Holy cow! What a way to race to the finish, folks! When Kid Rock is the grand marshal and gives the ("Gentlemen, start...your...engines" cue at the beginning of the race, you know it's gotta be good! After running away with the lead for most of the 200 laps, Jimmie Johnson appeared to have the checkered flag all but in his little hands when, at one lap to go, he ran out of fuel. Heartbreakingly, Jimmie went from 1st place at the white flag (1 lap to go) to finish 22nd, after coasting into pit road, getting a splash and dash of fuel and crossing the start/finish line on pit row. After Jimmie began his coast out of 1st, Greg Biffle looked like he may be able to sit back and win this one. But then HE ran out of fuel around the final turns 3 and 4. The little jockey, Mark Martin, sprinted to the finish line to win it all, with my boy Jeff Gordon finishing 2nd, which was especially rewarding since Jeff had to start at the back of the field after blowing an engine after qualifying. Jimmie's on my team and I have alot of respect for how awesome his talent is (he has won 3 championships in a row). But, I have to admit, when he lost his fuel gamble, there was a bit of a hootin' going on in my house. Then, when Biffle's gamble ran out, there was a bit more hollerin' going on. And when Mark crossed the finish line under his own power (barely) and my Jeffie boy came in 2nd, there was whole lotta HOOTIN' and a-HOLLERIN' goin' on! Jimmie took the loss as a real champion, too, by saying basically that sometimes you gamble and win and sometimes you gamble and lose. Unfortunately, he was on the losing end this time. And that doesn't happen very often. It was much better than when Biffle all but tried to blame Jimmie for the fact that #16 ran out of gas, too. It was Greg's contention that he would have been able to finish with plenty of gas to spare if Jimmie hasn't have raced him so hard. The flip side to that coin is that Greg coulda just let Jimmie go by and ran behind him for the last few laps of the race. But, I didn't see that happen either.
Since I was traveling back home from an out-of-town family wedding last weekend and my DVR didn't record the Pocono race, this was the first time I got to see the double-file, shoot-out style racing. And, I LOVED IT! That was great. It was like watching the beginning of a race every time there was a caution flag thrown (there were 3, I believe, for this race). I think it's great that the guys up front don't have to contend with lapped traffic on restarts. How do you feel about it?
The next NASCAR Sprint Cup race will be one of my favorites at Sonoma on Sunday, June 21st at 4:30pm EST on TNT. I love the road race format. It makes for some interesting driving. It doesn't hurt that my boy Jeff Gordon is pretty good here.
Top 5 Finish at the Lifelock 400 at Michigan International Speedway:
1. Mark Martin #5
2. Jeff Gordon #24
3. Denny Hamlin #11
4. Carl Edwards #99
5. Greg Biffle #16
Heather Chavez - Second Self Virtual Assistance: When There Isn't Enough of You to Go Around!
