Welcome, gay NASCAR fans! Sunday's race shook up the Chase yet again, with the victorious Jimmie Johnson shooting up five spots to the lead. Our DeVine 91/2 had a very respectable showing: In the top 10, we had Mark Martin, Ryan Newman, Elliott Sadler, Carl Edwards and Casey Mears! Very good, boys!
In the points, Mark and Elliott were both up three spots. Moving up one were Kasey Khane and Carl. Ryan, Casey, Brian Vickers and Dave Blaney held their positions. Michael Waltrip lost one spot. Jamie McMurray, Earnhart Jr. and Jeff Gordon lost two places. Oh, the humanity! What has happened to racing's hottest names?
The invocation Sunday was brought by the Rev. Dan Shaefer of the Calvary Assembly of God. He asked for a moment of silence to remember all the hurricane victims, and he prayed for our military and asked that they might come home soon. Amen to all that, preacher.
Warner Bros. recording artist Shannon Brown sang our National Anthem. Ryan had his big butt on the Bud pole, and everyone expected great things, especially since he'd taken Loudon and won Saturday's Busch race from the pole!
A lot of things happened in the race, but I was listening to it on the radio and cooking Sunday dinner, so let's really join up with the action toward the end, when, with just 50 to go, Mark was running just six car lengths behind the leader, Jimmie Johnson, and the Viagra Ford was actually a half-second faster! Ride yer pony, I'm sayin! The cars started heading in for their final pit stops, under green. Would they take two, or four? Yes. Yes, they would.
While Kurt Busch was pitting, Matt Kenseth hit the wall. We stayed green for a minute, then the caution came out for debris. On the way out, Kurt got caught for speeding on pit lane -- come back, Kurt, and serve your penalty! There was a restart with 11 to go, and out front were Jimmie, Kyle Busch and Mark. But then Joe Nemechek had him a nemewreck, setting up the green-white-check. Jimmie held on and won the race.
PARTY OVER HERE! PARTY OVER THERE!
Somebody please send me the secret recordings from that crazy afterparty at JJ's place! According to his handsome teammate Brian Vickers, a bunch of the Hendrick gang showed up at Jimmie's house on Sunday night for an impromtu celebration. Brian said they used a credit card to break into the house, then ordered food so the party would be in full effect when Jimmie rolled up! Now y'all that is sweet. If I ever win a NASCAR race, somebody please come by the crib and get it crunk for me!
CAR WARS 2, THE UMPIRE STRIKES BACK!
After Loudon, NASCAR was handing out penalties the way those MBNA clipboard people push credit cards at the track. We reported on the various punishments last week. But since then, Mikey and DEI have appealed Mikey's fine for shooting the bird, saying the video of the broadcast does not support NASCAR contention that he did. Stick to your guns, Mikey! NASCAR needs to get real -- even they could go broke trying to buy all the publicity that came from Loudon's feuds!
We saw Mikey and Robby Gordon on "Trackside" over the weekend, when Mikey autographed the helmet Robby threw and they all made nice. Later, I loved seeing Jeff Burton on Speed assuring the audience that Mikey and Robby were "Lying! They're lying!" when they said they'd made up!
Wow, we're back at Talladega! My memories of 'dega always start with my first season as a NASCAR fan, when the FOX broadcast from that speedway began with Jeff Hammond breathlessly shouting! "Running 200 mile an hour on a racetrack as steep as the roof of your house! This is Talladega!" It sure is, Jeff. It sure is! Let's all meet up down at the Track Bar, y'all!
Love,
Betty Jack DeVine
E ME at Bettyjack@gaytona.com
