Full Throttle

How about this “pre-Big One” starting line-up?

1. (28) Travis Kvapil, Ford, 187.364.
2. (5) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 187.295.
3. (8) Aric Almirola, Chevrolet, 187.265.
4. (01) Regan Smith , Chevrolet, 187.181.
5. (15) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 187.141.
6. (33) Mike Wallace, Chevrolet, 186.984.
7. (78) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 186.969.
8. (70) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, 186.739.
9. (83) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 186.707.
10. (1) Martin Truex, Jr., Chevrolet, 186.674.

It looks like the Chasers… have been “Chastened!” It doesn’t get much better further down the order:

12. (99) Carl Edwards, Ford, 186.507.
13. (42) Juan Pablo Montoya, Dodge, 186.430.
14. (00) Kenny Wallace, Toyota, 186.430.
15. (88) Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Chevrolet, 186.423.
16. (6) David Ragan, Ford, 186.351.
17. (31) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 186.318.
18. (09) Sterling Marlin, Chevrolet, 186.267.
19. (44) David Reutimann, Toyota, 186.231.
20. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 186.224.

For those not counting that’s 40% of positions between 11-20 in the Chase, and 20% overall.

Adding [Chase] insult to injury is Kevin Harvick way down in 39^th place.

Not that it really matters, Talladega being what it is (a crapshoot), it’s a long event and the chances of any in this top ten ending the day where they started, or even surviving to the checker, are fairly slim.

But it gave me an excuse to post something NASCAR related. That can’t be all bad.