Elvira Casts Spell Over Atlanta
Q. What do you get when you mix NASCAR’s Chase for the Championship with Halloween?
A. A ghostly blend of dominence, bad luck, and a little eye-of-newt tossed into the cauldren in the form of Kevin Harvick’s blown engine and the resulting yellow flag. End result is a Chase that was at most, a three car sprint with four races remaining, to a three race program and five drivers within 100 points of the NEXTEL Cup gold.
On a grim day for most of NASCAR championship contenders, Jimmie Johnson took his third straight checkered flag. Never has a victory seemed more appropriate. Johnson held off Mark Martin’s dominating car to win Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, easing some of the pain from the fatal plane crash that took the lives of 10 members of Hendrick Motorsports last weekend.
Martin had the best car in the Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, his Ford leading 227 of the 325 laps. But a late yellow flag cost him the top spot, and the 45-year-old driver
Mark Martin has no luck at all. On the last restart he was blocked in by his own teammate in the 16 car, Greg “No Brainer” Biffle, who was a lap down! If I were Martin Biffle would not be driving next week as both legs would be in hard casts!!
I sware i recall hearing Martin say something over the radio to his crew chief about Biffle in less than flattering terms (I could be wrong). But his after race comments only mentioned NASCAR’s decision to throw the yellow for Harvick.
That could be Martin being the professional he is, and his true feelings were vented in a less public forum.