Runnin' on Fumes 6/26/09

Aptly titled blog for the last 2 weeks of racing. Michigan came down to fuel mileage, again, but at least this time guys just went for it instead of pitting with 2 to go.
Sonoma was similar, who will, who won't have enough fuel to go the distance? Poor Robby Gordon stayed out one lap to many or he might have won the race.

Random Ramblings

Here we go, 10 races to the chase. Its like the stretch run in baseball, the last 4 games of the NFL regular season and the last 2 month of basketball and hockey (whose seasons are WAAAAAY TOOOOO LOOOONG).
3 weeks ago I said that it was down to the top 17 to have a real shot at making the chase...looking at the numbers now I'm sticking by that prediction. As much as I would like to see Marcos Ambrose make the chase....its a real long shot with him being 213 points from 12th.
Here are the current top 17:

1 -- Tony Stewart 2364 Leader
2 -- Jeff Gordon 2280 -84
3 -- Jimmie Johnson 2207 -157
4 -- Kurt Busch 2084 -280
5 +1 Carl Edwards 2051 -313
6 -1 Ryan Newman 2046 -318
7 +3 Denny Hamlin 2009 -355
8 -1 Greg Biffle 1992 -372
9 -- Kyle Busch 1962 -402
10 +1 Matt Kenseth 1957 -407
11 -3 Mark Martin 1926 -438
12 +2 Juan Montoya 1917 -447
13 +2 Kasey Kahne 1914 -450
14 -1 David Reutimann 1877 -487
15 -3 Jeff Burton 1871 -493
16 -- Clint Bowyer 1852 -512
17 -- Brian Vickers 1794 -570

I'm going out on the thickest of limbs here and saying that the top 3 are a lock to make the chase. Of those currently out I would give Kahne, and Vickers the best shot at getting in. Of those currently in I think Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Martin are the most likely to fall out. There just isn't a whole lot of consistency from those 3.

Double file restart
Success! NASCAR listened to the fans and got something right. I always liked road course races, and the DFR made it exciting to the end, even for those fans who bitched about road courses before.

RPM gets its first win. Come on really? The RPM name is a marketing ploy. Richard Petty is a figurehead, much like the Queen of England (he is the King after all). It makes for great PR and photo-ops and sucks in a bunch of fans, but we all know that the Gillett family is the real backbone of this team. I'm happy to see it happen, but can we really credit RPM with its first win in 10 years? Talk to me when the 44 or 43 hits victory lane.

Around TITB you may have noticed the all D-Bag team poll going on (must not be football season yet). Here are my nominations for when we get to NASCAR, and why:

Kyle Busch - arrogant, doesn't have any respect for the history of the sport, and damn he is a good driver....broke the guitar he won at Nashville a-la Pete Townsend, not that i think it was wrong, I just think it was a preconceived stunt to get more headlines.

Jack Roush- remember when Toyota was coming to NASCAR, Jack was the most vocal opponent of the addition. Whine whine....I have 5 teams and NASCAR is making me cap them at 4. Plus he has 3 of the most douchy drivers, Kenseth, Biffle (sniffle), and Edwards (who always has his media face on, just one of 2 that he has).

Red Horse Racing for not finding enough sponsorship to keep the defending truck champion in the series. Or being willing to ride it out with a blank hood and quaterpanels until they found one.

NASCAR for the two pit stop rule in the Truck Series. No gas and tires on the same stop. Uh what?

All four manufacturers, not for their financial woes, but for cutting their support mid-season instead of just doing so at the beginning of the season when they knew they were going to have to do something.

Now its your turn. Who do you think deserves to be nominated? Put it in the comments section and I'll put them up when the time comes.