Welcome, gay NASCAR fans! Congratulations to the DeVine 9 1/2's own Carl Edwards, who scored a big win in his first-ever start at Pocono! Carl had never even laid eyes on the track until Friday, and he became only the second driver to win in his first Pocono outing. Way to go, Carl!
Our guys showed out good Sunday: We had six in the top 10! In the points, we've got six guys in the top 10 and seven who would be eligible for the Chase if it were time for the Chase. Our Mack Daddy of the Week is Carl Edwards, who stepped up five big places to backflip his way into 4th. This week's Coulda Shoulda Woulda award goes to Mikey Waltrip, who sat on the pole -- his first in 459 races -- and looked -- as he dominated in the early laps -- like he might score a much-needed win.
Going into the race, of course, the big talk was of a continuation of the Dover feud between Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon. Tony, you'll remember, wrecked Jeff out early, then basically called Jeff a little baby for complaining about it. In interviews, the guys allowed that they had traded voicemails but had not really spoken until the driver introductions.
The invocation Sunday was brought by Father Dan Brisco. The US Army Chorus provided a very patriotic National Anthem. There was a supercute front row, with Mikey on the inside and Jamie on the outside. Mikey grabbed the lead and held onto it, giving courage to all those Mikey fans who get so tired of seeing him knocked around every week. In the early going, this race looked like it might be all Mikey, all the time! At lap 28, the caution flew for the now-familiar Kurt Busch early-lap spin-o-rama, this week catching up Terry Labonte. Brian Vickers took the lead on pit lane!
At lap 44, there was a big -- for Pocono -- wreck as Jason Wreckler, driving that FedRex car, got a flat left front that put him into the wall. On the way back down the track, Jason hit Dave Blaney and Brendan Gaughan got Kyle Petty. Cars went digging through the grass and looked like they might go flipping but did not. Note the tire -- left front -- an element that would stay in play all day.
At lap 57, Jr. had a flat left front and came in under green. In a truly crazy move, Jr. elects to take only left side tires and heads back out. Just 10 laps later, Jr.'s left front went down again, this time causing a mighty "tar far" (tire fire). As Jr. guided the firey mess toward pit lane, DW opined, "He better drive that thing up to the fire truck!" This time, caution is out.
When the green flag waved, Brian Vickers was the leader. At lap 76, Kasey had a flat left front. The same problem hits Ricky Rudd at lap 83. At lap 90, caution came out for the spinning Kasey. When we went back to green, Brian continued to lead, looking more and more like a winner all the time. At lap 103, Tony Stewart became the next victim of the bad tire thingy, going down on the left front. Then, at lap 106, Carl took the lead!
Next, tire problems hit Kasey, then Scott Riggs (caution). Brian wins the race off pit road! At lap 139, Biffle pulled into pit road, complaining that he has no brakes. At lap 141, Carl took the lead from Brian. At lap 146, the crashing Kevin Lapage brought out the sixth caution. Carl won the race off pit road, then Brian took it back.
Now the guys were making what they hoped would be their final pit stops. Elliott took four tires -- and, unfortunately, a penalty for speeding on pit road. Some took two, some took four. Carl was leading at lap 185 when he came in for two and fuel. Two laps after his two-tire stop, Kurt Busch was back on pit road with... you got it, a blown left front!
Carl was leading when Ryan's cut left front sent him careening into the wall, bringing out the caution. A Bobby Labonte crash brought out the caution again, giving us a green-white-checkers finish. Parking his car right on the stripe, Carl gave the fans the crazy backflip they've come to love! Go Carl!
ANIMAL, VEGETABLE OR FABRIC?
As Sunday's blow-out continued, the FOX announcers began blaming the tire problems on the stuff that's put down on the inside stripe to warn the guys they're leaving the racing surface. But the first mention of the material used on the stripe was "corduroy," followed by "rumble strips" and "alligator teeth."
Whatever it was, it was no friend to the Goodyears. As the problems continued, it was downright wierd to see teams coming in to pit and driving back out with the same worn lefts just to hold onto those few seconds. Wonder if they'd have made the same calls if they were watching TV?
ALWAYS A DUDE'S DUDE
From being such a dominating force last year, Baby E has really fallen and fallen hard. In his post-race interview, Jr. was so downcast and dejected. Racecar driving is scary and hard, and it must be really awful to try so hard and have such disappointing results as the #8 team has had this year.
At this point, Jr. would need to pick up 104 points even to squeak into the Chase under the 400-point rule. But we believe he can pull it out! If anybody needs another reason to love Jr., he gave us one during his interview in the "10 Laps With..." segment Sunday.
Asked to reveal "something people don't know about you," Jr. replied, "I don't like it when people use racial slurs around me." Sweet, dude. So many people look up to this guy -- it's great to see him using his superpowers for good.
That's it for this week friends. See you next week up by Motown! Let's all meet up down at the Track Bar!
Love,
Betty Jack DeVine
E ME at Bettyjack@gaytona.com
