes and gloves. They've really stepped up to ensue the driver's and fans' safety.

[Garrett Duke]

Well I only got to watch parts and pieces of today's race, so I missed a lot of the race today. So I apologize for my lack of a report here. I do know that Hamlin won today to put him first over Johnson by thirty-three points. Johnson finished nineth today.

Sadly, I did see Jeff Gordon's altercation with Jeff Burton...the race was under caution due to Martin Truex Jr when Jeff Burton got behind Gordon and spun him into the wall! Under caution. Gordon was clearly upset when he walked down the track and they walked towards each other. When Gordon got to Burton he pushed him in the chest and the two pushed each other as the officials seperated them both. Burton claimed full responsibility of the whole incident and said he'd be mad too if he was in Gordon's shoes and that he didn't blame Gordon for showing him his displeasure of what had happened. Gordon was upset and said he lost respect for Burton that he had. Think Gordon thinks Burton did it on purpose, but Burton isn't a driver who would intentionally wreck anyone like that. Then again, I don't blame Jeff for being upset either. Being wrecked during the race is upsetting enough as it is, but under caution makes it only worse. Being a Gordon fan, am upset that it had happened. He fell from fourth in points to sixth in points...unofficially that is.

Now I am left waiting until tomorrow or so to see if NASCAR will penalize Gordon or Burton for the whole incident. Gordon several years ago got upset at Kennseth for spinning him on the last lap at Bristol. When Kenseth came to 'apologize' Gordon shoved him once. Gordon got fined ten thousand dollars and put on probation for six months. But the year after Harvick shoved Montoya several times and didn't get penalized for it all. And this year NASCAR has it's new "boys have at it" policy. So I am really hoping that NASCAR will NOT step forward to penalize either Jeff...if any, then Burton. But don't see that happening either.

That is all of my opinion of course. Sorry that I don't have much else to report other than that. Know Johnson had a couple of faulty pit stops that the announcers kept talking about. After Gordon's accident, team 48 borrowed Gordon's crew to help them with their own pit stops...must be for strategy since they can only have a limited number of people in the pits.

[Garrett Duke]

Well, NASCAR has yet to say if they are penalyzing Gordon or not for his actions at yesterday's race. I am hoping that means there isn't any, but am not getting my hopes up too high as of yet. I have been really torn over what had happened, because Burton is an honest driver and doesn't seem to be one to take someone out like that on purpose, but don't see why it had happened; especially under caution. I guess only Jeff Burton knows whether or not he was telling the truth, though as I said, he isn't the type to take people out on purpose. . .

Guess NASCAR has their hands full this week with the Texas race. As I said, I didn't watch most of it, but I did see some of it. Saw the part of Gordon's accident and saw the thing with Kyle Busch. He spun out to bring out a caution and he went in to work on his car. He had to hurry back out to beat the pace car in order to be put a lap down and in doing so, he got penalyzed for speeding on pit road. Which is normally a drive through. Well he gave out a list of expletitives at the officials over his radio and then gave the official an inappropriate hand gesture. He was held two laps to put him three laps down since he got lapped by the pace car. Read on NASCAR.com that they could still give him more penalties for his action on pit road.

Though did find it interesting that Chad Knaus, Johnson's crew cheif, once Gordon was out of the race, he substituded his own pit crew with Gordon's pit crew...Johnson's pit crew was sent to work on Gordon's wrecked car! (JJ had a couple or a few bad pit stops that had costed him positions on the track. . .) And now just read that the 24's pit crew will now be on the 48's pit box for the rest of the season...two races. Gordon may not be the one getting the championship this year, but it says a whole lotta things about his pit crew when they are requested to be on the 48's pit box in their search to win their fifth straight championship. Am sad to see them leave for JJ, but am happy and excited for them at the same time.

Sorry for my rambling...feel bad about not having much to report on. Did hear that Matt Kenseth, who finished second, put on a good fight for the win. Hamlin did end up wi nning the race. Which I am sure General Lee Girl was and is very excited for...am happy for her and all of Hamlin's fans out there reading this...seeing on how he is now 33 points ahead of JJ for the point standings.

[RogerDuke]

I saw the ESPN highlights of the race.

I feel bad for Jeff.

Things are heating up and the drama is intensifying.

Hang on to your hats!

[Garrett Duke]

I saw the ESPN highlights of the race.

I feel bad for Jeff.

Things are heating up and the drama is intensifying.

Hang on to your hats!

You feel bad for what Jeff, Roger? Gordon or Burton? Am hoping you mean Gordon...HA HA. Sorry had to give you a hard time on that one.

The drama is definately intensifying...and if I had a hat, I'd be hanging on tightly.

[RogerDuke]

ROFL

You got me on that one.

Just to make it official, I did mean Jeff Gordon!

[Garrett Duke]

ROFL

You got me on that one.

Just to make it official, I did mean Jeff Gordon!

Figured as much, but had to give you a hard time.

I guess now we move onto Phoenix...then Homestead. Two more races to go. :( Am already looking forward to Daytona!

[RogerDuke]

Hmmm, what state's Homestead in?

Is it North Carolina?

[RogerDuke]

Never mind. I found out from my NASCAR friend today that it's in Miami. That seems a bit unusual. You'd think it would be in North Carolina. Isn't that the biggest NASCAR state and the most logical place to hold the dramatic grand finale?

[Garrett Duke]

Homestead, Miami Florida. N.C. is a big NASCAR state with most of their garages and what not located there. So yeah I guess it would be logical to think that they would end their season there. Never really thought of it, but it would make sense. LOL. As long as I remember, the last race has been at Homestead, but can't say I know why.

Well, don't know how many are interested, but sounds like Gordon and Burton have talked and settled things between them. And as of yet, haven't read of any penalties going their way. . .

Though Kyle Busch has gotten fined twenty-five thousand dollars and put on probation through Dec. 31 (his wedding date) for his actions he took on Sunday's race after being held a lap for speeding on pit road. (He gave the official that was standing in front of his car his middle finger that. He had been parked for two laps before being allowed to go back out on the track.)

[Garrett Duke]

Well with all that went on with Gordon and Burton as well with the penalty going to Kyle Busch, I had forgot some more serious news that had happened at the race in Texas.

Guess Sam Hornish Jr. got in an accident or spun out (I didn't see it) and when he did it, his burning brake pad flew up and went went into the eightth floor of the sky box to injure two people. It went in through the window, scarred the carpetting and hit one man in the chest. Another man had glass lodged into his throat. One man was sent to the hospital with non life threatening injuries.

Texas speedway must have bad luck for the fans or something. Two years ago a woman had been injured when a bullet went through her RV that was parked at the track.

I am very glad to hear that the injuries weren't any worse than what they already were for either person. Who'd thought that something like that could fly that far up, but I guess they are going at top speed and all that.

[Garrett Duke]

:popcorn:Well the Phoenix Sprint Cup race just got over and I am not one to say that any Sprint Cup race is boring, but have to admit had a hard time staying focused on it...especially with Law & Order is on. Not that I watched Law and Order over the race, that would never happen, but found myself going back and forth. . .

With that said, I have to vent...I know Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, and Kevin Harvick are the three championship contenders. No one else has a chance of winning this year. And their points are close...so it is tight and makes it exciting. I will give the commentators that much. But honestly, to me, if I were just listening to the race and what they had to say, I'd have thought that those three were the only ones racing with a few exceptions. Am I the only one to feel that way? And if it wasn't bad that they were talking about those three all day, but to me, they were talking positively about Hamlin and Harvick on how fast they are and so on, but seemed negative about Johnson. But then again, is it just me that sees it that way? To me, it just gets so frustrating to hear about the same driver or drivers over and over and over again. True fourth place on down, isn't racing for the championship, but they are all out there racing for the win just as much as the top three are. Perhaps I'd feel differently if it were Gordon up front and they were talking about him...but then again, I don't recall Gordon getting talked about this much when he was up there in '07. But I could be wrong about that. . .

Sorry to vent, but just gets irritating to hear the same things over again about the same drivers. The race would have been much more enjoyable to if they hadn't kept talking in circles as they seemed to be to me.

Well Carl Edwards started up front on the pole today and led a few laps, but it didn't take much for Hamlin who started seventeenth to race his way up to the lead. He lead the most laps today...over two hundred. Kevin Harvick started 29th place, but him too didn't take long to make his way to the front as well as JJ. Though Harvick and Johnson didn't lead a lap today. Harick's pit crew lost a lug nut towards the last half of the race which sent him all the way back to the nineteenth position. But was able to race up for a top ten finish today. The pit crew swap for Jimmie Johnson done him well as the 24 crew did a great job at pit stops it seemed for him. (48 pit crew didn't seem to do too great for Gordon though )

Kasey Kahne had a couple of bad pit stops...once missing his stop all together and ended up getting lapped. Another time, the gas can was left on the back of his car and had to go back to take it off. Never saw that before.

Do have to say, the end of the race was a bit exciting. Juan Pablo Montoya raced all the way up to second from his 35th starting position to run out of gas with only a lap or two remaining. Denny Hamlin, who had led a bunch of laps, had to pit with 14 to go and he was momentarily lapped. But he had raced around Carl Edwards who took over the lead and as he was saving gas, Hamlin was able to pass him. Johnson was very low on gas and had to turn of the fans and not put on the brakes...lost a couple of positions as well as to not run out of gas.

Carl Edwards ended up winning the race to end his 70 race winnless streak...it was great to see him do the back flip out of the window of his car. Haven't seen him do that in awhile...well saw picture of him doing it in the Nationwide Series race yesterday...he won back to back. Am excited for Edwards, he is in my top five of favorite drivers. He was so excited, it was fun to watch him. He grabed the checkered flag after doing his backflip and ran up into the stands and with the crowds! Those lucky fans...

Denny Hamlin on the other hand was visably upset and frustrated with his twelveth place finish as it shrunk his points lead down to only fifteen points ahead of Jimmie Johnson. They showed him hitting his car on the inside at the very end of the race and then later on it showed someone giving him a water bottle and he angrily took it only to throw it. I guess I understand him being upset and frustrated, I'd be frustrated and upset too if that had been Gordon and not Hamlin, but not as much as he was.

Here is the top fifteen finishes of today's race:

1. Carl Edwards

2. Ryan Newman

3. Joey Lagano

4. Greg Biffle

5. Jimmie Johnson

6. Kevin Harvick

7. Matt Kenseth

8. Mark Martin

9. Kurt Busch

10. Jamie McMurray

11. Jeff Gordon

12. Denny Hamlin

13. Kyle Busch

14. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

15. Martin Truex Jr.

Well we are now onto the finale race of the season...Homestead Miami which will be next Sunday at 1 PM EST. Am sad to see the season coming to an end, but am looking forward to February 20, 2011 for the Daytona 500 where Gordon and everyone can have a clean fresh start of a new season. And where the NASCAR coverage will be back on FOX with Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Hammond...my opinion, I wish NASCAR could stay on FOX. They all seem to be more open to all of the drivers and not just a few as the other stations. All that is of my opinion and I don't mean anything against the other announcers, just I prefer Fox over the other station.

[RogerDuke]

*DRUMROLL*

Will JJ's dominance end?

It's going to be a thrilling race.

(By the way Garrett, I like the back flips too)

[Garrett Duke]

C'mon Roger...did you have to curse JJ like that...you should have asked if his championship streak will continue and not end. Now IF he loses this year, I'll have you to blame. HA HA. I am really hoping that he can pass Hamlin and win the championship again. Would rather Gordon win his fifth championship before Johnson, but would rather Johnson win over the other two drivers that are in the hunt. My opinion of course. Know a lot of people would disagree with me on that, but he is my second favorite driver and he is now operating with Gordon's crew.

And since I put Edwards on my fantasy team for this upcoming...last race:cry:...I am highly hoping that he will be doing another backflip after Sunday's race.

[Garrett Duke]

Kasey Kahne won the pole for Sunday's race. . .the last race of the season. Johnson will start sixth over Hamlin and Harvick. (Harvick starts 28th and Hamlin starts 37th.) The Sprint Series race will be aired on ESPN at 1:00 EST on Sunday.

So...does any of you have any wild predictions for Sunday's race and who will win the championships? Or what would y'all like to see happen and to win...the race and the championship?

As for me, I would like to see Jeff Gordon win (imagine that) to end his winless streak plus to get a win at the only track he has yet to get a win at. If not, at least get a top five finish to end the season strong. It is also a track that Jimmie Johnson has yet to win at, but wouldn't hold that against him this year since he won his first race at Bristol this year as well as getting his first road race this year as well. Perhaps he'll break through and win at Homestead to be crowned the championship...Anyway...I would like to see both Gordon and Johnson have top five finishes and for JJ to get crowned the championship after Sunday's race. (Sorry GLG...know you'd go with Hamlin. )

I guess my prediction for the championship is, is that Jimmie Johnson will win his fifth championship in a row. Part of that is wishful thinking...but I also feel like Denny Hamlin and his team is worrying too much about Jimmie Johnson and his team. If he loses it, I feel, it is because of that. That they are worrying too much about Jimmie Johnson where as Jimmie Johnson and his team are doing what they have done the past five years...only worrying about themselves and what they are doing or not doing.

Anyone else watching on Sunday...and once again, would enjoy hearing y'alls predictions or what you'd like to see happen on Sunday.

(Sadly...NASCAR seems to be still dropping viewers on TV despite the tight chase. Those poor people that are missing out on all the action! )

Edited November 20, 2010 by Garrett Duke

[RogerDuke]

Here's my predictions for Sunday's race.

Johnson 2

Gordon 4

Harvick 5

Hamlin not in the top 10

translation: JJ wins his fifth in a row.

I don't know who will win the race but I just have a feeling it will be won by someone unexpected.

[Garrett Duke]

Here's my predictions for Sunday's race.

Johnson 2

Gordon 4

Harvick 5

Hamlin not in the top 10

translation: JJ wins his fifth in a row.

I don't know who will win the race but I just have a feeling it will be won by someone unexpected.

Roger - I like your prediction for for today's race. .The only problem I see with it is that you are predicting Gordon finishing fourth...can't he be your unexpected winner?:escape:LOL. Couldn't help myself. If Gordon finishes fourth...it's not a win, but I'll be happy. I hope he can move up into at least a top five in points at the end of the day and a fourth place finish may do that unless it is Kyle Busch or Edwards that is your unexpected winner! (Though Edwards is on my fantasy team...so if he wins, I'll be highly excited for him!) Great predictions, Roger...hope they ring true for JJ!

Thank-you Roger for posting your predictions...it means a lot to me!

[Garrett Duke]

Well Roger...think you ought to go out and buy yourself a lottery ticket...and share half of it with me of course! LOL. You came pretty darn close to your predictions for today's race...only two things you got wrong is Gordon finishing fourth and Harvick finishing fifth...though he finished third so you weren't too far off.

Well Homestead has come to an end and my count down has officially started...91 days until Daytona!!!! Dang that's a long time...am I the only one counting down days until Daytona? LOL.

Anyway...I do have teo admit, now that it is all said and done, that it was an exciting race. (I can finally breathe again! KHEE) All top three championship contenders...Hamlin, Johnson, and Harvick had thier ups and downs in today's race. Hamlin spun out in the first third of the race when he went up and got into Biffle. Hamlin stated it was Biffle coming down on him, but the way I saw it, was Hamlin went up into Biffle. That kicked out one of his splitters and gave him troubles throughout the race. Though he did make it up within the top ten since he had time to continually fix it but did face other troubles with his car throughout the race and he finished fourteenth.

Harvick as well had his troubles. Three fourths into the race he went into pits during a caution and his crew got him out first so it looked like he would at least lead a lap, only for NASCAR to state he got caught speeding into pits and had that lap lead to take away and put at the end of the longest line. Him and his crew were clearly upset. But what got me was that he hit the rear left tire changer of the 83 car...hit his leg and he had to be taken on a stretcher to the incare center and probably the hospital for xrays. . . what got me is that the announcers talked about it a couple of minutes, but that's all the attention they gave to the hurt crew member. They aired Harvick and his crew's frustration over the penalty, but no where did they air or show an apology from Harvick to the member...to me, hitting a crew member is worse than getting caught speeding. Harvick recovered quickly to finish third...

Also Harvick and Kyle Busch kept getting into each other through out the race it seems. (Kyle won owner points in the truck series and won last night's Nationwide Series race.) Well towards the end, Kyle went up supposedly thinking that had cleared Harvick, well Harvick freely admitted he didn't back up, and spun Kyle into the wall. Kyle's car caught on fire and luckily Kyle was able to climb out OK...though it looked really scary to me. The fire did.

Jimmie Johnson had a pretty clean day on the track, but even with the help of the number 24 crew, had pit troubles and slow pits that had lost him several positions during a few of his stops. He was able to race on to finish second behind Carl Edwards (who was my fantasy pick...) who led the most laps today.

After going 70 races without a win, Carl Edwards has won two races back to back. I like Carl. He's a great driver and person...my opinion. He's fun to watch do the back flip and now running through all them lucky fans! He said during his post race interview that he hurt his foot with his backflip...and something about having Aflack...which is one of his major sponsors.

Though have to say that as a Jeff Gordon fan...it was a very disappointing race to finish the season. He never had a car to compete for the win and towards the beginning of the race had called in that he dropped a cylinder and that went to his backup battery that didn't help him any. He stayed on track for a long time dropping laps and positions which was sad to watch. Then after halfway sometime...his engine blew and took him out of the race. Oh well guess I'll have to wait 91 more days to see him race for a win again . . .

Here is the top ten finishes of the final 2010 season:

1. Carl Edwards

2. Jimmie Johnson

3. Kevin Harvick

4. Aric Almirola

5. AJ Allmindinger

(Richard Petty will come out tomorrow with news of what they are planning for next year or if there will be a next year for them. At least he finished this season with a strong finish to the last race. Two of his three cars finished fourth and fifth today. )

6. Kasey Kahne

7. Ryan Newman

8. Tony Stewart

9. Matt Kenseth

10. Greg Biffle

(I will post championships and points in the Sprint Cup Point section just not to lengthen this any more than it is now. Please make sure to check that out and tell me what you think. )

[RogerDuke]

90 days and counting!

It looks like Garrett will be watching lots of Dukes episodes between now and then....especially the NASCAR themed episodes.

[Garrett Duke]

That may be a good way to occupy my time now without NASCAR to follow...especially since it was The Dukes that got me hooked on NASCAR. Still no Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson though...

[HossC]

Well Garrett, I watched the highlights today, and don't have a lot to add to what you're already written. I wasn't watching Hamlin's crash close enough to decide whose fault it was. As for Kyle Busch, he seemed to take ages to stop his car while his pit crew were yelling at him to get out because it was on fire.

With the hurt pit crew member, I only get the highlights, so maybe they didn't consider it worthy of more coverage, but it sounds like they didn't give any more time in the uncut version. In the BBC's F1 coverage (and ITV's before that) they have a couple of the commentary team based in the pit lane (very different layout to NASCAR), and when an incident like this occurs, one of them gets sent to the team garage to get the story.

Although the new F1 champion, Sebastian Vettel, wasn't mentioned by name, the fact the he'd won after never leading before the final race did come up in the commentary. Did I also hear a mention of Michael Schumacher's five F1 titles in a row (2000-04) get mentioned?. I may have imagined it .

[Garrett Duke]

Hmmm don't recall them talking about Michael Shumocker (Sp?) but then again, I didn't watch the highlights. Though Michael Shumocker was mentioned on Cars...the movie. LOL. Gotta love that movie.

Kyle Busch did take ages to get out of his wrecked car. I have to admit, I am NOT a Kyle Busch fan, but he had me worried and yelling at him to get out of his car. Am very glad to see him get out and walk around, to be OK. It was scary with all that fire and all.

They didn't talk that much at all about the pit road man getting hit other than a couple of minutes, if that. Felt like they made a bigger deal out of Kevin Harvick getting caught speeding than Harvick hitting the tire changer. Which Kevin being in the mix of the championship, getting caught speeding was a big deal, but think him hitting the crew member should have been a bigger deal.

****

OK I first saw this on Yahoo's! NASCAR page and then went and looked it up on Youtube.com (thanks Hoss for getting me hooked...lol)

I thought I would put it on here for y'all to see. It was interesting. Just a little background...NASCAR put it out there at the beginning of the season that they were going to allow the drivers to police themselves and have an "have at it, boys" attitude and not to step in as much as they were doing in order to get back TV ratings and race attendance. So the video is of some of the accidents or occurances that happened due to their have at it boys new rule. I found it interesting and some of it funny...even found myself laughing at Gordon shoving Burton. Anyway, let me know what you think... (They have them rapping when the drivers and Pembleton are talking)

(Warning...the drivers did swear a couple of times during the mix.)