The Truth

The second race in the Chase made its way through Dover, Delaware this past Sunday. Once again we get to watch a race at a track where the bottom groove works better into the corner and the top groove works better off of the corner, giving the illusion that there are two drivers battling door to door for many laps when in reality, they are driving the only way the track will allow. This does not mean that the finish we watched between Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton was not exciting, only that the excitement was staged by Dover International Raceway.

Jeff Burton put the #31 Cingular Chevrolet in victory lane Sunday, and there was no one more deserving to be there. Matt Kenseth deserved to win the race, but Jeff Burton deserved to be in victory lane. He has put together a great year (he leads the points standings for crying out loud), and there would have been no one smiling more as he lifted the Ryan Newman Look-Alike Trophy over his head. For the first time this year, the #31 team gave Jeff the best handling car at the end of the race, and he rewarded them with a victory. It did not hurt that the #17 screwed up big time on gas mileage, but Burton made the pass for the lead before Kenseth went dry.

Maybe it was because it was not Kevin Harvick winning the race, but no new cheating allegations popped up after Richard Childress racing won its fifth-straight races this weekend in combined Nextel Cup and Busch Series racing. Clint Bowyer won his first Busch race in 2006 on Saturday, besting Matt Kenseth, and Kenseth again was bested by Jeff Burton on Sunday. Must not be Roush Racing putting out the cheater stories then, which points the finger squarely at Hendrick Motor Sports. Grow up, high schoolers!

Chasers taking a hit this week again include Kyle Busch. He is pretty much done after an engine failure very similar to Jimmie Johnson’s at New Hampshire ended his day early. Kasey Kahne’s day was ruined by Tony Stewart losing control of his car on lap 13, collecting Kahne in his fat mess. Tony was later heard telling Kasey, “I’m super sorry about your car!” These two now sit 224 and 182 points behind Burton and represent the only two drivers more than one race (156 points) behind the leader. Jimmie Johnson finished better with a 13^th, but it represented the sixth time in the last seven races Johnson has failed to finish in the top 10. Prior to this streak, he was top 10 in ten of the previous 11. Peaking at the wrong time has Johnson staring at a 136-point deficit in 8^th place. Junior rounds out the drivers more than 100 points down in 7^th after a second-straight race where his car went way away at the end. A few weeks ago I caught a lot of flack for saying Junior would eventually pay for running a higher line than everybody, and a cut tire caused by debris in the “Junior line” put him well behind when a caution caught him on pit road because of it. Run the clean line and it does not happen. Kevin Harvick’s top ten run and one week atop the point standings went by the wayside when his motor blew with 34 laps to go and now sits within striking distance 54 back of his teammate.

This week we get to watch cookie-cutter action at the most undeserving track in the Chase Kansas Speedway. It is a lot like Chicagoland, where the top 6 finishers are all in the Chase. If we are lucky, Kenseth will envision Jeff Gordon wrecking him at Chicago and send all HMS cars to the bottom of the standings. Expect the points to shake themselves up a little and Kenseth to regain the top spot.

As the Day of Estrogen Ascension approaches for THS, I wanted to conclude with something that occurred in the Champ Car race at Elkhart Lake this past weekend. With six laps to go, English rookie Katherine Legge, who was running sixth at the time, lost her rear wing heading into a high-speed corner known as “The Kink”. She slammed into the wall at about 185 mph (if you have not seen the video, here it is), bringing out the red flag for about 40 minutes. She miraculously walked away unharmed, and when asked by the paramedics what she wanted to do, she said she wanted to finish the race. When they told her that her car was shot, she said she would settle for a cup of tea. I know of no guy with balls this big, including myself. So, future female THS dictators, good luck! Can’t handle it?

The Fan