Welcome, gay NASCAR fans! Congratulations to Sunday's winner, the DeVine 91/2's very own Jeff Gordon! There was a lot of action at Martinsville, and yes, our boys struggled again, but when the checkers waved we had ALL top four guys -- Jeff, Kasey, Mark and Ryan -- with Elliott in 9th. In the points, we've got four guys in the top 10, with Carl Edwards in 11th.
This early in the season, it's hard to think about people who already no longer have even a rat's chance of making it into the Chase. But NASCAR is tracking that information with a grim awareness of what can and cannot be, and sadly, Mikey and Brian are now names on the dark side of that golden bar. But hey, that's not going to stop us from pulling for them anyway!
I missed the invocation and National Anthem on Sunday -- don't know how that happened. The start command was given via satellite by a few of the luckless thousands of American troops sent by Bush to secure our endless supply of cheap gas. Hey Bush -- where is that cheap gas at, anyway? Because it's not in Atlanta, I can tell you that.
The "first lap wreck" -- likely a huge hit with channel surfers -- is getting to be a NASCAR tradition. We're up to three races in a row now, right? This week, it started when polesitter Scott Riggs and Ryan got to slapping at each other, then Ryan cut down a tire and brought out the caution. We weren't green for long when Jeff Green went for a spin on lap 11. Here, Ryan got the lucky dog pass. Jeremy Mayfield led for a while. At lap 46, Jeff Gordon came in under green to fix a tire vibration, going two laps down. At lap 57, Carl Edwards -- talk about changed luck, wow, Atlanta must seem like ages ago -- cut a tire and went for a spin. Mikey got the lucky dog this time. But there was even more trouble for Carl at lap 68: After his steering locked up, he spun and got hit by Hermie Sadler. Still more hard luck for the team: On lap 88, Mikey went ass-first into turn 1 after a bump from Jeff Green. Another caution waved for Dave Blaney's flat tire at lap 126.
At lap 181, it was time to say "Biffle Got 'em" as the spinning #16 took out our Brian Vickers! And this guy is second in the points? Tony Stewart led for a while. rolling over for Jeremy at lap 204, then taking it back at 225. At lap 256, Joe Nemechek's blown tire brings out the eighth caution. The next was for Sterling Marlin, who spun after contact from Elliott Sadler. At 283, Jr., who'd known he had a tire going down, spun to bring out the caution but stayed on the lead lap. The 11th caution was for Jeff Green's spin at lap 321, and the 12th was for Kyle Petty, who spun on a bad rear tire at lap 388. The next spinner was Dale Jarrett, for the 13th caution at lap 404. Then, at lap 432, Tony Stewart's right-front tire comes off and bounces around the track! Wild, man! Also during the race, Kyle Busch lost a tire and Jason Leffler ran right over it at full speed.
The biggest controversy of the day at lap 447, when Jeff Gordon nudged underneath the door of Kurt Bush and sent the #97 into a spin. (Later, Jeff said "I really hate it for the 97," which I think is similar to saying "it sucks to be you.") Then, after being three whole laps down, Jeff took the lead at lap 466. He held on through the day's final caution -- for Travis Kvapil's blown engine at lap 491 -- to take his sixth Martinsville win and the 71st of his Cup career.
I feel so sorry for anyone who wins this race six times and has to do something with six of those grandfather clocks they give the Martinsville winner! Can you think of any piece of furniture you'd less rather have? When those clocks strike 12 at Jeff's house everyday, it must be louder than a majestic carillon concert at Bok Tower.
GAYTONA IN THE PRESS!
I was delighted this week that Gaytona was beautifully written up by Tricia Garner in The Sporting News! (April 15th edition - the one with the great ariticle about Dave Blaney) No kidding! Tricia did a cute little bit in the mag's section "FanScape -- A Lifestyle Guide for the Dedicated Nonathlete." She declared Gaytona "colorful" and "hilarious"! Can you imagine? Trish, honey, you need to come down to Atlanta or Daytona and we'll show you how we really do it!
THE OTHER SIDE OF KYLE
Petty, that is. FOX's usually cringe-making "10 Laps With..." feature this week took us inside the mind of driver #45, and we liked what we saw. In particular, it was quite a surprise when Kyle revealed what he's reading: He said he's been in a Truman Capote phase and had just finished "In Cold Blood" and started "Breakfast at Tiffany's." Well! We love a guy who knows that reading is fundamental, and especially any fan of the darling, devilish TC.
That's it for this week, friends. I've enjoyed our short-track adventures but will be glad to see them hit 200 mph again next week at Texas. Let's all meet up down at the Track Bar!
Love,
Betty Jack DeVine
E ME at Bettyjack@gaytona.com
