No matter how you look at it,
last weekend's top three NASCAR series put on a heck of a show in Nashville and
Watkins Glen.So, let's review what was one of the wildest weekends of NASCAR
racing that I have ever seen.
First of all, Todd Bodine and
Mike Skinner crashed each other on the white flag lap at the Nashville Superspeedway and Johnny Benson drove by the both of
them for the win. Of course, Bodine and Skinner had obvious differences on how
the wreck occurred in which made for an even funnier ending.
Then you have the Robby Gordon
pass attempt in the interloop on Saturday at Watkins Glen.In Saturday's Busch
race, Kurt Busch and Robby Gordon were absolutely the two best cars following Ryan Newman's exploded engine that sent him
to the garage for the rest of the afternoon.On the final lap of the event though,
Gordon who had been great all day entering the interloop, used Busch as a braking point and slid into Kurt's inside. After
the two rubbed sheet metal and drove through the grass, Busch prevailed into the carousel and onto the win.Making things even weirder was that NASCAR confiscated Robby Gordon's shocks after the race, but found
nothing to be wrong with them.
In Sunday's AMD at the Glen,
who would have thought Kevin Harvick would emerge over Tony Stewart and Robby Gordon, but it happened.However, think about the move Stewart put on Harvick going into the interloop as the laps were winding
down.I have seen that move down maybe twice at Watkins Glen since the interloop
went into effect.For a driver to clear someone that far out ahead of the interloop
is outstanding and must have one incredible power plant under the hood.In the
end, Harvick came back and countered after seeing Stewart slip a little coming out of final corner on lap 86.Harvick claimed the lead for good as the two raced down the frontstretch in turn one on lap 87 and that
was the difference.
Jamie McMurray, Elliott Sadler,
Reed Sorenson, Clint Bowyer, and Jeff Green all should be mentioned for their efforts this past weekend.McMurray finished third Sunday and thus made himself Roush Racing's top finisher on a road course for 2006.Elliott Sadler drove to a much needed seventh place result at "The Glen," but Sunday
may have been his last ride in a Robert Yates racing machine.Reed Sorenson,
Clint Bowyer and Jeff Green finished 12th, 14th and 15th respectively this past weekend.Neither one of these three are considered road course experts, but they avoided trouble and came up nice finishes.
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The Busch Brothers were
also a hit over the weekend. Kurt Busch dominated Sunday's race only to have a pit road debacle cost him the win.Seriously, NASCAR should have thrown out the yellow flag a little quicker.Kurt Busch tried to pit before the caution flag came out at lap 54 for a car that had spun on the course.However, the red light at the beginning of pit road came on two seconds before Busch entered and that is
a penalty under the NASCAR rule book, for pitting while the pits are close.Busch
had to restart at the end of the longest line and then shortly thereafter was caught up in a crash.Busch still ended up 19th on the day.Meanwhile, the other
brother came back from five laps down to finish 10th.That's right, FIVE LAPS
DOWN!Had Kyle not used the lucky dog more than once out of five times in the
race, I would have called it impressive. Sorry though, I have to call that cheap and pathetic, but it worked out for Kyle
in the end.
It's not anything against
Busch, but setting a lucky dog limit would be nice.
2006 StockCar Review.
