Let's Get Ready To Chase!!!!

So I think everyone can stop feeling soooo sorry for Tony Stewart now. With two wins in a row he is now fifth in points. Stewart has come on strong as usual with the race year winding down, and will be a serious threat for the championship this year. Stewart has always been a momentum driver anyway, when Stewart's on he's the best, but when he gets down he often times has trouble getting back up. Remember, if they had let twelve drivers into the chase last year like they do now, Stewart would have probably won the championship with how hot he got late.

Hendrick Motorsports still has to be the favorite though, with Jeff Gordon getting a third place finish and Kyle Busch getting fourth. Gordon's point lead continues to grow, and with him being tied with the most wins (four wins), will most likely be in the lead once the chase starts. Reigning champ Jimmie Johnson is having an unfortunate stretch of races, with a DNF today after his car was engulfed in flames, but is still ninth in points and once the chase starts, will most likely have a decent point advantage as well with his four wins so far. It is a bad time to start losing momentum however, and it is conceivable that he could miss the chase entirely if he cannot get away from all of the bad luck that he has been having.

Denny Hamlim FINALLY Gets the Win

Finally the driver who has led the most laps in a car of tomorrow comes home with a victory. After getting robbed what seems like every week, the best young driver on the Nextel Cup circuit gets his first win of the season, barely holding off points leader Jeff Gordon. This win is the third of his Nextel cup career, and the only non-Pocono win of his Cup career.
Ironically, this week he actually did not have the fastest car. His two-tire pit stop (instead of 4 like everyone else) put him out front, where he would stay for the remainder of the day. Carl Edwards' car looked like it was ready to dominate the race, but a 47 second pit stop ended his hopes for a win quickly. Gordon also had a fast car, but had trouble getting around Treux Jr. in the last 20 laps, and was not left with enough time to get past Hamlin.

A Road Course is Still a Road Course For Montoya

The rookie driver who had yet to lead a lap all season finally came through and not only led a few laps, but ended up winning the race at Sonoma. Juan Pablo Montoya won his first Nextel Cup race today at Sonoma, a track that is usually owned by Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon. Despite Juan being a rookie, it is no real surprise that experienced road racer was able to get to victory lane.
Fuel Mileage again played a major role in the outcome of the race, with many drivers running out of gas in the last 10 laps. Despite running hard against Jamie Mcmurray and finally taking the lead away from him, Juan somehow saved enough fuel to finish the race with a victory, holding off an ever-waiting Kevin Harvick (who had much more fuel to work with).
RCR cars actually finished 2nd, 3rd, and 4th with Boyer getting another good finish this year at 4th. Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon got 6th and 7th. Stewart had messed up early in the race and skidded into the dirt losing about 20 spots. Gordon obviously having to come from 41st the whole race to get his top 10. Penalties for the 24 and 48 teams' infractions are expected early this week. Jimmie Johnson finished 17th.

Dale Earnhardt Jr to the "Evil Empire"

Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans have never been so conflicted in their lives. The NASCAR world is a complete buzz. Spend two seconds in a racing chat room and you'll here everything from "good for Jr." to "I'm never watching racing again." People have put so much of their racing lives into the rivalry that has become of the Earnhardts and Jeff Gordon that the thought of them being teammates is pretty hard to imagine.
In the history of NASCAR I don't think there has been a driver who is more loved than Earnhardt Jr. He is the son of one of the most controversial drivers who died in the Daytona 500 in 2001. Having said that, I'm not sure if there has been a driver in the history of NASCAR more hated than Jeff Gordon (at least by Earnhardt fans). It's not that there is anything wrong with Gordon, but hey there's got to be a bad guy so why not some pretty boy from California (or Indiana depending on who you ask) who likes to where rainbow colors and always wins. Now, take those two drivers and team them up.
I have to wonder what the NASCAR brass thinks about this. In one hand you have NASCAR's most popular driver going to an organization that really knows how to win: so therefore Dale will win. So up go the sales right? Still, I have to imagine that NASCAR would have loved being able to market a great rivalry between Jeff Gordon and Dale Jr. A week to week square off like Sr. and Gordon had for a little while. During the press conference Jr. said that he thinks that he can still compete against Gordon, but it is never quite the same when they are teammates, when you know they are friends behind the scenes. A friendly competition between friends instead of a deep hatred between two drivers that we as fans love to create . If anything, it will definitely be interesting to see how 2008 unfolds.

Does Nascar Have a Rulebook?

Another race with a controversial ending and I am beginning to get sick of NASCAR picking and choosing when to throw a caution. With just a few laps before the halfway point at Pocono Jimmie Johnson blew a tire and had to drive pretty much the whole track with sparks flying and other cars driving out wide to keep clear. NASCAR did not deem this to be enough of a reason for a yellow, even though they had called a caution instantly when Robby Gordon had a flat in a similar situation earlier. As a result of that caution not being called, enough green flag laps were run to ensure that the drivers would pass the halfway point in the race, and in turn would end once the rain began. And who was the leader in the end? Jeff Gordon.
Now I'm not going to lie, I think that it is a complete coincidence that Gordon was the leader in the end, I don't believe that Nascar has any favoritism towards him as opposed to Ryan Newman or any of the other drivers. The strategy of short pitting in this situation was nothing short of a genius move by Jeff Gordon's crew chief Steve Letarte (though I may have been calling him an idiot if it hadn't worked out). I think those conspiracy theories are all just excuses because people hate to admit that Gordon knows how to win a race better than any other driver in the modern era.
Having said that though, it has become very apparent to me that NASCAR does like to bend their own rules to fit the situation as far as providing the most entertainment. I will admit, not knowing when it was going to rain and who was going to be out front when it did was the most exciting part of the whole race, and a caution would probably have ruined that. I'm just not sure if that makes it right or not. If they want to throw cautions all the time for nothing, then throw cautions all the time for nothing. If they want to try to keep as many green flag laps as possible and not throw a lot of cautions then do that, but make up your damn mind NASCAR. As the sport is growing, and more and more people are becoming interested in it, I think that consistency will become more and more important in its legitimacy to share a Sunday with the NFL.

Jeff Gordon Wins at a Rainy Pocono

Jeff Gordon gets his fourth win of the season at Pocono today with pit strategy and a little luck from mother nature. It looks like nothing can go wrong for the #24 team of Jeff Gordon this season. Even starting 18th, at a track where passing is rare due to the long straightaways and high speeds, Jeff managed to move up in the field enough to put him in the position for him and crew chief Steve Letarte to make a critical and risky decision with impending rains coming into the area. They decided to short-pit along with teammate Casey Mears and others on lap 64 in hopes that they would luck into a rain, a rain that would conclude the race early and give them the lead despite faster cars such as Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlim, and Tony Stewart. The plan worked out, with rain coming and the race being called on lap 106, Gordon comes away with another win, his fourth of the season: tying him with Jimmie Johnson for the most wins so far this season.
It was an extremely risky call, but when you have a point lead like Gordon does you can afford to take some chances. If the race had gone green it is very unlikely that Gordon would have won, or even finished the race since he was developing brake problems early on that he said himself probably wouldn't have lasted. Denny Hamlin had a strong car as he did in the two Pocono races that he swept last year, but was passed by pole-sitter Ryan Newman, who in the end was able to catch up with Gordon and probably would have passed him within a lap or so of when the race was called. Martin Treux Jr. also had another good day, running third, a good showing a week after winning his first race. Casey Mears (also only two weeks off his first win just 2 weeks ago) and Tony Stewart rounded out the top 5. It was the most exciting victory at Pocono in years even if it was cut in half.