Results: The Dumb Move 400 at Vegas
How is all I want to know?
How does a team drifting around the 40’s in the standings, run in the top five for most of the day drop kick all that effort into the shitcan with only 16 laps left?
Dale Jr. had an excuse, don’t let me steer you wrong. (pun not intended)
Earnhardt said he didn’t see the pits were closed because he followed Jeff Burton onto pit road. Burton had little choice to enter pitroad whether closed or open, troubles with the battery dictated that.
“We were going to stay out and then Tony (Eury) Jr. said to come in and, I’m like, ‘Yeah, I like going for it,’ “ Earnhardt said, referring to his crew chief.
Yea, ok I’ll buy that, but… the image above? That’s Junior’s spotter, where the hell was he when this momentous decision was occurring?
The image is self explanatory so we’ll move on. The our second booby prize winner, Robby Gordon.
“It amazes me,” Mears said. “Every time I think Robby can’t do anything any more stupid than he’s already done, he one-ups himself. It’s so early in the race. The tires are one of the hardest tires to drive we’ve had all year. It’s such a long race and he put us three-wide going into turn 1. It’s ridiculous. He’s trying to pull something off in the first, opening laps when it means nothing. I guess he’s trying to be a hero.”
And ends up a ZERO. And wouldn’t you know it, Ward Burton makes the first starting line-up of the year and gets caught up in Gordon’s silliness and ends the day in 43rd. That’s called being snake-bit.
There were others on track that didn’t act the fool. Really!
J.J. won his third straight at Vegas and that vaulted him into the top ten. Rumor has it the crew rigged the #48 with a holographic image of Lowes Motor Speedway on his windscreen and fully expect this win will be the start of a 34 race win streak.
The rumor comes from a Dillner-type single anonymous source so we might hold off on crowning J.J. just yet.
And hey look at that top ten. The more things change the more they stay the same. Except for the order it looks very much like the pre-Homestead standings of 2006.
All the same players are there except the addition of Elliott Sadler, who failed to live-up to my bold pre-race prediction. Guess he failed to get the memo. Damned pony express!
No crown for Mark Martin either despite another competitive race and still being a part-timer in the #01. He ran in the top five all day and finished in fifth and still sits atop the standings heading to Hotlanta next week where he finished second behind Kasey Kahne in last years spring event.
How ’bout that Bobby Labonte? He wheeled the #43 Dodge from 42nd starting position to a 13th place finish Sunday. He’s in 20th in points but sits less than 30 from the Chase cut-off point. It’s early sure, but he’s in a damn better position than say…Kasey Kahne. And Labonte finished a strong 12th last October at Atlanta.
It would be nice to see Petty Enterprises in the Chase. If for no other reason than to shift the “story of the year” from the DEI contract squabbles to a resurgent Petty Team.
UPDATE: More from Rumor Central. There is talk that it wasn’t Junior that mistook a red light for a Bud Light, it was this “Junior” that made the illegal dive into the pits.
NASCAR, NEXTEL Cup, Sports, Las Vegas, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle
Hmmm… looked to me like Robby did exactly what JPM did in Mexico. Had the inside line and a door on the guy on the outside and then got ran over. FWIW Robby had no idea that Casey was on the outside of Ward so how could he have known they were three-wide? Spotter error? Maybe. Ward error? Completely.
Casey needs to count up how much sheet metal he has torn up because he can’t even handle running by himself before he whines about someone else.
Question: If Robby is overtaking Burton why wouldn’t he see Mears on the outside?
No one is that blind.
Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. all complained “about how treacherous the driving conditions” were due to the heat in the track, the new configuration and the hardest tires ever supplied.
It was way too early to be racing that hard.
Tell then, why were the booth guys literally giggling like school girls when Kyle Busch was doing it ten laps later? I guess someone in NASCAR needs to set a rule that says, no one can attempt to advance their position within however many laps after the race starts so people can stop arguing about when it is too soon to race? We hear it all the time, “oh he was racing too hard too early”. Maybe they oughta call the first twenty laps Tiddly-Winks instead of racing then?
Perhaps Robby didn’t see Casey because he was paying attention to the guy right next to him like he is supposed to be doing? He was overtaking Ward because they were BOTH racing for position. What, Robby with his HANS device and big head-rest opadding is supposed to see more than any other driver? He’s supposed to be able to see through Ward’s car to see Casey up top? You know as well as I do those guys can hardly move their heads in those cars. If the blame falls on the #7 at all, it’s a spotter error.
Again, Ward chopped down on Robby when Robby had the line. Period. Maybe if WARD hadn’t been racing so hard, it wouldn’t have happened.
*eats some crow*
Reviewed the video on NOL. Looks like Robby would have seen Casey up top. That said, and we still disagree, the track had three grooves and Ward was in the middle when Robby went to the inside. Ward holds his line, nothing would have happened. Instead, he tried to take the inside when it belonged to Robby at that point. Either his spotter didn’t tell him Robby was there, or he just didn’t care.
To beat a dead horse, same thing happened with JPM/Pruett.
Tell then, why were the booth guys literally giggling like school girls when Kyle Busch was doing it ten laps later?
I don’t know you tell me. You’re grasping at straws and what the bobbleheads are yapping about isn’t germane to the issue.
Maybe they oughta call the first twenty laps Tiddly-Winks instead of racing then?
Perhaps, it could also be called using common sense in the first thirty miles of a 400 mile event. An event at that early point had all the possibilities of providing the same result as the Busch race did. A record number of cautions due to hard tires and new track surface.
Enjoy your crow. However, this says it all, “Either his spotter[Wards] didn
I’m missing where you don’t equate “stupid that early in the race” to “stupid at any time”?
Especially when the other Gordon said, “I felt like I was on ice from lap one until the last one. There is no reason for us to show up at racetracks and be at a white-knuckle experience for an entire weekend.”
Ya know Carrie as been very plain previously when it comes to Robby your view is always slanted.
The purpose for the “other” Gordon quote was to illustrate track conditions that were on most if not all the drivers minds ALL weekend.
Considering you seem to think I have trouble with the English language let’s pin it down then.
Is it your position that Robby should have disregarded all evidence, i.e. hard tires, new track surface, hot track temps and the previous Busch race as evidence of any dangers involved in being too aggressive?
Are you attempting to say being aggressive at any time, whether it be 30 miles in or during the last 30 miles of an event are both the advisable thing for a professional driver to do?
If that is the case your far out of touch of what it takes to finish let alone what it takes to win in NASCAR.
Speaking of English,what does this tell you: “Possible, but neither one of us know or will ever know what the spotter did or didn
1. Both cars were too deep into the turn for Robbie to put his nose in. Ward didn’t chop down on Robbie, he was following the natural racing line; Robbie didn’t belong there regardless of the time of the race as both cars were past the reasonable commit point in the corner for that kind of move.
2. This was never a three groove track, NOT ONE driver stated there were three grooves. Late in the race they were all over the track, “racing” for position as they should.
3. The only line that worked well all day was the high line, where Mears was attempting to stay out of trouble.
Robbie Gordon never makes a racing mistake, just ask him, he’ll be the first to tell you!
ROBBY GORDON IS AN ARROGANT MENACE, which is fun to have in NASCAR.
I’ve been watching Cup a long time, and I’ve never seen Robby deviate from his natural style. Whether he’s on pavement or dirt, open-wheel cars or stock cars or off-road trucks, or on lap one, the guy is hyper-aggressive.
Watch “From Dust to Glory” to see what the Baja 1000 folks think of him.
I am a HUGE fan of Robby Gordon, but I’m really surprised that the dozens and dozens of drivers he’s wrecked don’t take turns paying him back
NASCAR won’t police him, so the other drivers will have to do it.
I would agree with you “anon” however not as loudly as you have.
He’s not a menace but is aggressive and that’s what has caused some of the problems he has faced in NASCAR.
Note in NASCAR his greatest success has been on road courses (and outstanding success off-road) a venue that requires a bit more aggressive style than an oval.
NASCAR by its very nature is like a mini-endurance race not a sprint. Put Robby in a late model on a 1/2 mile and a season of 50 lap features and he would be a consistent winner.
You’ll have to excuse Carrie a bit, and understand her. The slightest thing said or written critical about Robby draws her like moths to a night light.
It’s my position that Robby was racing just like everyone else in the race. The hard tires and track conditions didn’t stop quite a few other people from racing three-wide on a track that supposedly doesn’t run three-wide. Yet, here you are condemning him, mainly it seems, because of the timing.
Ah my pro-Robby bias. Any more different than your bias against him, how? At least you learned to spell his name correctly this time.
BTW: I still haven’t seen you answer my question.
Telling any racer to use his common sense when determining when to start racing is leaving a lot open to interpretation. I seem to remember they tried to trust the racing back to the yellow flag issue to the drivers common sense up until Casey Mears almost t-boned Dale Jarrett in the driver side door. Then they made a rule stating the drivers aren’t supposed to do it.
Not only that but leaving it up to interpretation of the individual leads to disputes between drivers and fans when an accident does occur at a time someone deems “too early”.
You obviously think Robby was making his move too early since it’s your opinion that JPM, making the same move, was okay since he was making it later the in race.
This isn’t the first time, and won’t be the last, where we’ve seen people arguing about an accident happening because of the timing.
So answer my question: would you be happy if NASCAR made a rule for safety reasons that no one is allowed to try to advance their positions until NASCAR deems it safe?
First of all your sad attempt to equate this incident with rules on racing to the flag under yellow makes zero sense.
Considering you have continued to harp on the “others went three wide” line of “reasoning” I’ll restate what was written earlier, it isn’t germain to the issue. It wasn’t part of the discussion, only a single incident was.
And the only reason it was injected into it was your insistence that it may justify Robby’s foolishness.
NO! happy now? I doubt it.
You want me to comment on other times, OK, get me one. Name the drivers and lap # and I’ll tell you whether it was smart or not.
Til then quit whining about it.
And yes dear heart, it is your “pro-Robby” bias that leads you down this road on a continuing basis.
I could run thru the archives and count the # of posts you comment on that sing the praises of Robby, as opposed to those that call him out for being a over aggressive fool at times.
The later far out weights the former.
As I said, the slightest hint of criticism directed towards Gordon brings you running in breathless defense even when presented with direct quotes from those involved.
Even when your standing alone as you are in this case.
Geeesh Carrie, there is even a Robby supporter in this thread calling him out. That should tell you something.
Tell you what, take a trip thru all the forums and other NASCAR blogs and count up those that have taken your side against the number on mine.
Then report back. Hope you don’t end up lonely.
And BTW, Robby should have known better…. opps he did.