Full Throttle

Jiminy crickets!

There were so many yellow hankies unfurled at Martinsville, a record 21, for a minute I thought the NFL Referees Association had taken over the NASCAR scoring tower and were replaying an Oakland Raiders game. (Sorry Dude, but ya know it’s true)

For the love of all that’s Holy (Bristol, Darlington and Daytona) they couldn’t get through a green-white-checkered finish without cutting it one lap short when David Ragan spun, bringing out the record setter.

It was so bad it has caused a resurrection of the NASCAR Cesspool (pictured above left), something that used to be a regular feature on FT each week, but has lain dormant since last season (July in Pocono).

So congratulations all you highly paid *professional* race car drivers, welcome to the Cesspool. And special congrats (a taste of Hellfire and Brimstone courtesy of Beelzebub) go to Martin Truex Jr. and David Ragan who were either the instigators or innocent victims in no less than six incidents that caused yellow laundry to be displayed.

And frankly, it could have been much worse for these two, they could have been penalized 350 laps as some have this weekend.

Oh, and BTW, Martin by “raising your profile” I don’t think they had today in mind.

Despite all that there was a good day to be had by a few. If by a few, you mean the Hendrick stable.

Johnson won of course, but between J.J., Gordon and Kyle Busch they dominated the field leading for 80% of the 506 laps.

The only other noteworthy performances were Ryan Newman by placing second and by Juan Montoya who stayed clean all day, ran among the leaders and finished eighth.

Other than that it was a forgettable day. Unless you work in a race teams Fab Shop, then you will be reminded of Sunday for most of this week.