For a minute or more, it looked like Dale Earnhardt Jr. would be winning yet another at Talladega. With Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart vying for first place, it wasn’t long before a series of problems would plague the two and prevent them from getting anywhere near the lead. While Stewart had car damage early on, it looked like he was out of the race, despite driving as best as he could. Earnhardt Jr. was weaving his way back up to the front with less than 30 laps to go when he got hit in the back, causing him to drop from the top ten into 29th place, virtually unable to get anywhere near the front again.
As it was, this is the 20th race that Stewart has lost at Talladega. He has yet to win a Sprint cup series race here though he did manage to win the Nationwide series, Aaron’s 312 at the track yesterday; his first win ever at the elusive, Talladega track. Another racer, who has found Talladega to be elusive actually won the race. Kyle Busch, who is too aggressive and harmfully cut throat a racer to gain my respect (he likes to hit people almost purposefully and cut them off to keep his lead) had been a lap down before making his way to the top. Having caused more than one crash at Talladega today, Busch was victorious at the expense of his fellow drivers, one of whom was his brother, Kurt.
Kurt was a part of the crash that dented up Earnhardt Jr.’s backside and Tony Stewart, already partly injured in his car, was a victim of that crash, as well. This one put him in the garage, and Stewart was unable to finish the race. Still, Busch’s success came from a last minute, last lap crash, that actually helped Earnhardt Jr. by getting him into 10th place. Juan Pablo Montoya tried desperately to get past Busch, but was unable to as any draft he could have used was lost in the crash behind him.
Busch kind of reminds me of Chick Hicks from the Disney-Pixar movie, Cars. While all of the fans and the racers just kind of stared in awe at the wreck, Kyle cruised past the finish line, spinning around happily, oblivious or uncaring to the events unfolding behind him. They call Kyle “Rowdy” and that really is a fitting name. He was rowdy enough to make sure he won, by any means possible. I just feel he’s a dishonest racer and every race he wins is “dirty” because he’s a dirty racer.
Jeff Gordon also was affected by the last crash. He was shoe in to take over from Busch, but in the last few laps, the draft just wasn’t there to help him. In the midst of the pile up, Gordon wiped out, managing to finish in 19th. Stewart managed to get a 38th place finish, which pushed him down two places in the overall ratings (from 5th to 7th) and Carl Edwards, who also had problems, finished in 40th.
The next Sprint Cup race is next Saturday, when NASCAR heads to Richmond for the Dan Lowry 400 on Saturday, May 3, 2008. Coverage begins at 7 PM EST.
Technorati Tags: Dale Earnhardt Jr, Sprint Cup, NASCAR, racing, Kyle Busch, Talladega, Aarons 499, Tony Stewart
Written by Dominick Evans - Visit Website
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