Full Throttle

Question, how many debris caution flags does it take before a title sponsor retroactively changes its name?

Your results, and the sponsors, may vary but for my purposes four of six should suffice.

Be that as it may, Smoked got smoked when it counted most and Jeffy finally captured his 76^th win tying Dale Sr. for sixth place on the all-time wins list. Classy act BTW flying the Black 3 flag to more cheers than Gordon has heard in a decade.

“Holding that 3 flag, it’s certainly by no means saying we’re as good as him. I learned so much from him. We wanted to honor him. We’ve been holding on to that flag for a long time.”

One of the first to congratulate Gordon after the was Dale Earnhardt Jr, who himself finished 19^th and last car on the lead lap.

Stewart took second, Denny Hamlin finished third and Jimmie Johnson was fourth as Chevy swept the first four places with Matt Kenseth fifth in his Roush-Fenway Fusion.

Wonder if the crowd reaction means NASCAR Nation has reached an evolutionary plateau and Jeffy won over a few fans?

Nah, I doubt it, Beelzebub (synonymous to Gordon for some fans) could have made a victory lap under a flapping 3 flag and would have been cheered. (UPDATE: speculation proven true, someone pooh-poohs Jeffy’s accomplishment because, well because Dale Sr. is dead and would have had more wins if he were still alive. Ya can’t make this stuff up folks.)

The surprise of the race was a solid 6^th place by Jeff Green for Haas Engineering. Maybe Frankenstein’s Monster gave him an assist.

Standby, more later…