Dover a dozer?
That was my opinion at the conclusion of the Sprint Cup race Sunday — actually, even before the conclusion.
The race, which started with Greg Biffle’s No. 16 Ford on the pole, looked pretty much like a sleeper even before the big caution on lap 17. Biffle was leading and pulled away from the pack. Good cars were making their way to front and avoiding cautions.
The change was sudden and just about the time I was lulled to sleep.
Elliott Sadler’s No. 19 Dodge came down on top of David Gilliland’s No. 38 Ford; he apparently didn’t know the other car was that close, and Sadler slammed into the wall. As he came back across the race track, Tony Stewart’s No. 20 Chevrolet crashed into him.
A few cars slowed and were maneuvering through the mess but received damage when Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Chevrolet came off of the corner at full speed and crashed into Sadler and Stewart.
During a post-wreck interview, Hamlin explained his charge into the wreckage, “These cars don’t stop as good as they have in the past.”
Video footage contradicts Hamlin’s statement. It shows Jeff Burton’s No. 31 and a few other cars behind him (and even in front of him) almost at a complete halt even before they exited the corner. It did not appear Hamlin was thinking clearly.
Most of the cars involved in the wreck, sustaining heavy or slight damage, were almost half of the Top 12 drivers — Stewart, Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kasey Kahne, Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick. Kahne and Bowyer were the only ones who were able to stay on the track. Both took full opportunity of each caution lap to make repairs to their torn up race cars. The others, minus Hamlin, returned to the track later, but were several laps down.
After the wreck, the racing picked up right where it ended — Greg Biffle leading. Biffle and his teammate, Carl Edwards (No. 99 Ford), took turns leading the first half of the race.
The second half of the race was dominated by none other than Kyle Busch, the driver who has dominated a majority of the races thus far. Busch and his No. 18 Toyota did not look back once he took the lead.
After a round of green-flag pit stops, Busch regained the lead and raced to the finish as the victor in the 400-lap race. He still maintains his Cup points lead, more than 140 points ahead of Jeff Burton. Busch now has 10 wins in all three NASCAR’s top series (four Cup and Nationwide wins each and two Craftsman’s Truck wins).
Despite the points shake-up because of the early race “big one” all Top 12 drivers remained in the the Top 12. Five of the six drivers involved moved down a few spots bunching the bottom six drivers closer together.
The next 13 races until the Chase cutoff are sure to be interesting at least points-wise.
I am sure that as each week goes by, you all are slowly (maybe rapidly) figuring out who I root for every Sunday. If you’re one who consistently follows the sport, then it really isn’t that hard, but I am still keeping it to myself.
Despite getting mixed up in the “big one,” he managed to finish the race in one piece and, amazingly, didn’t fall out of the points. Dover has never really been one of his “good” tracks. Of course he has led there a few times, but the “Monster Mile” and him are not the best of friends.
I am hoping Pocono will be slightly better for him. I have a feeling it will be very similar to this past weekend in the sense that the race may be another dozer.
Don’t miss:
From Nashville and Pocono
- Sprint Cup qualifying, Friday at 3:30 p.m. on SPEED
- Federated Auto Parts 300 (Nationwide race), Saturday night at 7 on ESPN2
- Pocono 500 (Sprint Cup race), Sunday at 12:30 p.m. on TNT
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