Darlington: Food for a Hendrick Hissy Fit
Standby, with another Gordon win, and third place finish for Johnson, this week will see another spate of Hendrick’s haters slither out from under the woodwork.
With the team’s fifth CORN win and 8 of the last 9 Cup races the haters will all be in high dudgeon for a few days.
It could have been different, much different. Denny Hamlin came within one botched pitstop and a flurry of late yellows (Rollbar padding? Nah, couldn’t be he was 50 laps down) from taking his second win of the weekend. As it is he ran out of time and green flag laps and had to settle for second place after dominating with 178 laps led.
Hark! Do my eyes deceive me, is that a desert mirage in the heart of Dixie I spy? Or is that actually a Dodge near the front?
Why yes, yes it is! Ryan Newman to be precise, and teammate Kurt Busch didn’t have too shabby of a day either spending over 200 laps in the top ten and finishing 12th.
With all the bruhaha surrounding the #8 Junior and crew put the circus aside and had a fine eighth place finish. But then again some of those points earned will be taken back long about Tuesday morning. And BTW, if your wondering where the former DEI Franchise, now free agent, will be in ‘08 the Dude has the answer.
At least Jeff was not subjected to a shower of warm beer containers and old hot dogs! This has all the makings of a resurgent Gordon claiming his fifth title, if he can survive the expanded chase format. And one team has figured out how to deal with the new chassis.
I’m getting the same feeling George. Maybe it’s the marriage and impending fatherhood, but he just seems more in control.