Richmond observations
Observations, thoughts and questions following the Chevy American Revolution 400 at Richmond International Raceway:
Congratulations to Kasey Kahne for finally getting that monkey off of his back. I was one of those who doubted he'd ever get a win in the Nextel Cup Series. I admit, I was wrong.
It was great to witness a true display of sportsmanship when Greg Zipadelli came over and gave a high-five and congratulatory hug to Kahne's crew chief Tommy Baldwin. Same for Tony Stewart, who personally walked over to talk with Kahne. Stewart gave Kahne all he could handle tonight.
The Fox/FX television crew missed another green-flag restart after the first caution of the night. And they barely made it back from the commercial break at the final restart.
Jeff Gordon made a rare driving mistake, one which resulted in his hitting the wall and doing damage to the front end of his car. And being the class act he is, Gordon admitted making the mistake on national television. "It was one of the stupidest things I've ever done in my life," he said.
Gordon's Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson also had front-end woes that put him out of the race early, though Johnson was in a pretty good mood when interviewed afterward. Perhaps he was thinking about the Charlotte track where the Nextel Cup teams will race the next two weekends and how well he does at that track. FYI: He won there last year. Twice.
I was told that the Hendrick Motorsports guys have found something that makes the front end suspension of their cars work better. I understand it has to do with both mechanical and aerodynamic elements. Perhaps it also has made their front suspensions more susceptible to damage.
Did Darrell Waltrip really say on national television, "There goes Mike Wallace, doing what he does best – holding up traffic"? You bet he did. Maybe he meant it as a joke, but it sounded downright mean.
Wasn't the paint scheme on Bobby Labonte's car one of the ugliest you've ever seen? It did its job, though, and got my attention.
What was Robby Gordon thinking when he tried to go three-wide coming out of Turn 4 with 12 laps to go? As if Dale Jarrett wasn't having a bad enough night already.
Tony Stewart's midrace spin would have been the stuff of legend had he won the race. It looked to me as if his rear brake bias was set up to work just fine going into the turn, but not so good if he had to hammer the binders in the middle of the turn – as Stewart was forced to do.
With 92 laps to go, it took Kahne, who was the race leader, three laps to pass Dale Earnhardt Jr. But it took second place Tony Stewart all of about 200 yards to accomplish the same feat.
The race went by very fast – just a little over three hours. Hard to believe there were nine cautions.
Kudos to Kahne's pit crew for excellent work on a night that saw several other drivers – Kevin Harvick, for example – fall victim to mistakes in the pits. Another reminder that auto racing is a team sport.
I hate to mention Kahne and Stewart again, but they both put on a heck of a show – like the kind you'd see at a Saturday night dirt-track event.
Several times Stewart ran up close behind Kahne and nearly bumped him while circling the track during caution flags and when they both were coming into the pits. That's an old sprint car deal that both drivers are very familiar with. Except in sprint cars, you actually hit the driver in front of you just to remind him that you're there. I love that kind of stuff!
Hard Luck Award of the Race has to go to Travis Kvapil, who had his hands full all night with an ill-handling race car and tried his best to stay out of everyone else's way.
On the other hand, the other Rookie of the Year candidate Kyle Busch had a strong showing in finishing fourth, his best finish since that controversial second-place run at Las Vegas in March.
Were you as embarrassed (and annoyed) as I was by the insertion of a promo for an upcoming NASCAR show on FX during Kasey Kahne's post-race interview?
Next Saturday night it's reality television at its best – the made-for-TV "Nextel All-Star Challenge" where there are no points, everyone brings a car they'll use just for this event (and don't mind wrecking) and there's a ton o' money for the winner.
