U Want Some Racing

Hello Race Fans-

   Another drought is over! Congrats to Mark Martin on his 36th career win. It has been 97 races since his last win. This is his 1st win in a Chevy, the 3rd straight Hendrick win and the 1st win with an owner other than Jack Roush.  Kinda cool, I think.  Mark led the most laps(157), and was strong all day long. Just a great demonstration of power, smarts & smoothness. Also very note-worthy, Mark Martin is only the 3rd Driver to win at age 50 or older. Harry Gant won 8 races after his 50th birthday, Morgan Shepherd won 1. I still wish that Mark would have done a big-ass burn-out.

   Tony Stewart had a great race again. This is his 6th top 10 this year with his finish of 2nd at Phoenix. He moves up 1 spot to 4th in the standings.

   Kurt Busch finishes 3rd. This is his 5th top ten this year. Stays in 3rd in the standings.

   Jimmie Johnson, with his 4th place finish at Phoenix,  had his 6th top 10 and 4th straight top 4 finish of the year, remains 2nd in the standings, and closes the gap on Jeff Gordon.  Look out. I think this guy is just getting warmed up.

   David Reutimann in 8th. This guy seems to be for real this year. This was his 2nd top 10 of the year.

   Sam Hornish in 9th???  I’m speechless!

   Jeff , Jr., Kyle Busch and everyone under the R.C.R. banner all had pretty bad days, the best being Jeff  Burton at 15th. There was a big shake-up at R.C.R. this week. The entire crews of the #29 & #07 were swapped. Word is,  Kevin Harvick and Crew Cheif  Todd Berrier  had some pretty harsh words for each other at Phoenix. Hmmmmm. 

   I  think that Mr. Hendrick needs to address the issues that his teams are having on pit road. I heard a wild rumor today about a Crew Chief swap here between the #5 car(Alan Gustafson) & the #88 car(Tony EuryJr.) . I don’t buy it-yet, especially after Mark’s win this weekend,  and it is being strongly denied by Rick Hendrick.

   Jr. and Casey Mears are both on a 6 race probation for their antics after the race, during the cool-down lap. Thats nothing, and in my opinion, it was worth it. I love this kind of stuff!  Makes one want to watch the next race to see if this is over or not. Sorry, I’m just old-school on this, I love the temper and retaliation action, as long as it is done in a non-dangerous situation.(not at full song, and not on pit road) 

   Next up is Talladega!!!!

 Should be good race.

 Jeff Gordon has 4 wins in the last 10 races. There are a lot of good choices here for the win. Of course Jr. is always a threat here. Kurt Busch, Tony, Jimmie, Harvick, Newman, & McMurray also like this track. I’m going way out on a limb here. My pick is David Reutimann.  Alright, I hear the laughter out there. I know that he has only raced here 4 times at the Cup level and has not even come close to the top 10. Just have a feeling.

   I know there was alot of other things going on this week, so if you want to bring something else up, post a reply, and we’ll hash it out.  That’s what I think this week, what do you think?