Sep
20
Written by:
The Commish
9/20/2011 12:46 PM
Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Chicagoland, the first race in 'The Chase' finally got to go green on Monday after the skies semi-cleared with Tony Stewart playing the fuel mileage game perfectly for the win over Kevin Harvick, Dale Jr., Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski. Kurt Busch, Clint Bowyer, Ryan Newman, Mark Martin and Jimmie Johnson filled out the top 10 while Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Greg Biffle and Denny Hamlin all finished outside the top 16.
I hate mileage races. I believe most drivers, crew chiefs, team owners and sponsors feel the exact same way unless they win.
Saturday's Nationwide race was a Brad Keselowski benefit with Carl Edwards, polesitter Brian Scott, Aric Almirola and Sam Hornish Jr. second through fifth. Elliott Sadler, Jamie McMurray, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Paul Menard and Reed Sorenson filled out the top 10 with Trevor Bayne 11th in front of Jason Leffler. Kyle Busch didn't race the No. 18 Gibbs car but Joey Logano did, finishing 19th.
Austin Dillon won Friday's truck race over Kevin Harvick, Nelson Piquet Jr., Parker Kligerman and Kyle Busch with Johnny Sauter, Matt Crafton, Miguel Paludo, Cole Whitt and Ron Hornaday sixth through 10th. James Buescher was 11th, Todd Bodine 13th and polesitter Steve Arpin 16th. Kudos to Bryan Silas for starting and finishing 21st in a Ford and to Jennifer Jo Cobb for coming home 29th after gridding 32nd, also in a Ford.
Yep. I want more Fords, and Dodge Rams, too, in the Camping World Truck Series.
The American Le Mans Series penultimate round at Laguna Seca went to the #007 Lola/Aston Martin with the #16 and #20 Dyson Lola/Mazdas in second and third followed by the #55 Honda LMP2, five LMPCs and a UNC Porsche hybrid in 10th. The #6 Muscle Milk car had problems again, finishing 32nd, and the only other LMP1 in the race, the No. 12 Autocon car, was 26th -- also a victim of a those darn mechanical gremlins.
Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas and the No. 01 Ganassi Racing Riley/BMW clinched another Rolex Series DP Championship with a second place finish and how 'bout that No. 8 Starworks Riley/Ford getting the well-deserved win. The No. 99 GAINSCO Riley/Chevy was third in front of the No. 9 Action Express Riley/Porsche, the sister No. 5 car, the No. 2 Starworks Riley/Porsche and the two Michael Shank Riley/Fords. Ninth was the No. 77 Doran Dallara/Ford with the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Coyote/Chevy 10th and last DP in the top 16. The only other Daytona Protoype in the field, the No. 10 SunTrust Dallara/Chevy that yours truly and a lot of other's picked, was classified 27th after the clutch failed with about an hour to go. Pisser.
In what will probably turn out to be the last IndyCar race ever at Twin Ring Motegi, and the first and only on the road course, Scott Dixon started from pole and led almost every lap to beat Will Power, Marco Andretti, Alex Tagliani and Oriol Servia with Sebastien Bourdais, JR Hildebrand, Dario Franchitti, Mike Conway and Takuma Sato filling out the top 10. Danica, Graham Rahal, James Jakes, Simona de Silverstro, James Hinchcliffe and Giorgio Pantano got the last of the FMFL Top 16 points.
Ryan Briscoe was 20th, Helio 22nd and Ryan Hunter-Reay 24th.
But the story was the newest johnson-stepping move, or moves by race control. The biggie was how the officials chose to ignore the rule book and eschew giving Dario a pit stop penalty under green for avoidable contact, instead just placing him at the back of the field -- where he would have been anyway after the incident. The other SNAFU was a post-race decision to move Helio from seventh to 22nd after he passed Hildebrand on the last lap under a local yellow.
In the first incident IndyCar ignored their own rule; in the second they followed their rule to the letter.
And therein lies the problem. Randy Bernard may choose to ignore it but he's got a huge consistency problem on his hand and the only solution is a personnel move.
Say goodnight, Brian Barnhart. It's way past time for a change.
This week its F1 at Singapore and both Cup and trucks at Loudon, New Hampshire. Starting lineups aren't due until Friday at midnight and I wonder how many players will pick five GP drivers and only one per NASCAR race.
Copyright ©2011 The Commish