FIVE LAPS: Friday at Martinsville
Lap 1: The best thing you'll read all weekend is Dustin Long's interview with Kyle Petty. (This is the latest in his series of what used to be called "In Their Words." Stop now and go read it. I'll wait.
Lap 2: I used to pick on Jason Leffler for two reasons. First, because he was so hapless in the No. 11, a Big Team ride, that Denny Hamlin has put in the Chase twice in two years. Second, in a series of commercials announcing its sponsorship, FedEx mentioned only the No. 11 car and not the driver. (It was as if no one was driving it. Which, considering the No. 11's performance in 2005, was pretty close to accurate.) Now that Leffler's doing pretty well in the Buschwide Series, I need a new whipping boy. My pick in a thread from earlier this week was Sam Hornish Jr., who followed a top 15 Daytona with two outside-the-top-40s. He's on a good team with good equipment and he has an Indy 500 trophy. That doesn't mean he'll succeed in the Drive Fast Turn Left series, but it suggests he shouldn't stink so bad. Anyhoo, is Hornish the best candidate for constant scorn and ridicule in this space, or do you have someone else in mind?
More after the jump ...
Lap 3: I got to see my first president, current or former, today. Doug Clark, one of our editorial writers, has a take on it. Doug's right: Say what you want about Bill Clinton, but the guy loves him some campaignin', and he's very good at it.
Lap 4: If you're heading up 220 to Martinsville for Sunday's race, bring some thermals. The weather's going to be crap -- 49 degrees and maybe some showers. Might want to clear your Monday schedule.
Lap 5: This can't be good news about Elliott Sadler. It's his hometown track, for one. The other is that Sadler hasn't done bupkus since leaving Yates halfway through the 2006 season. Sadler was never a great driver, but he did have a very respectable 26 top 10s in 2004 and 2005. The guy hasn't seen the top 5, much less victory lane, since the 2006 Daytona 500, and he has only 5 top 5s in 55 races for Evernham. Weird.
Green-white-checkers: I predict that the Hendrick-is-struggling story line will vanish after this weekend. Look for Four-Time, Two-Time and Junior to run in the top 10 all day Sunday.
Comments (1)
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Unfortunately it looks like Kyle must have been reading Dustin's article while he was trying to qualify.
Thanks for pointing out for me that Leffler is still in the Busch series, well Nationwide.
As far as topic 3, that guy's wife will cause me to vote as a Democrat for only the 2nd time in my 32 years of voting eligibility. Hopefully after May she'll go back to NY and stay there.
The first time I voted for a Democrat was back in the 80's when I heard that a Gant was running for the Senate against Jesse Helms. Imagine my surprise when I found out it wasn't Harry, but instead was Harvey.
Posted on March 28, 2008 10:45 PM