Full Throttle

Dale Jr. fans that is. In fact some are downright giddy in celebration, or is that delusional, you be the judge. Jr. had an excellent race where he put himself in position to win and a crew chief that made the right decision at the right time. More power to both of them, it’s a well deserved win.

But there is a down side. If anyone truely believes Jr.s has a shot at the Chase by finishing two places ahead of the points leader I have a trans-Atlantic bridge to sell them. It ain’t gonna happen. It will take a wreck or mechanical failure on Johnson’s part to really make a difference. Factor in the fact those two scenarios also aid everyone else ahead of Jr. and again your back to square one and out of the Chase. Next week is “Cow Hampshire,” another intermmediate track where he has had trouble all year. Wait and see.

As for the rest of the race, the efforts by Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart where probably the best of the day. Stewart toughed it out through the pain of his practice crash and a last row starting position to finish fifth. While Johnson came back from one lap down to end the day in third spot.

The other big story out of ChiTown was again GoodYear tires. I’ll leave it at that other than to say I entered them in this weeks NASCAR Cesspool.

A special mention should go to David Stremme who in his first ride for Chip Gannasi finished a creditable 16^th. For those that boo-hoo’d Stremme’s move to NEXTEL Cup that result is far better than anything Sterling Marlin has done - with the exception of Pocono where Marlin also finished 16^th - since April at Texas.

1. (25) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 267.
2. (4) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 267.
3. (1) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 267.
4. (5) Brian Vickers, Chevrolet, 267.
5. (13) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 267.
6. (22) Jeremy Mayfield, Dodge, 267.
7. (28) Ricky Rudd, Ford, 267.
8. (19) Kurt Busch, Ford, 267.
9. (3) Casey Mears, Dodge, 267.
10. (20) Mark Martin, Ford, 267.
11. (6) Greg Biffle, Ford, 267.
12. (33) Rusty Wallace, Dodge, 267.
13. (26) Bobby Labonte, Chevrolet, 267.
14. (24) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 267.
15. (15) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 267.
16. (31) David Stremme, Dodge, 267.
17. (30) Scott Wimmer, Dodge, 267.
18. (8) Dale Jarrett, Ford, 267.
19. (9) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 267.
20. (43) Jason Leffler, Chevrolet, 267.
21. (17) Bobby Hamilton Jr., Chevrolet, 267.
22. (36) Jamie McMurray, Dodge, 267.
23. (7) Scott Riggs, Chevrolet, 267.
24. (40) Jeff Green, Dodge, 267.
25. (42) Mike Wallace, Chevrolet, 267.
26. (41) Ken Schrader, Dodge, 267.
27. (29) Kyle Petty, Dodge, 267.
28. (39) Kevin Lepage, Dodge, 267.
29. (2) Ryan Newman, Dodge, 262.
30. (35) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 260.
31. (32) Stuart Kirby, Chevrolet, 259.
32. (38) Sterling Marlin, Dodge, 253, engine failure.
33. (14) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 249, accident.
34. (11) Mike Bliss, Chevrolet, 249, accident.
35. (12) Robby Gordon, Chevrolet, 222.
36. (27) Michael Waltrip, Chevrolet, 214, accident.
37. (23) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 210.
38. (10) Dave Blaney, Chevrolet, 200, handling.
39. (21) Carl Edwards, Ford, 170.
40. (37) Carl Long, Dodge, 148, handling.
41. (18) Kasey Kahne, Dodge, 138, engine failure.
42. (34) Terry Labonte, Chevrolet, 124, handling.
43. (16) Travis Kvapil, Dodge, 13, engine failure.

Time of Race: 3 hours, 8 minutes, 16 seconds.
Margin of Victory: 0.291 seconds.
Winner’s Average Speed: 127.638 mph.
Caution Flags: 10 for 47 laps.
Lead Changes: 17 among 12 drivers.
Lap Leaders: J.Johnson 1; R.Newman 2-10; J.Johnson 11-30; G.Biffle 31; M.Kenseth 32; G.Biffle 33-65; M.Kenseth 66-81; B.Hamilton Jr. 82; K.Schrader 83; M.Kenseth 84-119; K.Lepage 120; M. Wallace 121; M. Kenseth 122-165; K.Petty 166; M.Kenseth 167-245; S.Marlin 246; S. Wimmer 247-256; D.Earnhardt Jr. 257-267.

1. J.Johnson, 2,548. 2. G.Biffle, 2,440. 3. T.Stewart, 2,397. 4. R.Wallace, 2,300. 5. E.Sadler, 2,230. 6. M.Martin, 2,202. 7. R.Newman, 2,196. 8. J.McMurray, 2,190. 9. J.Mayfield, 2,179. 10. Kurt Busch, 2,172.