Charlotte Cup Race Thread

[Jonesi]

50 cars entered, a CoY race (only 4 left).
Top 35 - Mark Martin in #01, Ricky Rudd back in #88 (we hope), Dave Blaney in #22 his 3rd place moves him in and #21 out of top 35.

Need for speed - Bill Elliott in #21 (has champion provisionals left), and no other changes for full time teams.

Part time - Sam HornishJr in #06, Kirk Shelmerdine in self entered #27 Chevy, & Carl Long in #08 E&M Dodge.

[Jonesi]

Cup Grid
12 RYAN NEWMAN
48 JIMMY JOHNSON
43 BOBBY LABONTE
24 JEFF GORDON
9 KASEY KAHNE
26 JAMIE McMURRAY
17 MATT KENSETH
2 KURT BUSCH
25 CASEY MEARS
16 GREG BIFFLE
--
11 DENNY HAMLIN
01 MARK MARTIN
5 KYLE BUSCH
10 SCOTT RIGGS
4 WARD BURTON
19 ELLIOTT SADLER
15 PAUL MENARD
99 CARL EDWARDS
55 MICHAEL WALTRIP
00 DAVID REUTIMANN
--
38 DAVID GILLILAND
8 DALE EARNHARDT JR
70 JOHNNY SAUTER
29 KEVIN HARVICK
07 CLINT BOWYER
41 REED SORENSON
31 JEFF BURTON
40 DAVID STREMME
20 TONY STEWART
84 AJ ALLMENDINGER
--
6 DAVID RAGAN
1 MARTIN TRUEX JR
88 RICKY RUDD
22 DAVE BLANEY
21 BILL ELLIOTT
42 JUAN MONTOYA
66 JEFF GREEN
36 JEREMY MAYFIELD
18 J.J. YELEY
7 ROBBY GORDON
--
96 TONY RAINES
45 KYLE PETTY
49 JOHN ANDRETTI

DNQ
44 DALE JARRETT
78 JOE NEMECHEK
83 BRIAN VICKERS
06 SAM HORNISH JR
08 CARL LONG
27 KIRK SHELMERDINE
37 KEVIN LEPAGE

[RaceFanStan]

Looking at qualifying from a multi-team ownership angle I found :
Roger Penske Racing (Dodge) = Pole, 8th & 1 goes home
Hendrick MotorSports (Chevrolet) = 2nd, 4th, 9th & 13th
Petty Enterprises (Dodge) = a shocking 3rd & a typical 42nd
Evernham Racing (Dodge) = 5th, 14th & 16th
Roush Racing (Ford) = 6th, 7th, 10th, 18th & 31st
Joe Gibbs Racing (Chevrolet) = 11th, 29th & 39th
Dale Earnhardt Inc (Chevrolet) = 12th, 17th, 22nd & 32nd
Michael Waltrip Racing (Toyota) = 19th, 20th & 1 goes home
Robert Yates Racing (Ford) = 21st & 33rd
Haas’ Racing (Chevrolet) = 23rd & 37th
Chip Ganassi Racing (Dodge) = 26th, 28th & 36th
Red Bull Racing (Toyota) = 30th & 1 goes home
Bill Davis Racing (Toyota) = 34th & 38th

I think I see the Hendrick MotorSports teams working together the best ... :eek:
Roger Penske Racing did good for the 2 full-season cars but their 3rd team missed the race http://www.motorsportforum.com/forums/images/icons/s.gif

[RaikkonenRules]

Darn Vickers failed to make it. That was suprising. Carl Long failed too :(

[Jonesi]

One lap to go Green!

[Jonesi]

Reutimann into the wall on the first lap.

[Maccoll]

Hello I'm new just made my prediction on other thread, Jr or Bowyer

Got to have some nerve to run the top groove so early!

[Jonesi]

#41 found the wall, 3rd caution.

[Jonesi]

That's #81 for Jeff Gordon and he made it look dificult! ;-)

[SmokeFan20]

Gordon's luck has been sickening and unreal this season.
It doesn't matter if he is losing an engine (Darlington), losing his breaks (Pocono) or running out of fuel (Lowes). He still ends up winning the damn race somehow.
I'm waiting for him to total his car and still win a race ala Jeff Burton at Darlington (he'll probably do that to win the championship)

[blakebeatty]

Man, that was one of the best races this year! Great win for Gordon too bad for MK, and KH. All in all, a thriller

[Smilieangel489]

The end of the race was great. I have to say that I was more distracted by what was being said on Kasey's scanner during the red flag than anything else. That was one funny conversation...it definitely made me laugh lol.

Congrats to JG for the win.

[RaikkonenRules]

2 Toyota's in the top 10. :D Blaney 6th, Waltrip 10th.

[Vez]

Blaney's on a roll, he's obviously found the right balance/combination with the car and team :roll:

Well done to AJ Allmendinger for a 15th place finish and being top rookie for the 1st time this season :up:

Shame that Vickers didn't manage to qualify though :(

And what a comeback race for Ricky Rudd started 33 and finished 11th :D

Bad luck for Dragon, Reed, Riggs, Matt and Harv :(

[harvick#1]

Man, that was one of the best races this year! Great win for Gordon too bad for MK, and KH. All in all, a thriller

poor Newman, he had it won too, before the Nextel snipers secretly shot out the rear tire cause they didn't want to see Alltel in VL :o :p :

but Harv and Kenseth have the best luck don't they

[muggle not]

Gordon had the race won going away if not for Sauter's caution. On the re-start Jeff ran out of fuel momentarily causing Kyle to slow behind him to avoid hitting him. That allowed Newman to shoot past. How Newman managed to hit the wall is beyond me. :D On the re-start Jeff was the best car, once again.The point spread is starting to broaden between the leaders and most of the field. kenseth spent more time on pit road than he did on the track. :D

[jeffmr2]

I was disappointed again by Jr for not doing anything about getting that rather nasty unneccesarry bump of Jeff Gordon.Maybe it was Jeff making it clear that he'll still be no.1 next year at Hendricks.
And why oh why didnt Kyle take Jeff out on the one but last restart,he couldnt have been blamed as it was Jeff who momentarily run out of petrol.The conversation between Kyle and Rick Hendrick was so funny,i thought Kyle was having none of it.
All in all very enjoyable race even if i did dtay up untill 5am sunday morning watching in live.

[RaceFanStan]

Everyone seems to have over-looked WHERE the Jeff Gordon bump occured .....
after running lap after lap at the top, Dale Jr comes down to the white line at the BOTTOM !!!

Why did Dale Jr go low ??? Because Jeff Gordon was going low to pass him !!!

Dale Jr was trying to BLOCK Jeff Gordon & Jeff let Jr know that move doesn't work on him. http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g202/gr8link/orn/00.gif

[muggle not]

I Maybe it was Jeff making it clear that he'll still be no.1 next year at Hendricks.

At Hendricks????? More like #1 in Nascar. :D

[RaceFanStan]

from nascar.com :
Welcome to Hendrick
Jeff Gordon nearly caused a riot early on ...
bumping Dale Earnhardt Jr on the low line and nearly spinning him out.

"Dale Jr. was running that high line, and he had so much momentum," Gordon said.
"I went down into Turn 3 trying to get all the momentum I could out of it,
and he came down off the top right in front of me."
Gordon said he went back to the gas on his marks, but Earnhardt wasn't there yet.
"He was still on the brakes," Gordon guessed. "I hit him and went, "whoops!"
I was able to get by him. It wasn't anything I was doing to get past him."