NEW HAMPSHIRE 300
Loudon, NH, September 19th, 1999
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NEW HAMPSHIRE 300 |
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| and I missed it... |
But Nooo... I arrived home, flipped on the tube just in time to see Joe gettin' his Winner's Circle Interview, and got real excited.. until I noticed my VCR was gleefully recording the CFL football game from somewhere out in the Western Wilderness of this great land.... Seems only fair, as it turns out, that's exactly what I'd told it to do... TNN - TSN... who reads the fine print in the TV Times that closely, anyway? But the GoV's shoulda been watchin' over me... they shoulda said sumthin'...
So, what we have here is a cobbled-up version of a report with info and pictures from SPEEDVISION's IWC, tidbits from TNN's website, and info from Sue's AdNASCAR Newsletter..Not only that, but... report's runnin' REAL late this week... No time Sunday - had to wait to see What Really Happened with Allen, Kenny, Johnny and Mikey on Monday night - then had no time to prepare the report - youngest kid's 21st birthday Tuesday night - won't miss that, so dinner out in Toronto, round-trip to Deetroit to talk about paint on Wednesday (today, I hope...), got back an hour ago - this report may turn out to be "stream-of-unconciouness"... but enuff about me and my excuses - here's what I kinda understand happened Sunday.
Thanks to Floyd, qualifying was a hash, with one shot at it on Saturday morning. After the tiresmoke had cleared, Rusty Wallace had the Miller Lite Taurus on the Pole, with Jarrett lined up alongsides him. Schrader and Lepage filled Row Two, then Stewart, Skinner, Bobby Labonte, Dallenbach, Hamilton, Petty, Nemechek, and Park rounded out the Top Twelve.
Dale Earnhardt lined up 16th, with Ward Burton next-fastest. Gordon was 19th, Martin 25th, and Jeff Burton 37th. Randy Lajoie put Ernie's #14 Taurus in the field in 23rd.
Among the "Musical Chairs" crowd, David Green fared best, putting the 10-10-345 Pontiac in the field in 18th. Bickle had the Cartoon Network car in, in 41st on a Provisional, and Nadeau put the M&M's Pontiac in, in 30th. Todd Bodine parked the #30 car in 22nd - Cope, in the #91 car, missed the cut, as did Trickle in the #41 Kodiak car.... If you can draw any conclusions re "Who's on Top" in this round of M-C's, pls let me know...
Ol' DW, in the K-Mart Taurus, and Andy Belmont, tryin' to put T.R.I.X. Racing's #79 in the field, also went home early.
Loudon is a tough, flast (new word: means "flat and fast" - actually a typo I just did, that I kinda like... (see "stream of..." above...)) one-point oh-five-eight- miler, with a single groove, and sheetmetal has to die if you plan to move up significantly.
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A caution or so later, on Lap 54, Tony Stewart grabbed the lead, and I'll bet a lotta divers went "uh oh..". This was a cool move by the "rookie", as he got under to-that-point leader Rusty Wallace, who tried to pretend he wasn't there, and moved down until they were rubbin' each other. Rusty lost grip, went up a half-lane, and Tony was through. Looks like Tony has grasped the concept of fender utilization real quick...
After initial fireworks, we now had a long green run, with the Home Depot car headin' them up, and around Lap 85 a series of green flag stops began among the leaders. Once the stops had cycled thru, there were still 30 cars on the lead lap - now that's parity!
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As we'd run but 20 - 30 laps since last round of stops, some stayed out, including Terry Labonte, Sadler, and Mast. Thus Rick led 'em off as the green flew. We had a sixth caution, then, on Lap 170, caution number 7, caused by the spinning car of Todd Bodine. Kennny 'fessed up on IWC that hemighta had a hand in that, as he and Dallenbach tried to occupy Todd's space...
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| note both RST's over line.. |
On this caution, in an effort to get track position, Nemechek and Terry Labonte, among the leaders, took two tires only. Thus, when the green dropped, Terry led Joe over the stripe, and they were runnin' 1-2.
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It got interestin' behind them, however, as Stewart, who'd taken on four tires, moved into third, and began to close the gap, gettin' into second with 57 to go.
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| welcome to WC, rookieboy!... |
But it was not to be, as the H-D Poncho picked up a miss, and could not stay with Joe off the corners.
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Congratulations, Joe, it was a long time comin' - should be an inspiration to the others around who've endured career-long droughts at this level! Joe dedicated the race to his brother John, killed in his race truck in '97 in Florida.
Behind Joe and Tony, Bobby Labonte came in third - another strong day for Joe Gibbs Racing, Jeff Burton had fought his way to fourth - and his car had the scars of a 37 to 4 run..., Gordon was fifth, Rusty sixth, then Benson - best finish in a LONG time - was seventh. Ward Burton, Mast, Irwin, Hamilton, and the nefarious Mr Schrader rounded out the Top Twelve. Earnhardt was 13th, Martin 17th, Jarrett 18th, and Terry Labonte, among the walking wounded, in 31st.
Sounds like a good race - too bad I missed it...
So, in spite of his pitside Faux pas, Jarrett is still out front by 254 points. But Bobby Labonte has slipped into second, due to his good finish, and Martin's problems. Mark is in third, 19 behind Bobby, while Tony holds fourth, 16 behind Mark. Burton sits fifth, and Gordon sixth, with Earnhardt in seventh place. Wallace, Terry Labonte and Ward Burton round out the Top Ten in Points.
Next week we get to tackle the Monster Mile at Dover, one of them high-banked "self-cleaning" tracks.
I plan on a nice quiet weekend, so I can get back in the groove on the ol' Couch, and reassemble my act....
See y'all there... Hopefully, From My
Couch!!
"Mr. NASCAR" |