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Post by labontefanboy on Jan 24, 2014 17:15:21 GMT -5
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Post by labontefanboy on Jan 24, 2014 17:17:27 GMT -5
One thing I should note is that Todd Kluever is locked in and Martin Truex Jr. is no longer locked in, I messed up on that one.
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Post by labontefanboy on Jan 24, 2014 21:47:51 GMT -5
Subway Fresh Fit 500The NASCAR Nextel Cup Series stopped at the narrow confines in the desert this past Saturday night for the 8th event of the season. While just 3 cautions interrupted the event, it was still a good ol' Saturday Night Short Track race from the mere fact that less than half the field finished. Beating and banging came in abundance, although it was one massive wreck that changed the course of the race for well over half the field. Jimmie Johnson started the race from the pole position in his #48 Lowe's Chevy. Winless thus far in the season despite Hendrick Motorsports' excellent performance in the first 7 races, he was eager to prove that he is a legitimate championship contender this season. He did it early in the race, cruising his way through the first third of the event. He led every lap from the first lap through the 118th lap, aside from 6 laps during a green flag pit stop cycle. However, his domination came crashing to a halt on lap 119 - literally. As Johnson exited turn 2, he saw smoke further down the backstretch and smelled the pungent odor of burnt oil. Bobby Hamilton Jr.'s Toyota had lost an engine, coating the entire backstretch in a thick plum of blueish-white smoke while spreading oil across the entire racing groove. Todd Kluever was the first to crash into the #34 car as his car careened uncontrollably towards the powerless car of Hamilton Jr. Johnson was the next car to pile into the melee, and it was on. Cars slowed up in turns 1 and 2, but the oil slick prevented them from being able to avoid the wreck. All told, 30 cars were involved in the incident, the second largest crash in modern NASCAR history. Just about half of the field was eliminated, as just 22 cars remained on track following the first yellow flag of the race. After a 35 minute and 12 second red flag, Elliott Sadler led the field back to the green flag on lap 124. With some of the most competitive cars behind the wall, he picked up right from where Johnson left off, leading the race non-stop until the second caution of the race came out on lap 201 for a hard crash involving Carl Edwards, J.J. Yeley, and Reed Sorenson. Sadler held the lead through pit stops, but just 2 laps after taking the green flag, Brian Vickers moved his Hendrick Chevy into the lead on lap 208. Determined to not let a victory slip away from Hendrick Motorsports due to Johnson's DNF, Vickers aggressively scorched through lap traffic until the final caution of the race came on lap 257, when Sadler (4th place at that point) wrecked with Sorenson. Vickers held the lead at the restart on lap 262, and would hold off a furious charge from Clint Bowyer over the last 25 laps as the two banged fenders and traded paint, with Bowyer's last ditch effort in the final corner falling a tenth of a second short. Vickers narrowly avoided being trapped by lapped traffic of Travis Kvapil and earned his first career NASCAR Nextel Cup Series victory while extending his points lead. Results:  Point Standings:   Owner Standings:  
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Post by thatoneshredder on Jan 25, 2014 0:00:48 GMT -5
"Thirty-first is NOT where we wanted to finish. I know that it's typical, and usually, we can finish worse than that, but it's just a sign that there's hardly any progress being made by the team. Aric is great, and he's doing the most with his abilities, we've just got to avoid the wrecks and not be slow. Had we missed that first wreck, we would have been, absolute worst, 23rd place. That's what this team needs. Not just a good points finish, but a good finish for the sponsors, and a great paying finish. On to next week."
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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2014 6:49:32 GMT -5
After reading about this race, I can't help but wonder how the commentary booth would react to what happened on lap 119...
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Post by bsoyuz on Jan 25, 2014 7:58:52 GMT -5
I wonder how the spotters reacted to it.
DEI Statement:
"Our best finish so far, even under those circunstances. The only bad thing about the weekend was Paul Menard being involved in the Lap 119 mayhem, even with this, our two main teams, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Martin Truex Jr., made it to the line. Now our objective is retain the maximum possible of Top 5 finishes."
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Post by labontefanboy on Jan 25, 2014 15:58:45 GMT -5
I think the commentary booth would've had to check to see whether they were at a Cup race or an ARCA race haha.
Jack Roush post-race quote: "Awful race for us. Didn't get anyone in the top 10 and wrecked two cars completely with two others suffering pretty substantial damage too. And we also had one car miss the race entirely, although it's almost a blessing cause that saves me some money and saves the guys in the fab shop a lot of time. They're gonna be real busy this week and I feel for them. I'm not a happy camper at all right now."
Matt Kenseth post-race quote: "Disappointing result for sure today. I really thought we had a chance to run for the win, but we got a lot of rear end damage in that big crash and had no chance to keep pace with the top 5. If we didn't crash we would've been top 5 I think, that's how our race was going, so it's a shame. Gotta hand it to my pit crew though, they did just an amazing job patching up the quarter panels to where we could still run lead lap. Not a good result but we'll move on to Talladega."
Greg Biffle post-race quote: "I was really looking forward to this one, last time we were here I led almost the entire race but lost the win at the end, so I really wanted this one. We had a fast car too, we were just a little bit tight in 3 and 4 and that was the difference between us running 3rd and running where we were in 7th. That wreck really ruined our chances though, I got bounced off of on every side. Our car looks like it just left Martinsville, so I gotta apologize to the boys up at the shop who are going to be busting their butts this week."
Carl Edwards post-race quote: "I really would love to have a word with Harvick right now. I just don't understand what he was thinking dive-bombing the corner with over 100 laps to go. I was fighting to stay on the lead lap and he wasn't on the lead lap, so it really doesn't make any sense for him to do what he did. It destroyed our race and I'm sorry to the 11 team, they had a great run going in the top 5 and had nowhere to go because I got dumped. The Office Depot team works too hard to have stuff like this happen, but what goes around comes around."
Todd Kluever post-race quote: "It sucks that we are out of the race early again. We had finally made progress to where we were consistently finishing and we finally cracked the top 10 last week but we just had nowhere to go in that one. Cars were sliding every which way and my foot was to the floor but the car had no grip at all. I've never seen an engine leave so much oil on the track before like that, I've gotta imagine it's a Toyota thing so I hope NASCAR takes a look at that, it's not fair to the rest of us to be subjected to dangerous track conditions because of it."
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