March 3, 2010
By Chuck Abrams
Kevin Harvick is in an odd position. He sits at the top of the points but can’t seem to beat Jimmie Johnson.
Johnson got his second win of the season (back-to-back) and second in a row at Las Vegas. Had the race been a few laps longer, Harvick may have had a shot at Johnson. But that was not to be. Instead, Harvick can take solace in the fact that he appears to be having a great start to the 2010 season and is headed to Atlanta where he won his first Cup race as a replacement for the late Dale Earnhardt.
Historically, Johnson is better than Harvick at Atlanta but easily outpaced Johnson there last year. With both teams running well, it will be interesting to see if Harvick can maintain his pace and keep the points lead away from Johnson for another week.
As I mentioned last week, this time of the year sees a lot of movement in the standings. This week's big movers were Jeff Gordon -- moving up nine spots to 13th, Tony Stewart moving into the top 12, Kasey Kahne moving up to 23rd place, and the aforementioned Johnson moving up seven places to fifth.
On the other hand, Jamie Mac, winner of the Daytona 500, dropped like a rock to 14th place. Granted that was due to a wreck with teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, but still, his stay in the top 12 was short lived. I expect him to flirt with the top 12 again, but I don’t think he will make the Chase.
The McMurray wreck dropped Montoya to 26th in points. Ouch. That is going to be quite a hole for that team to pull out of over the next 23 races. Staying out of trouble and a lot of top 5 finishes will be the only thing that will help Montoya. Well, a few wins would not help but he has not yet won on an oval.
Kurt Busch started the day with a big grin from sitting on the pole, but he faded rather quickly and hence dropped eight places in the points. Me thinks he was not grinning for long on Sunday.
Surprise of the season has to go to Joey Logano who is in eighth place and has been gaining some nice finishes so far. I have no idea if the kid is for real right now of just running above his head. Having a crew chief like Zippy doesn’t hurt. Part of me thinks he is running out of his mind, but who knows. He also has the best running Gibbs car right now and that may be even more surprising.
Denny Hamlin, being the Anointed One at the beginning of the year, sits in 22nd place right now. But unlike Montoya, he can rattle off a string of wins and gain ground quickly. But he shouldn’t wait too long to do that.
Junior nation is still sitting on the fence. The Beloved One started fourth and ran in the top 10 for a good deal of the day before eventually finishing in 16th. Once again, Dale Jr. runs well but can not finish well. Where have we seen this before? Oh yeah, the last several years. I am interested to see what happens with him once they replace the wing with the spoiler.
DANICA ALERT
Danica moves back to the IRL so we will not see her again for a while. OK, check that. We will not see her in a car with a fender for a while. The only way any of us will see her at all is to buy the Versus Channel (not) or on SPEED or ESPN highlights. She got caught up in a silly wreck with Michael McDowell in the Nationwide race.
Not her fault, but it looked avoidable. Overall, I would have to grade her with a "C" on her season so far. She did not embarrass herself or the sport and seems to be getting the hang of the car. Each track is a new challenge for her to learn things all over again, just like any rookie. Depending on how her IRL season goes, we will see her return with a lot of fanfare or a whole lot of fanfare.
BILL WEBER ALERT
Remember him in from the TNT Countdown to Green? Remember his odd disappearance from TV after a loud and very public confrontation in a hotel at New Hampshire? Well, now he is performing as a magician. Weber says it is “…a passion that I hope to turn into a profession.”
Oh really? Well, that was some disappearing act you pulled last year, so good for you. I never cared for Weber in the booth. He seemed a bit pompous and never really connected with the fans. As a pit road reporter, he was much better. So what was your favorite, or least favorite Bill Weber moment?
Let me know your thoughts.
Drive fast, turn left and keep the shiny side up.
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