It’s sunny and cool in Atlanta. Too cool for this Georgian to be sitting in grandstands so I’m sitting on my sofa in my cozy living room watching the race on television and enjoying feeling warm and seeing the sunshine.
Congrats to John Hunter Nemechek on his Camping World Truck Series win yesterday. It was a good race. It got a little crazy at the end with Christopher Bell losing it into Daniel Suarez, turning him into Matt Crafton. Suarez and Crafton were running second and first, respectively, at the time. Karma took care of Christopher Bell shortly thereafter when he blew a right front tire and hit the wall. Unfortunately it was a hard hit though he got out of the car and walked to the ambulance without assistance.
KyBu stunk up the show in the Nationwide race. It was a boring race (as it has been for several years at this track). Congrats to Kyle Busch on his Xfinity series win yesterday. Not much of interest in the race. Overall it looked like a typical Atlanta Xfinity series race. Not sure what happened to cause this race to become so boring. It used to be entertaining then it got progressively boring, following in the footsteps of the Sprint Cup race it seemed.
Many NASCAR drivers were at the Georgia Dome last night at the AMA Supercross event including Richard Petty, Jeff Gordon, Kevin (and Kelan) Harvick, and Ryan Blaney. Greg “Mr Awesome” Biffle, Clint “Drunk Daddy” Bowyer, Ty Dillon, Ricky “Stinkhouse” Stenhouse Jr (Danica Patrick’s boyfriend) competed in a pole shot contest for charity before the Main. ‘Lil Dude (Danica Patrick) was the 30 second board girl for their event. Jimmie was in the doghouse to drop the gate at the start. Bowyer won the event and promptly crashed into one of the soft barriers heading in to the first turn. He passed Greg Biffle at the end for the win. What a clown.
155 green flag laps so far in the Cup race.
There was a bit of a Kerfuffle in which Matt Kenseth received a drive through penalty for illegal fueling. His crew chief Jason ‘Rat-face’ Ratcliff took off his headset to argue with the official. Meanwhile NASCAR displayed the black and white flag indicating Kenseth would no longer be scored if he didn’t come down pit road. Since Rat-face was busy arguing with his headset off, he didn’t hear/see/notice the black and white flag, so Kenseth went from leading the race to being two laps down due to the penalty and not being called down pit road.
Green flag stops are underway at lap 188 of 325.
Caution is out on lap 210 of 325 for debris. Caution came during a commercial break.
NASCAR.com has changed the lap-by-lap page. I find it not as useful as it was. I found another page that was more last the previous version, and used it last week. I need to search for a permanent alternative since I spend quite a bit of time with the sound muted due to Larry McReynolds & Michael Waltrip’s constant interruptions in the flow of the audio broadcast so I like to have the lap-by-lap to keep up with the details of the race.
And with regard to the new Clint Bowyer 5-hour Energy commercial. Have a look at his Georgia Boot commercial, and take note. It’s a lovely thing to watch – Lots of butt shots. It’s a pleasure to watch him leave. Yum!
More green flag pit stops with 73 laps to go. Kharv has been stinking up the show since Kenseth went in for the penalty.
Green flag stops are again underway with 41 to go.
Mike Joy said there are only 39 cars in this race. For some unknown reason, in general, the field has been reduced from 43 cars to 40. Forty didn’t show up for the race this week. I’ve been told that has something to do with the new charter system. As close as I can understand the charter system allows people to buy a guaranteed 9-year spot in the race, regardless of performance. Then again, the person explaining it to me seemed confused by it, so I have no idea if that’s accurate. I’ll look into it soon and try to get a handle on it. I’m hoping that explanation was off and it’s not just another example of the marketing department running NASCAR’s on-track action.
Caution comes out with three laps to go as Ryan Newman loses it. Looks like he might have had a tire go down sending him into the grass. The count holds with two to go as the field continues wandering around under caution awaiting the opening of the pits under this caution.
Crash as they’re coming to the checkered-flag, but Jimmie wins!
Aric Almirola is on fire after a crash on the final lap. He’s helped out of the car when he comes to a stop and seems to be okay. David Ragan got some of that as well as Ryan Blaney and Landon Cassill.
Jimmie ties Dale Earnhardt in career wins and this is his fifth win in Atlanta – the most of all current drivers.
Dale Earnhardt Jr (Booboo) finishes second beating Harvick to the line.
Jimmie took a lap with three fingers out the window saluting Dale Earnhardt.
Olivia was asking for fireworks as Jimmie held her and tried to do his Victory Lane interview.
Jr said the fans probably thought it was a boring race, but it was fun for him. He’s an aware driver. He said people always talk about racing being great in the 70s and 80s and he says that’s what we saw today.
The (unofficial) top 8:
- #48 Jimmie Johnson
- #88 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- #18 Kyle Busch
- #41 Kurt Busch
- #19 Carl Edwards
- #4 Kevin Harvick
- #78 Martin Truex Jr.
- #24 Chase Elliott
Pretty good day for Hendrick Motorsports overall, though Kasey Kahne seems to have struggled.
Once again Jimmie wins at Atlanta and I’m not there. All the years I went to the Atlanta race Jimmie didn’t win. He finished second, after an impressive run from 11th on the restart, the first race I attended. The next time he came close was when I sat in tropical storm rains for hours, until the race was cancelled. It was rescheduled for the following Tuesday – when I was back at work – and he finished second to Jeff Gordon. The weather is keeping me from the race these days. I spend my work days cold, so I tend to avoid long-term exposure to cold during my off time. It’s terribly frustrating though to miss my driver in victory lane after enduring the taunts of my beloved fellow race fans at the track for the many years Jimmie hasn’t won there. I think I’m okay being frustrated by Jimmie winning while I’m not in attendance – as long as he wins!
In NASCAR news this week:
- Nemechek Back in Victory Lane.
- Kyle Busch Scores First Atlanta XFINITY Win.
- Stewart-Haas Switching to Ford in 2017.
- Pearn Placed on Probation.
- 2017 Hall of Fame Nominees Announced.
- Johnson Says More to Learn.
- Kurt Busch On Pole after Kyle Busch’s Time Disallowed.
- Bowyer Crashes Supercross Party .
- Column: Are dwindling Cup car counts a cause for concern?.
- Hornaday, Roush, Rudd among new NASCAR Hall of Fame nominees.
- Hendrick reportedly plans no changes despite Stewart-Haas move.
- Engine builder Doug Yates: Stewart-Haas key to Ford’s new focus on winning.
- Yeley Joins TriStar Motorsports .
- Marks Joins Ganassi for XFINITY Races.
- Martin Truex Jr. flips off Regan Smith during NASCAR race at Atlanta.
- Aaron’s to Sponsor Bowyer .