September 8, 2010
By Chuck Abrams
Tony Stewart won the Emory Heath Care 500 in a long evening at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday night, setting him up for a better Chase position. Carl Edwards ran second and is still winless but seems to have some momentum with him heading into the Chase. Jimmie Johnson finished third to let everyone know he is still a contending team -- one with five wins on the season.
The restarts gave Smoke troubles all night, which made the double file restarts even more exciting. But he had a strong car and was able to hold off Edwards and Johnson. And everyone else settled into their respective Chase positions, or not, in a rather uneventful race.
In addition to Smoke's first win of the season, highlights of the night included Hamlin winning the pole but losing his engine early on to finish dead last.
Ryan Newman started second and had a late race tangle with a heavily lapped Kasey Kahne, which nearly cost him a good run -- a good run that just MIGHT help his Chase chances next Saturday at Richmond. Although Kahne started the night mathematically eligible to get into the Chase, problems cost him and there is no way he can make the Chase now.
Kurt Busch was nearly taken out of the race by Kahne yet both drivers managed to hang on in what can only be described as great driving and Kurt still had a decent finish.
Points leader Kevin Harvick gained on the leaders all night until a flat front tire shredded his fender leaving him just making laps.
Clint Bowyer had a strong run and is seemingly in control of his Chase destiny in 12th place. He is 117 points in front of Ryan Newman and only needs to avoid disaster Saturday night and the Chase is his.
Greg Biffle spun and wrecked early on keeping him from locking in his place into the Chase. Only a disaster at Richmond could keep him out of the Chase though.
Paul Menard ran in the top ten for quite a bit -- until his engine also expired.
Lowlights of the race included Dale Jr. starting mid-pack and racing his way to the top ten only to fade to finish 22nd, something all too familiar to Dale Jr. Nation this year. What started as a promising season has amounted to another lost season as far as Eanhardt fans are concerned. It is truly amazing that the 88 team is trying to remain a top 20 team for the season.
Jamie McMurray's Chase hope evaporated with a flat tire as well.
Mark Martin also ran as poorly as Dale Jr., perhaps even worse, and saw his Chase hopes go up in smoke as well.
So now we have the last race of the season coming up with Harvick firmly in control of the points lead and Clint Bowyer in control of the final Chase position. No matter what happens to Harvick, he will still have the points lead at the end of this coming Saturday night. Bowyer simply needs to stay out of trouble. Not quite the drama NASCAR had intended when it created the new points system. Not quite the drama Richmond International Raceway was hoping for when the season started.
With so little at stake Saturday night, the larger question is, will you care? Will you watch the race? Will you attend the race on a beautiful, late summer Virginia Saturday evening?
Let me know your thoughts.
Drive fast, turn left and keep the shiny side up.
Let me know your thoughts.
Drive fast, turn left and keep the shiny side up.
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.
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