Michigan in Minutes

Originally Posted on June 18, 2006 on Foxsports.com

Nascar's halfway rule wrecks havoc on races.  Basically, the race is official once 1/2 the laps have been completed.  Thus, today at Michigan, the race was deemed complete at 127 laps of an advertised 200 lap event.

The rule causes crew chiefs to gamble on when or if the race will be called.  It causes cars to not pit when damage would dictate they should (remember Jeff Burton winning in a car he couldn't drive due to an accident that happened when the red flag for rain came out?).   It leads to cars who haven't been running up front to be in the top ten. 

In short, it's racing at its most gambling, nail-biting, and interesting.

Kasey Kahne:  Kahne was the beneficiary of the race being called early.  In practice, Kahne had scraped the wall, but his crews made repairs.  He had a few problems through the race, but as the pole sitter, it was clear he had a fast car.

Greg Biffle:  Biffle has come back from his early season woes.  His top ten finish means he is now 10th in points.  Now he needs to put some distance between himself and the teams trying to get in the top ten.

Matt Kenseth:  This team had another day of semi-misfortune, and appropriately  finished 13th.  This team is still quietly looking like one to be reckoned with for the championship.

Jimmie Johnson:  After ticking off his teammate/owner, Jeff Gordon, Johnson, eventually passed Gordon, ran a good race and finished 6th.  I'd like to hear the decision between these two teams about Gordon's comments.  My money would be on Chad Knaus.

Dale Earnhardt Jr - Junior has not run well at this track lately (he had the pole in 2002), but finished 3rd.  Am I the only one who likes the retro paint scheme better than the Red Bud scheme?  In a related note, Junior got back the rights to his name from Teresa Earnhardt.  Junior had signed the rights over to his father prior to his death, as a part of his estate, they fell to Teresa.  It appears that this was all worked out at the family level - both then and now. 

Tony Stewart: His wise crew chief gave Stewart a sludge hammer and a job banging out sheet metal after his crash early in the race.  This brilliant idea prevented Stewart from talking to the media, venting on the crew, and worked out the aggravation Stewart felt from Jeff Green's part in the crash.  By the time he was back on the track, he was fine.

Elliott Sadler:  Finished 22nd.  What is wrong with this team?  They don't seem to have hit on a good set up either in qualifying or race trim.

Carl Edwards:  Edwards had a rough night  in the Busch race last night at Kentucky.  However, he made up for it today in finishing 2nd.

In other racing news:

David Gilliland:  Shocked the Busch field by winning in his unsponsored car.  He took the lead from JJ Yeley with 10 laps to go. 

Jeff Fuller:  He had a hard collison with the inside wall during the Busch race.  He was taken to the hospital, and reports were conflicting as to whether he has been released.  Initial reports were that he had smoke inhalation.  Hopefully he will recover soon.

Fred Brownfield:  Brownfield was killed at his race track last week.  He was the main promoter and go-getter for the National Sprint Tour.  His death will mean difficulties at best, and the end of the NST at worst.

AJ Allmendinger:  won at the Champ Car World Series at Portland today.  The win broke Sebastian Bourdais' four race win streak.  It has been 2 yrs since an American won.  In an amazing Cinderella story, last week Allmendinger lost his ride with RuSport. He turned around and got a 2 race deal with Forsythe.  It is safe to say that it will probably be extended.