Jeff Gordon’s victory was #65 for his career (he’s 7th on the all-time win list) and first since he won at Atlanta last October. It was his 7th plate win and first since he won this event in 2000. Oh yeah, it was worth a paltry $320,258 from the over $5.7M in posted awards.
Now, we’re not gonna condone what happened at the race’s end by the fans, but it certainly shouldn’t have been unexpected. NASCAR fans aren’t stupid. They know that “freezing the field at the moment of caution” isn’t worth the PR paper it’s printed on! ‘Splain me how they can freeze a field at Nashville a couple weeks ago in the Busch race when you’ve got four cars sliding through the grass on the backstretch in a cloud of dust? Oh, we do it when they get back up to pace car speed……but don’t pass anybody under the yellow, either. NASCAR doesn’t have the technology…..plain & simple. And, the fans know it. The fans shouldn’t have done what they did, but the last time this happened NASCAR became more forthcoming (the last red flag lap) with their rules. And, since nobody from NASCAR was gonna go out there and stand in front of that Gadsden grandstand and explain it, the fans expressed their displeasure. It’s really a shame too, cause up till lap 183 we’d had about as good a race as we can get….plate or not.
There’ll be a lot of talk about how this gives our sport a black eye, but it was a moment like this that many consider the defining moment in NASCAR history….a fist fight in turn 3 at Daytona International Speedway. Out of that, improvement came…..hopefully we’ll see the same after today. What a hot race…..lotsa overheating today.
The “Big One” came on lap 84….11 cars sent spinning when Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch made contact.
Jeff Burton (7th) had his best finish since he was 7th at Rockingham last November. He’s the 26th driver to score a Top-10 this season….we’ve still got a ways to go to reach last year’s number of 42.
Brendan Gaughan (13th) had his career-best finish this week. He was 17th at Martinsville last week.
Johnny Sauter (14th) tied his career-best finish today. He was 14th at Rockingham in February.
Ricky Rudd (17th) had his best finish since he was 15th at Martinsville last October.
Jimmy Spencer (20th) had his best finish since he was 14th at Rockingham last November.
Eric McClure (26th) did a commendable job in his first Nextel Cup start.
Kerry Earnhardt (35th) had his career-best finish today. He was 43rd in his only other Cup start at Michigan in August of 2000.
STREAKIN….
Jeff Gordon has 4 Top-10’s in a row.
Jamie McMurray has 4 Top-10’s in a row.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has 5 Top-10’s in the last 6 races.
Jimmie Johnson has 5 Top-10’s in the last 6 races.
This Week’s Elevator…UP: The Operator of the Week is a lonely Jamie McMurray (+26). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Ward Burton (-30), Scott Riggs (-29), Joe Nemechek (-28), and Sterling Marlin (-22).
With 55 lead changes amongst 23 drivers it comes as no surprise that….Mark Martin led today for the first time since he led once for one lap at Richmond last September. Dale Jarrett led today for the first time since he led twice for 25 laps at Kansas last October. Jimmy Spencer led today for the first time since he led once for 9 laps at Homestead last November. Brian Vickers led today for the first time since he led once for 11 laps at that same Homestead race. And, Eric McClure led today in his first Nextel Cup race. That means we’ve now had 36 leaders this season…..last year’s number was 48.
Jeff Burton (33rd to 28th) made the best move forward in the standings, while brother Ward (19th to 25th) went in the opposite direction.(StockCarFans.Com Nextel Cup Newsletter)(4-26-2004)