Hamlin Does It Again
Sunday, July 23rd, 2006 6:37pm CDT
By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Published on Thunder Lounge.
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[thumb:164:r:s=1:l=x]What can you say about this kid? Before June, he hadn’t ever seen Pocono. He takes the pole, and the win. Some said it was a fluke. I believe Mr. Hamlin has officially told them the shut their yaps as he not only took the pole again, but he also took the win for a complete Pocono sweep.
Back to back wins at Pocono are rare. Add in that both of those also came from the pole, and by a rookie that was watching the series from the grandstands a couple years ago, priceless.
Once again Hamlin’s car was on that invisible rail as he was THE car all day, the class of the field, and once again the one sitting in the circle at the end. Needless to say, while Harvick took the Busch Series to school yesterday, Denny Hamlin showed that he indeed can be a master as well. Although a rookie, he showed that he’s the real deal today, and that he’s here to stay.
He also has returned to the top 10, and unofficially sits 8th. With a car like this, a driver like this, and a crew chief like Mike Ford, watch out come Indy. This combination could be potent.
On other notes Bobby Labonte had another top 10 finish, Kurt Bush was again 2nd, and Jeff Gordon kept his brakes intact this time and finished 3rd. Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Burton were also in the top 10, as were Brian Vickers and Kevin Harvick. On a surprising note, Martin Truex Jr copped the 10th spot after a nice run.
Unfortunately, what will overshadow this 2nd win for Hamlin is the acts of his teammate.
Once again the real Tony Stewart show through, and it’s one that cares for only one person. Tony. Everybody else can jump in the hand basket. With only a few laps ticked off the counter, Clint Bowyer pushed up coming off the corner, which pinned Tony a little too close to the wall for comfort. Stewart immediately flipped Bowyer the bird, and turned left. The resulting wreck also caught up Carl Edwards, and Kyle Busch got some damage as well.
The story doesn’t end there, though.
Nascar sits Tony out for a lap to think about it, and denies him the free pass back to the lead lap. Restarting a lap down, luckily for Stewart, he could keep up with his teammate Mr. Hamlin and a few laps later out comes the yellow laundry sending Tony around to the end of the lead lap. Lesson learned? I think not. Hopefully Nascar will see it fit to stick you with a point deduction as well.
No folks, the story isn’t over still.
During the following caution, it seems that Mr. Stewart took it upon himself to let Carl Edwards know that he thought he was #1. Now, have you ever seen Carl Edwards mad? I mean really mad? Anything other than the “golly shucks, we’ll get ‘em next week” attitude? Nope. However it appears that the way to get him to this stage of anger is to not only cause his car to turn into a junk heap by intentionally turning a hard left into your competitor, but shoot him a bird as well. The ensuing action causes Carl to hit the chrome horn and spin Stewart out leaving pit road. For the record, Mr. Edwards also was invited to think about it for a lap.
The post race interview with Edwards was priceless. He is more human the Opie Taylor after all by gum.
Here’s the irony from Stewart’s post race interview. He believes that during the race, prior to being close to the end when it’s everyone for themselves, if the guy behind you is that much faster then you are… let them by and race them later. He even goes on to use Mark Martin as an example, and then throws in the old “If the 3 car were still here” routine.
So, Stewart was faster, and Bowyer should let him go because it wasn’t near the end of the race?
Let’s revisit New Hampshire, where the situation was reversed, and Stewart was the slower car. End result? Wow, it’s the same. Wrecked cars.
You know Tony, a wise man once said that people who live in glass houses should not throw stones. It’s always “anyone but me” with you, isn’t it? It was Kenseth, it was Newman, it was Martin, it was Gordon. Is it ever Tony? I’ve purposely looked back in the archives of post race comments, and couldn’t find anything where Tony said “I screwed up”. So, be proud that you will now be the proud bearer of the “Flip-flop” nickname around these parts. It’s sad when your teammate shines, yet you and your behavior have to overshadow it. You may have worked back to finish 7th, but you deserve much less.
To head off the “but Gordon did it two weeks ago to Kenseth” arguments, let’s review.
Stewart: Blatantly intentional. Nascar penalty.
Gordon: Not blatant, it just happened that Kenseth wrecked. No Nascar penalty. Review our take on it in the Thunder Lounge archives for a refresher.
That’s the main deal on it. See the keywords “blatantly intentional”. No conspiracy, no bull. As was Edwards’ little move. It’s funny though. It was way out of character for Edwards. Is it perhaps that there are drivers in the garage that are just as sick of Stewart’s crap as well? Ah, the things that make you go, hmmm.
In all, aside from the incident that took up most of this piece, it was typical Pocono. Far from being a cookie-cutter, some close and not so close battles, and always the drama of Nascar.
Filed Under: Nascar, Nextel Cup
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