Not NASCAR News, But Big News Nonetheless

As I'm sure you've all heard by now, Navy SEALS team 6 stormed a compound in Pakistan late Sunday night and killed al- Quada leader Osama bin Laden. I personally found out about this event on Twitter when Brad Paisley and Brett Griffin said to turn the news on. Very skeptical, we turned on CBS2 news and there it was! Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the horrific events of September 11th, 2001, killed by US Navy SEALS! I was only in fifth grade on the day of those attacks, but I can recall everything that happened that day fairly clearly. Couldn't tell you anything about any other day that year, but I remember just watching a movie most of the day and the teacher constantly listening to the radio, then coming home and seeing that black smoke rising from the World Trade Center against that clear blue sky. I was little, but I knew this Osama guy meant business and he was pure evil.

Well unfortunately for him, the United States meant business too. It took ten years, but finally, this evil, heartless coward was brought to justice. This does not bring back any of the 3,000 plus people lost on 9/11, but it does bring reassurance that this heartless bastard isn't alive to kill anymore people. Toby Keith was right when he said "We'll put a boot in yer ass, it's the American way!" This raid and this victory were indeed "Courtesy of the red, white and blue."

There are so many people that made this day possible. Thank you to SEAL team 6, and all of our military men and women who put their lives on the line every day to fight these terrorists and keep us free. Also, those who gave their lives fighting for our freedom. They will never be forgotten. The courage that these guys and gals show is unparalleled and we can never thank them enough for doing what they do. Thanks to George W. Bush who gathered the necessary information and did a great job commanding our forces in Afghanistan. Also, thank you to President Obama for giving the order to carry out this mission.

I always thought that wars were a bad, scary thing as a kid. But now I see how necessary this war is. America did not get to be the greatest country on this planet by backing down when we are attacked. If you hit us, you don't know how hard we'll hit back. We mean businesses and will do what it takes to win. This doesn't end the War on Terror, but it is a huge victory and helps towards that goal. All the credit, or at least 95% of it, goes to the SEALS and all of our military. God bless them, their families, those affected by and lost on 9/11 and America!!

"...that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by the people and to the people shall not perish from the earth."

-Abraham Lincoln

Richmond Provides Much Needed Excitment

Richmond International Raceway isn't known as "The Action Track" for nothing. It definitely lived up to its billing in Saturday night's "Crown Royal presents the Matthew and Daniel Hansen 400" with storylines and fireworks from the drop of the green flag. Would Denny Hamlin sweep the weekend? Would Kyle Busch continue his short track dominance and win three spring Richmond races in a row? Would polesitter Juan Pablo Montoya score his first oval track win? Would Dale Jr finally win at one of his best tracks? All of these questions would be answered in just 400 short miles.

But first, I just want to say what a great thing Crown Royal is doing with their "Your Name Here 400" promotion, which started so a fan would have the opportunity to have their name on a NASCAR race and now has turned into a wonderful tribute to our military men and women. This year's race was the "Matthew and Daniel Hansesn 400." Matthew and Daniel Hansen are twin brothers who enlisted in the Marines. Matthew was deployed and served in Operation Iraqi Freedom, while Daniel was selected to protect President George W. Bush at Camp David and Lieutenant General Richard C. Zilmer in Iraq. Daniel was tragically killed in action by an IED while supporting combat operations in Iraq in 2009. This race not only recognized Matthew, but also payed tribute to Daniel and both of their sacrifices. Words like "hero" and "greatness" and "legend" are used a lot in the sports world, but the Hansen brothers, and all of the men and women of our Armed Forces, exemplify these words. They are the real heroes. The bravery and courage they show everyday is unparalleled and they can never be thanked enough. To see Matthew Hansen give the command to start engines Saturday night, teary eyed and filled with pride, put everything into perspective. God bless the Hansen brothers, our Armed Forces and America.

After that poignant moment, Juan Montoya and Regan Smith led the field to the green and kicked off the racing action. Montoya was quickly overtaken by Clint Bowyer's #33, but everyone had their eye on Denny Hamlin's #11 Toyota. As he had done all weekend, Hamlin started out back, but quickly worked his way to the front. The racing was amazing for the first 100 or so laps, but the real fireworks started with the first caution flag. Montoya had been on a backslide and was hooked off turn two by Ryan Newman. Newman, who could have lifted and given a little room to teh 42 that early on, caused the back of the Target car to hit the wall and the spoiler to hook to the SAFER barrier and the decklid to fly off. After lengthy repairs to the Target Chevy, Newman's car would prove to be the car with the bullseye on it.

The race went back to green with Kyle Busch as the leader with teammate Hamlin in tow. Jeff Gordon had also emerged as an early contender in third. After a little more green flag racing, Montoya and Newman found each other again. This time, Montoya (very skillfully) slid his #42 across the back of Newman's #39, sending the ARMY car into the turn four wall. Newman, ever the crybaby, later took his "case" to NASCAR expecting a response to JPM's actions. None was given. Great call NASCAR! If Newman can't handle beating and banging on a short track, then he needs to find a new career because this racecar driver thing isn't for him. Have at it boys!

The action continued with Busch, Hamlin, Gordon and Martin Truex, Jr up front. Truex grabbed the lead in a three wide battle with Busch and Hamlin on lap 246 and proved his NAPA Ultimate Tune Up Toyota would be a force. While these three battled for the lead, the field wrecked behind them. Matt Kenseth thought there was room up top, but when he slid up, Bowyer hooked him and turned the Crown Royal Ford into the wall with Paul Menard. The wreck also collected David Reutimann and Mark Martin. Other than Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski going around, that was the last of the wrecking action.

The other hot topic to surface was the X-rated radio chatter. Kurt Busch was the biggest offender, dropping F-bombs like its going out of style and going as far a calling out Penske Racing management by name. The other was Truex, Jr. With about thirty laps remaining in the race, he pitted for a loose wheel and his crew missed a lugnut, supposedly due to a broken stud. A very livid Truex screamed at his crew, saying "You're all f***ing fired! Every g**damn one of ya!" Debates raged about whether or not these incidents warranted a talking to from their respective owners. In Kurt's case, he's always a hot head, he's always been a hot head and he always will be a hothead. Getting a scolding from Roger Penske is not going to change anything. And Truex said what he said out of heat of the moment anger. He had every right to be upset (his potentially race winning car finished 27th) and he has had a rough four or five weeks in a row. Sometimes enough is enough.

So with little help from caution flags and little challenge from Hamlin, Kyle Busch went on to win his third spring Richmond race in a row. It seems to be turning into a springtime ritual. The flowers bloom, the leaves turn green and Kyle Busch wins at Richmond. But Busch fan or not, you have to be excited by the racing that we saw. Three and four wide passes almost all night long, wrecks here and there, a newly formed rivalry and best of all... Jimmie Johnson was nowhere to be found!! It's always nice when the #48 team gives someone else a chance to win a race once in a while. So now it's on to Darlington Raceway. Denny Hamlin scored the win there last season in NASCAR's lone trip to "The Lady in Black." Will he repeat or will someone else conquer the track "Too Tough to Tame?"

Duels Prove Importance and Excitment of "Two Car Tango"

The Bud Shootout started Speedweeks 2011 and introduced a new phenominon. Two cars locked bumper to bumper around the freshly laid asphalt of Daytona, can gain about ten miles per hour on cars that run in a large pack. If you were not partnered up in the Shootout, you were shuffled to the back and had no chance at the victory. The same was true for the Gatorade Duels yesterday. If you wanted to take maximum advantage of the new, grippier tarmak, you had to find a dancing partner. That led to record lead changes and some exciting, dramatic racing to see who would make the Great American Race.

Going into the Duels, Bill Elliott, Travis Kvapil and Joe Nemechek were guarenteed spots in Sunday's 500 field from their qualifying laps last Sunday. And if one of those drivers managed to race in through the Twin 150s, Michael Waltrip and Dave Blaney were next in line to get in on qualifying speeds. As the first Duel went green, it became evident that the "Two Car Tango" would be the key to winning. It also became apparent what a nessesary evil this new kind of drafting is. On the second lap, Tony Stewart was pushing teammate Ryan Newman off of turn two, when Newman broke loose and spun down to the infield. That was the extent of the on track contact, but the close quarters racing was far from over.

The early conetnders were the tandem of Kurt Busch and Regan Smith. Another potent duo was Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth. Mark Martin, Juan Montoya and Kasey Kahne were also factors. Now, there is a downside to this two car breakaway. And that is the fact that the car that is pushing will eventually need to duck out of line for air. Otherwise, the radiator will start pushing water out the overflow and the motor will overheat. The way the drivers eliviate this problem is to switch off and have the lead car move back and push their partner. This change takes just a few seconds, but they will lose considerable time and speed in the process. Despite the potential for overheating problems, Kenseth never left Harvick's back bumper and pushed the Budweiser Chevy for a vast majority of the event.

Despite a late race restart, Kurt Busch and Regan Smith, one of the most potent tandems throughout Speedweeks, managed to break away to settle the finish amongst themsevles. Coming off turn 4, Smith ducked low, Busch blocked, Smith looked high and ran out of time. Kurt Busch went two-for-two and won his second race in a row in his new #22 Shell-Pennzoil Dodge. This further proved that Busch has a legitimate shot to win his first 500 on Sunday. But Regan Smith and his Colorado based Furniture Row Chevy team proved they can get it done as well. With the strength of the ECR engine program, especially on plate tracks, the sky is the limit for the Cato, New York native and his little know #78 team. Bill Elliott netted the first transfer spot, meaning that another spot on the grid opened up and Michael Waltrip got in on his speed from quals last Sunday (Way to go Mikey!!!) and J.J. Yeley passed teammates Kevin Conway and Joe Nemechek on the final restart and snuck his shoestring budget race team into the big show, sending Conway to the house. And that was just the FIRST race of the day!!

The second duel proved to be just as exciting, as veteran Jeff Gordon and youngster Trevor Bayne led the field to the green flag. Just to give you some perspective, it was mentioned during the SPEED broadcast that Bayne was born the year that Gordon ran his first Cup Series race. Yea, he's that young! And he's also that talented, as Bayne's #21 and Gordon's #24 were inceperable all race long. But they could not go on restarts (Remeber that for later). Teammates Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards led several times, as did the Childress Racing machines of Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton. But the Michael Waltrip Racing Toyotas were extremely strong as well. David Reutimann, Martin Truex, Jr and Michael Waltrip had plotted and planned all week to try and push Waltrip into a spot in his 25th consecutive Daytona 500. But now that Bill Elliott had locked him in through the first duel, all that mattered was trying to win.

Reutimann and Waltrip pushed their way from running ninth and eleventh respectivly at the start to running fifth and sixth by the second lap. Truex also found a pusher in Toyota teammate Denny Hamlin, both of whom started at the rear of the field and wasted no time rocketing to the front. The first yellow flew early in this race too, as Casey Mears blew his second engine in as many days, ending his hopes of racing this weekend. And the image shown on television of Mears sitting on the window, half out of his Geico machine, helmet on and motionless, shows just how crushing and harsh a reality that can be.

When the race went back green, the drivers teamed up again. There was a lot more pack racing in this duel than in the first, more like the old, worn out, bumpy Daytona, but the tandem draft was still the key to sucess. It also proved to be the downfall of Joey Logano. In an incident similar to the one that claimed polesitter Dale Earnhardt, Jr's car, as well as Martin Truex, Jr's, Logano came up on a goup of cars that was slowing down just a bit. Since you can't see though these racecars, Michael Waltrip didn't see the pack slowing up ahead, so when Logano went to slow down and duck out of line, Waltrip couldn't see and was still pushing Logano. This sent the #20 Home Depot Camry carening off the inside wall on the frontstrech, forcing the team to roll the backup off the truck for the 500. Logano didn't blame Waltrip in his interview afterwards, he just said it was a product of this new style of racing.

On the next green flag run, Reutimann and Waltrip got seperated making a run at the Childress cars that led the pack. Reutimann was picked up by stablemate Truex, and Mikey was pusjed by Toyota teammate Kyle Busch. Denny Hamlin was later squeezed out of line down the backstrech, just like Newman earlier, bringing out the final yellow and setting up an exciting finish. Remeber how I said Bayne and Gordon couldn't get going on restarts? Well that was the case again, and they were shuffled to the rear to attempt to make a later run. Back up front, Burton led Bowyer and Waltrip was getting pushed by Busch. It looked like the Toyota tandem was in a great position to pass the Bowtie bergaid, but they never got a good enough run. Jeff Burton won his first Gatorade duel and Bowyer finished second by a hair. Waltrip got third and Busch netted fourth. But the action didn't stop there.

Jeff and Trevor were still trying to make a run at the finish, and Jeff got loose in the process. Trevor ducked low to avoid contact, but the #24 came down off the wall and got into him, collecting the #6 of David Ragan in the process. Not what any of these teams wanted with only a few hours of practice left before the big show this Sunday. The underdog from this race was Brian Keselowski, who was not even on the same same budget as a team like Yeley's. Brian took a 2006 Dodge chassis he bought and, with a lot of pushing help from little brother Brad, Brian made the Daytona 500 and will now have the money to race at Phoenix next weekend.

But the feel good story was definitly Michael Waltrip making it into his 25th consecutive Daytona 500. This weekend is also the tenth anniversary of his first Daytona 500 win, which remains shrowded in sadness, as that was the race when NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt was killed. That was Waltrip's first race for his close friend Earnhardt's team and it was Dale's belief in Mikey, telling him "You'll win in my cars" that helped him to realize a dream and snap a 462 race winless streak by winning the biggest race you can win. Waltrip is running a special Toyota Camry this weekend, branded with the NAPA shield, yellow stripes and #15 that he wheeled to victory on that day ten years ago, and again in 2003. The car has a NAPA blue stripe from the hood to the decklid, but the sides, front and rear are matte black to pay tribute to the life of the legend that gave him the confidence and the opportunity to win races and cahmpionships.

The car also advertises Michael's new book "In the Blink of an Eye" (Now #10 on the NY Times Bestseller List). This is Mikey's memoir, chronicling his journey to earn a NASCAR ride like his brother, Darrell, to his start as a team owner in 2007. But the book centers around the 2001 Dayona 500 and Waltrip's dealing with the grief and coming to grips with the loss of his owner, mentor and closest friend and the profound effects it has had on his life. If Mikey could win the Great American Race this Sunday, it would bring him full circle, pay tribute to his friend Dale Sr, and maybe finally give him a sense of closure. He definitly has the car and the skills to pull it off.

As Daytona Approaches, So Do Memories of Earnhardt

February 18th, 2001. The 43rd annual Daytona 500. A day that NASCAR fans everywhere will remeber not for the great racing, but for what happened after the checkered flag waved. This race should have been remebered as the day that journeyman driver, Michael Waltrip won his first points paying Winston Cup Series race driving for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. But instead it will go down in history as the day that Dale Earnhardt lost his life in a last lap crash blocking to protect Waltrip's lead and his son, Dale Earnhardt, Jr's, runner up finish.

The day started just as any other race day did. The pre race drivers meeting, driver intros, the invocation and the national anthem. Then it would be "Gentlemen, start your engines" and "Boogity, Boogity, Boogity! Lets go racin' boys!" The races at Daytona and Talladega always produce the best racing of the year, and this race was no exception. With the rules package that included a gurney lip across the rear spoiler and a wicker bill across the roof, the packs were tight and the slingshot pass was back. The cars of Sterling Marlin and Earnhardt were very strong all race long and it appeared they had the cars to beat. Then Dale Jr and Waltrip had their cars where they wanted and shot to the front of the pack.

Waltrip's #15 NAPA Chevy led a lot of the race after halfway, closely followed by teammate Dale Jr and team owner Dale Sr. As the race wound down, it appeared that this would be one of the greatest Daytona 500s in history. Michael Waltrip would win his first race in 462 tries in his first race with Dale Earnhardt, Incorperated, Junior would get second, making it a DEI one-two finish, and the proud owner would finish in third. However, that storybook ending did not go that perfectly. As Waltrip and Jr led the field off turn four for the final time, Rusty Wallace got Earnhardt's car loose while protecting third, sending him down the track. The back of the black #3 car made contact with Marlin's #40 and sent the Intimidator head on into the wall, collecting Kenny Schrader's #36 in the process.

The two cars came to rest near the entrance to pit road, as Michael Waltrip's came to rest in Daytona's famed victory lane. Mikey was celebrating the greatest day of his career, maybe of his entire life, blissfully unaware that the man who had given him the chance to win, the man who had given him the confidence by telling him "you'll win in my cars", the man who made this whole day possible was in the back of an ambulance bound for Halifax Medical Center where he would be pronounced dead a short time later. The best day of Michael Waltrip's life had quickly become his, as well as NASCAR's, darkest.

Even if you are not a Michael Waltrip fan, you have to feel for this guy. To lose his owner, his friend and his mentor in the same race as his first career win? How are you supposed to feel? Where do you go from here? And Dale Jr lost his father. Enough said. On February 20th, the 53rd Daytona 500 will go green and mark the tenth anniversary of that dark day when NASCAR lost one of its greatest drivers and many drivers lost a friend. How fitting it is that Dale Jr won the pole this past Sunday for the event marking a decade since his father's death. Another cool tribute to the "Man in Black" comes from the man that won the 2001 event. Michael Waltrip will start his 25th consecutive Daytona 500 behind the wheel of a black and blue #15 NAPA Toyota. The blue hood, roof and decklid harken back to his inaugural year with NAPA Auto Parts and the anniversary of their first win and the matte black sides pay tribute to the man that gave him the opportunity to win that race ten years ago. Hopefully, the 500 will end the way it is supposed to; with Dale Jr and Michael Waltrip battling for the win on the last lap, one of them crusing to victory in a fitting tribute to "The Intimidator."

Reutimann and Tums Team Fast Acting in Windy City Victory

If you still don't believe that nice guys can finish first, you weren't paying close enough attention to Saturday nights race at Chicagoland Speedway. The perfrmance that David Reutimann put on was one not t be missed. Reut led three times for 52 laps, including the final 32 and he held off a hard charging Carl Edwards to net his second career victory.

The race started with a very spirited rendition of the national anthem by Jim Cornelison, the Chicago Blackhawks anthem singer. Then the field was in the hands of polesitter Jamie McMurray who led the field to the green. His lead was short lived however, as Jimmie Johnson grabbed the top spot before lap one was completed. Jamie Mac continued his slide through the field, getting shuffled to fourth by lap six. Reutimann was climbing and by lap 36, he was battling Greg Biffle for fourth place after starting seventh.

The first yellow flag of the night waved on lap 39 when David Stremme slapped the wall. Johnson led the field to the restart on lap 43, followed by Martin Truex, Jr, McMurray, Biffle and Reutimann. Johnson's #48 Chevy led for a long time, while McMurray's #1 Chevy was right on his tail. Meanwhile, Michael Waltrip Racing teammates Martin Truex, Jr and David Reutimann were solidly in third and fourth respectively.

The lead changed hands on lap 96 when McMurray grabbed the lead when Johnson ducked into the pits for service. However the 48 missed its pit and Jimmie was forced to come back around to his crew again. David Reutimann slid his Tums Camry in front of Truex Jr's NAPA Camry to grab second place on lap 116.

The caution flew again on lap 129 for debris in turn two. After pit stops, Jamie Mac and Jimmie Johnson led the field back to the green on lap 137. It didn't take long for the yellow to come back out when Jimmie's #48 made contact with Martin Truex's #56, sending the Lowe's Impala spinning through the backstrech grass. Neither car received damage. McMurray and Jeff Gordon led the field as the green flag flew again on lap 140.

Gordon grabbed the lead on lap 166, making him only the third leader of the evening. On the next lap, Reutimann passed McMurray for second place and set his sights on the #24 car up ahead of him. Reutimann's teammate, Truex, had slid back to eighth place by lap 178. The yellow flag came out for the fourth time on lap 180 when Bill Elliott's #21 Ford got into the wall and then T-boned by Robby Gordon's#7 ending both drivers nights. Elliott and Gordon both walked away, despite the severity of the damage.

The green flag on lap 189 saw Jeff Gordon, leading Clint Bowyer, McMurray, Reutimann and Carl Edwards down into turn one. It was at this point that points leader Kevin Harvick took his #29 Shell Pennzoil Chevy behind the wall for his crew to adjust on. Points frontrunner Kurt Busch was also having a terrible run of it, racing around 30th place all night.

By lap 203, the race was on! Reutimann was giving Jeff Gordon all he wanted as the two duked it out for the top spot. Reutimann finally grabbed the lead on lap 213 and his #00 Camry was on a rail as he proceeded to gap the #24 car. Then final pit stops began to take place. This was the money stop. If you want to win, you have to have a flawless stop.

Reutimann and Gordon were the first to blink, pitting on lap 233, handing the lead to Bowyer. Clint pitted on the next lap and passed the lead to Edwards. Juan Montoya grabbed the top spot next time by as Edwards and Truex pitted. Then on lap 236, Reutimann regained the lead and never looked back. Despite complaining of a bad vibration and a closing Carl Edwards, Reutimann held on to stun the field and grab his second career Cup Series win!

A tearful Reutimann pulled into victory lane and stood on his car, arms raised in triumph in a shower of beer. This was not just another win, it was vindication. It validated what Reutimann had worked for his entire life and proved that his win in last years Coke 600 was not a fluke, that his run at the Chase was not a fluke and that he will be a driver to contend with in the future. It was also nice to see a driver be genuinely excited about winning a race, instead of the Jimmie Johnson's and Denny Hamlin's that win every week with the same manufactured excitement. David's win, as well as his emotion, was real and you could see the relief on his face. The questions about whether or not he could win a race that went the full distance were answered now. Another question was also answered that night: Yes, nice guys CAN finish first!

The Biff Wins and Reutimann Spins

The third race of the 2010 Chase finished up Sunday and it was not without controversay. First off, congratulations to Greg Biffle and his #16 Roush Fenway team. After two disasterous races at Loudon and Dover to kick off their Chase, a win in Kansas would be the perfect remedy to get them back within striking distance. And after starting 5th, running in the top 10 most all day and leading three times for 60 laps, the #16 Sherwin Williams 3M Ford pulled into victory lane at days end. But despite this dominate performance from "The Biff", he is not what everyone is talking about this week.

No, not a lot of people are concerned with lap 267. Instead, the media is blowing what happened on lap 152 out of proportion. Lets start at the begining. On lap 52, David Reutimann was spun out by Kyle Busch, sending the back end of the #00 into the outside wall. This took away any chance that the Aaron's Dream Machine had of winning the Price Chopper 400. This was also the third time in four races Reutimann has been taken out of a good run. Kurt Busch dumped him in the first fifteen laps at Richmond and Ryan Newman did the same in the first 25 or so at Dover.

That is also why Reutimann's crew chief Rodney Childers told his driver over the radio to eihter start hitting people back or the team would need a new crew chief. Reutimann would erase his reputaion as the series punching bag on lap 152 when he slid up into Kyle's #18 car, slamming the rear of the M&M's Toyota into the wall and spinning out his own car in the process. At first glance, it appeared that Busch would just need a new set of tires and that Reut had just made himself look like an idiot. But the damage was done. The whole rear suspension of Busch's car was destroyed, the rear end housing was bent, the truck arms were bent and the 18 team's top 5 car was relegated to a 21st place finish one lap down. Reutimann's potential top five car was strapped with a 35th place finish, eleven laps down to the leader. But just why is this so controversial?

Well, Busch said after the race that Reutimnn could have "wreck me in any of the first 26 races next year. That would've been fine" because he was in the Chase and "racing for something" implying that Reutimann wasn't since he isn't a Chaser. This ignited a firestorm of controversay in the media that hasn't been seen since Busch dumped Dale Jr at Richmond in 2008.

My opinion as a fan of D-Reut since his rookie year in 2007, and even if I wasn't, I have no problem with what happened. Reutimann was wronged and had his shot to win taken away. And he may have done just that since he won at a similar track, at Chicagoland Speedway, earlier in the year. Another key to this whole incident was that Busch, although he did so in his post race interview, never got on his radio and told his spotter "Tell the 00 that was my fault" or "Tell him that was an accident" or even "Tell him I'm sorry." Any other driver would have done that. But Busch drives like he owns the track. He has been known to run through drivers on his way to the front of the pack , as well as for the win and Reutimann assumed that he was just the next victim since he had not heard otherwise.

There was also the aspect of using cars for payback, a practice frowned upon by many crew cheifs and crew members (for obvious reasons). Media memebrs were talking about how the 18 crew and Joe Gibbs Racing puts so much effort into their cars and didn't deserve to be taken out like that. So I guess that Michael Waltrip Racing's cars don't cost as much as the ones that JGR builds. MWR works just as hard, if not harder, than the Gibbs organization to build race winning cars for their drivers and that first wreck will be just as costly to them as the second wreck will be to JGR.


But feuds between drivers on and off the track have been an ongoing theme this season. Ever since Robin Pembeton uttered the now infamous words "Boys, have at it" back in January, the competition, as well as the tempers have been red hot. Heres hoping that this season ends with the same excitment and passion that it started with.

Hamlin Wins Pocono Snoozer

Another race at the Pocono Raceway, another win for Denny Hamlin and his #11 team. The senior driver at Joe Gibbs Racing, Hamiln has had the Tricky Triangle figured out since his arrival on the circut, sweeping both races there in his rookie campaign. There was also not a whole lot of question as to whether Hamlin would win or not. The FedEx Toyota was the class of the field, leading eighty eight laps on the day and netting the five bonus points for leading the most laps. Hamilin's closest competition was his teammate Kyle Busch and Richard Childress Racing stablematres Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton. The only teams that led a lap undeer green were the Gibbs, Childress and Penske teams. The action was also hard to find in this race, as the cars get so stung out and it becomes harder to pass, there were not a lot of cautions or chances for teams to use atrategy calls to get out front.

As the race progressed, Jamie McMurray backed his McDonald's Chevy into the wall and Casey Mears, subbing for Brian Vickers, was spun by Elliott Sadler. But on one of the final restarts, the Penske tandem of Kurt Busch and Sam Hornish, Jr led the field to the green. Hornish was able to hold the lead until about fifteen laps to go when he was passed by the #11. Then off of turn three, business picked up. Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano made contact going for position, with Logano spinning off Harvick's front end. The sophmore Logano did avoid contact and move back up to a twelfh place finish.

We fans did get our action after all because on the last lap, A.J. Allmendinger blocked Richard Petty Motorrsports teammate Kasey Kahne, sending Kahne's car down to the grass, back up the track and head on into the wall. At that same time, Jeff Gordon hit the #9 Ford square in the door, sending the back of Kahne's car in the air, and simultaniously collecting Mark Marin, Martin Truex, Jr, Elliott Sadler as well as a few others. After Hamlin won the race, TNT interviewed Kasey Kahne and asked him if he would talk to A.J. before next week, Kasey said that he didn't talk to Allmendinger on a good day, so why start now?

But in the end, all the cameras were focused on the #11 team and how they had netted their fourth win of the young 2010 season and Hamlin's four win in his career at the Tricky Triangle. This could be the year that the FedEx team delivers an upset, lives up to the preseason hype and dethrons Jimmie Johnson as reigning champ.