FenderBumper
The "good old days" ??
Anyone who didn't think Sundays ending wasn't real racing, you may want to stock up on Tums for the regular season. This is exactly what NASCAR want's, and it's what I want too. I want guys going all out for the win in the situation we saw at the end of the Martinsville race. The only thing I'm pissed about is the stupidity of the #10 team, but that's part of the show. This is the regular season, so have at it should be in full effect and the hell with the boring gentlemans agreements that almost killed the whole show.
Yeah, it sucks that JG got caught out on old tires when he had HMS' 200th wrapped up. It sucks that Reutimann limped around on an engine he knew was blowing up when there was so little to gain. It sure benefited SHR though. There's a conspiracy theory for you. Did Ryan cause the wreck? Did Bowyer make a bad move? Was Jeff blocking to much when there was no chance he would win? Was Jr part of the problem pushing the #2 car into the 48, messing up his entry into turn 1 so bad he ended up driving down and running into the 24?
Lets face it, we'll be talking about this race for a long time. These are the kind of races NASCAR has to go back 10 or 15 years to find enough clips to play and promote the sport.
IMO, NASCAR at it's best isn't purest racing, it's a show about racing. Disorganized pit road, no set speed on pit road, double file restarts, shadey tires, etc, are all there to add drama. We sure got drama, and I enjoyed it. If I want to see purest racing, I'll watch open wheel where they divide the track and stewards tell you to go back 6 spaces when you're a bad boy.
We NEED more short track! You can't have this kind of action in 140 mph turns.
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Here's what I saw on Sunday.
2 dominate cars caught out in front on old tires.....120 Martinsvile laps old. They didn't have a chance to win, but they had to try. A wreck behind them was their only hope, but it wasn't meant to be. So Jeff came over the start-finish line, and immedietly began blocking Bowyer. Ryan ran into Clint, because Jeff and JJ were so slow. JJ was extra slow because Jr was ramming Kez into his bumper and he couldn't get hooked up. That made him enter turn 1 very late with little chance of adjusting to what was going on with JG and Clint.
Ryan didn't push Clint under or into Jeff. That's BS. Ryan backed way off, and Clint decided to come down to block Ryan. He quickly got a big run on JG and got alongside before the turn. Jeff's and Clints front bumpers are almost even entering the turn, so Clint had enough of his car under Jeff for Gordon to realize he had to adjust his line. He didn't. You can clearly see Jeff right on Bowyers side, and he runs him onto the curb. Jeff knows how that ends at Martinsville. Clint came up and they both started to slide. It looks like they may have recovered, but at that moment, JJ comes down and hits Jeffs right side, which ends with all 3 turning sideways.
Jeff actually comes out OK, after making sure he took Bowyer out. He had a shot at a top 5 until he ran out of gas. Meanwhile. JR runs into Kez twice and moves him out of the way and rams his way to 3rd. Nice move. I love seeing that aggression from Jr, and I think Brad assumed that the yellow was out. Bad judgement on his part. You have to push foward until your spotter says the yellow is out.
In the end, Jeff was the guy who could have done himself a favor by giving Clint just a bit more room and save the car for turn 3, where he had an excuse to dive under Clint and maybe bump him out of the way. But emotions run high, and there seemed to be little thinking going on during that restart. They guy who showed patience lost 5 spots.
The lesson is clear.
Yeah, it sucks that JG got caught out on old tires when he had HMS' 200th wrapped up. It sucks that Reutimann limped around on an engine he knew was blowing up when there was so little to gain. It sure benefited SHR though. There's a conspiracy theory for you. Did Ryan cause the wreck? Did Bowyer make a bad move? Was Jeff blocking to much when there was no chance he would win? Was Jr part of the problem pushing the #2 car into the 48, messing up his entry into turn 1 so bad he ended up driving down and running into the 24?
Lets face it, we'll be talking about this race for a long time. These are the kind of races NASCAR has to go back 10 or 15 years to find enough clips to play and promote the sport.
IMO, NASCAR at it's best isn't purest racing, it's a show about racing. Disorganized pit road, no set speed on pit road, double file restarts, shadey tires, etc, are all there to add drama. We sure got drama, and I enjoyed it. If I want to see purest racing, I'll watch open wheel where they divide the track and stewards tell you to go back 6 spaces when you're a bad boy.
We NEED more short track! You can't have this kind of action in 140 mph turns.
----------------------------------
Here's what I saw on Sunday.
2 dominate cars caught out in front on old tires.....120 Martinsvile laps old. They didn't have a chance to win, but they had to try. A wreck behind them was their only hope, but it wasn't meant to be. So Jeff came over the start-finish line, and immedietly began blocking Bowyer. Ryan ran into Clint, because Jeff and JJ were so slow. JJ was extra slow because Jr was ramming Kez into his bumper and he couldn't get hooked up. That made him enter turn 1 very late with little chance of adjusting to what was going on with JG and Clint.
Ryan didn't push Clint under or into Jeff. That's BS. Ryan backed way off, and Clint decided to come down to block Ryan. He quickly got a big run on JG and got alongside before the turn. Jeff's and Clints front bumpers are almost even entering the turn, so Clint had enough of his car under Jeff for Gordon to realize he had to adjust his line. He didn't. You can clearly see Jeff right on Bowyers side, and he runs him onto the curb. Jeff knows how that ends at Martinsville. Clint came up and they both started to slide. It looks like they may have recovered, but at that moment, JJ comes down and hits Jeffs right side, which ends with all 3 turning sideways.
Jeff actually comes out OK, after making sure he took Bowyer out. He had a shot at a top 5 until he ran out of gas. Meanwhile. JR runs into Kez twice and moves him out of the way and rams his way to 3rd. Nice move. I love seeing that aggression from Jr, and I think Brad assumed that the yellow was out. Bad judgement on his part. You have to push foward until your spotter says the yellow is out.
In the end, Jeff was the guy who could have done himself a favor by giving Clint just a bit more room and save the car for turn 3, where he had an excuse to dive under Clint and maybe bump him out of the way. But emotions run high, and there seemed to be little thinking going on during that restart. They guy who showed patience lost 5 spots.
The lesson is clear.
