Friday practice day at Watkins Glen – rain rain go away! It’s raining at The Glen. Everything on track is postponed until the afternoon when the front should be past. The front passed and both Sprint Cup and Nationwide were able to get in some practice time – though the practice time for Nationwide was shortened.
Saturday, Nationwide race. Boring. There was a nice little battle between new father Justin Allgaier and Parker Kligerman. In the end, Kligerman won the battle for position. Unfortunately Penske weighted the field again. Joey Logano ended up running out of gas at the end of the race, so he finished in the twenties. It (Bradley K) won. He kept saying he thought Sam Hornish, his teammate, would’ve passed him. He’s making Sam look like a chump. Sam is running for the series championship, but he keeps finishing second to Brad and Joey. It demeaning. And then It kept saying he thought Sam wold’ve passed him, like Sam should’ve passed him, but wasn’t doing his job or something – it really sucked and made me feel really bad for Sam. It seems to me Brad should be a real team player and let Sam get the win without making it obvious. I mean, Sam is running for the championship and every time Brad or Joey win they’re taking points from Sam. I know Sam should be able to beat him legit, but if that’s not possible, it seems it would be better for the team, and for sponsorship, if Sam looked better.
Sunny day in Watkins Glen for race day. It looks warmer than its been the past couple days. Lots of cars have “Get Well Tony” stickers on their cars. I’m not expecting much from this race after a really boring Nationwide race.
I was hoping Jeff Gordon would win the Cup race – if Jimmie doesn’t – but he crashed hard on lap 14. Out of the care center he said the crash may have looked hard, but the soft walls did their job. He was pissed though. He said the penalty for the front end going out from under him was that he’s going to have to ride around in what’s left for the rest of the day.
Reuti-tootie missed a shift, blowed it up and brought out a caution on lap 6. Michael McDowell had problems on lap 35. Cation is out on lap 40 after Ron Fellows and Travis Kvapil got into it and Victor Gonzalez Jr and Tomy Drissi also got tied up in the incident. Landon Cassill has some damage. The field has been stopped due to the fluids laid
down in the Gonzalez Drissi wreck.
Caution is out on lap 60 of 90 for Aric Almirola burying his car in the tire barrier. There were lots of cars on, or heading onto pit road as the caution came out. So the question is who was on there legally (before pit road was closed/caution) or not. This will probably shuffle the field a bit. An out-of-gas AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Newman and others were caught on pit road. KyBu assumes the lead and Marcos has to make a pit stop and restart in traffic.
Caution is out on lap 78 of 90 for Travis Kvapil who hit the guard rail twice and lost a tire after returning to the track after extensive repairs from the earlier wreck.
Caution is out on lap 81 for Dale Jr hitting Kasey Kahne who had spun across the track after getting hit by Matt Kenseth. The 34 of got a piece of that, as did Blaney in the 7, Burton spun around during the incident.
Caution is out with 6 laps to go on the restart as Marcos Ambrose spins and hits the guard rail. Max tried to check up to stay off Marcos who got out of the groove was getting pushed by Kevin Harvick and ended up hitting and turning Marcos who spun into the 55 of Brian Vickers.
KYLE BUSCH WINS!!! He finally has luck go his way – AND – drove his butt off to stay ahead of It. Jimmie finishes 8th after starting 19th. Carl Edwards finished 4th after starting 17th.
In NASCAR news this week:
Smoke is out for a while with a broken leg. The big news of the week is that Smoke broke his tibia and his fibula in a Sprint Car race in Iowa. He’s going to be out for a few weeks at the least. Doc Punch says this sort of injury usually takes 4 to 7 months to heal. Carl Edwards said typically drivers halve the recommended recovery time. Smoke is 11th in the points going into this weekend’s race. Max Papis will drive the car at Watkins Glen since he tested for the race on July 30th at Road America. Zippy (Greg Zippadelli) says they will decide who will drive the car going forward a bit later.- Justin Allgaier is a Daddy. Ashley gave birth to Harper Grace Allgaier Thursday morning around 7am. Harper Grace weighed 5 pounds 11 ounces and was 18.5 inches long. Although she was three weeks early she is in perfect health. Congrats to Mr., Mrs. and BabyGirl Dewy Alligator!
