Apr 4

Written by: The Commish
4/4/2011 2:08 PM 

Kevin Harvick won his second NASCAR Sprint Cup race of the season Sunday at Martinsville, beating a surprisingly strong Dale Jr., Kyle Busch, Juan Pablo and Jeff Gordon with Matt Kenseth (first Ford) in sixth and polesitter Jamie Mac seventh ahead of when-will-he-ever-win David Ragan, Clint Bowyer and Mark Martin. 

Jimmie Johnson finished 11th after a pit road speeding penalty, Denny Hamlin was 12th after bad luck in pitting right before a caution flag and thank goodness Kurt Busch came home 16th so those who started him could keep those 22 first Dodge/fourth different mfr bonus points.  As for the rest of the usual suspects; i.e. Carl, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Newman, Jeff Burton and Tony Stewart, they all finished 17th or worse for zero FMFL points.

Pisser.

Other than the tire issues Martinsville was an excellent example of how, in NASCAR at least, bigger isn't always better.  Right now I'd say the best races on the schedule are those held on tracks that are one mile or less in length, with Martinsville and Bristol (half miles) and Richmond at the top of that list.  I'd love to see Cup races at Iowa and Milwaukee too but the chances of that happening are slim and none ... and Slim just left town.

On Saturday Johnny Sauter did something few drivers have been able to do for the past few seasons:  beat Kyle Busch fair and square in a truck race.  And on the last lap no less.  Ron Hornaday, Kevin Harvick and Timothy Peters filled out the top five ahead of Cole Whitt, Austin Dillon, Ricky Carmichael (who keeps getting better and better), Brendan Gaughan and Max Papis.  Parker Kligerman was 13th to earn 33 bonus points for being the first non-Chevy or Toyota and Todd Bodine was a disappointing 14th.

But speaking of trucks, how 'bout the big news that former F1 champion (and noted fan of the occasional cocktail) Kimi Raikkonen will be racing at least three times this season in one of Kyle Busch's NASCAR Camping World Trucks?!

Wowser.  This appears to be so wrong in so many ways but we'll just have to wait until the trucks run at Charlotte to see if the Iceman has stepped on it or not.  The Yurps have never been too fond of NASCAR (most "real" race fans across the pond consider it more pro wrestling than motorsport) but they're also coming around to the fact that it's the biggest series in the world when it comes to paying fans, number of races, number of entries, number of sponsors, etc.  No word on the figures related to numbers of teeth and tattooes.

Sorry.  Couldn't resist playing to the stereotypes.

In IndyCar there was announcement that Paul Tracy had signed a deal with Jay Penske, former co-owner of Luczo Dragon Racing ... which used to be de Ferran Luczo Dragon Racing ... who is resurrecting the team as Dragon Racing for five races this season, including the Memorial Day 500.  PT already has a deal for Indy with Dreyer & Reinbold so the rumors have Sam Hornish Jr. or Buddy Rice in the Dragon car and I'd be great with seeing either one of those guys back at the Brickyard.

NOTE:  Last night on Wind Tunnel the great Robin Miller (TGRM -- and I use that acronym with the greatest respect) put in his two poker chip's worth re: all the pissin' and moanin' certain drivers were doing about the double file restarts after St. Petersburg.  His bottom line was the argument that midget racers are able to start two-by-two all the time and don't seem to have any problems in avoiding contact with each other so why shouldn't the IndyCar drivers be able to do the same?

I concur.   IndyCar racers are supposed to be among the best drivers in the world and if they can't keep from running into each other when lined up in rows of two perhaps they should consider switching to drag racing.

This week, RD#10 features five different races including Grand Am and IndyCars at Barber Park, Cup and Nationwide at Texas and F1 in Malaysia -- where Pirelli expects cars to make at least four stops for tires during the race.

Starting lineups are due by this coming Thursday at Midnight, good luck to all and remember to look for those 'official' entry lists to make sure you don't start someone who isn't going to be behind the wheel this weekend.

Copyright ©2011 The Commish