I had this post written out in my head well before the race actually finished.
"Kurt Busch lead most of it. Jeff Gordon got ahead of him for a while, then Kurt passed him and won. The end."
Big mistake on my part. The drama of the closing laps actually made up for lack thereof preceding it, even with the same end result. Kurt not only deserved to win by dominating most of the race, he earned it by passing Carl Edwards in Overdrive and fending off Jeff Gordon to the checkers. Tire strategies, past track history, and desire to win were all in Busch’s rear view mirror by the finish. And then he grabs the flag and puts the car in reverse for a backwards "Polish Victory Lap." How could you keep a straight face watching that? Good show.
My alternate title for this post was going to be: "Chicken, Bacon, Ranch." Thank you Dominos for your nigh genius decision to put this combination on a pizza. It was a little pricey, but they kill entire chicken for the toppings. Swear. You will not be cheated in ordering this delicacy. Next up on the menu, Dominos’ BBQ Chicken pizza. Mmmm.
My second alternate title was going to be: "Dueling Gophers." The premise of this cartoon, NASCAR vs. F1, was dead on, along with the song. Maybe I should give up blogging the race and focus on the food and "Little Digger."
"Boat race," "checking out," "F1-style," "cruise control," I admit my failure as a writer. I can’t keep coming up with new metaphors to describe the lack of excitement of watching somebody get out front and drive away from the field. Is this going to be a problem at every race this year? Here come the short tracks on the schedule, and our last hope for lengthy, on-track battles for the lead.
This race, the NASCAR competition director decided that Yates engines would be the ones experiencing failures. I think Ganassi/DEI is next up, but this process is determined randomly just to be fair.
Ever notice how Mike, Larry, and Daryl call the pit stops with the pit crews changing tires on the car, but never filling up with them up with gas? It’s always "Sunoco Race Fuel." If I were Goodyear, I’d be pissed. If I were a fan, which I am, I’d find this behavior obnoxious enough as is.
I made this comment a couple of years ago in a baseball post and feel compelled to mention it again. I’m sick of all of the malfunctioning d*ck commercials shown during the broadcast. I watch sports to take my mind off my thing for a few blessed hours. Give me some peace already.
Credit where credit is belatedly due. This year Fox has been getting back to the race BEFORE the restart, instead of joining it in progress coming back from commercial. This has been a big gripe of mine. I should noticed and said something earlier. Then again, this never should have been an issue. We’ll see if this trend continues at caution-heavy Bristol in two weeks. ("Plenty of good seats still available." Who could have ever imagined somebody saying that about NASCAR’s most popular track?)
How could I possibly comment on a NASCAR race without mentioning Jr.’s performance? God knows, he just doesn’t get anywhere near enough attention during the race. Is once every 15 minutes for a guy running at the back of the lead lap all day truly exhaustive coverage? I’ll give Fox a pass on this one only because they caught that, "If my wheel comes off again, I’m comin’ back an’ hittin’ the entire crew over the head with a hammer," remark.
Man-Award: Given to the manliest driver on track today, obviously Martin Truex, Jr. Even passing kidney stones over the weekend and a heart attack in his crew couldn’t keep this Jr. from a top ten finish.
J.
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