Autism Speaks 400 Recap

Dover’s 2008 fall race, the one I spoke of on Friday, had a rather exciting and interesting finish as three Roush Racing teammates mixed it up with Mark Martin on a four way battle for the win. Sunday’s race at the Monster Mile entertained again as three-time defending champ Jimmie Johnson battled two-time champ Tony Stewart for the win.

In the end Johnson’s battle with Stewart was an awesome one, as both drivers ran the top and the bottom of the track trying to outduel one another for the victory. Dale Jr was the story coming in, and he impressed the “experts” with how well he and interim crew chief Lance McGrew worked together in their first stint. For more storylines, read on as I recap Sunday’s Autism Speaks 400.

1. Richard Petty Motorsports’ use of the new gen Dodge engine worked this weekend

Kasey Kahne qualified on the outside pole, Reed Sorenson led for a few laps, and even Elliot Sadler ran better this weekend for RPM. The new generation of Dodge engine—the same engine that Penske Racing has been using this season, fueling Kurt Busch’s resurgence—really helped the RPM race team this weekend.

Kasey Kahne passes Penske Racing's Sam Hornish Jr on Sunday. Will RPM's use of the newest Dodge engine put the #9 car in the Chase?

The real test for RPM will be this weekend at Pocono, where the drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series take on the longest straightaway in the sport—Pocono’s 3,740 foot frontstretch (that’s 7/10^ths of a mile!). Pocono is a track that demands a lot from engine builders, so we’ll get to see what RPM is made of this weekend.

2. Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart’s battle for the win was great

Great, kind of a weak adjective for the thrills and excitement that the two champs put on for the crowd in Delaware’s capital on Sunday afternoon. Even though I’m not particularly a fan of either driver, as a fan of the sport, there’s nothing else you could ask for. As Mike Joy said on the telecast, “Two of America’s best battling it out to see who wins.”

Johnson's late race charge and final lap battles with Tony Stewart was exciting and entertaining

Jay Busbee, a Yahoo! Sports analyst wrote this in his post-race column, “Risking it all for the win – that’s the attraction, and more than anything it’s what NASCAR has been missing.” A lot of opinions now circulate on his fan interactive pieces, “Your Turn” and “Happy Hour” about rewarding more points to the winner, or decreasing points further on down the finishing order.

While I don’t think it’s time to beat that argument to death again, I do think that Dover’s exciting finish was a great way to head into the six race summer stretch on TNT.

3. If you watched SportsCenter for highlights Monday morning, you better have been disappointed

SportsCenter, ESPN’s number one show, is generally informative and fair in their coverage of all sports, NASCAR included. However, Monday morning, I was very disappointed in SC’s coverage of the Autism Speaks 400.

While showing a highlight of Kyle Busch’s late pit stop, one of the anchors said, “Kyle Busch is far from NASCAR’s most popular driver.” Ok, everything is going well so far. Then came the worst possible explanation of any highlight I’ve ever heard in my life. When showing Greg Biffle’s exit off pit road during the last caution flag, the same anchor said, “Greg Biffle comes out first ahead of Jimmie Johnson because Johnson had a mistake on his pit stop. Johnson would re-start seventh.”

Let’s not think about the fact that Biffle took two tires and Johnson got four fresh Goodyears, or the fact that Johnson took the green flag in ninth after that round of pit stops (Jay Busbee had that right, kudos to him!).

SportsCenter, that one’s on you. I don’t know how SC works exactly, but I do know that at WCPO here in Cincinnati, such mistakes would not be made. It’s sad that the, “Worldwide leader in sports” can’t even get the little details right. I hope someone else caught the major gaffe in SportsCenter on Monday morning. At least it’d make me feel better that I’m not the only one who catches incorrect details!

4. Four tires won the race for Johnson, lost spots for teammate Mark Martin

On the penultimate restart, before David Stremme slid into the inside wall, Mark Martin was in seventh (not Jimmie Johnson as SportsCenter would have you think) and lost three spots before the checkers flew. Even though the only driver in front of him with four tires was Kurt Busch, Martin couldn’t clear lapped traffic (namely Brian Vickers) and was passed in a hurry by Johnson and Matt Kenseth.

Johnson charged to the front, as we’re all accustomed to seeing the Lowe’s Chevy do, while Martin’s #5 lost ground. It was still a decent day for Martin, given where he started, and he retained his 12^th place standing in points.

-------------------------------------------------------

Even though this week is the final week of classes, I’m chock full of blog posts for you. Tomorrow I’ll take a look at an interesting comment from Sunday’s Cincinnati Enquirer about the University of Cincinnati. Thursday I’ll have something for you fans of Big East football and Friday we’ll be back to NASCAR as we look at Pocono for the first time of two stops this season. Let me know if you’ve got any suggestions or comments.

And, as I posted yesterday, you can follow me on Twitter now…if you really want to. Go to http://twitter.com/adamniemeyer to “follow” me. Although, as I said yesterday, I probably will use it sparingly to announce blog posts and “tweet” from Indianapolis (oh, and by the way, only 53 days and 20 or so hours until the green drops in Indy!!) and during UC football games. Enjoy your Tuesday.