September 27, 2007
By Allen Madding

Allen Madding

Bristol’s new banking left many wondering where all of the short track excitement had gone after the Sharpie 500 ran without a fist fight or a melee of crashed cars and short tempers. But, the combination of the Car of Today (formerly known as the Car of Tomorrow), Dover’s concrete, and the narrowing exit of Turn Four allowed the Dodge Dealers 400 at Dover to quickly step in and take over where Bristol had left off. The race had 13 caution periods and hardly a car ended the day without some damage sustained. With only 14-laps remaining, the big one intervened and collected Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Jimmie Johnson, and Martin Truex Jr.

On lap 77, Art Harris, crewmember for Michael Waltrip Racing, was struck in the head by a flying tire that had been hit by cars hustling down pit road. Fortunately, Harris was treated and later released from an area hospital.

Already frustrated to be a struggling a lap down, Kyle Petty lost his temper when he was collected by Denny Hamlin in a crash that ended Hamlin and Petty’s day on the Monster Mile. Petty elected to gain some TV exposure by running down and slapping Hamlin in the head while Hamlin was still strapped in his car. Petty should be expecting to lose a few dollars and a few points for his antics.

Matt Kenseth looked to have matters in hand for a while until a motor failure sidelined the No. 17 team with 27 laps to go. Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick fought tire issues as one by one the contenders for the chase fell victim to Dover’s infamous monster.

When the checkered flag flew, a collective sigh was heard from 43 pit stalls and 43 cars – it was finally over. Goody powder representatives geared up for the onslaught of customers. Another collective sigh was heard in Mooresville, North Carolina as fabricators for the teams realized how much work they had before them to rebuild the cars destroyed at Dover and the process to have the cars re-certified by NASCAR before they could be run again.

Carl Edwards thought he had escaped unscathed winning the event and was poised to climb five positions in the points standings. But, not so fast! Edwards, car failed the height-stick in post-race inspection. The win stands, but NASCAR wiped out the points he garnered. On Tuesday NASCAR penalized Edwards 25 points, relegating him back to sixth place in the standings.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. carefully chose the words to illustrate his displeasure with the Car of Today’s performance at the Monster Mile. Jeff Gordon, careful not to upset the boys in Daytona, was quoted as saying, “I’ve got your back. I agree with every word you just said.” Gordon added, “I need to hold back what I say, because I just don't see how we are going to get it done under the current conditions of this car."

My hat is off to Brett Bodine and his team at NASCAR, Bristol’s new banking may have brought on a kinder and gentler race at Thunder Valley, but the Car of Today certainly brought the drama to Dover.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.