Kathy's Pit Stop

Kurt Busch wins on a gamble and rain

Kurt Busch was one of eight cars that stayed out under the caution and decided to gamble with rain coming.  A few laps later a caution came and then the rain and that was the end of the race.  It worked out for the guys who gambled and stayed out, but not for the guys who pitted. 

Many pitted and took just two tires or fuel only and their top ten day became a top twenty day when the caution came out when McMurray slammed into Dale Earnhardt Jr., who appeared to be going into pits.  While under that caution the rain came and that was the end of the race.

What I have a problem with is when NASCAR knows the rain is coming, they won't push the time of the race up to make sure they get the whole thing in.  The rain that came was suppose to arrived earlier, if it had, who knows who would have won then.  My beef is that NASCAR always says that they won't start a race if they don't think they can get the whole thing in, which is BS considering the number of races we've seen called because of rain.  They could have easily pushed the start of the race up and got the whole thing in.

It's too bad that some drivers that had good runs going and top ten finishes in the bag, basically got screwed because of the rain, people don't remember that you were running up front for the most part of a race, most only pay attention to where you finish.  With that said, I have to give an atta boy out to three drivers - Vickers, Reutimann and Almirola - that normally don't finish up front, but would have had good finishes if it hadn't been for those eight cars gambling because of the rain.

Your thoughts?

Busch wins, some drivers take a hit in points

Kyle Busch won again, not really surprising, as if people didn't think he'd be able to move up through the field.

Some drivers took a hit in points, like Hamlin, Kahne and Harvick, all of which were in the top twelve in points.  Harvick took the biggest hit, dropping from tenth to thirteenth, out of The Chase after this race.  If he plans on making the Chase, they've got some ground to make up, hopefully he'll be able to do it.  Harvick took the blame for his incident, that took him, Stewart and McMurray out of the top, he said he wheel-hopped which caused him to spin and slid into the others.

The driver I was surprised about the most, who had a good run going until he was taken out of the race was Ambrose.  He had a real good run going and according to him, a gear broke when he got hit, so he really isn't blaming the driver who hit him.  He took the high road and wasn't mad, at least not outwardly mad, but the driver who hit him was Sadler.  I'm not sure if the gear broke because he got hit or if it would have broken anyways, but I still see it as Sadler taking him out of contention.

Your thoughts?

Jr. gives his fans a long-awaited win

Dale Earnhardt Jr. gambled on fuel and took home the win in a green-white-checkered finish.  Other than the finish, it was a rather boring race with long green flag runs and it came down to fuel mileage in the end. 

I'm sure the win makes the Jr. fans happy, although I thought Vickers had the strongest car out there, but not good on fuel mileage.  I thought maybe when the last caution came out that Vickers had a chance with the two cars in front of him gambling on fuel (Jr. and Kahne), but somehow they put the #8 of Mark Martin in front of Vickers even though he had already passed him way before the caution came out, if they didn't move behind Martin, they were going to black flag Vickers.  I just didn't understand that and Vickers wasn't too pleased about it either, thinking that killed his chances at the win when Martin ran out of fuel on the restart.  I'd love to see NASCAR's explanation on that one.  Still, it was a good finish for Vickers, but it could have possibly been a lot better.

Congrats to Jr. and his fans, also to Kahne and his fans, looks like he's got some good momentum going for a change and maybe his bad luck days are over.

Your thoughts?

Darnell wins in a photo finish - Busch wrecks Hornaday

Erik Darnell edged out Johnny Benson in a photo finish, literally.  NASCAR actually had to look at photos of the finish to call the winner, it was that close.  Congrats to Darnell.

The other big story of the race had to do with the finish also, but a different kind of finish and involved, surprise, surprise, Kyle Busch.  On the last lap, Busch was trying to get by Hornaday, who was in 7th and spun him, leaving Hornaday finishing 23rd, instead of 7th and dropping him from 1st to 3rd in the point standings.  Obviously, Hornaday wasn't thrilled and both him and Harvick went to have words with Busch after the race.

After everything calmed down, they were able to interview Hornaday and he had some pretty strong words to say about Busch...

He just drove into me because he got mad because I took us four wide and passed him cleanly. Halfway through the race, he showed me he was upset because he lifted the back of the truck up. If he is going to race that way, that is pretty chicken. He doesn't deserve to be a racer.

He has a lot of talent, but that is just flat stupid. I don't knock any other driver, but I will tell you what, that kid has just about done wore me out. I don't know if I have to give up this championship to teach him a lesson. I hope I don't hurt him because, if Joe Gibbs lets him do this, I am ashamed for them.

He was definitely upset about the incident and you really can't blame him since it not only dropped where he finished, but made him lose the points lead.  They weren't able to interview Busch after the race because he left right away to get to Kentucky for the Nationwide race, but they were able to talk to him before he got in the car and he just had a short statement and nothing more...

I just got into him. Sorry about that. But remarks from Harvick and Hornaday are what they're going to be, they're big mouths anyway and so we'll take it and get on with it and hopefully beat them out for this championship.

I'm not exactly sure which championship he was talking about, but I highly doubt it was the Truck series one.  But he's one to talk about "big mouths", if I remember right, that's one of the reasons Hendrick got rid of him to get Jr.  Now, I have no problem about a driver speaking his mind and everything, which I admit Harvick does and I think more drivers should do it, but you don't go around calling someone a "big mouth" for something you yourself do too.  I'm sure Busch would have had a completely different view of the situation if the tables were turned.

Your thoughts?

Lawsuits, Investors and NASCAR

Well, the two biggest stories this week, NASCAR-wise, are the lawsuit and Petty Enterprises.

I have to say I wasn't surprised to see Petty get an investor to help the team, especially after their move, I was surprised to read comments from others that it gave the investor majority in the company, I never thought Petty would do that, but I never thought Evernham would have done it either and he did.  Hopefully it will help breath new life into the team, their first job was re-signing Bobby Labonte and if they're going to be the ones calling the shots, I can see Kyle out of the car soon. 

The other big news is the discrimination lawsuit against NASCAR.  I've read this ladies accusations and I have a hard time believing anyone would put up with what she says she put up with for so long.  I may not always be happy with the way NASCAR does things, but I've read and heard that they have channels for employees to go through to handle problems of this nature and/or other problems and this lady did not do that according to NASCAR.  Now she says she went to her supervisor and nothing was ever done.

My biggest question is why would she put up with this stuff for two and a half years?  Why only file a lawsuit AFTER being fired?  It just doesn't seem right.  If all this did happen, why did it happen just to her?  There are other women employed by NASCAR and I haven't heard any complaints, this is usually where more seem to come out of the woodwork if it's a wide problem once someone comes forward, that hasn't happened here. 

I just find it hard to believe anyone would put up with treatment like that for so long and it doesn't seem to help her case that there are no records of any of these allegations, it also doesn't help that she did not file any lawsuit for this horrible treatment of her until after she was fired.

Your thoughts?

Kahne wins from the pole

Kasey Kahne had a stout car all weekend and was in the top most of the day.  At one point it looked like his day may have been done when a mistake on a pitstop dropped him to the rear of the field, but he raced his way on back up and in the end, got the win and moved up three spots to 9th in the standings.

Other drivers seemed to struggle on and off throughout the race.  Harvick was one of them, but somehow he ended up finishing 13th after riding in the back of the field for most of the day.

I'm not sure it was coincidence or what, but two of the cautions that came out during the race involved Hornish and Carpentier and both cautions had both cars spinning in sync. 

Other drivers that had some bad luck, or just didn't do that well included Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer, Franchitti, Montoya and Stewart.

Great run by Vickers, with his 2nd place finish, it's nice to see him up there for a change.  Also a good run for Bobby Labonte and Allendinger, other drivers we usually don't see up front.

Your thoughts?

Busch runs away with another one

Kyle Busch ran away with the win, Edwards came in second, but over five seconds back.

One huge wreck on lap 19 and then long green flag runs led to the demise of a lot of teams, something that usually doesn't happen at Dover that much.

With the wreck on lap 19, I thought it was going to be a typical Monster Mile race, but I guess because so many cars were in the garage getting fixed and then just staying out of the way, it led to the long green flag runs that let the leaders run away from everyone else.  Only six cars finished on the lead lap.

Brian Vickers was doing good, until he got penalized for speeding on pit road, not once, but twice in a row, leaving them confused as to how that could be.  I was listening in on the scanner and according to Vickers, he was still in first gear both times when he crossed the line and with the 5 mph cushion NASCAR gives them, they just don't understand how they could say he was going 40 mph or faster in first gear.  Needless to say, he was upset about it, but his crew kept him calm and he finished 13th, two laps down.

The wreck on lap 19 really caused a shakeup in the points, with six drivers in the top twelve getting caught up in it.  Hamlin took the biggest hit and dropped five spots in the standings, while Greg Biffle, who had a whole good race for a change, moved up six spots.  The top three stayed the same, but 4th through 11th changed positions and Kasey Kahne kept 12th, but is only eight points ahead of David Ragan in 13th.

This was also the last race of the season for FOX, so we can say bye-bye to DW!

Your thoughts?