Let’s take a quick jaunt down memory lane: Its July and Tony Stewart has announced his long-anticipated move to become part owner of Haas-CNC Racing. One pundit, Bob Margolis predicted Joe Gibbs would give Smoke junk to run in the rest of the year and focus their greater attention to getting the red-hot (at the time) Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin to the checkered flag. Some from the dold school base said Stewart had no interest in getting a win for Toyota, and he’d mail it in the rest of the year.
Stewart and Gibbs have proven the skeptics wrong one more time. The two-time champion bobbed and weaved his way through the hazards of Talladega for his first win of the 2008 campaign, crossing off one more ttrack he had not won at. Making the feat truly amazing was the “Rushville Rocket”’s penchant for not being anywhere near the mayhem. This is the same Tony Stewart who earlier in the year couldn;t buy a break with all the gold in California. For Stewart, that’s career win 33 and the affirmation that he wishes to leave Joe Gibbs Racing in classy fashion.
Regan Smith tried to re-write the ending with a pass to the inside that took him out of bounds, underneath the yellow- a NASCAR no-no that was covered during the drivers meeting. He must have been catching some “z’s” in the back with Carl Edwards when they covered that. While Smith crossed the line first, NASCAR ruled the pass illegal, and placed Smith in 18th, which would have been the end of the longest line on the lead lap had the race not been complete. Apparently, NASCAR has arrived at a differing conclusion than Smith concerning his contention that Tony blocked him down.
You know the youngster from DEI could have passed from the outside and even got a little push from Elliott Sadler, who found no willing dance partners on the final lap. Smith knew better than to pass on the inside and it’s a bummer that the error results in dropping Smitty from his most impressive finish yet.
For all of you ready to write off DEI as a viable NASCAR team, Talladega proved they’re not finished yet. The soon-departing Paul Menard ran as well as I’ve ever seen him and teammate Aric Almirola was a major player as well. DEI frontman Martin Truex was strong before getting collected in of this race’s many fender benders.
This was a race of attrition. Casualties included such luminaries as Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Dale Earnhardt Jr.- who looked like a winner until getting caught in the Edwards-caused mess.
Memo to Cousin Carl: What were you thinking? Ya didn’t win any fans with that move and you really irked a bunch of Kenseth fanswho don’t care for you to begin with. Bup drafting in the turns? Come on man, you knew better. I’m a fan Flipper, but you’re on your own on this one.
What about those tires? You can’t ignore what was going on out there. I’m not ready to rush to judgment, because like Junior said in his post-wreck interview, the Hoosiers weren’t doing well either. At the same time, this doesn’t look good. NASCAR- this is yet another area where you’re your own worst enemy. Get out there and talk to to the fans about this and other issues. Make ur case that you’re not so wedded to Goodyear that you put “loyalty” to a brand above safety. I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, but you’re not helping me any.
Anybody who thinks NASCAR racing has become boring with the CoT needs to be given tapes of the last handful of races. On a track known for wildness, this race at Talladega will go down as one of the wildest ever. We had a record number of lead changes, two “big ones”, some lesser-known leaders and the end of a long dry spell for one NASCAR’s top racers.
It was cool to see Tony win. Even if this is his final victory for Joe Gibbs, he couldn’t have picked a better place and a better time to make it happen.
The Chase’s “wild card” race lived up to its hype.
