He was among the top ten for a substantial part of the race, but never did he look as if he was a chief threat to win. I guess we should never count out Johnson and the #48 team unless they are behind the wall.
Jeff Gordon and Elliott Sadler visibly had the fastest cars, but they finished 15th and 16th. I guess no one wanted to push the cars that would have been the most difficult to pass.
The 'big wreck' on lap eight of the 188-lap event was the consequence of boneheadedness, if that's even a word. It looked as if Carl Edwards tapped Kyle Busch who was then forced into Ryan Newman and Martin Truex Jr. I know Talladega is a spacious track and all, but I just cannot comprehend why a driver would try to make it five-wide that early in the race.
And poor Ryan Newman; that guy cannot catch a break. For the third week in a row Newman was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sterling Marlin knocked him out of the way at Texas. At Phoenix, he was minding his own business when Dale Earnhardt Jr spun out Kyle Petty. Having nowhere to go, Newman would hit the wall, terminally damaging his purple and black Dodge. Newman now sits 26th in the Nextel Cup standings, 573 points off the lead, 245 points out of 10th place.
It was a vexing day for fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. And it seemed as if he was taking it all out on Carl Edwards. During a caution, Earnhardt would rub against the #99 Ford shaking his fist. It was reminiscent of another Earnhardt driving a black Chevy.
Quote of the week comes from Mark Martin: "But it will be ignorant for me to be mad about it. I'll just be glad when I don't have to do it anymore. The pin is out of the grenade and it's just a matter of time until it goes off."
Next week the NASCAR Nextel Cup series heads to Richmond for another Saturday night short-track fight.
email the author: autoracing@suite101.com
