I’m sitting here watching Race Day and getting revved up for the race. I didn’t realize until last night that it was a Saturday night race. Night races are not among my favorites, overall, but okay.  I was just watching Laila Ali and Carl Edwards. Laila looks good and happy. It seems the time out of the spotlight recently has been good for her. Carl on the other hand looks tired, hot and aggravated. This doesn’t bode well for his race this evening. I think last night’s race took a lot out of him, bugs, wrecks, restarts, and all.
So this race starts an hour earlier and is 63 laps longer. I was wondering why. There’s been so much talk about shortening the races. Kurt Busch, of all people, answered the question for me.  Apparently the sponsor wanted an extra gimmick, so we now have the 600KM race. One good thing about the longer race is that they will have an extra pit stop so it won’t end up a gas mileage race, which is just ahead of short-track races in my book. Tonight is Elliott Sadler’s 400th career start. He’s been a part of the sport for 12 years. Yay Elliott!!! Jimmie said he doesn’t know what to expect, which makes me kinda hopeful. Jimmie rubbed Chani’s baby bump and Hermie said he wasn’t going to talk about Jimmie’s glasses, because the last time he did, she didn’t like it.Â
Over to Fox and all I’m thinking is what happened to Hammond’s hair. It’s so brown (and he’s so orange) that he reminds me of Johnny TV. I’m missing some non-brown in his hair. Denny and his knee are the hot topic. He said he’s been able to stay off his feet today which should help. He also had some stitches removed this morning and had it drained. Denny said he’s tough, but he’s not dumb either” in response to DW’s question about whether the knee was worst than Martinsville. Denny is a bit offended, since DW started out the question with, “My heroes are guys who play hurt.” He’s much less hostile to Hammond. I listened to his interview during practice yesterday and I could hear the pain (and the pain medication) in his voice and he said after practice he was really hurting. Removing the stitches and draining the knee this morning was to allow for more range of movement and to reduce pain respectively. He’s in no shape to be out there today. That much is obvious. He’s not able to cover the pain as well today as he was yesterday. He’s going to start the race and said he should know at lap 50 whether he can continue, but he’s made it sound 
unlikely all day. The problem is that his sponsor is doing a big March of Dimes promotion today and therefore they’re really pushing for him to be in the car and for it to do well. He keeps repeating that he’s tough, but he has to be smart. Also during Race Day both Kyle and Kenny were proud of him for saying that and mentioning that he’s young and has a long career ahead of him, so he needs to take care of that knee, because if he doesn’t heal it well, his career won’t be as long.
The race was rolling along mildly, and suddenly dadgum Kurt Busch got loose and slid into Kasey Kahne and knocked him into a wall before tapping Denny Hamlin. So the first caution is out. Kasey spun going into pit road. Martin Truex Jr has come to pit road before its open. Denny is going to stay in the car for now and will make another decision in another 60 to 70 laps. Kasey took his car directly to the garage. He didn’t stop at pit road.  There are so many reasons to believe Kurt Busch is a child of satan (LOL).  19 laps are complete at this point. Happy had to stop again because his transponder wasn’t transmitting. NASCAR brought him in, so he’s allowed to get back into place where he would’ve been without that issue. Jimmie was moving up through the field nicely.  Jamie Mc just spun into the wall on the restart. Clint bumped into Jamie Mc a little bit and spun him out.  So second caution is out.Â
After a break I happened to catch a racebreak and see that Vickers has spun and Denny has had to be pushed back to pit road due to a battery issue. Denny is still in the car and is now two laps down. Casey is up on the box ready and waiting. JPM is leading Jimmie Johnson according to Chris Meyers. JPM has led 96 of 141 laps. There are 234 laps to go. It sounds like the race has been rather quiet overall. Juan Pablo was challenging AJ for the lead just before I left the room and had just taken the lead when I left. Jimmie had been in fifth or so, so his being in second isn’t surprising. We’re under caution for Kurt Busch hitting the wall in four and leaving debris around. None of the start and park cars have gone out yet, because nobody wants to be the first in, so they’re still running around. Jamie Mc has been in under caution half a dozen times or so. Denny is coming back out onto the track at two laps down following a battery change and a stall at the exit to pit road. There are 25 cars on the lead lap. David Ragan just got the free pass. The sun is setting and causing some drivers to have problems seeing – like Kenseth. Truex was just shown pulling off some tape on the inside of his car which is used to adjust visibility for the sun. Jimmie just took over the lead from JPM.Â
Fifth caution is out. Apparently there’s something wet in turn two. Blaney in the 55 went into the garage. Scott Speed got the free pass. 185 laps to go. Jimmie went in first and came out first. Kyle Busch picked up a spot and came out second. Sixth caution is out on the restart. Keselowski hit the wall. Bradley K slid up in front of the 56 and got hit in the bumper since he was too close. Paul Menard get the free pass on this one. Carl was apparently wearing sunglasses earlier, but has taken them off now. Carl ate a sandwich over the past couple of cautions. Apparently the bugs everybody is complaining about are fungus gnats. 171 to go on the restart.
Regan Smith got the free pass after NASCAR re-checked the video. Paul Menard is still one lap down. Kyle Busch is catching JPM. Carl and his crew are discussing what happened to his sunglasses. He was sure he put them out the window, but they’re not on pit road and nobody has seen them. Eventually Carl said he thought he felt them in the floorboard so he’s hoping they don’t get stuck under one of the pedals. He’s thinking they’ll be “good and melted” by the end of the race. Jimmie is not thrilled with his car, nor the changes that were made. He said it’s leading, so he guesses its okay, but there has to be a better way. He’s not thrilled. I hope Chadley is listening and comprehending. Jimmie didn’t seem too concerned though, so he may be unsure as to exactly which way he wants to go from here.
Another caution – Reuti-tooty spun out and hit the wall. Clint Bowyer had a good stop and JPM and Kenseth not so great, so Clint comes out in third. The spoiler causes more damage to the rear of the car when it hits the wall. 115 laps to go. Kyle Busch just took the lead on the restart and JPM followed him. Jimmie is coming back on the outside of JPM.Â
They’re showing Kyle Busch’s restart craziness with 67 to go. That gives you an idea of how exciting the race is right now. Kyle is leading and the race has settled down into laying down laps. Caution is out for the eighth time tonight. Travis Kvapil blew up. He was 35th in owner’s points. Robby Gordon is in sixth, so if he holds on, he may be in the top 35 next week. Jimmie says the car is not where he wants it to be. Chadley asked if it was okay in the center which is where they made the last adjustment. Jimmie said yes, but its too loose off to do what he wants. This makes me wonder if Chadley is understanding Jimmie or is he being Mr Super Crew Chief. I’m hoping he gets his act together, but I’m not feeing very confident at this point.Â
Just as an aside, today I have been mildly driven crazy by announcers giving urls on the air and saying back-slash. I wish someone would a. explain to them what a backslash is and 2. Bar them from saying backslash period (nod to Paul on Mad About You).
We’ve restarted and Jimmie is trying to come after Kyle. Looks like Big Daddy is ahead of Clint in third. Kenseth, Newman, Harvick and JPM are all trying to get fourth place, while Big Daddy and Clinton are battling for third. JPM has caught up to them. Stevie Letarte is still looking awfully skinny. His weight loss just looks sickly on him to me and always bothers me. I don’t know anything about the hows or whys of it, but it makes me curious every time I see him. Carl has mostly been hanging around tenth for the past few rotations. 36 laps t go as we head to commercial again with Kyle leading. We’ve been watching the battle for tenth between Harvick and Michael Carl for the past few minutes. Its amazing, when Kyle gets out in front of a Sprint Cup race it, more often than not, turns into a snooze fest. 
15 to go, Kyle is still leading and Clint is still in fourth. Big Daddy is closing on the 48. Kyle has caught traffic now. Clint felt his car was going away. His spotter told him to charge the corners and use a lot of brake. JPM just caught and passed Clint. The 33 is too tight and won’t turn, which is more than likely why he lost that position to JPM. Unless we get a caution, this finish will be very boring. With seven to go Kyle is still leading the race. Newman is coming up to pass Clint. Scott Riggs has lost a tire and hit the wall. With three to go the caution is out.
The leaders are all coming into the pits. Jimmie is getting four. 24 is getting right sides only. Kyle is getting 4 tires. Newman, Mark Martin, Kenseth, Allmendinger, and BooBoo all got two tires. No one stayed out – everyone came in for two or four tires. There are 25 cars on the lead lap. Oddly now, there are five laps to go – somewhere along the line there were seven to go when the caution came out, though the scoring thing at the top of the screen said three – so I don’t know what was happening there unless I was seeing 9 as 7 and 8 as 3. Whatever, three laps to go, two when they come to the line – its Green White Checker time. Newman is the leader at the white flag. Big Daddy is coming after him. Jimmie is in third. Newman wins, Big Daddy second, Jimmie third. Kyle finished ninth. Carl finished seventh, Clint ninth and BooBoo twelfth.
I have a feeling Big Daddy is going to be dejected again for not winning that race. Letarte seemed resolute and cautiously hopeful. I’m bummed for Stevie. I enjoyed Newman’s dive into the turn. Jimmie finished better than I expected, I think. I don’t know that I had a finish in mind for him, but I didn’t expect him to win this one. It just didn’t give me that feeling. I wish SpankBoy would’ve really backed up that outside pole start with a top five finish – but I know that’s asking a lot too.Â
Newman said Smoke told him he loved him. He said this is an emotional victory for him. This was the track for his first start and this is his first victory at Phoenix and a win has been a long time coming. Big Daddy said he spun the tires. Kenseth jumped ahead of Biff in the points. Clint is in sixth and Edwards is in seventh. There are questions as to whether Kyle and Dave Rogers are having good communications. Jimmie said the tires were a good call and were the right call. He said he was thinking about Martinsville and the four tires. Hammond said next week most likely owners, drivers, crew chiefs and engineers will be getting together and discussing how to make the right call in these situations, because they’re guessing at this point and making the wrong calls and costing themselves wins.
I’m going to watch the 100+ laps that I missed to see if I missed anything, but judging from what I saw when I started watching again, I doubt it. 
Phoenix is over. The race was okay. I’m glad there was a caution just before the end, in an attempt to add some excitement, but two cautions within the last 20 laps would’ve added more to the mix I believe. Jimmie said they needed one more caution and I believe if they would’ve had another one, he might have pulled that one out. That tire strategy thing at the end is also getting to be a bit like gas mileage. I’m not sure what they can do, other than mandate the number of tires at the end, to make that less of a big deal, though it might level out once the crew chiefs get used to how many green/white/checkers are normal at various tracks.