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Can you tell I’m happy? Not at all. Sheesh, nothing like keeping you on your feet. You would have thought I was at the race. I couldn’t sit. I couldn’t stand. I paced back and forth. Tried to clean. Picked up a rag, and had to put it back down. Stood behind the chair. Sat on the couch. Damn, was this race ever gonna end?!
What a bummer for Steve Park and Michael Waltrip. I thought one of those guys would win, since winning 4 in a row on the track is unheard of. Matt Kenseth drove his heart out in that race. So did Jimmie Johnson. My husband predicted that Jimmie would win. It looked like he was gonna, but he made a bad move, and Jr. was able to get to the front on a controversial pass.
Before going further, I guess I better tell you all that I’m not sure if NASAR made the right call for the pass. I watched the replay, and it looked like Jr. was already past Kenseth when he went below the yellow line. A lot of the drivers say he wasn’t. Among them, Jimmie Johnson. However, Jimmie was on the high side, so how could he see what Jr. was doing. I know a lot of you will tell me what you think, but in my opinion, it LOOKED like Jr. didn’t do anything wrong.
I’m beginning to think that Ryan Newman is jinxed at the superspeedways. He crashed out of Daytona and Talladega this past weekend in spectacular fashion. It was the first time I’ve ever heard Ryan speak in a way that left no doubt he was pissed. WOW. Not that I can blame him. A cut tire is no way to end a race. Especially at Talladega or Daytona. What a great run for Kevin Harvick, Elliott Sadler, Ricky Craven and Terry Labonte. I kinda would have liked to see Terry win, but he finished the best out of the Hendrick crew.
Speaking of the Hendrick crew wasn’t that just amazing how they tried to keep Jr. down. Not that it worked. Hehehe. Better luck next time boys.
I will say that the comments by Ricky Craven and Jimmie Johnson got me going, but figured that they were just whining cuz they didn’t win….Yes, I’m sitting here saying that a Chevy driver was whining….write it down, I don’t say that very often!
What is truly amazing in this finish is that no one would “help” Jr. Everyone out there wanted to dethrone the DEI guys. Not that it worked. HA. Double HA.
Chip off the old block:
Just a little bit of information on Dale Sr.
and Jr. at Talladega
Races
Wins
Top 5’s
Poles
Dale Sr.
44
10
23
3
Junior
7
4
3
0
Dale Earnhardt Jr. celebrates his eighth career Winston Cup victory. Credit: AP
Earnhardt Jr. makes history at Talladega
Becomes first driver to win four straight at 2.66-mile track
TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) -- About the only thing that went right for Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Sunday was winning the Aaron's 499.
Crew chief Tony Eury Sr. had to beat on the doors of a couple of his crewmen who overslept their 5 a.m. wake-up call after forgetting to reset their clocks.
When the crew of the No. 8 Chevrolet warmed up the engine after arriving at Talladega Superspeedway, the oil cooler filled up with water, requiring an engine change and forcing Earnhardt to start from the rear of the 43-car field.
Four laps into the 188-lap event, Earnhardt drove through the infield grass to avoid a wild 27-car crash. The bumpy ride tore up his front air dam, messing up the car's aerodynamics and forcing a series of pit stops for repairs.
Earnhardt charged back to become the first driver to win four straight Winston Cup events on the 2.66-mile Talladega oval, but afterward he spent more time explaining a disputed pass than talking about his eighth career victory.
"Today was real tough," Earnhardt said, shaking his head and grinning. "I didn't guess we'd be competitive the rest of the day after the accident. We were just hanging on in the middle of the race.
"I didn't feel like I had a very competitive car. But at the end of the day, we were able to make the moves we needed to make."
Earnhardt didn't lead for the first time until lap 107 and wound up in front nine times for 34 laps in a race in which there was a total of 43 lead changes among 16 drivers. He fended off challenges at the end from Jimmie Johnson, Ward Burton and Matt Kenseth.
Johnson: 'He was clearly below the yellow line'
He fought his way into the lead twice in the last four laps, once with a pass below the yellow line on the track apron. The move had rival teams lined up at the NASCAR hauler after the race to complain.
Driving below the yellow line to improve position is prohibited at Talladega, and NASCAR warned the drivers before Sunday's race that officials would be watching closely for such moves.
"He was clearly below the yellow line," said Johnson, who was behind Earnhardt and Kenseth at the time. "Anybody else who dances down there gets in trouble. From my vantage point, I didn't think it was a legal pass."
But, after reviewing videotape of the pass, NASCAR ruled it a legal
move.
NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said: "There is not a shadow of a doubt he was below the yellow line. However, in our judgment, he had already improved his position and was past (Kenseth) when he went down there."
The 28-year-old son of the late Dale Earnhardt, the career leader at Talladega with 10 Winston Cup victories, came up with his first win of the season and moved to second in the standings, 129 points behind Kenseth.
Earnhardt's victory Sunday broke the record of three in a row here, held by Buddy Baker, who won twice in 1975 and once in 1976.
"There ain't too many (drivers) ever won four races here, period," Earnhardt said. "I'm stepping into some awful big shoes."
NASCAR requires carburetor restrictor plates at Talladega and Daytona, its two longest and fastest ovals. The plates sap horsepower and produce huge drafts up to four cars wide in which a multi-car wreck is virtually inevitable.
Earnhardt Jr. suffered damage in early crash
The crowd of more than 160,000 didn't have long to wait for "The Big One" on Sunday. A deflated tire sent Ryan Newman's car into the fourth-turn wall on the fourth lap around the high-banked oval and started the crash in the second turn.
There were no injuries, but the crash took out or damaged the cars of a number of possible contenders, including Earnhardt.
At one point in the early going, Earnhardt had lost the lead pack and was facing the possibility of being lapped until debris on the track brought out another of the six cautions and allowed him to pit for more adjustments.
Late in the race, Earnhardt got caught in traffic and slid out of the
top five. But he came back,
taking the lead on lap 185 with the controversial pass on Kenseth and Johnson
that took him below the yellow line.
"They were up there racing against the wall," Earnhardt explained. "I was watching Matt to see if he noticed me and (if he) was coming down to block me. ... I was watching him and trying not to run into him if he came down and crossed the nose of my car, so it was more not to cause a wreck than anything.
"But I didn't necessarily intentionally end up there. Again, I don't think it was an advantage on getting by Matt."
"I couldn't see it at all," Kenseth said. "I have no idea."
Elliott Sadler, who was right behind Earnhardt, said, "I was the one
pushing (Earnhardt), and
they ran him down. He had to do that or cause a big wreck, so it was a
smart move. He's just like his dad driving that car.
"He kept giving me the 'come on, push' sign and I pushed him all I could. We almost had a 1-2 finish, but we'll take third right now."
Kenseth took the lead on lap 186, but Earnhardt pushed back in front on lap 187 and kept the lead, beating Kevin Harvick's Chevy to the finish line by 0.125 seconds -- about 11/2 car-lengths.
Sadler was third, followed by Ricky Craven, Terry Labonte, Sterling Marlin, Burton and Jeff Gordon. Kenseth was kicked back to ninth on the final lap, and Johnson, who led a race-high 65 laps, wound up 15th after spinning into the infield grass coming off the fourth turn on lap 187.
Michael Waltrip, Earnhardt's DEI teammate and the winner of the season-opening Daytona 500, ran among the leaders until he crashed on lap 83. Waltrip wound up 24th.
At restrictor-plate tracks, NASCAR allows no passing below the yellow line in order to
advance position. Credit: Autostock
Junior's yellow line move prompts
debate
By Marty Smith, Turner Sports Interactive
TALLADEGA, Ala. -- NASCAR was forced to defend a race-determining judgment call for the second consecutive week Sunday, this time after Dale Earnhardt Jr's winning pass of Matt Kenseth with three laps remaining in the Aaron's 499 appeared to take place below the yellow line.
Voluntarily passing below the yellow line to improve position is illegal at Daytona and Talladega, but NASCAR ruled Sunday that Earnhardt had already passed Kenseth when he went below the line and therefore issued no penalty.
The decision triggered significant post-race speculation, but NASCAR vice president for corporate communications Jim Hunter said the sanctioning body had thoroughly reviewed the replay and that the issue was closed.
"If you look at the tape, look at the replay, the 17 (Kenseth) went up the track and left a lane and a half on the racetrack," Hunter said. "There was a hole and it was above the line. By the time (Earnhardt) went below the line, he had passed the 17. The 17, to avoid a wreck, went up the racetrack.
"As we said in the driver's meeting and as we say before races here and at Daytona where the yellow line rule is in effect, it's a judgment call, and we made a judgment that he did not use the line to improve his position. He had already done that before went below the line."
That was of little consolation to many drivers, including Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick. Harvick's GM Goodwrench team was puzzled by the ruling and requested clarification, first on pit road during the final laps and again after the race.
Johnson said Earnhardt's move contributed to the accident that sent
him from the top five to a
last-lap spinout.
"He was clearly below the yellow line, in my opinion," said Johnson, who finished 15th. "His pass got me shuffled out and that's when I started falling back. He was clearly below the yellow line.
"I watched him drive across the flat up onto the track. Anybody else who ever dances down there gets in trouble. From my vantage point, I didn't think it was a legal pass under the current rules."
Harvick's team agreed, prompting a post-race visit to the NASCAR's command center for a thorough explanation.
"Right now it's a judgment call on everything that goes on, and NASCAR made their judgment," said Richard Childress Racing team manager Gil Martin. "They made the case that the 8 car had already passed the 17, and the 17 was starting to come down. And when he realized he was there, he pulled up to try to avoid a big wreck and the 8 car just got by.
"I'll just say we agree to disagree. We've got to go state what we think is right and wrong on it. It's a tough rule. We're just in there addressing that we want to make sure the rule is the same for everybody, because I can promise you, if Kevin Harvick went under that line one half-inch, he was done."
Regardless of who thinks what, the issue is no longer up for debate. Earnhardt said after the race it should never have been questioned.
"I didn't really pull down under the line on intention, nor did it have any affect one way or the other on getting by Matt. I was going by Matt whether I had the left sides underneath the line or not."
According to the rule, even the slightest voluntary crossing of the yellow line constitutes a black flag penalty, which requires the driver to come down pit road for a stop and go.
But if a driver is forced below the line, the driver that forced him below the line may be black-flagged. Hunter said Junior neither voluntarily attempted to gain position nor was forced below the line.
"Again, it's a judgment call, very obviously," Hunter said. "In our opinion there is no question that he went below the line. Where the judgment call comes into effect is that he did not go below the yellow line to improve his position."
Kenseth said he didn't see enough of the pass to offer an opinion, but wasn't upset by the decision.
"Obviously there's no penalty, so it must have been okay in (NASCAR's) eyes," Kenseth said. "I didn't feel like I was really trying to block very bad. I was half a groove off the white line and he got under me. There was a car on the outside and nowhere to go. I'm just going to mind my own business and be happy with my (ninth-place) finish."
NASCAR spent the past week defending its choice to black flag race leader Brian Vickers in the Busch Series race for attempting to pass on the left on a restart last week at Texas, a decision adamantly defended by Dale Jarrett this weekend.
NASCAR admitted making a wrong call last Sunday, when Kenseth slowed under caution in an effort to let Kurt Busch and Ricky Rudd back on the lead lap, only to be passed by Jeff Gordon before the start/finish line. NASCAR gave Busch and Rudd their laps back, and left Kenseth as the race leader.
"Everything's their judgment right now," Martin said. "We just have to go to Martinsville with it and let 'er ride."
1. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
2. Kevin Harvick
3. Elliott Sadler
4. Ricky Craven
5. Terry Labonte
6. Sterling Marlin
7. Ward Burton
8. Jeff Gordon
9. Matt Kenseth
10. Robby Gordon
The top 10 in points:
1. Matt Kenseth
Leader
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
-129
3. Kurt Busch
-187
4. Jimmie Johnson
-220
5. Jeff Gordon
-222
6. Ricky Craven
-233
7. Michael Waltrip
-239
8. Kevin Harvick
-256
9. Tony Stewart
-296
10. Elliott Sadler
-338
Your
Momma
"Don't come here and grumble about going too fast. Get the hell out of the race car if you've got feathers on your legs or butt. Put a kerosene rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up there and eat that candy ass." - Dale Earnhardt – 1998
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