- The Subway Fresh Fit 500 had me fired up and it started from the very beginning. This may take a while, but I'm sure I will feel better when I'm done.
- FOX decided that baseball was more important than the Pre Race Show and Opening Ceremonies. For the record, I'm not a baseball fan and when they say NASCAR is going to be on at 8pm then they need to have it on at 8pm. If they were able to switch baseball to FX for the last 30 seconds, then they could have switched it earlier. I got my fill of the Boston Red Sox during the World Series. Show me some athletes that don't use steroids.
- Where were the caution flags? NASCAR waited until a huge pile-up ensued before throwing the yellow for Ryan Newman's power steering box blow out. Did ya not see that huge plume of smoke pouring out of his car? That was fire! It was too late by time the caution did actually come out. 5 good cars got damaged because of the fluid that Newman was putting down. That lead to a red flag to clean up the mess that was made by the 12 car. Unavoidable, yes. But it hurt the cars in the garage trying to repair their damage.
- NASCAR didn't learn it's lesson from the Newman fiasco. Elliott Sadler's motor blew up and he slowed to a near crawl, barely being missed by Dave Blaney (where in the world was his spotter? Vacation?...wake up people!) and sending cars scrambling to get around him. When a car's that slow, something's seriously wrong and it's time to slow down the field.
- What was Ryan Newman thinking in the pits after he brought out the caution? That was just unsafe and unnecessary. If he had spun out like that with other cars on the pit road, I hate to think how that would have turned out. Did that really help anything?
- Conserve fuel was the catch phrase of the day. Apparently Jimmie Johnson knew just how to do that. Congrats to him for gambling and getting a huge pay out. He ran out of fuel while doing his Polish Victory Lap. If only there had been overtime...maybe that pit stop the 11 made for tires and fuel would have come into play. You can't help but think of what might have been.
- Finally! Hendrick Motorsports won a race and they can stop whining. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has had an incredible season and hasn't whined a single time about coming up short. He gets disappointed but knows that with some hard work, the right scenario and driving his heart out he'll make it to Victory Lane. Looks like his elder teammates could learn a lesson from the sport's most popular driver. He didn't get that way for being a cry baby...hmmm. Imagine that! Maybe that's why the crowd goes wild for him and boos when his Dupont flaming teammate is around. I just might have something there.
- Denny Hamlin had one heck of a race. Denny had his third consecutive top 5 finish and his fifth top 10. That's nothing to complain about. He gained one position in the points and now sits a solid 6th. Can't complain about that. And that car sure looked good on the track. I was so proud to see that Denny was supporting the March of Dimes and it's March for Babies. Being a new Aunt, I can certainly appreciate that.
So, after the dust settled in the desert, it was quite an interesting turn of events. Elliott Sadler had an amazing run going but had it all go up in smoke when the engine blew. The only good thing about that is he was home before everyone else. Johnny Sauter did a bang up job replacing Jeremy Mayfield in the Haas Automation # 70. Gee, do you think that helped anything? I don't. Jeremy could have been a scoring pilan. Okay, I've said what I needed to say. All in all, I was pretty disappointed with NASCAR's performance at Phoenix. There needs to be some examination of things during this off week. Exactly when does the caution flag need to wave? After 10 cars pile up in turn 3? Maybe 25 is better. Do we really need the
whole field on the track at the end? And next time you want to show baseball instead of NASCAR...just remember who's in front of a Congressional committee and who brings in the most fans.
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