FORT WORTH, Texas – Thoughts, observations and a few questions following Sunday's Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway:
• Jeff Burton has earned the right to be called the new "Mr. Excitement." Or maybe "Mr. Entertainment" would be more apropos.
Watching Burton size up Matt Kenseth over the final 10 laps was like watching a lion stalk its prey in the jungle. Burton said afterward that he wasn't sure why his pass stuck, but it did.
"I just love the competition," Burton said after his win. "When there are 30 or 40 laps to go, that's when it counts."
• Drivers say they need to lead only one lap to win – the final one. On Sunday, Burton lead but three quarters of a lap.
• Burton's former teammate Kenseth joked that his own former car owner Mark Martin (who finished third) is running so well right now that he still could make the Chase despite running a part-time schedule.
For his part, Martin continues to insist that he's done racing for the Cup and that right now is the best time of his racing career.
"Driving these cars for this team is like a dream come true," Martin said.
• Several drivers took major hits in the standings, including Kyle Busch (dropped two spots), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (-7), David Ragan (-5) and Kevin Harvick (-4).
• Note to Dale Jr. fans: Close but no cigar, once again, despite having a dominant car for nearly 100 laps.
After Junior parked his Budweiser Chevy, the sea of red in the stands began to flow toward the exits.
• By the way, that was Junior in Hendrick Motorsports' No. 5 Chevy for the closing laps of the race. There was a miscommunication between that team and its driver Kyle Busch after Busch's wreck on lap 253 and Busch left the track before the end of the race.
"Junior didn't hesitate and agreed [to drive] and it was a very sportsman-like gesture and it says a lot about Dale Jr. and the kind of person he is," said Alan Gustafson, crew chief for the No. 5 Chevy.
Ironically, one of the hottest rumors floating around the Texas Motor Speedway garage this weekend was that there was some kind of deal in the works between Dale Jr. and Rick Hendrick. No specifics were being mentioned, but it's just another one of those things that make you go hmmm.
After the race, Earnhardt Jr. was asked if his laps in the No. 5 were an audition.
"Are you crazy?" Earnhardt said.
• Despite having an extremely loose race car in the final 30 laps that resulted in his tapping, no, hitting the wall in Turn 4 on lap 312, Gordon hung on to a fourth-place finish and the points lead.
• Greg Biffle and crew chief Pat Tryson had Biffle's Fusion flying through the field in the late stages of the race. Biffle's sixth-place finish was his second top-10 of the season.
• Could this be Jamie McMurray's breakthrough season? Maybe. His fifth-place finish on Sunday was his best result since a third last August on the Watkins Glen road course.
• I know everyone is tired of me championing Juan Pablo Montoya, but the Nextel Cup rookie was impressive once again, finishing eighth for his second top-10 of the season.
"Two weeks ago I was happy with a 19th-place finish and I finished eighth [Sunday] and I’m a little disappointed," Montoya said. "I don't think Chip [Ganassi] hired me to run 20th every weekend and I didn't come here to run 20th every weekend. Is it going to happen? Yeah, it's going to happen a lot of weekends, but our aim is to run up front."
• Early on it looked as though Chip Ganassi Racing might have all three of its Dodges finish in the top 10. Reed Sorenson, who actually had the best-handling of the three cars, fell out with an blown engine after running in the top 15 for a good deal of the first 200 laps.
Teammate David Stremme scored his first career Nextel Cup top-10.
• Denny Hamlin was the highest-finishing Chevrolet with the new R07 engine (ninth).
His teammate Tony Stewart struggled with an ill-handling car all afternoon. It seems as though Stewart may have been to blame for his run-in with Montoya. Shouldn't the two-time champion have known that he was going to make Montoya loose by running so close to him?
Of course, Stewart saw things quite differently, blaming Montoya for racing too hard against him right after a restart.
"He didn't make friends with me today so he won't get any help from me in the future," Stewart said.
• If only Kurt Busch could take back his green flag pit stop on lap 292. The caution came out on the following lap and the Penske driver (who was dominant up until that point) ended up being shuffled back through the field. He restarted 17th and never fully recovered, finishing 11th.
"Our hearts dropped when we saw the yellow pop out, being in position for a real good run," said Busch, whose entire team was racing with heavy hearts. Regular crew chief Roy McCauley is taking some time off to be with his wife Amy, who is having a difficult time fighting cancer. Troy Raker stepped in on Sunday and did an admirable job.
Even the Captain (team owner Roger Penske) was pleased, despite Busch's bad luck.
"I think Kurt drove a great race today," Penske said. "This is a major step forward for us on a mile-and-a-half track. We've got a lot of racing left, and I think we're going to lead a lot more laps before it's all said and done."
Postscript
Last month at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, track owner Bruton Smith, who also owns Texas Motor Speedway, adamantly insisted that the rules in the Nextel Cup Series needed, in his words, "tweaking" to make the racing more exciting.
And, Smith said, there needed to be more of an emphasis on winning.
At the time, I asked him to explain what he meant. He rambled on about close finishes but never really explained himself.
Well, sir, I do hope you were paying attention to Sunday's race – at your own track – as well as to the final laps of the last several Nextel Cup events.
It all just might change your mind.
Or maybe this postrace quote from Burton will help you better understand the sport you profess to care so much about.
"The check is cool after the fact, but there's nothing bigger than that trophy," Burton said. "You've got to pay the bills eventually, but that trophy is what wakes you up in the morning."
Veteran motorsports writer Bob Margolis is Yahoo! Sports' NASCAR reporter. Send Bob a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.
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I still think Kyle is a baby and whiner. He almost always declines interviews when he wrecks and storms out! I just don't think he fits in with everyone else.
Dale Jr. showed the kind of person he is on sunday, helping the team of the driver that took him out of a race that seemed to be in his pocket.
Kyle showed the kind of person he is....a driver that doesnt have enough brains to match his talent.
message to Kyle Busch: There are 3 pedals in that car, learn to use the middle one
IT'S PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME!!!!!!
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mrsmopar12 Fan Club Member #1 Intimidator1951-2001 If this was the 1950's, Jeff Gordon would be Pat Boone and Dale Jr. would be Elvis....both were great singers, but we know who had the most fans.
Kyle must of been sleeping or something he had sooooo much time to hit the brakes or go high, I'd feel so stupid if I was him. That was good sportsmanship by Jr. What he did on Sunday is why he is my favorite driver
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Kyle is a big baby....he needs to find the guy who helped Tony in the times of anger...he needs to get over himself....he's got plenty of years to come to win more races...he needs to chill out...take the chill pill or somthin'.
That was a wild move on Jr's part to hop into Kyles car...when he wasnt even around!! but it is a good way to get a look at the competitors equipment...lol
i ruined Reed's weekend by stealing his luck....i'll tell the story later...
Are you all a bunch of Kyle haters or what? Stewart spun out "smoke" covers the entire track and K.B. chose to go high. WTF is he supposed to do? If it would have been Jr. running over K.B. everyone of you would say something along the lines of: "Jr. made a split-second decision and guessed wrong. There is nothing he could have done to avoid K.B." Either that or you all would be blaming K.B. for getting in Jr.'s way. It's moronic.
If any of you have any insight as to why K.B. left the track please let me know. Until someone posts something factual as to why he did, leave your obvious "Dale Jr. rocks!!!!11!!one" thinking opinions out of it. It makes you all look stupid.
I'll say this, at least Kyle stormed off and didn't get interviewed like Tony did. I'm no Kyle fan, I can't stand him really, but I wish Tony would've stormed off too. Sometimes it's better to cool down and NOT open your big mouth on TV. Kyle seems to be a "tell it like it is" person, as is Tony. He just had enough sense to leave the track, whereas Tony spouted off about racing not being fun anymore and waiting until he has enough money to retire. Not cool Tony.
On page 3, Tony says this: "It's like nothing we can do is right," Stewart said. "Look at all the Junior fans that are mad at me. I didn't even see what happened to Junior. I know I caused it, obviously.
"I'm trying to get one of my laps back right there -- I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. There's no way in hell I would ever do anything to put Dale Jr. in jeopardy [but] it's disheartening when you have 180,000 people booing you every time you come around.
"That's what makes this stuff not fun anymore. It's not about the racing."
Which was followed by this (not in the article):"I am ready to retire, as soon as I can get enough money saved where I can retire, I am more than happy to step away." His PR guy nudged him when he said it, Tony told him to quit.
Wow Jeff Burton!!! reminds me of the ole Silver Fox David Pearson!!!
Wow Tony Stewart caused Montoya to wreck him by letting him pass him on the low side?? I must have watched from a differant angle???
And the fans Booing Tony Stewart and leaving the race after Jr was wrecked??????????
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I'm not blaming that wreck on anyone, Tony was fighting for his lap back and he just lost it. I don't want Tony to retire becasue he is a very good race car driver and he is very fun to watch on the track. I'm not trying to make any Kyle busch fans mad either but I just think he didn't show good sportsmanship on Sunday and maybe there wasn't anything he could do to not hit Jr. but I was watching Nascar Now on ESPN Sunday night and they showed footage of Kyle getting out of his car after the wreck and shoving his crew guys around then he stormed off like a baby. I know he was upset becasue he wrecked but he could of showed a little respect for his crew guys sense there the ones that give him the good race cars.
That's just what I think.
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. Kyle seems to be a "tell it like it is" person, as is Tony. He just had enough sense to leave the track, whereas Tony spouted off about racing not being fun anymore and waiting until he has enough money to retire. Not cool Tony.
"It's like nothing we can do is right," Stewart said. "Look at all the Junior fans that are mad at me. I didn't even see what happened to Junior. I know I caused it, obviously.
"I'm trying to get one of my laps back right there -- I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. There's no way in hell I would ever do anything to put Dale Jr. in jeopardy [but] it's disheartening when you have 180,000 people booing you every time you come around.
"That's what makes this stuff not fun anymore. It's not about the racing."
Which was followed by this (not in the article):"I am ready to retire, as soon as I can get enough money saved where I can retire, I am more than happy to step away." His PR guy nudged him when he said it, Tony told him to quit.
I do believe you are so right there Love! Tony Stewart is sometimes his own worse enemy. Do you remember last year when he and Ryan Newman had their little incident? I know your do! ~LOL~ Tony even mad me all the madder by talking bad about Ryan, whereas Newman had to good sense to keep his mouth shut. They were both wrong, made up, and went fishing 2 weeks later. Poor Tony just is passionate and needs to control who he talks to when he is upset.
I think some of the things he said there he could regret saying by the next race, when he is calmer and thinking clearly. Tony, IMHO, has come a long way from that year he was so mean and such a jerk, then he had a slight relapse, but bounced back in true Championship form. We can only hope, for him, that soon he will be able to conquer this ability he seems to have about inserting his foot in his mouth for the media! I truly wish the best for Tony!
I missed you during the race on the box. I was there, but had a wicked tooth ache (my jaw is swollen very big!) and didn't feel much like talking. But I missed you just the same!
~LOL~ a Nascar Space Happy Dance Trio!! (I do hope he is dancing for you!)
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Last edited by mrsmopar12 : 04-17-2007 at 11:54 PM.
Reason: add happy dance
Texas Observations
IT'S PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME!!!!!!
What he did on Sunday is why he is my favorite driver 
I know your do! ~LOL~ Tony even mad me all the madder by talking bad about Ryan, 
whereas Newman had to good sense to keep his mouth shut. 
They were both wrong, made up, and went fishing 2 weeks later. 
Poor Tony just is passionate and needs to control who he talks to when he is upset.
We can only hope, for him, that soon he will be able to conquer this ability he seems to have about inserting his foot in his mouth for the media! 
I truly wish the best for Tony! 
~LOL~ a Nascar Space Happy Dance Trio!! (I do hope he is dancing for you!) 
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