GFS Marketplace 400 : What I Saw
Things that caught my eye in Sunday’s GFS Marketplace 400 from Michigan International Speedway:
Oh, for 10 more laps! Or perhaps one of those late race cautions. Both Gordon and Kenseth sounded cordial about their previous run-ins when questioned about it after the race, but one wonders how cordial things would have been if Gordon could have gotten to the #17’s rear bumper…
Gosh things are getting tense for this chase. Seeing the hit that Jeff Burton took today must be sobering to everyone involved and I doubt many of these guys are getting much sleep. Third place Kevin Harvick is only 166 points from being out of the chase - that’s crazy! Oh and Bristol is next. Hold on to your calculators…
Speaking of Bristol, this upcoming race will be the last one at Bristol featuring Nextel Cup cars as we’ve come to recognize them. The Car of Tomorrow will make its debut there next Spring. Don’t think it will matter much to anyone but the fabricators since the aero effect of the cars on the high-banked half-mile will be negligible. But when the CoT makes its way to tracks like MIS things will be different…
Everyone contends that MIS is this ultra-competitive track, but in recent years it has become a runaway event for Fords and more recently Dodges. Fuel mileage yawners have plagued the events there as well, leading one to wonder what has changed? Cars in both Saturday’s Busch event and Sunday’s Cup event were very racey with lots of old-tyme side by side action. Gear rule maybe? Tire compounds? Whatever it was, the racing there was the best this writer has seen in years…
So where’s the line? I’m sure some will bitch about Kenseth dropping the “C” bomb in his victory lane interview Sunday. For those thinking otherwise, the “C” word in this case is “Crap”, which can be found in the vocabulary of both Bart Simpson and, shamefully, my 12 year old son. I can hear the clamoring for some sort of points deduction already, dad burn it..
Those grandstands overlooking turns 3 & 4 sure looked barren to me. Think discretionary spending is affecting NASCAR with gas prices at an all-time high?
Missed Benny Parsons in the booth today, but props to both Bill Weber and Wally Dallenbach Jr. for their work in covering more ground than usual. It’s pretty easy to complain about coverage, but these guys are on the spot and stepped it up a notch in the amount they had to cover and the way they played off each other. Would I prefer Benny back? Sure, but at least we know these two can cover some ground between commercial breaks…
Tony Stewart was as low-key as he could be enroute to a third place finish. Since falling out of the top 10, he has rebounded in fine fashion and positioned himself as solidly as one can be with out being Johnson or Kenseth. If things work out and he keeps this going, he’s my pick to repeat as Champion. Count on it…
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