Cars in field: 37
Pole: Denny Hamlin (11)
Outside Pole: Martin Truex Jr. (19)
Stages: 70-160-170
Weather: Mostly sunny, 81°F, Feels like 89°, Wind: NE 2 mph, Wind Gusts: 4 mph
Now that the Paris Olympics are officially closed, let’s check out the NASCAR race.
Christopher ‘CBell’ Bell (20) wins stage one.
Michael McDowell (34) and Daniel Suarez (99) put on the optional softer compound tire.
Restarting on lap of 400 with ‘CBell’ and ‘Desperate’ Denny Hamlin (11) on the front row.
Daniel Suarez (99) takes the lead on lap 92 of 400 using the softer compound tires. In practice yesterday apparently they had greater speed than the usual compound, then fell off more quickly.
Green flag pit stops underway on lap 120 of 400.
Daniel Suarez (99) wins stage two.
Restarting on lap 240 of 400 with Daniel Suarez (99) and Christopher ‘CBell’ Bell (20) on the front row.
On lap 250 of 400 Martin Truex Jr said his car started missing suddenly and when he brought it into the pits it was on fire. He’s out of the race.
Caution on lap 398 of 400 for a spin by Ryan Preece (41) and Ricky Stenhouse (47).
Restarting in overtime lap 405 of 408 with Austin Dillon (3) and Joey Logano (22) leading them to the green flag.
Logano gets the early lead.
Logano gets the white flag.
Dillon (3) turned Logano heading to the checkers. Dillon sent ‘Desperate’ Denny Hamlin into the outside wall. Hamlin took the lead after Logano got turned,. Dillon crosses the finish line first.
Joey Logano (22) is very angry. He said, “It’s chicken-shit!” “He’s sitting here praising God and got his babies around him and doing something like that; it’s b.s.”
‘Desperate’ Denny Hamlin (11) said, “He’s obviously not going to go far. It would’ve been fun if I wouldn’t have been a part of it”.
Joey Logano (22) called the finish a joke. Denny Hamlin called the finish a joke. 22 crew-chief Paul Wolfe called the finish a joke. He says NASCAR is going to have to make the call about things like that. He says it’s a joke that NASCAR let him do that and gave him the win after what he did.
MRN is doing a bit of editorial about the finish. They all agree Joey Logano was just wrecked.
Former crew-chief Todd Gordon on MRN says, “He made a mistake and gave away control of the race and instead of taking the fact that he made a mistake he dumped the 22 car. That’s why the 11 was going to pass him, because there was no way he was going to make the corner. That’s where we are with the win and you’re in has rewarded drastic moves like this.” “There are sponsorship deals tied to play-off berths. That move could’ve been worth millions of dollars for his company.”
MRN’s Alex Hayden is playing devil’s advocate explaining Dillon’s point of view, as well as NASCAR’s point of view, that any publicity is good publicity and Jeff Striegle says that will probably be on ESPN’s top ten.
That was a totally boring event until the final restart. I agree with Paul Wolfe that it is a shame that NASCAR is rewarding Austin Dillon for wrecking two cars. Talk about manipulating the finish of a race! Dillon manipulated that one in his favor and endangered two drivers an the rest of the field behind them in the process. I would have no issue with his receiving a points penalty that would take away all of the points for the win, any play-off points, and an additional 15-20 point penalty. The intentionality of the move combined with the religious spiel attempting to justify egregious behavior merits a penalty that dwarfs that of Ricky Stenhouse Jr (47). It should include cash and points to account for both the race manipulation, as well as the danger to the drivers, the damage to the cars, and to put a stop to the belief that NASCAR will consistently look the other way at the checkered flag – that ‘I had to do whatever I could to win the race’ excuses any and every ill-conceived notion.
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