Knowlesy 12 Oct 2007, 17:21 Rocket Man takes a fifth pole of the season from Jimmie Johnson. Sam Hornish Jr. fails to qualify again surprisingly (sarcasm there).
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/63221
Chase contenders
Driver|Pos.
Jimmie Johnson|2nd
Jeff Gordon|4th
Matt Kenseth|7th
Kurt Busch|8th
Denny Hamlin|11th
Kyle Busch|13th
Carl Edwards|18th
Kevin Harvick|24th
Clint Bowyer|25th
Jeff Burton|27th
Tony Stewart|29th
Martin Truex Jr.|32nd
Any TV coverage this week?
Knowlesy 12 Oct 2007, 19:28 Yes, as it is a "through the night" race for us, it is on live. Coverage starts midnight tomorrow. :eek:
Busch race is also live tonight.
Cool we can watch both races live as they aren't on sunday night and don't have to worry about the monday morning!
Knowlesy 12 Oct 2007, 20:56 Well, it'll be as live for me. I just can't sit up through the night every weekend anymore it kills me! :s
ThePenguin 12 Oct 2007, 21:10 Right now Carl Edwards needs a win and badly if he is going to be a chase champion contender. Unfortunately for us Ford fans it looks like Matt Kenseth is out of the running for the championship.
gttouring 12 Oct 2007, 21:32 what is Sam hornish's problem?
The team has powerful cars.. Newman got the pole finally from johnson
Sam is excellent what gives?
Knowlesy 12 Oct 2007, 21:35 If he doesn't manage to qualify for one by seasons end it really is "farewell to a career in Cup" for Sam I feel. It really isn't good enough.
Well, it'll be as live for me. I just can't sit up through the night every weekend anymore it kills me! :s
Bah. Miserable old fart.
Knowlesy 14 Oct 2007, 03:01 I've given myself a chronic headache and a few colds from stopping up for GP's the past couple of weeks, I need a good nights sleep!
That said, I am sticking around for the first half at least. Dunno why as I hate this track.
Afraid I gave up and went to bed... should have planned better and avoided drinking whilst I watched the rugby then I may have made it! So, update on the race please?
Just checking out the results -- it does look like it's down to three now four at the outside. I'd really love to Stewart win but it's unlikely. If that doesn't happen then it'd be good to see Bowyer take it... that lad's got potential. If it has to be a Hendrick car then Gordon has really deserved it this year. He's driven magnificantly over the course of the year.
muggle not 14 Oct 2007, 16:45 I will rate the Lowe's race a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10. Darn good race and exciting finish.
Knowlesy 14 Oct 2007, 17:25 Great stuff wasn't it! Jeff just blew them away again (see, no need for pessimism muggle), although Newman rather blew it.
Clint is hanging in there. What is that? A win, two seconds, an eleventh and a twelfth? Good form in the chase.
But to win it with (at the moment) one win from 12th in the standings would be embarrassing.
muggle not 14 Oct 2007, 18:01 Martinsville should be interesting, aren't they all. Jeff and Jimmie race very good there where Bowyer has been not so good. However, Bowyer has come a long way this year. He never ran good previously at CHarlotte either.:)
Gordon had the Lowes race won "going away" until Johnny Sauter's caution with 10 laps to go. on the re-start Jeff momentarily ran out of fuel and slowed almost causing kyle to run into him. That is when Newman shot past them all and took the lead. How Newman hit the wall is beyond me. On the GWC Jeff was the class of them all. A good race for Jeff. he is now the winningest active driver at Lowes. :)
I watched the first hour then had to go to bed by 2 as i had work in the morning... was a good race with what I saw. Really enjoying the chase battle between jeff and jimmie.
Speedworx 14 Oct 2007, 19:11 It was a pretty decent race.
Why they took so long to bring out the yellow when Green oiled the whole track I'll never know.
muggle not 14 Oct 2007, 22:16 Under the old "Classic" system Jeff would have a 500 point lead over Tony who would be 2nd in points, after the Lowes race.
Martinsville should be interesting, aren't they all. Jeff and Jimmie race very good there where Bowyer has been not so good. However, Bowyer has come a long way this year. He never ran good previously at CHarlotte either.:)
Gordon had the Lowes race won "going away" until Johnny Sauter's caution with 10 laps to go. on the re-start Jeff momentarily ran out of fuel and slowed almost causing kyle to run into him. That is when Newman shot past them all and took the lead. How Newman hit the wall is beyond me. On the GWC Jeff was the class of them all. A good race for Jeff. he is now the winningest active driver at Lowes. :)
Newman's left rear tire jihad'd.
Fish_Flake 14 Oct 2007, 23:33 Well, it looks like no one will be able to stop the Drive for Five. Gordon is having a season like his dominating championship runs in 1997 and '98, and as muggle not noted, would be virtually out of reach under the old points system. Even so, I can't see Jeff giving up this commanding position with so few races left in the season.
VilleneuveTracy 15 Oct 2007, 06:43 What happened to JPM???? I tuned into the race, via radio, about halfway through the race and he was laps down in the high 30's.
JPM picked up some damage early and seemed to have no pace thereafter. It would be a shame if he can't secure the rookie of the year title.
"My guys" Kenseth and Burton are having a terrible chase and pretty much out of it (although Burton at least got up for a respectable result at Lowes) so I'll be cheering for Bowyer to try take it off Gordon.
I'm not really bothered about the "fairness" of it. It's intentionally structured just like any sports series with playoffs. What happens in the regular season doesn't count for much once you've qualified for the "finals". I quite like that aspect. With such a long season it would suck if the championship was already wrapped up with so many races to go.
Maybe to Brit's with the football premiership just being points it seems a bit foreign.
The only off bit is that all the other cars keep racing - which isn't really paralleled in another sport...
Last2LiftOff 15 Oct 2007, 12:54 What happened to JPM???? I tuned into the race, via radio, about halfway through the race and he was laps down in the high 30's.He blew a tire VT, right front, you could hear it from the onboard, and it was all wall after that.
Was that a non-CoT race?
Last2LiftOff 15 Oct 2007, 13:56 Yeah it looked like it Luke. Thanks. That looked more NASCAR than Talledega and, by some margin. But I never watch NASCAR so I dunno nothin.
I personally have mixed reactions over the cot, it looks too high up, the spoiler makes it behave more like a race car not a big chunky stock car, I donno I'm not a NASCAR expert but that's my opinion....
VilleneuveTracy 15 Oct 2007, 19:34 That sucked. JPM has been strong on the high-banked 1.5 milers and I was hoping he could have a good run. Oh well. Atlanta and Texas are still on the schedule, and he ran very well at both tracks (remember he was running 3rd at Atlanta before scraping the wall and falling to 5th). He also was solid at Martinsville, marching from the 30's to 11th rapidly about mid-race but his car was not as good after the race restarted after the rain delay and he finished 16th.
Knowlesy 15 Oct 2007, 20:29 JPM has had bad form at Lowe's really all year.
He made a huge error at the start of the All Star Challenge heats, wiping out loads of guys, then he had a mediocre run in the 600 and on Saturday sustained damage early on and ran most of the day 5 laps down.
Big accident when the tyre went pop too.
Some good tracks where he should do OK coming up though. martinsville where he ran strong in Spring (apart from that contretemps with raines), then Atlanta where he got his first top five, Texas where he ran well all day last time, Phoenix where he now has some decent experience (if not results) and Homestead where he ran so well on his debut last November.
Homestead? oooh... :) (sorry)
stradlin21 15 Oct 2007, 23:26 It's clear to see who my guy is....
Other then Tony then i'm a Hamlin, Yeley and Kyle Busch fan
Dislikes are Dale Jr, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch and Matt Kenseth
Support Ambrose in the busch and Hornaday in the trucks
Didn't manage to see all of this race but it of what I saw it was decent. Can't wait for Martinsville, hopefully the Gibbs boys will be back on top
It seems recently that JPM has had a string of pretty solid top-15 runs with the CoT - Talladega, Dover, was running well at Richmond, Bristol etc - but less so with the Charger, and Lowe's just continued that trend. However, of the remaining races, those with the Charger are where he has had good previous form (Atlanta, Texas and Homestead) and the other two are those with the CoT.
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