If it had been a fight, they’d have stopped it! Kurt Busch totally dominated (if you call leading 87.5% of the laps dominating) today at Pocono Raceway and captured the Pennsylvania 500 for his first win of the season (last we saw of him was snow angels at Bristol in March of 2006) and 16th of his Nextel Cup career (he’s now solo in 42nd place on the all-time win list). Win #58 for Roger Penske gives us the 14th different winner on the season (that’s one more than last season but one short of 2005) and was worth $212,108 from the over $4.9M in posted awards. It was nice to see the two guys who are fighting to get into the Chase go 1-2…..but if I’m Tony Eury Jr. I’m taking that “Magic Shock” everywhere from here on out! Dale Earnhardt Jr (2nd) had his best finish since he was runner-up at California last September. Tony Raines (15th) had his best finish since he was 14th at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in May. Bill Elliott (18th) had his best finish since he was 11th at Michigan in June. Scott Riggs (24th) had his best finish since he was 18th when we were here two months ago. STREAKIN….Jeff Gordon has 9 Top-10’s in a row. The Rookie Report: Juan Pablo Montoya (16th) takes this award for the 10th time this season. He was followed by Paul Menard (26th), David Ragan (33rd), and David Reutimann (41st). AJ Allmendinger was a dnq again this weekend. This Week’s Elevator….UP: Operator of the Week is a lonely Matt Kenseth (+23). DOWN: The Big Dropper is an equally lonely Kasey Kahne (-22). Can the “Shaft” get any more empty? Kurt Busch moves into the “Chase” this week, and Dale Earnhardt Jr falls out (tho the separation is only 7 points)….and Jeff Gordon loses all of five meaningless markers from his points lead. Ricky Rudd (29th to 26th) made the best move forward today, while no less than five drivers fell two spots each.(Stock Car Fans)(8-5-2007)
