Tuesday Thunder in Thunder valley

Being that yesterday was St. Patrick’s day, I did not have the requisite time to put together any coherent thoughts on the NCAA Tourney...another 24 hours and I should have a better handle on it all. There are a lot of teams and players to review and I can’t combine that with the unbridled, beer drinking joy that is St Patrick’s day. Therefore we are going to chew a little NASCAR fat, after a damn good race on Sunday.

Sunday was the Food City 500 (save your sponsor jokes) at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee. Now for someone who does not like country music or moonshine, I don’t have much use for Tennessee. However, twice a year they put on two of the better races of the NASCAR season (the second one is in August under the lights). Bristol is short track racing at its finest. It’s a half mile, high banked, concrete oval. Its referred to as a bull ring and when you put 43 cars on that track you can see why. 43 cars taking 500 laps around (turning lap times around 15 seconds or so) this track, beating and banging on each other all day long. All the while surrounded by 160,000 fans. 160,000... no other professional sport in the United States can plant that many butts in the seats for one of their events. It was at Bristol in 1999 that the late Dale Earnhardt (my favorite driver of all time) gave us one of his many signature moments by dumping Terry Labonte (that means wrecking somebody else, for you newbies) on the last lap to win that race and then had the gumption to tell the camera that 'I didn’t mean to wreck him...just wanted to rattle his cage a little bit', all the while smiling like the Cheshire Cat.

Bristol is known for good racing, wrecks, spin outs, fights between drivers, and last lap drama. Sunday’s race provided all of that, except for the fights between drivers. There was lots of good racing but basically the race for the win really came down to two teams: JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) who are represented by Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, and Kyle Busch, and RCR (Richard Childress Racing) who has Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, and Clint Bowyer. Those six cars were the class of the field and truth be told, much to my chagrin, the Joe Gibbs Toyotas were the dominant cars of the field. Harvick, Burton, and Bowyer were able to keep up with them..they just could not stay in front of them. Between Stewart and Hamlin...they combined to lead almost of 400 of the 500 laps in the race. Yeah...that’s a team that has their stuff together. Stewart is really the only guy I like on that team. Hamlin is a cocky little prick, who thinks he is entitled to everything because he is Denny Hamlin. Kyle Busch is just a meathead...hot headed with a tendency to wreck himself. That being said...the kid can wheel. I have to give it to him... I don’t want to but it’s the truth. He can do some things with a race car that not a lot of other guys can do. But he bugs me a lot, so I do tend to snicker tremendously when some misfortune crosses his path. Tony Stewart is an old school driver. Says what he feels on live tv, can drive anything on four wheels, and will turn a fellow racer into the fence if they mess with him on the track.. All three of those guys have had cars capable of winning every race so far this year...but with the exception of last week in Atlanta (Kyle Busch won), a series of circumstances seems to keep from actually closing the deal. Works for me. Gives my guys (Harvick, Burton, Bowyer in that order) a chance.

So back to the race on Sunday. So the JGR cars are all taking turns at the lead... with Stewart leading the most, avoiding wrecks and lapped traffic along the way. Towards the last portion of the race Busch came up and took the lead and then subsequently loses his power steering. Goes a few laps then his car spins out and hits the inside wall..taking him out of contention. I laugh heartily to myself and thank the NASCAR gods for my good fortune. All the while Harvick and Burton are just lurking in the top five. When the race resumes, Stewart goes back to the lead and then trades it back and forth with Harvick a few times. All I notice is that Harvick can’t stay in front of Stewart for more than a few laps. Stewart has the better car. As my friend Thomas 'The Tank Engine' would say ‘No satisfaction’. Now Hamlin is barnstorming through the field..he had pit troubles and fell way back..but now he is on a march to the front and takes the lead. With about 12 laps to go a caution flag came out for a wreck. Stewart and Hamlin stayed out, while everyone from third place back came in for tires. On the restart with less than ten laps to go.. Hamlin and Stewart got out front but were being chased by Harvick and Burton with their fresher tires. Harvick was trying to pass Tony Stewart for 2nd place underneath him when he drifted up the track a little and knocked Stewart into the wall but Burton gets by Harvick. Caution is out and we will have a 2 lap shoot out for the win. When the race restarts Hamlin is leading, Burton and Harvick in 2nd and 3rd. Half a lap into it...Hamlin just slows up and Burton rockets past and ends up beating. Harvick to the line by a half second..with Clint Bowyer coming in third. That’s right..1st, 2nd, and 3rd place went to RCR. Now THAT is satisfaction. Apparently, Hamlin had a problem with his fuel pick up and that’s why his car all of a sudden resembled a 1981 Honda on the restart. It couldn’t have happened to a smarmier prick.There was much rejoicing on my part, along with some colorful metaphors thrown Hamlin's way(normally I save my venom for Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson but they are pretty much sucking it up so far this year). Great race...with a really great ending.

Now you may wish that you had chosen to read an article about theoretical physics instead of my NASCAR musings and that’s ok (thanks for reading this even if you hated it)... but if any of what I described above piqued your interest in the slightest bit, then you should watch the Bristol night race in August. Its one of the best. There is a seven year wait list for tickets to that race. I am not kidding. On that note.. I think I am off in search of some moonshine...suddenly Tennessee does not seem like that bad of a place after all. :)