Rumors:   Mattyboy jumping to Gibbs’ 11 car next year??  Sounds plausible, cuz he was slighted in the recent negotiations for the 6 seat.   Would he take Robby with him??   They seem to be joined at the hips.

Rumors2:  BulletlessSterling is going somewhere next year, and could be with the Hall of Fame boys (Aikman/Staubach).   That’s all we need….more owners that don’t know the first thing about racing.   Heck, Bradshaw’s been at it for about 5 years now, and he just figured out where the nearest portajohn is.    Also, Tim Brown’s gonna start up another team.   It won’t be long before 55 or 60 teams are gonna be qualifying for the mere 43 spots (and with 36 teams assured of a starting place, the 7 open spots are gonna get real dicey).

PreRace Snapshot:   A sign on one of the 97 trailers:   “50% off on all Kurt Busch merchandise”     ‘nuff said….

Da Race:    Four words describe the race.   Wind, that kicked up the debris, that collected on the radiators (and caused a lot of worry and a few blown engines), and at least 7 blown tires.   The debris made things interesting, and a lot of close drafting had to be done in order to blow the trash off.     Three wide racing was the norm for the day, and it proved that this track is one of the better ones.

There were a lot of stout cars out there, and most of them took their turn at running up front.     JoeNemo, TerribleTony, BadBoyBusch, JJ, MattyBoy, FlipEdwards, BugEyeBiffle to name a few.  But in the end, it didn’t make much difference how your car ran, how much horsepower it had, or if the driver got enough sleep the night before.

It all boiled down to how much gas you had in the fuel tank.   If they had a caution during the last 50 laps, it probably woulda been a whole different story.   But noooo, it all came down to a dirtbag that won the race because he just happened to be in the right place at the right time.   He didn’t race to win, he just happened to have won.   So if you think he deserves some accolades, you’d better go to his web site and soak it in, cuz you ain’t gonna get any good words outta me.   Bah,  humbug.

Soooo, Congrats to all of the Roushketeers for leading most of the race.   To TerribleTony for coming from the back for a 5^th place finish.   To JoeNemo for hanin’ in there all day.   To that dork, JJ, for coming from the rear.

As you’ll see, the Points race is tightening up, and if anyone in the 11^th to 15^th spots have good races in the next several weeks, they just might squeak into the Playoffs.    Oh, the tempers are gonna get a little testy next weekend at Bristol, and I’m gonna have a prime-time seat watchin’ the whole thing unfold.   Hey….rubbin’ is racin’….

Heaps of 3’s,

Racing Maniac #3, #12, #8e