Full Throttle

Four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon thought he had enough to catch Matt Kenseth as the laps ran down at MIS. He looked to have the faster car of the two and had raced from 12^th on a restart with 36 laps to go. But he ran out of time and finished 10 car lengths behind Kenseth’s Roush Racing Ford.

‘I wish we had a few more laps,’ Gordon said. ‘I needed maybe three more and I would have been on his bumper. I would have liked to show him and everybody else I know how to pass him clean.’

An obvious reference to last month’s Chicago event when Gordon parlayed the spin to win strategy into a checkered flag.

Points leader Jimmie Johnson had another “silk purse out of a sows ear day.” An early flat tire sent the #48 to the back of the field, again, and driver and crew keep their collective heads together enough to pull out a top 15 on the day, again.

Between the Kenseth win and Johnson’s 13^th place finish they have virtually assured themselves a place in the Chase. From second place down nothing is for certain.

Jeff Burton is a prime example. A blown engine sent the Cingular Wireless Chevy to a 42^nd place finish and a precipitous drop of 5 spots to 9^th and only 36 points from 11^th and out of the Chase, with three events left.

Not a good place to be with Bristol next week. Bristol has a reputation of creating “Talladega results” on a smaller scale. The Big One is always just around the short 1/2 mile corners, the only difference being they occur at a speed 100mph slower.

I suspect Kenseth may be the only driver in the top ten that may be looking to Bristol with a smile. He’s the defending Champ and won last years event from the pole.

Other notes: Defending NEXTEL Cup Champ Tony Stewart rebounded from a poor qualifying effort to finish 3^rd. Kasey Kahne remains as the only driver outside the top ten with a chance to slip in. His 4^th place moved him a bit closer to 10^th and broke a string of last lap mishaps.

Frankly I have to admit Sadlers performance was surprising to me. I had his outside pole pegged as a strictly qualifying setup and the #19 would fade fast. His tenth place is the only top ten the car has achieved this season and must have created a couple smiles of satisfaction and at least one “damn, how can this be,” exclaimation.

On occasion NASCAR pulls a car or two for an after race check on it’s chassis dyno that measures a car’s horsepower at the rear wheels. For some reason they went beyord the normal and pulled eight cars this week. The cars of Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Greg Biffle, Reed Sorenson and Kevin Harvick were all checked.

Maybe they spotted the consistent 200 plus mph speeds going into turn one and are concerned about safety. Or… looking for something else like way out of wack horsepower figures that may indicate some type of hanky-panky is goin’ on. We’ll see.

Michigan International Speedway, Matt Kenseth, Roush Racing, NASCAR, NEXTEL Cup, Sports, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle