Chasing Dorothy
Saturday, September 30th, 2006 9:23am CDT
By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Published on Thunder Lounge.
[thumb:169:l:s=1:l=x][thumb:183:r:s=1:l=x]Ray Evernham finally had something to smile about, after watching his only title contender struggle and slide down in the points during the first two races of the Chase. Friday afternoon at Kansas Evernham Motorsports swept the front row, with Kahne on the point and Scott Riggs to his outside. Another smile for Elliot Sadler as well, as he will be starting just inside the top 10 as well. In some ways, racing is like golf. The bad shots (or weekends) tick you off, but those good shots (and runs) are what gets you hooked and keeps you coming back.
Other notable news coming out of qualifying at Kansas has 4 Chasers starting in the top 10, and 8 starting in the top 15.
Joining Kahne in the top 10 is Jimmie Johnson along with Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton. Rounding out the top 15 in 11th-14th is Jeff Gordon, Dale Jr, Kyle Busch, and Kevin Harvick respectively.
Mark Martin ended up 19th, and Denny Hamlin kept his loose machine running around the track instead of putting it in the fence to start 25th.
A sad note for those that follow the independent teams, Carl Long lost his primary car in a spin in practice as it went into the fence and the followed it up with a repeat incident in qualifying. Effort lost, and all for none. Fate like that just has to break your heart. You’ll b e hard pressed to meet a nicer guy out there.
As we roll into Sunday RCR has momentum with taking the last 5 races, which comprises of Harvick sweeping Richmond, winning at NHIS, Bowyer winning the Busch race at Dover, and Jeff Burton rolling into the circle in the Cup race at Dover. The resulting points fell, and RCR saw for the first time in its long history two of its cars in the top 5 in points. Regardless of how the title shakes out, when the RCR camp looks back on 2006 they should have nothing but smiles. Their continued performance just further adds to what is shaping up to be the top story of the 2006 season. As for RCR, they’re not counting anything remaining in the season as gravy though. They want that chicken fried steak that sits underneath it.
Now RCR isn’t the only one riding momentum. Jeff Gordon is coming off of back to back 3rd place finishes, and has a fire in his eyes that hasn’t been visible in a while. Last season kicked him square in the gut, and he’s looking for paybacks on Lady Luck’s sense of humor. If you don’t see him as a threat right now, you’re blind as a bat.
Keeping a cool, calm, and collected focus is Matt Kenseth. With nerves of steel, he has a very relaxed appearance to him these days. Something that should also scare up a little fear in the competition as well. When Kenseth gets a calm focus going on, he’s damn tough.
In a garage that has seen a “big news” slow down lately, one has to wonder if the whole silly season fiasco is over. Well, we doubt it. Not just yet. Something coming up will have the mill churning, but the closer you get to Homestead, the less likely it’s going to be an earth shattering announcement. Then again, as we’ve seen already this season, anything can happen.
Filed Under: Nascar, Nextel Cup, The Chase
Trackback URL for: Chasing Dorothy
Loading...
