Bristol
That was a pretty good race. Not quite as good as the Atlanta finish two weeks ago, but it was a classic short-track race: Lots of bumpin' and bangin', a little finger-pointing and some good hard racing.
The highlights:
Your winner: Kevin Harvick. Hard to believe it's the first time he's been in victory lane since August 2003. And who needs a stinkin' crew chief anyway?
DEI fans, you can come down on the ledge. Junior finished fourth and moved up nine spots to 17th in points. Michael Waltrip was 19th, but he looked good when he wasn't being run into.
Jimmie Johnson owes Jeff Burton and Kurt Busch a big fat apology. The Burton-Busch head-on was one of the roughest crashes I've seen in a while, and I'll be surprised if neither has any lasting damage. No, I don't think Johnson's nudge of Burton was payback for the Harvick (Burton's teammate) bump-draft incident at Daytona. It was just a case of Johnson being careless. He knows better.
Nope, not a misprint. Kyle Petty finished 8th. I was very glad to see that.
Chase update: Only 30 drivers now within the magic 400 point window. Falling out of the Chase this week: Joe Nemecheck, Ken Schrader, Bobby Hamilton Jr., Jason Leffler and Kevin Lepage. Sure, a driver can claw his way back in to the Chase. But none of these guys is likely to do so, especially since Jimmie Johnson can't seem to finish worse than sixth these days.
Monday noon update: Dustin's race story is here. And he's got some notes here on Elliott Sadler, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Petty and Jeff Burton.
Monday 1:50 p.m. update: Guess Kevin Harvick really, really likes Bristol, because he just won the Busch race. Runner-up was Jeff Burton, who apparently isn't feeling any effects from yesterday. Burton, incidently, was driving Harvick's No. 21 car.
Comments (5)
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I enjoyed the race, sure provided for some entertainment and good racing. A real shame for Rusty, who more than likely had the best car there. Rusty was a bullet. Jimmie Johnson is proving to be one of the most disrespectful drivers on the track. I'm not sold on him as a driver as much as I am on the 48 team and Hendrick being the best in the business. Makes you wonder why guys like Vickers and Kyle Busch don't have that same sort of stuff...
Posted on April 4, 2005 1:40 PM
Matt, you mean you get annoyed by Johnson's "what me" act. I think the only person who can do this act better drives the 24.
Posted on April 4, 2005 1:45 PM
Have either of y'all seen any public apology from the Johnson camp? I can't seem to find one (though I haven't looked all that hard).
This is the only thing I found on Johnson's official (www.lowesracing.com) site:
Like all Bristol races, Johnson endured many close calls. He and the lapped car driven by Jeff Burton made contact sending Burton into the wall and ending his day. Johnson apologized over the team radio.
I think Johnson can appear a little more charitable, especially since he's put all but the top 10 out of the Chase by the time they reach Darlington.
Posted on April 4, 2005 2:05 PM
I visited your blog as a research project for college.i am to evaluate it of all the blogs this is the best I'm a nascar idiot i practically live and breath it the bad thing is i haven't found many other fans out here in Oklahoma panhandle but if I can come here and trash ole DW that's cool
Posted on April 9, 2005 12:16 PM
Thanks for the props, Rowdy.
You know, you might live in about the only part of the country where there's absolutely no talk of building a NASCAR track.
Feel free to trash DW. 'Course, we might have to see if he'll swing by to trash you right back. ;)
Posted on April 11, 2005 11:07 AM