[Racer Duck]

as advertised, I missed most of the race. but there were a few things that caught my eye...

Kill the King! that was the theme of one of the commercials. not sure what those "housewives" were thinking, but their execution, though spectacular, was way off the mark. The King Lives!!!

Was it just me or did the announcers seem to be hoping Gordo would prevail? in past races it seemed the focus was how many points so-and-so was ahead, but in this one it flip-flopped and focused on how many Gordo was behind .. "oh, what can he do?" but they finally found their story line: statistics - it'll be a long time before anybody has a statistical season like Gordo's! (at least that's what they'll have you believe...)

Poor Matty: he wins the race and barely gets camera coverage. even his burnout is upstaged! but Kenseth and Riser didn't let the HMS celebration get them down. and I liked what Riser said after the race: "I'll be at work tomorrow .. working on cars .. making them go fast. What do you expect? I'm a racer!" Yes you are.. BOTH of you!!! Congrats to the 17 cast & crew on pulling off a 4th overall when several weeks ago it looked like they were lucky to be in the Chase. in the last two races alone they gained 6 spots!!!

Kudos to Kurt: the part of the race I was able to watch, he seemed to be one of the few cars "moving" (not riding). from my late race perspective, he and Matty were the "class" of the field. and Kurt moved up 3 spots to finish 7th overall!!!

#1 solidifies his spot in the DEI stables. Truex, Jr. showed he deserves to the DEI's #1 driver. conspiracy theories aside, Martin came on strong while the rest of the DEI cars remained mediocre at best.

Jr's swan song: I never heard it. but I did hear he did some strange things in the early parts of the race and was the major cause for Happy's poor showing. can anyone elaborate?

Cautions: 7 cautions! whew! any less and the race would have been B-O-O-O-R-I-N-G! there were four for 4 laps each, 2 for 5 laps each and a single 6 lapper (the first caution!) just goes to show what happens when everyone is on their best behavior!


The 2007 Chase - winners and others...

1. -- Jimmy Johnson 6723 (2007 Champ - Surprise!!!)
2. -- Jeff Gordon -77 (#5 is still out there...)
3. -- Clint Boyer -346
4. +2 Matt Kenseth -425
5. -1 Kyle Busch -430
6. -1 Tony Stewart -481
7. +3 Kurt Busch -492 (tie)
8. -- Jeff Burton -492 (tie)
9. -- Carl Edwards -501
10. -3 Kevin Harvick -524
11. -- Martin Truex, Jr. -559
12. -- Denny Hamlin -580

and the $1,000,000 check for Non-Chase 1st place goes to .... (drum roll)... Ryan Newman!!!

[jks812]

I didn't watch the whole race either. Just the first few laps and then the last few. I thought what Jimmie did when Matt was doing his burnout showed just how classless Jimmie is.
I also think Truex is going to do fine carrying the torch for DEI.

[LSC9901]

I wondered also why Jimmie had to try and steal Matt's thunder. Made no sense whatsoever. JJ will have a big party in NY real soon. Maybe Matt could be at the podium at the same time as Jimmie. Seems fair.

I agree with the Truex perspectives. He will be a force next year when they no longer have the Jr. issues to deal with.

[wingkey1]

Felt like another - "darn those 1.5 mile and above tracks produce some boring stuff". The old aero foil cars just got in a spread out line for the most part and just did circles. Long live short(er) track racing.

[Bob Tanner]

I didn't bother to watch it and from what I heard and read, I didn't miss much.

I listened via MRN and it seemed like the last three final playoff races. Everyone spends more time staying out of the Playoff driver's way that they spend racing.

From what I heard it sounds like Penske had better do something radical about Kurt's pit crew. How many races in a row now have they screwed up something?

Bono's two-tire stop for Truex at the end obviously wasn't the call. A Knause he is not.

I'd have like to see Jimmy try for five in a row but, considering ther amount of money you get for a Cup championship, I can see why he played it safe. He sure drove like a race driver the three races before Homestead though. Good for him. He's got the best team, probably the best car, and, as far as I'm concerned, even with his crew chief who has a habit of getting caught, he deserves the championship. Too bad he drives for The Felon.

From the bottom of my heart I pray that after the upcoming festival at the Waldorf, we can dispense with the NYC cop telling us that NY is "Being invaded by Hoahrses! Thousands of them!"

[LSC9901]

Originally Posted by Bob Tanner

From the bottom of my heart I pray that after the upcoming festival at the Waldorf, we can dispense with the NYC cop telling us that NY is "Being invaded by Hoahrses! Thousands of them!"

To late Bob ... it's already out there. Luckily for you it would seem that you have somehow avoided it .... so far.

[PenelopePitStop]

Well, I watched most of the race ... surprised myself.

Yes, the announcers did seem to be hoping that Gordo would prevail. However, it got nauseating. If I heard Rusty say, "Now let's take a look at Jeff Gordon", one more time, I was going to burst a major artery. It was as if they were trying to curse Johnson by saying that Gordon would win the Cup if Johnson had trouble. However, looking back, I think that was a media ploy to keep the viewers tuned in. I'm becoming cynical!

Yes, Kenseth's win was overshadowed by Johnson, but that's typically the case with the last race of the season.

I couldn't stomach much of the post-race interviews, but I found it interesting that they didn't ask Gordon about the record he set yesterday. What was it? ... 30 top-10 finishes in one season ... or something like that? And as someone else mentioned, it wasn't mentioned that Gordon is part owner of the 48. That said, he didn't seem all that happy that the 48 got the title.

I keep thinking about Petty's quote that Gordon and Johnson are the same, just with different names. I hope to hell that Jr. isn't morphed into another Hendrick clone in 2008.

Speaking of Jr. ... you all know I hate Busch, but he was the only one who even mentioned Jr. in a post-race interview.

Now, I have to admit that I didn't watch the entire post-race "celebration", but was there an interview with Jr. or any sort of fanfare to send him off from DEI to Hendrick? His move was voted the most memorable moment of the season based on the pole that they did during the race, but I didn't see, hear anything about Jr. getting out of the Bud 8 for the last time.

So long, Ricky Rudd! Anyone interview him? Not that I saw. I always liked Ricky, always will. I would have liked to have heard a little something from him. Alas, he's not a media darling.

On a side note, CMT rebroadcast "Dale" during the latter half of the race. Smart move ... intentional or not. I found myself more interested in a movie I had seen twice before than the live action of Homestead.

Well folks, this was my first season with y'all at GTG. It's been fun and I've learned a TON! I look forward to "Observations of the 2008 Daytona 500"! RD, you're on the hook!








http://www.smileycentral.com/sig.jsp?pc=ZSzeb114&pp=ZN

[disco stu]

Originally Posted by PenelopePitStop

...I look forward to "Observations of the 2008 Daytona 500"! RD...

Couldn't agree more.

I really enjoy reading your "Observations of..." threads RD, and am looking forward to reading them through 2008.

Ty to everyone for making me feel so welcome to this forum, I've learned an awful lot since I came onboard.

I agree with the observations regarding JJ's "hijacking" of Matt's victory celebrations. It was somewhat crass and unthinking, but, to be fair to Jimmie, he was probably so elated/carried away that it didn't occur to him!

Also, I'd just like to put in an honorable mention for the F1 ex-pat....

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR....CONGRATS TO JUAN PABLO!!!!