|| *Comments on the 2011 Coca-Cola 600:* View the most recent comment <#197> | Post a comment <#post> 1. Anonymous posted: 05.29.2011 - 11:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (14) Harvick stole this win after a BS manufactured finish by NASCAR. Is there any driver luckier than Kevin Harvick in the last 2 laps of a race? How many times can a race fall right into his lap like that? Tired of it. Such a smug idiot. 2. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.29.2011 - 11:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Alright guys, I want to talk about the important issue this race revealed: Did Chad Knaus get hair implants or what? He's been mostly bald since 1995 when he was on Jeff Gordon's pit crew. Now he has a full head of hair? What's up with that? I want answers. 3. Smokefan05 posted: 05.29.2011 - 11:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ony thing i have to say is (for now) have.............you..............ever. 4. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.29.2011 - 11:52 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "have.............you..............ever." Yeah, a few hours earlier in Indy. The National Guard car losing it off 4 and everything. 5. ericthenau posted: 05.29.2011 - 11:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Seems like Jimmie Johnson's blown engine prevented Dale Earnhardt, Jr. from ending his 104-race drought that started in Sonoma in 2008. 6. DaleJrFan19 posted: 05.29.2011 - 11:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ...Yeah...it hurts...but that's racin' I guess... Other than that end result, This was probably one of the better Coke 600's in recent memory, yeah, even the finish. Now time for a stretch of boring tracks...Whoopie!!! 7. Anonymous posted: 05.29.2011 - 11:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Crazy finish. Sucks that Jr ran out of gas at the very end. I bet the haters loved it though. I'm waiting for them to come into this thread and provide some lols. 8. Fail Earnhardt posted: 05.29.2011 - 11:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jr Nation LOL FALSE HOPE 9. chuckp53 posted: 05.29.2011 - 11:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (3) NASCAR=WWF 10. JP88 posted: 05.29.2011 - 11:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wow both National Guard cars with drivers containing JR in ther name both lose 2 of the biggest races of the year in the last corner...unreal 11. Anonymous posted: 05.29.2011 - 11:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #8. There we go lmao. 12. Rusty posted: 05.29.2011 - 11:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. makes his Cup debut and despite hitting the wall multiple times he brings it home in a very impressive 11th place finish. This was a really good race. A lot of good racing throughout the event and a lot of drama at the end and you didn't know who was going to win until the checkers fell. No one driver dominated the entire thing. Carl looked like he had the field covered early, but struggled to even run top 10 once night fell. Kenseth led a lot but once he got shuffled back he never really was in the mix. Just a good race, one week removed from a boring All Star race with people trashing the hell out of Charlotte. 13. JP88 posted: 05.29.2011 - 11:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I think Jr was gonna win if the race went green to the finish...Biffle and Kahne were gonna run each other out and Jr. backed up a couple seconds with 5 to go just before Jimmie blew up...damn I wish at least Ragan won, why did it have to be Harvick again, that dude's lucky 14. myothercarisanM535i posted: 05.29.2011 - 11:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) WTG Marcos Ambrose! 15. 18fan posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:01 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Longest race in terms of distance in NASCAR history. The finishing order was majorly jumbled up due to Kasey Kahne sputtering, Keselowski and Burton spinning, and then Junior and Hamlin running out of gas. Carl Edwards was the best in the daytime, Matt Kenseth was best at night along with Kyle Busch, then Greg Biffle and Kasey Kahne driving away at the end, but none of them finished in the top 10. Jimmie Johnson's first engine failure since this race in 2008 set up the crazy finish which took strong finishes from the hands of Jeff Burton(who still doesn't have a top 10)and Brad Keselowski. Joey Logano was the big benefactor of the mess and finished 3rd. Jaime McMurray's horrible season continues as he drove from the back up to 8th, took two tires and took the lead, and then blew up right as Matt Kenseth took the lead from him. Great run for Marcos Ambrose and AJ Allmendinger. With all that went on, Ambrose could've won if he didn't have an unscheduled pit stop due to a vibration and Allmendinger ran great at times and mediocre at times. Brad Keselowski won his second career pole and had a great run, probably his best complete run in his Cup career, ruined on the last restart. Kyle Busch spun himself out twice in the span of 25 laps and his car was never right after he pitted from the lead. Denny Hamlin stayed on the lead lap despite his crew changing the carburetor under caution. Ricky Stenhouse started 9th, went to the back and front multiple times, hit the wall at least three times, and still finished 11th. 16. chuckp53 posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:01 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Let me just clarify: I like Junior. Talented driver, seems like a nice guy. But NASCAR will do anything to get him a win. Happy it didn't work out for them this time. Junior didn't deserve the win. Harvick didn't either, they should've (and in any other instance would've) thrown the caution but Junior was leading so . . . 17. mrittenhouse84 posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:02 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) AS a Harvick Fan, i loved this race. and as a Jr Nation hater. Haha he choked again. If it wasn't for the fans, i would feel bad for Jr. The Fans and DW deserved this ending. Ok Rant over. Fun race from start to finish. This was Biffle's race if it wasn't for fuel mileage. Bonehead move by Mark Martin, should have know Gilliland was there. F Bomb by Knaus...fun! Kyle spinning twice on his OWN! very rare. 18. Patrick posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) RCR wins the coke 600 for the first time in 18 years since the last time an RCR car had won the coke 600 was 1993 with Dale Sr which happened to be the first time the coke 600 ran it's daylight to darkness that we know of today. congrats to Happy Harvick and the 29 team on the win. 19. Anonymous posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Indy 500 earlier in the day was a much better race. This was a wreck-fest decided in the end by fuel strategy, amongst a bunch of crappy drivers, because NASCAR played hard and fast with the rules to try and set up a Jr. win. Stenhouse ran a great race. Anyone who still thinks the Nationwide series ladder up to Cup is broken can look at Bayne and Stenhouse. You run up front with the big boys in Nationwide, you get your shot. 20. 18fan posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Very ironic that on Memorial Day two National Guard sponsored cars lose the race on the last lap of both the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600. 21. 00andJoe posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) All I can say is "dear lawd..." Aside from the finish: is it just me or if David Gilliand didn't have bad luck he'd have no luck at all? Nice run by Stenhouse! And the finish...wow. Just wow. 22. AlmirolaFan88 posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:06 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Not a good day for the National Guard. Shoutout to Southern 500 winner Regan Smith. He went from 23rd to 8th in 5 laps. You heard it here first, Ricky Stenhouse Jr will win the 2012 Daytona 500. (Ok, maybe not....) 23. Eric posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:07 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This is a big stunner. Kevin lucked out. This one of Kevin's worst tracks despite his win in the all star race in 2007. It looks live Kevin is in middle of a career year in cup wins in a season for Kevin. Kevin is now tied with Curtis Turner, and Marvin Panch with 17 career cup wins. It also is Kevin's 3rd major win after winning the Brickyard in 2003, Daytona 500 in 2007, and now the 600. The only major Kevin doesn't have is the Southern 500. Dale Jr running out of gas shouldn't be a shock. Despite his last win was by fuel mileage at Michigan, Dale isn't really a fuel mileage driver. This was one of the most interesting races in terms of strategy this year. 24. 00andJoe posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:10 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Oh, and this is all I'm going to say about the "controversy": I find it -distinctly- amusing that the one time NASCAR actually does what we ALL have been saying they should do, namely not throwing the caution at the end of a race when there's no need for one, it's instantly decried as a dastardly conspiracy to fix the race for a Junior win. Now, how 'bout that Stenhouse? 25. GDR posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:12 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I guess Kevin was "lucky" since the 88 ran out of gas, but it also took skill on Kevin's part (and some assistance from the 27 and 31 pushing him under the last caution - totally legal btw) to save that much gas. Everbody else around him was on the same strategy and either ran out or had to pit. Kevin has now won the Daytona 500, the Winston 500 (Aaron's 499), the Coke 600 and the Brickyard 400 - I'll put those four wins up against anybody currently racing AND he has more Cup wins that Biffle now, so that argument can be filed away for now. 26. T-DtotheOdoubleG posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:12 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) ericthenau Thats exactly what I told my dad. Jimmie's engine screwed Jr. because the Biff ran out before the scheduled distance and at full throttle Kasey would have run out before the end so Junior would have been poised to break the drought but it was not to be as "The Bakersfield Basher" (I liked that nickname by the way) nabbed another win!! If Tony's gonna keep just riding around like Morgan Shepherd does then he needs to just go ahead and retire, because this is really making me mad. He's better than this, glad we're coming to his stretch of tracks if he doesn't win during the summer then I'll be worried. 27. JimmieJohnsonsNeatlyTrimmedBeard posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:14 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ha, Knaus said pretty much the exact same thing as me, when they cut to Johnson blowing up. I wasn't really a big fan of that finish though. I just hate fuel mileage races, and Harvick rubs me the wrong way. It's like he just really needs a good punch to the face or something. And who has the golden horseshoe now, Harvick? Too bad you still won't win the title. 28. T-DtotheOdoubleG posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:15 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Oh and if Chad Knaus doesn't get a penalty for his F-Bomb then give Junior his points back from 04 and Stewart from his Brickyard Victory Lane bad word! 29. Bronco posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:15 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Longest race in NASCAR history, coming in at 603 miles. Pure heartbreak for Dale Jr to run out of fuel that close to the end of a race while riding a nearly 3 year winless streak. He did a break a string of 5 races at Charlotte with 22nd or worse finishes, dating back to the fall race of 2008. This also makes him 3 for 3 in scoring top 10s at 1.5 tracks this year, which were his biggest weakness the past two years with McGrew. I like his optimism though, he knows he has a good team and will win a few before the year is over. You can't keep a good team and driver down forever. There will definitely be some debate I'm sure about why the caution wasn't immediately displayed after that restart where the #4 ran out of gas, I absolutely hate how Harvick shows up out of nowhere to win these things, would rather have seen Hamlin or even Ragan win. David Reutimann gets his first top 10 of the year. Regan Smith gets his third, while Kurt Busch gets his first top 5 since the Daytona 500. Paul Menard drove the whole race with an injured foot, he lost control and whacked the wall but still finished the whole thing. Marcos Ambrose looks like he will win one this year for sure, not just at a road course but possibly at a 1.5 track. Can someone explain to me why they don't just red flag the race during a late race caution and stop the cars, rather than having them run a bunch of pace lap and run out of gas as soon as they take the green? Several deserving drivers lost good finishes and several others lucked into them. 30. Rusty posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:16 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I didn't think this was a wreck fest. The first half of the race was mostly long green runs that still had good racing. The only major crash we had was the Mark Martin/David Gilliland incident. A few solo spins, couple of blown motors and some debris cautions led to so many yellows. The 2005 Coca-Cola 600 was a wreckfest. This was just a good race. 31. GDR posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I should amend my earlier post to read I'll put Kevin's wins up against anybody aside from Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart - those guys are clearly above everybody else right now as far as career accomplishments. 32. hyperacti posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:22 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The National Guard loses twice on the biggest day of racing in the U.S; on Memorial Day weekend. j-j-j-j-JR mmm whatcha sayyyyy 33. potatosalad48 posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:23 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Two words: Simply Unbelieveable. 34. Anonymous posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:34 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) "I should amend my earlier post to read I'll put Kevin's wins up against anybody aside from Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart - those guys are clearly above everybody else right now as far as career accomplishments." Meh. Two of those wins are restrictor plate tracks, and he lucked into this one. Edwards has more wins in about half the time. Kyle Busch has more wins in about half the time. Denny Hamlin will have more wins in half the time. At the beginning of this year, Ryan Newman had the same number of wins, also in less time (Ryan Newman for christs sake!). The only thing that impresses me about Harvick is that Brickyard win. He choked away a championship, gets into petty fights with other drivers, up until this year would constantly complain about his car and crew, and he is one of the top 5 most whiny drivers of the last decade. Dale Earnhardt Jr still has more wins, and he hasn't won for 3 years. Are you really trying to imply Harvick is the 4th best driver in the sport? I hate Kyle Busch, but I'm more impressed by his Southern 500 win, 5 Bristol wins, wins at both road courses, and 21 wins overall since 2005. And he's won that Talladega race you mentioned as a "jewel" as well. And Carl Edwards, again, do not care for the guy but I bet he'll end this year with more wins than Harvick, and he'll have a better shot at the championship. And for the love of god, stop calling Harvick "The Closer". What he does is the furthest thing from closing. It's literally the OPPOSITE OF CLOSING. Closing is when you lead a bunch of laps, and seal the win with a strong run at the end. NOT when you have to use a last lap pass set up by a late race caution to lead your first lap of the day coming to the checkers. Geez. 35. Cooper posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:34 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Man I hope Jimmie Johnson kicks ass in the chase. So many drivers think they're so good but really aren't. And JJNTB theirs about 35 drivers I'd like to beat up real bad. One of the most irritating races I've ever watched. Felt like putting my head in a wood grinder. Especially with the stupid cautions and the circus de soleil finish. All we needed was Mike Helton to run out on the track with a yellow flag and the night would be complete! Harvick is so freakin full of himself that he makes driver #18 look humble. For a good portion of the middle part of this race, I thought I had accidently turned on an ARCA race. Crash after crash after crash. Does it sound like I'm whining? If I am that makes me an official NASCAR fan. 36. Smokefan05 posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:39 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Oh, and this is all I'm going to say about the "controversy": I find it -distinctly- amusing that the one time NASCAR actually does what we ALL have been saying they should do, namely not throwing the caution at the end of a race when there's no need for one, it's instantly decried as a dastardly conspiracy to fix the race for a Junior win." *some* NASCAR fans are hypocrites. They get what they want but they complain anyway. 37. chuckp53 posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:41 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 00andjoe posted "I find it -distinctly- amusing that the one time NASCAR actually does what we ALL have been saying they should do, namely not throwing the caution at the end of a race when there's no need for one, it's instantly decried as a dastardly conspiracy to fix the race for a Junior win." Uh, actually I've never said that. Driver safety should always be NASCAR's prime concern. With a lap and 3/4 left in the race, the cars would all have to pass the spot where 2 cars had crashed (Burton and someone else) and others had run out of gas. It's a no brainer, throw a caution. On the last lap it would be a different story. They've done it (ignoring the rulebook) before, they'll do it again, but they shouldn't risk the driver's safety just so Junior can win. 38. Cooper posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:44 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Can someone explain to me why they don't just red flag the race during a late race caution and stop the cars, rather than having them run a bunch of pace lap and run out of gas as soon as they take the green? Several deserving drivers lost good finishes and several others lucked into them." "There will definitely be some debate I'm sure about why the caution wasn't immediately displayed after that restart where the #4 ran out of gas" It's simple, the three stooges who run NASCAR race control are old, senile and don't know what they are doing. I'm getting sick and tired of having to comment on unusual and questionable yellows. The last race at Dover a large majority of members on this site discussed that NASCAR would not throw a caution during green flag stops. (Even though Ragan was sitting in the middle of pit lane with a damaged car). So what does NASCAR do they one up themselves by throwing a debris caution for get this a "coke can". There's already an article on yahoo questioning NASCAR for the decisions. http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/blog/from_the_marbles/post/Why-didn-8217-t-NASCAR-throw-a-caution-flag-wit?urn=nascar-wp1585 People know I'm not usually a complainer but this is rediculous! I'm pretty sure the people on this site could run a better race than the people getting paid millions of dollars. It makes me sick. 39. myothercarisanM535i posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:46 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Marcos Ambrose is one of only 3 drivers to score top-10 finishes in all three 1.5 mile tracks so far this year. He also has the most points scored (119) and best average finish (5.3). I've said it before but I'll say it again; I beleive the #9 team is preparing for a serious run at making the Chase, looking to secure a wildcard spot with their performances on the cookie cutters and the two road courses. If they make the Chase, who knows what will happen next? "Can someone explain to me why they don't just red flag the race during a late race caution and stop the cars, rather than having them run a bunch of pace lap and run out of gas as soon as they take the green?" Because NASCAR believes GWC finishes will provide the excitement fans want to see, so whenever there is a chance for a GWC, you can bet NASCAR will do whatever it takes to get one. 40. JimmieJohnsonsNeatlyTrimmedBeard posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:53 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) "Man I hope Jimmie Johnson kicks ass in the chase. So many drivers think they're so good but really aren't. And JJNTB theirs about 35 drivers I'd like to beat up real bad. One of the most irritating races I've ever watched. Felt like putting my head in a wood grinder. Especially with the stupid cautions and the circus de soleil finish." I nearly turned off the race when there was all of those accidents in a row. There must have been 40 solid minutes that we didn't see a full lap completed under green. It was getting pathetic. And then that shuffled the field, turning this into a fuel mileage race, while trapping a lot of fast cars back in the field. That, coupled with that lottery ending, the race just left a bad taste in my mouth. It didn't help that Harvick won. I'm getting sick of hearing about the "closer". Drop that "c" and you have a more accurate description. And I agree there is a certain smugness to Harvick that isn't even present in Busch. Busch is more of a guy that just does and says whatever he feels like, which is annoying in it's own way. He plays into the villain role, because he knows that's the way he's viewed. But he takes so much flak from *everybody*, he's never developed the same level of arrogance that Harvick has. Harvick thinks everyone agrees with him about everything, because he doesn't take even a quarter of the amount of s**t Busch gets from fans and the press. If Harvick didn't inherit that ride and half of it's fans, he'd be just as despised as Busch because of his attitude. 41. Mike posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:57 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This one hurts bad. The most heart breaking race I have seen in a long long time. 42. CFob posted: 05.30.2011 - 1:04 am Rate this comment: (1) (1) If Brad didn't have bad luck, he'd have no luck at all :( 43. martin-n-rusty posted: 05.30.2011 - 1:06 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) And I see once again for a few people, NASCAR does the right thing, and still gets railed 44. Christian posted: 05.30.2011 - 1:07 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Great runs by Regan Smith and David Reutimann! 45. martin-n-rusty posted: 05.30.2011 - 1:12 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Post 28 - Uhhhh... no. While I did find both penalties you mentioned stupid, how in the heck is Knaus supposed to know that FOX has his radio on? Its one thing to blurt it out in victory lane (which I wouldn't penalize, but hey), but please, leave it alone when it's something like that. 46. martin-n-rusty posted: 05.30.2011 - 1:13 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) And Post 16, If Jr. had enough gas, he would of deserved the win just like anybody else in that position. 47. joey2448 posted: 05.30.2011 - 1:15 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Between the Indy 500 and this race, I am wore out...what a day of racing! I'm not a fan of Jr. Nation, but I was cheering for him all the way, and I nearly passed away when he ran dry in turns three and four....ugh, so close. It was amusing when NASCAR didn't throw the caution when the field "wrecked" in turn one on the restart (Junior leading). The way he's running, he'll get a win this year. Even without that final caution for Jimmie's blown motor (and Chad dropping the F-bomb) it was shaping up to be a great finish between Biffle and Kahne (and they both finished out of the top-10). It seemed everyone had a turn running up front...just back-and-forth the entire race. Ragan and Logano ended up second and third after restarting 10th on back on the final restart.....And Regan Smith with another top-10 in a crown jewel race! WHEW! Crazy day! 48. Anonymous posted: 05.30.2011 - 1:21 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Regan Smith knows how to finish well in these crown jewel races! 49. Anonymous85 posted: 05.30.2011 - 1:57 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) At Post 34 Guilty as Charged we like to complain about anything and everything so let the whining begin 50. 00andJoe posted: 05.30.2011 - 2:34 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Owners' standings by highest finishing team car in each race: 1. Roush, 503 2. Childress, 484 3. Gibbs, 481 4. Hendrick, 479 5. Petty, 421 6. Penske, 402 7. Stewart-Haas, 401 8. Earnhardt-Ganassi, 378 9. Red Bull, 369 10. Waltrip, 349 11. JTG-Daughtery, 271 12. Furniture Row, 262 13. Front Row, 231 14. Phoenix, 194 15. Tommy Baldwin, 191 16. Germain, 190 17. FAS Lane, 183 18. Wood Brothers, 169 19. Robby Gordon, 156 20. TRG, 143 21. Max Q, 101 22. Whitney, 56 23. HP, 37 24. NEMCO, 34 25. Wallace, 24 26. Inception, 19 27. Leavine-Fenton, 14 28. K-Automotive, 9 29. Falk, 6 51. RCRandPenskeGuy posted: 05.30.2011 - 2:35 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mr. Where Did He Come From is certainly a valid nickname for Kevin Harvick, but my nickname for him is Mr. Ride Around For Most Of The Race And Pounce On The Leader In The Final Laps. In his 3 wins this year, he led a combined total of 9 laps over those three races and has only led 99 more laps all year. Brad wins his second career pole and would very well have finished in the top 5 if not for his misfortunes there on that final restart. I thought Dale Jr had the win when he got to Turn 3, but he ran out of gas right after he reached that point and got passed by 6 cars before he crossed the finish line. 52. HeyMan posted: 05.30.2011 - 2:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "With a lap and 3/4 left in the race, the cars would all have to pass the spot where 2 cars had crashed (Burton and someone else) and others had run out of gas." Um, the 2 cars got going immediately and NASCAR ALWAYS does this during GWC finishes. They always push the envelope in getting the GWC in the first time. It's not some situation where they only do this for Jr, they do this all the time unless a car is actually wrecked and safety crews need to go on the track. If they wanted to hand Jr this win, they would've thrown a yellow during the final lap when Brad Keselowski's sheetmetal was littered all over the track. 53. 18fan posted: 05.30.2011 - 3:24 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I thought they would wait for Junior to take the white flag and then throw the yellow for the debris, but they did the right thing and let it go green. 54. Soxfan24 posted: 05.30.2011 - 3:24 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Please stop with the conspiracy theories. NASCAR is not fixed. That is assinine to think that because if it was fixed Dale Jr would be a 5 time defending champion and not in a 100 plus race winless streak. If it was rigged the most popular driver on the circuit and perhaps the sports biggest draw would win a lot more. Makes more sense to do that because he puts butts in the seats and the ratings would be through the roof. Think before you post things is all I'm sayin. David Ragan ran up front all night. This was by far his best race start to finish and it would be a shame if Roush and UPS dumps this guy at seasons end. Talented guy 55. JRC posted: 05.30.2011 - 4:05 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) NASCAR had no reason to throw the caution. Burton spun and was not in any danger and got going. 56. Thomas posted: 05.30.2011 - 4:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wow. There'd be a lot of candidates for the Goody's Headache Award if they still had it tonight. What I haven't seen mentioned on any site tonight is if he hadn't run in the back of Kahne on the last restart, it would have been Keselowski that would have benefited from Jr.'s misfortune on the last lap instead of Harvick. Penske definitely seems to be on the way up after Kurt's tirade a few weeks ago. Tough loss for Jr., but I get the sense he may close the deal here before too long (maybe Michigan or Daytona). 57. CarlEdwards99 posted: 05.30.2011 - 7:02 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Harvick has a golden horseshoe stuck up his a** 58. RacingRocks57 posted: 05.30.2011 - 7:17 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well, it looks like all of DW's talk on rookies was kind of right. Ragan 2nd, Logano 3rd, and Allmendinger 5th. Oh yeah, the national guard brings more bad luck after JR Hildebrand crashed. Harvick pretty much has to be in the chase now. 59. Evan posted: 05.30.2011 - 7:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) You gotta be kidding me! No way both National Guard cars and JR and Jr. both fail to win in the final lap. Harvick stole this one and he'll definitely be in as far as the Chase goes. Really dejected that JR Hildebrand and Junior could not win on Memorial Day Weekend. Good to see the 48 blow up for a change, but still he finished 28th...first time in a long while. Not a good night for the Hendrick boys and I mean that. Highest finishing Armed Forces was AJ Allmendinger sponsored by Air Force. No caution after Burton and Keslowski spun out? Keselowski had a fender jutting out of the car and still no caution. 60. Anonymous posted: 05.30.2011 - 7:59 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Maybe Cup and Nationwide should use all 66 Daytona pit stalls and run 34 Cup cars and 32 Nationwide cars simultaneously in a 350 mile race in December on a Sunday as the season finale for both after the Trucks and ARCA run simultaneously in a 66 vehicle 200 mile race on Saturday after the K&N East, K&N West, Mexico series, and Canadian Tire series run simultaneously in a 125 mile race on Friday. Longwinded, aren't I? 61. Benny posted: 05.30.2011 - 8:10 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) much better than the all star race. They should have a non points race with 43 cars in it. heartbreaker for Jr. I was pumping my fist 62. myothercarisanM535i posted: 05.30.2011 - 8:35 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "No caution after Burton and Keslowski spun out? Keselowski had a fender jutting out of the car and still no caution." You would have preferred it if the caution came out? NASCAR made the right call - and it has nothing to do with the #88. Besides, lets look at the incident itself. A couple of cars spun out and a couple of cars drove around with some damage and what happened? Surprise surprise, nothing at all! No one drove blindly into a slow car, no one flipped into the stands and killed people after running over debris and no ones car exploded. It's just more proof that NASCAR doesn't need to throw cautions for half the things it does. 63. DieselDan posted: 05.30.2011 - 9:20 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The whole point of racing racing is to get to the end of the course first. If that baffles you, then you just fail. 64. snook posted: 05.30.2011 - 10:35 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "The whole point of racing racing is to get to the end of the course first. If that baffles you, then you just fail." Absolutely. 65. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.30.2011 - 10:39 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) " they should've (and in any other instance would've) thrown the caution but Junior was leading so . . ." Exactly. That was so obvious. NASCAR knew June was running on fumes, and another caution would end his hopes. "I should amend my earlier post to read I'll put Kevin's wins up against anybody aside from Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart - those guys are clearly above everybody else right now as far as career accomplishments." I disagree. Yeah he has won all the big races except a 500 mile hot weather Darlington race, but outside of that not much. As much as I can't stand Kyle Busch, I'd take his career over Harv's. More wins in less time. The fact is this is Kevin's 11th season, and he has won 6 races in the past two seasons. Yet his career total is only now at 17. He started the same year as Kurt Busch, and despite Kurt being equally as streaky as Harvick, has more wins and a championship. Biffle started two years after Harvick, has also had extreme streakiness, but has just one less win, a better career high points finish, and a better career high win total. Carl and 128 started 4 years after him and have long since caught and passed him for career wins despite being the two most bi-polar people I have ever seen. Denny started much later, but he has just one less win and higher points finish. And of course there is JJ who started a year later, but he is in a different class than the rest of the current Cup drivers. He is already in the rarified air of Earnhardt, Pearson, Petty, Allison, and Yarborough. The rest (with the exception of Gordon and Stewart based on their long list of accomplishments achieved over a long time) are just trying to reach "memorable" status. JJ is already at "certifiable legend" and "needs to be involved in any greatest ever discussion". So overall I think he's overrated. Not "bad", he is good, but not as good as you'd think based on his big victories. "And I agree there is a certain smugness to Harvick that isn't even present in Busch. Busch is more of a guy that just does and says whatever he feels like, which is annoying in it's own way. He plays into the villain role, because he knows that's the way he's viewed. But he takes so much flak from *everybody*, he's never developed the same level of arrogance that Harvick has. Harvick thinks everyone agrees with him about everything, because he doesn't take even a quarter of the amount of s**t Busch gets from fans and the press. If Harvick didn't inherit that ride and half of it's fans, he'd be just as despised as Busch because of his attitude." My thoughts exactly. I tried to pull for him in '01 because of the car he took over, but I didn't even make it a year. Another aspect of Harvick is that the media loves him because he is constantly stirring shit up. They love this because it gives them something to write about. They overlook the extremely negative impact it has had on his career and glorify it. He also puts his foot in his mouth so much it is ridiculous (the "golden horseshoe" somment, nobody has had better luck than Harvick since he made that comment and he STILL couldn't get it done for the Cup championship despite the 48 team having an off year for them). If they would look at his career as a whole, the low winning percentage, the fact he has only won 3 races in dominant fashion, the way he is constantly sidetracked, the way his attitude leads to bad team morale etc, they would see. "Mr. Where Did He Come From is certainly a valid nickname for Kevin Harvick, but my nickname for him is Mr. Ride Around For Most Of The Race And Pounce On The Leader In The Final Laps." That's a good one. I know a win is a win, but his strategy holds him back. You are much more likely to win if you run up front all day. That is why he averages less than 2 wins per year. 66. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.30.2011 - 11:20 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) And now for my weekly Michael Waltrip rant: Did anyone see his pre-race interview? They are now gonna make a movie based on his book, centered around "The Day". My first thought about that is this: I grew up as a HUGE Earnhardt fan. From the time I was 5 (my earliest memories of NASCAR) until right before I turned 17 (when "That Day" happened) my weekends for 10 months of the year centered on one thing: watching the NASCAR race to pull for that black #3 car and Dale. In my room now, I have a picture of me at 6 years old being held by Dad at an autograph signing with Dale flashing a big smile at me, an autographed picture of me standing in front of his showcar and an autographed "gimme" card of Dale and his car that he signed that day. I also have a picture hanging that I bought at a flea market at Myrtle Beach that was already autographed that is him in 1980, with his uniform unzipped showing a T-Shirt underneath that reads "Damn I'm Good" and him with that famous lopsided smirk. But for the love of God, can we just let the poor guy rest in peace already? How many times do we have to bring up his passing? He left us with a lot of incredible memories and highlights that will keep us smiling for years. Let's leave it at that. But we had ESPN's horrible movie "3", the excellent documentary "Dale", countless books, SPEED's special program with the awful title "The Day", that shitfest of a 2011 Truck race with the two Waltrip clowns trying to recreate what happened 10 years earlier (even though Darrell's commentary in 2001 went like this: "The 3 car is out of control OHHHH hard hit (Larry Mac redirects his attention back to Mikey) C'Mon Mikey you got it you got it you got it MIKEYYYY ALLLLL RIGHTTTTTT! I just hope Dale's OK. I guess he's alright". He cared about Mikey's win for 5 seconds, and only because TV wanted him to, his biggest concern was for Dale). And now they want to make a movie about it centered from Mikey's point of view? I'm gonna vomit so hard my internal organs might come out. Mikey said something like "It's from the same people who made Rudy and Hoosiers because they specialize in underdog stories, and I am an underdog". No Mikey, you are simply a dog. First of all, Rudy and Hoosiers had a happy ending. Rudy got to play and Gene Hackman's team won the state title. How does Mikey's story end? With him dwelling on it 10 years while using it gain attention towards himself, continuing a career of alternating mediocrity and embarrassment, starting a team which tried to use jet fuel to qualify for the 500, DNQing all over the place, stealing one of Roush's swaybars, going $20 million in the hole, and forcing talented drivers Reut and Truex to run mid pack in his shitboxes. And secondly the way he talks about how unfair Dale's death was for HIM. How it took away from HIS moment. Forgive me for channelling my inner Chad Knaus (and his hairplugs) but YOU HAVE GOT TO BE F***ING KIDDING ME!!! The Daytona 500, as big as it is, is still just a game. What happened in Turn 4 was life and death. He can't seperate the two because he is stupid and he knows it will help draw attention to him. He is basically saying "How dare he die and take all the attention away from me! That was supposed to be MY day". Michael Waltrip, you are a loser in racing and in life. If you didn't suck so bad, you could have had other accomplishments before "The Epic Day That Was The Eighteenth of Ferbuary Two Thousand And One". And here is the kicker: HE WON ANOTHER DAYTONA 500!!!! He got to have his day in the sun (well, actually the rain). But he can't get over the fact that "my big breakthrough moment will forever be tainted and it devastated me". Kiss my ass. How do you think the Earnhardt family felt about losing Dale? Hell, it fractured them. The public falling out of June and Kelley from Teresa (Dale's soulmate) was very painful to watch and never would have happened had Dale not died when he did. Michael Waltrip, you are a useless human being. You don't belong, you never belonged, and your insistance on continuing to bring up Dale's death makes you a bad person. Every week I feel like I couldn't possibly have any less respect for you, and every week you one-up yourself. Go away. To the land of the unremarkable and unimportant. That is where you have always belonged anyways. 67. DFD posted: 05.30.2011 - 11:33 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hey, what happened to Jeff Gordon? He was leading with 50 laps to go 68. Anonymous posted: 05.30.2011 - 11:35 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Huh. I actually agree with DaleSrFanForever about something. And that movie is going to suck. Who would play Waltrip, either one? You give that script to an actor and they're going to say, "so my character is slightly retarded, right?". And one thing is for certain, no matter what, this is going to make NASCAR look bad to people who don't know anything about the sport, and it will almost certainly turn off a whole new generation of fans. It better go straight to DVD. Not even Blu-Ray, DVD. The only place you should be able to find it is in some Blockbuster bargain bin of unsold DVD's during a "going out of business" sale. 69. Cooper posted: 05.30.2011 - 11:42 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) DFD. He pitted under green with about 8 to go and got a lap down. He was out of fuel. 70. GDR posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) You guys make some fine points Re: Kevin vs. the rest of the guys, but Kyle Busch doesn't have a Brickyard 400 or a Daytona 500, neither does Edwards, neither does Denny Hamlin, neither does Greg Biffle. As I've argued before, which will soon become obsolete if he continues to win, it's not so much the quantity of Kevin's wins, it's the quality. And really I'd rather be Kevin Harvick who may not lead a bunch of laps but gets the trophy at the end of the race - they don't write on the check how many laps you led - and it's going to start getting in guys' heads late in races if Kevin is contention - "How is he going to pull this one out?" I know he grates on people, but I thought his interview last night was perfect - he doesn't like Charlotte, he admitted it, he admitted he was lucky, and he also gave the credit to his team and his crew, who did put up with a lot of griping over the past two weeks. That's why Gil is a perfect fit for him - he lets him blow off the steam and they move on. 71. Smokefan05 posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "And I see once again for a few people, NASCAR does the right thing, and still gets railed" "Um, the 2 cars got going immediately and NASCAR ALWAYS does this during GWC finishes. They always push the envelope in getting the GWC in the first time. It's not some situation where they only do this for Jr, they do this all the time unless a car is actually wrecked and safety crews need to go on the track. If they wanted to hand Jr this win, they would've thrown a yellow during the final lap when Brad Keselowski's sheetmetal was littered all over the track." "Please stop with the conspiracy theories. NASCAR is not fixed. That is assinine to think that because if it was fixed Dale Jr would be a 5 time defending champion and not in a 100 plus race winless streak. If it was rigged the most popular driver on the circuit and perhaps the sports biggest draw would win a lot more. Makes more sense to do that because he puts butts in the seats and the ratings would be through the roof. Think before you post things is all I'm sayin." "The whole point of racing racing is to get to the end of the course first. If that baffles you, then you just fail." Posts quoted for the truth. 72. Cooper posted: 05.30.2011 - 12:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Cooper's interesting fact of the race: --The 38 lead changes in this race is the most at Charlotte since the 2000 fall race which had an amazing 46. You don't have to look this up because I already did. 73. Rusty posted: 05.30.2011 - 1:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I love reading DSFF rants about Michael Waltrip, they are so damn funny and so damn TRUE. This guy is the ultimate clown. This movie is going to be a joke and it is a disgrace this jackass is trying to make a buck off the worst day in NASCAR history. The guy is just the ultimate sponsor whore, he'd probably get NAPA branded on his ass if they asked him to. Last week when I was up in the Mooresville area we stopped in at MWR and they had a freakin' NAPA store right in his race shop. I'm suprised there wasn't an Aaron's there either. His brother isn't much better, you at least can respect him because he was an amazing driver. But he's become so annoying lately, he makes so many bad jokes and has obvious bias towards certain drivers. Was I the only one who heard Darrell let out this creepy sounding laugh when they were talking about Jeff Gordon at one point in the race? It was really one of the weirdest things I've heard. Thank god I got to attend the All Star race in person, I'm not sure I would've been able to handle the Waltrip brothers together. 74. Zac posted: 05.30.2011 - 1:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Fantastic run for Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., as mentioned in a few comments. For a rookie to finish 11th in his first race is pretty impressive. I'd also just like to point out that Joey Logano restarted 14th on the last yellow and missed Kahne sputtering on the restart, dodged spinning cars, and SOMEHOW managed to finish 3rd in the span of two laps. 75. Cooper posted: 05.30.2011 - 2:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Logano was afwul all night long. All the cautions kept him on the lead lap, which enabled him to capitilize on all the crazy stuff happening. The only race he ever won was also similar to this race where he ran like crap and lucked out. But he also has had some bad luck this year, so it all levels out. Just watched the replay of the finish for the first time, and realized that Kevin didn't pass Hamlin until Denny ran out of fuel going into turn three. So basically Harvick had two guys run out of fuel with about a half a lap to go. BS. So freakin lucky. 76. Brother Bear posted: 05.30.2011 - 2:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Never thought I would ever agree with DSFF... but his rant on MW deserves 10/10. 77. AJ posted: 05.30.2011 - 2:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Am I the only one who wouldn't be shocked to see both RPM cars make the Chase this year? They've both been pretty good at the 1.5 mile tracks, Allmendinger has shown speed at some of the shorter ovals (Dover and Loudon come to mind) and he also proved last year at the Glen that he's not too bad at road courses either (we all know how good Ambrose is on them). I really wouldn't be surprised to see Allmendinger win an oval race (New Hampshire, maybe?) and Ambrose win at least 1 of the road course races, giving both of them a chance at the wild card berths. 78. Matthew Sullivan posted: 05.30.2011 - 3:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Post #66. Like the great Mario Lemieux. Legendary. 79. Ryan posted: 05.30.2011 - 3:14 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) The best closer in sports! 5/29/2011 will be one of the most unforgetable and most memorable days in motorsports history. What a day of action, drama, and unpredictable moments ever! "Did Chad Knaus get hair implants or what?" I was thinking the same thing. You just knew there was going to be "the fix was in" talk about Jr. The guy probably had the best car in the day and night other than Kenseth and Biffle (I know Biffle didn't run good in the day but he had a good car and if it wasn't for the AC problem he would have). He was consistent all night and he had good practice speeds over a long run (go check Jayski). I was asked before the race started by my brother who I thought would win and I told him the Roush cars were fast but I thought the 88 would break his winless streak tonight. He looked at me in disbelief and I told him I thought he would because he was good over long runs in practice and he proved me right. If Nascar really wanted to "give" him the race they would have called the caution after he took the white flag waved and he could have coasted to the win. So there shouldn't be any conspiracy theory because of that, and the cars that spun got going again and it wasn't like someone blowed up and got oil on the track. It was like the Daytona 500 in 2007, let the boys race back to the finish line, nothing was in the way of the leaders by the time Jr. got back to where Burton had spun. Regardless if one believes Harvick is luckier than hell to win or he has the new golden horseshoe up his butt, this guy and his team gives him a chance to win races. They had a top 10 car at best and they put themselves in position to win the race. There's the old phrase that I tell my players, "Put yourself in good position to give yourself a chance to win." Give yourself a "chance" to be lucky and win. Put yourself in the right place at the right time(a good example of that is Derrike Cope when my heart was completely shattered and still trying to put all the pieces back together). Be right there where oppurtunity meets luck. Harvick gives himself a chance to win. I guess I can see a little bit where he might rub some people wrong. He isn't Dale Earhnardt by no means. No one ever will be. But like Earnhardt he does put himself in position to win even when he doesn't have the best overall car or fastest car and maybe a top-10 car. Earnhardt won many races when he didn't have the best car. A lot of times he had top 10 cars at best and could win. Or top 15 cars and finish fourth or fifth. That's why he was and is the greatest. Harvick is a lot like that. I've seen the posts from this race and people saying that there are better drivers like Biffle, Kenseth, Edwards, Busch, Hamlin, Stewart, Johnson, Gordon, and even Earnhardt, Jr. than Harvick. That their body of work is better. That's true with Johnson and Gordon and maybe Stewart (although I'm not completely sold on Stewart being the better Nascar driver). But if you look at all those drivers they drive or drove for the BIG 3 since 1995(Hendrick, Roush, and Gibbs). Harvick does not and what he has done over the course of these 10-11 years looks a lot better on his resume' than the others because Childress hasn't had the same fire power than those three since '95. And I agree with what the person said with quality over quanity. This guy has won at a variety of different tracks now. He has won every crown jewel of Nascar except for the Darlington 500. He hasn't won the championship yet (that is debatable with some Nascar historians because some historians think the "Chase" is bogus because of it only being there because of the economy and build up), but he came damn near close and came close to knocking off two of the BIG 3 and as I mentioned some people believe he is the champion from last year. I also don't understand how they say he choked last year, Hamlin was the one that choked. I'd almost bet that if any owner in the business gave what they thought was their best car and biggest race of the season they would say Harvick was their #1 choice. Not only is he the best closer in racing, but maybe the best closer in sports as well. Time after time people don't realize how he wins or where he came from to win, but we all know when there is a big race to win on the line, and if Harvick is anywhere near the front you better look out for him because he seizes the moment and he has the killer instinct that a lot of drivers just don't have. I know I have had some critics when it comes to me saying stuff about Kyle Busch, but I really believe he has problems running a long race. I believe he is mentally challenged sometimes when it comes to racing because he doesn't do well when racing conditions change. He gets real frustrated and yes when a driver gets frustrated their car gets frustrated. He is and it seems that he always will be a front runner. He's like Greg Ray used to be in the early start of IndyCar, it's easy to be a front runner when everything is going right, but when things gets a little cloudy he gets really bad. He can't meet adversity head on like Johnson and Harvick has or does. He went to the back of the pack and he simply gave up not once, but twice. You would have thought the cops were after him when he spun out twice, oh wait... DSFF, although I disagree with you about Harvick, I totally agree with you about Michael Waltrip. He has spent the last ten years talking about the 2001 Daytona 500. It seems like every single interview that he has done since then he mentions it in some way or the other. He needs to get over that, everyone else has, lets move on. He by far is the worst driver I have ever seen. He is only in Nascar because of his brother and last name. He won four races and all of them were on restrictor plate tracks where he either had the best of second best car. Big deal you won two races that were handed to you at the Daytona 500! One by your owner and teammate and the other by rain (Not saying he still wouldn't have won the 2003 race, but there were 91 laps left). He tells people all the time when they bring up his lack of racing skills, "Well I've won two Daytona 500s!" Any of us on this forum or thread could have had a good chance at winning those races with the cars he had. He is so overrated it isn't even funny. Saying that he is overrated is actually being too nice. He isn't that good. He's not a bad driver, he is a terrible driver. Quit leashing on to those races at let the man RIP. 80. nascarfreak99 posted: 05.30.2011 - 4:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) About the caution [or lack thereof,] I don't think it was necessary. Jeff was far enough out of the way when the pack passed him. We've seen this many times before. 81. Talon64 posted: 05.30.2011 - 5:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kevin Harvick gets his 17th career Cup win, tying him with Marvin Panch and Curtis Turner for 44th all time. His series-leading 3rd win of 2011 gives him back-to-back 3 win seasons (3rd most wins in that stretch). Harvick had a 20th place average finish in 20 Charlotte starts previous to this race, and only 1 top 5 (2nd in his first Charlotte start back in 2001). Harvick's last 4 wins have come at tracks where he hadn't won before. In fact, he now has wins at 14 of the 23 tracks he's competed on in Cup, but only multiple wins and no more than 2 at 3 of them (Chicagoland, Phoenix and Daytona). David Ragan gets his best career finish in 2nd, his 10th career top 5 in 158 starts. It's his 2nd top 5 in the last 4 races after none in the previous 86. He now has 4 top 10's this season, after only having 5 combined between 2009 and 2010. It's Ragan's 2nd straight top 10 at Charlotte, his 1st top 5 and 3rd top 10 in 9 total starts (19.9 avg fin). Joey Logano gets his first top 5 of 2011 in 3rd, his 2nd top 5 and 4th top 10 in 5 Charlotte starts (7.4 average finish, his best at any track and only one with an avg fin better than 10th). Kurt Busch gets just his 2nd top 5 of the season and first since finishing 4th in the Daytona 500. It's his 2nd straight top 5 in the Coke 600, his 5th top 5 in 22 Charlotte starts overall. AJ Allmendinger gets just his 4th career top 5 in 128 Cup starts, first of the season. It's also just his 3rd top 10 but his 7th top 15 finish. It's his first top 10 in 9 Charlotte starts (23.1 avg fin). Marcos Ambrose gets his 4th top 10 (2nd straight) of the season, just one off his total from all of 2010. Marcos has top 6 finishes on each of the 3 races held on 1.5 mile tracks so far in 2011. Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s winless drought is up to 105 races, but he got his 6th top 10 of the season which is only 2 off of his total from all of 2010 (8). It's his first top 10 in the last 6 Charlotte races (33.0 avg fin in previous 5 races). After no top 10's in his first 95 starts in Cup, Regan Smith has 3 top 10's in 12 races in 2011. David Reutimann gets his first top 10 of the season. It's also his 3rd straight top 10 at Charlotte, 5th overall in 9 starts there (14.7 avg fin). After just 1 top 10 in the first 8 races of the season, Denny Hamlin has 3 in the last 4. It's his 5th top 10 in 12 starts at Charlotte, his 2nd straight after going 6 straight without one. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. qualifies 9th and finishes 11th in his Cup debut. It's the Wood Brothers' best finish at a non-plate oval track since Bill Elliott finished 11th at Michigan in 2007 and they just missed their first top 10 since Ken Schrader finished 7th at Richmond in 2006. Juan Pablo Montoya gets a top 15 finish after finishing 23rd or worse in the previous 4 races (28.5 avg fin that saw him fall from 9th to 15th in the standings). Matt Kenseth led the most laps in the race (103), a career best for laps led in a race at Charlotte (previous best was 82 in 2003 Coke 600, finished 2nd). Kenseth's led almost as many laps this season (334) than he led in the last two seasons combined (353). All 4 Roush cars combined to lead 221 of the 402 laps run in the race. Brad Keselowski won his 2nd career Cup pole, and could've had a top 3 finish at least if he could've cut under Kahne before Kahne started to run out of fuel. 82. 00andJoe posted: 05.30.2011 - 5:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #74 - One thing I noticed also, was that the 21 was right behind the 20 and the 6 heading around the outside of the mayhem on that final restart, but got boxed in by Ambrose moving up the track a little after Logano shot past him. Think about that for a moment: if he hadn't had to check up to avoid the 9, Stenhouse could easily have finished FOURTH. 83. myothercarisanM535i posted: 05.30.2011 - 6:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I'd also just like to point out that Joey Logano restarted 14th on the last yellow and missed Kahne sputtering on the restart, dodged spinning cars, and SOMEHOW managed to finish 3rd in the span of two laps. " Not just Logano....Ragan, Kurt Busch, Allmendinger and Ambrose all pitted under the last restart and were pretty deep in the field when it went green again. 84. AlmirolaFan88 posted: 05.30.2011 - 6:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) That was actually a veteran move on Stenhouse's part. The old Ricky would have forced it in there and wrecked trying to make it through. 85. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.30.2011 - 6:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "You give that script to an actor and they're going to say, "so my character is slightly retarded, right?"" HA! Speaking of the bargain bin, they are gonna have to go to the bargain bin of actors to find one to play him. "Was I the only one who heard Darrell let out this creepy sounding laugh when they were talking about Jeff Gordon at one point in the race? It was really one of the weirdest things I've heard." I noticed that too! Me and buddy that I was watching the race with looked at each other like "What the HELL was that?". It was creepy. Even creepier than Chad Knaus' new hair. "Thank god I got to attend the All Star race in person, I'm not sure I would've been able to handle the Waltrip brothers together." It truly was awful. Those two trying to one up each other in being "stupid funny" was like nails to a chalkboard. At least they got half of it right! "Post #66. Like the great Mario Lemieux. Legendary." Thanks, but I don't think I belong with Lemieux. I don't have two Stanley Cup rings. 86. KBM18 posted: 05.30.2011 - 7:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) "I know I have had some critics when it comes to me saying stuff about Kyle Busch, but I really believe he has problems running a long race. I believe he is mentally challenged sometimes when it comes to racing because he doesn't do well when racing conditions change." Yeah, you're still stupid. Busch had a streak of 3 top 6's in the Coke 600 until last night. He crashed well before they had completed 500 miles last night, and if you're implying he can't run a 500 mile race because crashed out of this one before hitting that mark, well, you're even dumber than I thought. But now that you've shown your true colors as a Harvick fanboy, your stupid bullcrap finally makes sense. For the record, Busch has also won at 14 different tracks, and has more wins in a little over half the races. And how about we see where Busch is and what he's won when he gets to the same point in his career as Harvick is now, and then compare. That means evaluating Busch after 4 more seasons, and then comparing it to Harvick's 17 wins right now. Agreed? "Not only is he the best closer in racing, but maybe the best closer in sports as well." HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh god, I got tears in my eyes! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! Ignoring the fact that you don't even seem to know what "closer" means, No, he's not. Not even close. Jimmie Johnson is better, just in this sport. And that's ignoring the dozens of better, actual closers in all the other sports. Harvick isn't a closer. He's a thief. Call him the "comeback kid" or something more appropriate. Leading the final lap or two of a race is not closing. Stop listening to idiots like Darrel Waltrip or Larry McReynolds who have never opened a book before and use the word incorrectly. 87. KBM18 posted: 05.30.2011 - 7:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) "I know I have had some critics when it comes to me saying stuff about Kyle Busch, but I really believe he has problems running a long race." Oh and just to add to this point, I should bring up Harvick's finishes in the Coke 600. It being the longest race, I think it needs to be pointed out, he didn't have a top 10 in this race IN A DECADE until last night. A DECADE. Not since his first Coke 600 in 2001. And in that span, he only completed all of the laps a paltry 3 times. A DECADE. Looks like Kevin Harvick is the one that has problems running a long race. That was a pathetic streak. And he only lucked into this one because of fuel mileage. You put Kevin Harvick in a 600 mile race and 2 times out 11 races he'll finish better than 11th. That's how pathetically bad at a long race he is. A DECADE. 88. IglooRacer posted: 05.30.2011 - 8:16 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) #80 couldn't agree more, Burton didn't wreck anyone and I barely classify it as a spin. Not enough to bring out a caution. We all have seen those scenarios before, it's only because the 88 was leading that everyone cries foul. Hang on let me find my violin. . . . . 89. RCRandPenskeGuy posted: 05.30.2011 - 10:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "They are now gonna make a movie based on his book, centered around "The Day"" Seriously? I guess anything will hit the big screen nowadays. I don't see a point for this, other than for Michael Waltrip to make money. "And now they want to make a movie about it centered from Mikey's point of view? I'm gonna vomit so hard my internal organs might come out. Mikey said something like "It's from the same people who made Rudy and Hoosiers because they specialize in underdog stories, and I am an underdog". No Mikey, you are simply a dog. First of all, Rudy and Hoosiers had a happy ending. Rudy got to play and Gene Hackman's team won the state title. How does Mikey's story end? With him dwelling on it 10 years while using it gain attention towards himself, continuing a career of alternating mediocrity and embarrassment, starting a team which tried to use jet fuel to qualify for the 500, DNQing all over the place, stealing one of Roush's swaybars, going $20 million in the hole, and forcing talented drivers Reut and Truex to run mid pack in his shitboxes." Well said. He actually won another 500 two years later, and that win is the one he SHOULD dwell on. Like the 2001 version, he had bump-drafting help from Dale Jr but this one didn't have a tragedy. I like David Reutimann and Martin Truex and would like to see them succeed to their potential in Cup, but they're not gonna reach it with MWR. "The only place you should be able to find it is in some Blockbuster bargain bin of unsold DVD's during a "going out of business" sale." That's the only place it should be. They should just deliver them straight there and put them in the bin of unsold DVD's right away. "This movie is going to be a joke and it is a disgrace this jackass is trying to make a buck off the worst day in NASCAR history. The guy is just the ultimate sponsor whore, he'd probably get NAPA branded on his ass if they asked him to." LOL!!! Funny and true. It's harsh, but I also don't like how the guy brings up the 2001 500 more often than necessary. "Was I the only one who heard Darrell let out this creepy sounding laugh when they were talking about Jeff Gordon at one point in the race?" No. "Fantastic run for Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., as mentioned in a few comments. For a rookie to finish 11th in his first race is pretty impressive." I agree. I wasn't expecting him to finish this high. I know fuel mileage came into play, but when you consider the fact that he got into the wall a few times, 11th is still a good finish for him in his Cup debut. 90. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.30.2011 - 11:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I don't see a point for this, other than for Michael Waltrip to make money." I think the biggest thing in this for Mikey is that he gets a chance to do his favorite thing: Talk about Michael Waltrip. He loves being on camera and acting like he is somebody. This movie gives him a chance to promote it and talk about himself a lot. And it obviously doesn't matter to him that, to do this, he is forcing people to once again relive a tragedy of a life gone away too soon when we could be more focused on the incredible memories he left us in life. 91. GDR posted: 05.31.2011 - 1:10 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) per tonight's NASCAR Now - Kevin is now the 5th driver in NASCAR to win the Daytona 500, the Brickyard 400, and Coke 600. The other four - Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Jarrett. That's some pretty elite company for him to be in. 92. Anonymous posted: 05.31.2011 - 1:20 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ya gotta love seeing Hendrick's favorite t shirt salesman run out of gas on the last lap! He can win internet contests where people can sit at home and vote for him all day long, but can't win points paying events. Now we see why he got into the all star race, to sell t shirts and ride around. Isn't that all hr does in actual races too? 93. RLB posted: 05.31.2011 - 2:28 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sebastian Vettel career win 15 Dan Wheldon career win 16 Kevin Harvick career win 17 the odds of something like this happening especially with the way Indy and Charlotte ended have to be crazy ridiculous. 94. martin-n-rusty posted: 05.31.2011 - 4:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The whole Michael Waltrip thing is sick. While I admit he is a hell of a salesman, something in his head HAS to tell him capitalizing on Dales death is just flat out wrong. A book might be one thing, but a movie... Dale has to be looking down at Mikey in disgust. 95. Anonymous85 posted: 05.31.2011 - 4:43 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) DSFF you are hilarious you should have your own fanpage 96. Anonymous posted: 05.31.2011 - 7:05 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Unless Dale Sr. is looking UP at Mikey (I doubt it; great guy off racetrack grounds) :) 97. Anonymous posted: 05.31.2011 - 9:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I mean Earnhardt was a great guy, not Waltrip. 98. Mik Maq racer posted: 05.31.2011 - 10:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Marcos was my dark horse pick. Good job buddy ! 99. martin-n-rusty posted: 05.31.2011 - 12:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Post 96 - Are you using one of George Carlin's arguments against me?!? :P 100. Anonymous posted: 05.31.2011 - 12:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) M-n-R: Not arguing with you. Just being silly and humorous. 101. Ryan posted: 05.31.2011 - 1:23 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) "Yeah, you're still stupid. You're the one who is a Busch fan. "Busch had a streak of 3 top 6's in the Coke 600 until last night. He crashed well before they had completed 500 miles last night, and if you're implying he can't run a 500 mile race because crashed out of this one before hitting that mark, well, you're even dumber than I thought." How many of those three races should he have won? Exactly, at least one of them. Choker! "But now that you've shown your true colors as a Harvick fanboy, your stupid bullcrap finally makes sense." I was a huge fan of Dale, Sr. Naturally I pull for the 88 and 29. But I also come from a very objective stand point. I give credit where credit is due. I dont like the 24, but I give Jeff Gordon credit, I don't like the 48, but I give Jimmie Johnson credit. I give people a lot of credit when they over come major obstacles such as getting caught up in wrecks and spins, pit problems, bad handling cars, cars not as fast as others (Harvick) and still can win a race, races, a title, or titles. Kyle Busch hasn't proved that yet. I think the majority of true race fans can agree with me that he has a huge mental block when things get rough. For example, getting back in the pack out of pit stop, over driving his car (like other night), lap cars getting in the way and him getting impatient. These are all occurrences that can and have happened on the race track. He has dominated a lot of races and won some, and he has dominated races and fell apart due to when racing conditions change. Don't get me wrong, Kyle Busch is as talented as anyone out on the track. How could you not give him credit for that? But he hasn't got down the mental or psychological part of racing, yet. He talks a good game and talks like he has confidence, but he really doesn't when times get tough, like Johnson and Harvick has. "For the record, Busch has also won at 14 different tracks, and has more wins in a little over half the races. And how about we see where Busch is and what he's won when he gets to the same point in his career as Harvick is now, and then compare. That means evaluating Busch after 4 more seasons, and then comparing it to Harvick's 17 wins right now. Agreed?" Again, sad that I have to repeat myself, but I will. Quality over quanity. GDR just put up that Harvick joined Jarrett, Gordon, Earnhardt, and Johnson with wins in the 500, 600, and Brickyard 400. They all have also won at Talladega, Harvick has also won on a road course, Bristol night race as well, and a variety of different tracks. The only place Harvick doesn't have a win at is Darlington. Don't be surprised if he can win there some day as well. No one should be surprised. And again... Kyle Busch has drove for both Hendrick and Gibbs, two of the big 3 since 1995. He has had better cars so naturally he should have more wins. "Leading the final lap or two of a race is not closing" Leading the final lap or two means you know how to save your car and put yourself in position to win means CLOSING THE DEAL. "Oh and just to add to this point, I should bring up Harvick's finishes in the Coke 600. It being the longest race, I think it needs to be pointed out, he didn't have a top 10 in this race IN A DECADE until last night. A DECADE. Not since his first Coke 600 in 2001. And in that span, he only completed all of the laps a paltry 3 times. A DECADE. Looks like Kevin Harvick is the one that has problems running a long race. That was a pathetic streak. And he only lucked into this one because of fuel mileage. You put Kevin Harvick in a 600 mile race and 2 times out 11 races he'll finish better than 11th. That's how pathetically bad at a long race he is. A DECADE." Wins in 600 Harvick- 1 Ky. Busch- 0 "KBM18" Glad you finally came out of your closet. 102. martin-n-rusty posted: 05.31.2011 - 1:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Post 100 - I figured, just had a George Carlin bit pop up in my head when I read that 103. KBM18 posted: 05.31.2011 - 1:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) "How many of those three races should he have won? Exactly, at least one of them. Choker!" That has nothing to do with the argument. That's just all you could come up with when confronted with evidence that proves your bullshit theory about Busch wrong. He can finish long races, more often than Harvick can, and in fewer tries. And that's a fact. "Wins in 600 Harvick- 1 Ky. Busch- 0" Rinse, and repeat. You got nothing. I proved to you how bad Harvick is at finishing long races, and that's all you have. Yet, you would have made the same argument about Busch and Harvick before sunday night. Yeah, you would have, and what would you have said then? Exactly. Your theory: shot dead. Harvick: overrated. Face it, Harvick sucks in a long race. It took him a full DECADE to get another top 10 in this race. A FULL DECADE. That's pathetic. And whining about RCR's equipment? Also pathetic. Just because their drivers haven't been as good and can't win races as often doesn't mean their cars haven't been as good. That's a logical fallacy, and a pathetic, weak argument. Harvick just can't handle the pressure of a long race. He cracks. It took Harvick 11 tries to win this race, Busch has only had 7, and he gets top 10's more frequently. I guarantee he wins it in the next 4 years. And it's only fair to measure his success against Harvick after the same number of tries. Oh but you don't want to do that because your guy sucks, and your theory about Busch has been shot dead. A DECADE. "The Closer"? More like "The Guy Who Needs 10 years to get a top 10 in one of the most difficult races because he's so bad at taking care of his car". 104. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.31.2011 - 2:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Uncle George is definitely laughing up at us. And remember, Sigmond Frued once said "sometimes a cigar is just a ciger". Yeah, well sometimes it's a BIG BROWN ****! I still roll when I watch his stuff. I think June said it best when interviewed as "The Day" was coming up. He said something to the effect of "If Dad were here, he'd be saying 'Man, why are y'all making such a fuss, that was 10 years ago!'". You guys are right, Dale would be pretty disgusted at this. If the Waltrip clowns keep this up, Dale will turn into the JFK of NASCAR: His death will be more famous than his life. As far as this Kevin vs 128 argument: I can't stand either of them. They probably are the two driver's whose personality grates on me the most. I am so glad they are feuding, and I hope it spills over into the cha$e. But the fact is they are very similar in their personalities. They both get irritated very easily, seemingly have an inabilty to let ANYTHING roll off their backs, always have something to say about everything leading to many "foot in mouth" moments, relish being involved in controversy, and as a result, each has had their career damaged as a result of this. If they could channel their talents and efforts into maximizing their on track performance every week instead of starting fires, then having to put them out, they each could have a lot more wins than they currently have, as well as some Cup Championship trophies. On track, if this makes any sense, they are "similarly opposite". I know that sounds stupid, but they both take opposite approaches to races which hurts them both. 128 is too aggressive and Kevin is too conservative. 128 doesn't have have a very good feel of "I need to back off a bit here" and Kevin doesn't have a good indicator "I need to pick it up here". I know this year it has worked out really good for Kevin, 3 wins in the first 12 events. But the vast majority of the time, a race won't fall in your lap like they have this year. That is why he has 17 wins in 10 and 1/3 seasons. He doesn't run up front enough, pick up enough bonus points, or win enough. And 128 is very poor at nursing home a decent finish out of an ill handling car. Instead of backing off, letting the crew adjust on it, and taking advantage of attrition, he pushes it and usually hits the wall or spins out. That is why I consider his career a disappointment despite 21 wins in 6 and 1/3 seasons. He has freakish talent. He should be winning races and championships at the same rate Jeff Gordon was doing at the exact same age. As far as "Who is a better driver", 128 is easily better. He simply has car control like nobody else, which has led to more wins than Harvick in a shorter period of time. But he is awful under pressure, which is why he hasn't won hardly any big races, and his cha$e performances are legendarily awful. He really presses too hard under pressure, and once he realizes he is in a hole, he just throws in the towel. Hence the fact he has zero wins as a cha$er and only one in the final 10. Bottom line: Despite their immense talents, if I'm starting a team tomorrow, I wouldn't want either of them. Yeah, they will both get you wins (especially 128) but the headaches they cause aren't worth it. I'd try to get Jimmie Johnson, Jimmie Johnson's perfectly tended to beard, Chad Knaus, Chad Knaus' new hair, and Lowe's to foot the bill. 105. Rusty posted: 05.31.2011 - 3:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Wins in 600 Harvick- 1 Ky. Busch- 0" Since when is the Coca-Cola 600 a career defining race? Yeah it is a nice and important event, but it hardly is a good gauge of a driver's career. If we gonna go like that... Wins in 600 Casey Mears-1 Kyle Busch-0 I'm no fan of Kyle, in fact I want to slap him. But who cares if he hasn't won this or any "big race" yet? Are Derrike Cope, Trevor Bayne, Michael Waltrip or Ward Burton better than Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin since they never won the Daytona 500? Yeah it is a bigger event with more prestige and money, but at the end of the day they count the same as a race at Loudon or Phoenix. Besides, the luster of being a Daytona 500 winner is kinda killed by the fact that Michael Waltrip has won the event as many times as Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin, Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart, Terry Labonte and Bobby Labonte combined. Those drivers combine for 359 wins and 17 championships and they have combined to win the Daytona 500, the biggest race in America, as many times as MICHAEL WALTRIP has. This is from someone who lives an hour from Daytona and LOVES the track. Point is, while winning the Daytona 500 or Coca-Cola 600 is a nice achievement. It is hardly a good reason to compare drivers' ability. Especially since Daytona and Charlotte are not two of the most challenging tracks on the schedule. 106. Smokefan05 posted: 05.31.2011 - 4:15 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) If you say Happy and 128 are similar personality wise then fine but how they deal with getting PO'd is different. Happy vents over the radio and his team lets him. Happy is usually a better driver afterword. 128 on the other hand gets mad and stays mad (like his brother?). He'll consently vent but will feel better until his crew fixes the problem or 128 wrecks. Just an observation. 107. Anonymous posted: 05.31.2011 - 4:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kyle didn't choke in the 2009 Coco cola 600 despite not being Kyle Busch fan. When Robby Gordon finishes 3rd in a race that is an oval as owner/driver that only had 227 out of 400 laps completed, something is up. A lot of teams made the same call as Kyle Busch's Crew chief did that race and lost. It is out of the drivers hands during a rain shorten like the 2009 Coco Cola 600 was. The driver is supposed to listen to the crew chief for staying out and not to pit. That is on Kyle's crew chief. 2009 had some unlikely winners that year thanks pit strategy during a rain shorten race. David Reutimann and Joey Logano had fluke wins that year because their crew chiefs used pit strategy to have them win the race. Teams near the back or mid pack on the lead lap are known to make gambles when they know rain is going to hit the track. 108. Cooper posted: 05.31.2011 - 4:33 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) 101. Ryan posted: 05.31.11 - 1:23 pm "He has had better cars so naturally he should have more wins." Is it possible to determine who has better equipment? While everyone knows that better equipment should lead to more success, their is other factors that can contribute. Crew Chief/Pit Crew/Luck/Team-mates. This gave me an opportunity to think and determine who has the best equipment. This is what I came up with: 1. "Hendrick North"---#48/#88---Hard to argue. Jimmie is the number 1 driver and Dale has mysteriously started to run top 5. They got the best stuff IMHO. Rating: 90/100 2. "Roush 1A"---#99/#17---These are the flagship teams for Roush, so I believe these two teams get first dibs on new technology/equipment available from Jack. They seem to be arms lengths ahead of the #16/#6. Biffle is just as good as C.E. and M.K. but is behind in performance. New Ford engines have closed the gap between Roush and Hendrick North. Rating: 88/100 3. "Joe Gibbs"---#20/#18/#11---All three cars get equal equipment I believe. Kyle and Denny have been head to head in recent years and while Joey is behind, the #20 car is always a top priority for Joe Gibbs. Joey and Zip are not getting the performance out of the car as they should be. Rating: 85/100 4. "Richard Childress"---#27/#29/#31/#33---They seem to have good, decent equipment. They're not yet close enough to an elite team and this is holding back all their drivers. How Harvick has gotten three wins is beyond the comprehension level for my brain. Bowyer , Menard and Burton are getting about 1% less than Harvick because the #29 is top priority but it's close enough. Rating: 80/100 5. "Hendrick South"---#5/#24---They are not getting near as close the same equipment Jimmie and Dale get. Since the switch for the #24 team they have faded to mid pack status. The #5 team is out to lunch but we know Mark is good considering he was a champion contender two years ago. Rating: 77/100 6. "Roush 1B"---#6/#16---Biffle and Ragan are definitely behind the 99 and 17. The 16 has always been at the bottom of the totem pole for Jack. Go back to the days of Kevin Lepage and Musgrave, and you'll see the #16 is prejudiced against. I don't know where David Ragan is, but I put him in with Biffle. Rating: 75/100 7. "Stewart Haas"---#14/#39---Getting Hendrick equipment. Basically getting a step below the Hendrick South stable. They were closer to a top 5 team last year, but the advances of Childress last year and the Ford brigade this year has relegated them to 7th. Having both drivers in the chase shows the talent that Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman possess. Rating: 73/100 8. "RPM"---#43/#9---Getting Roush Equipment. Comparable to Stewart Haas racing. Ford engine has helped A.J. and Marcos a lot. Very competitive stuff. Definitely at the top of the mid pack brigade. Rating: 70/100 T-9. "Earnhardt-Ganassi"---#1/#42---Possesses RCR engines. Chassis department is way behind. Both drivers have lost a lot of performance this year and they have definitely hit mid pack land. Rating:68/100 T-9. "Penske Racing"---#2/#22---Out to lunch to start the year. Definitely are improving recently. They still need more out of Dodge and will eventually get it. The #2 and #22 are getting equal equipment. They are tied with EGR in my opinion. Just shows how good Kurt can be, considering he's chase bound with an underperforming car. Rating: 68/100 11. "Red Bull Racing"----They've always been a mid pack team. They are not close to contending at a top level from the equipment side. Playing second fiddle to the Toyota monopoly of Joe Gibbs. Kasey has really shown a lot of talent this year, but the team is not up to par with the front runners. Rating: 65/100 12. "Michael Go-Kart Waltrip Racing"---Bottom of the mid pack barrel. Got two great drivers in Martin Truex and David, but they are not getting a lot from Michael. They've made a lot of strides since 2007/2008 but are still far away. Truex is really doing a good job considering the cars he's probably getting are junk. Rating: 62/100 13. "Wood Brothers"---Was actually tempted to put this team higher, but considering they don't run full-time they probably aren't getting great stuff. Basically the ford engine has helped the team regain some of it's stature. Rating: 60/100 T-14. "JTG Daugherty"---Last Toyota on the food chain. Just seeing Ambrose suddenly running top 15, isn't because he got better it's because of what he had in the #47. Still a semi-competitive team but Bobby is getting what he can out of the car. Rating: 55/100 T-14. "Furniture Row"---Same as above. Regan is doing something with nothing. But the engine package they get from RCR keeps this team afloat. Rating: 51/100 Everyone Else In my personal opinion, Kevin is getting more out of his race car then driver 18. Still very early in the season, and all this racing is virtually irrelevant considering all of this goes away come chase time. Except all of these bogus bonus points Kevin is getting for backing into these wins. Gibbs and Childress are neck and neck with equipment so that argument is invalid IMHO. According to my rankings above, the drivers that are getting the most out of their race cars are: Carl Edwards Kurt Busch Kevin Harvick The drivers getting the least out of their cars are: Brian Vickers Jamie McMurray Joey Logano Jeff Burton 109. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.31.2011 - 4:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) "Are Derrike Cope, Trevor Bayne, Michael Waltrip or Ward Burton better than Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin since they never won the Daytona 500?" My thoughts exactly. They are nice to have, and mean a lot, but when evaluating a driver's career, you have to take in the entire body of work everywhere. Rusty Wallace is a perfect example. In a 20+ year career, he won the World 600 once and that is it for the crown jewel events. But he has 55 career wins, a championship, contended stongly for two other championships ('88 and '93), had a 10 win season, led a ton of laps, and is tied for the longest streak of seasons with a win. That is a damn good career. A legendary career. A Hall of Fame career. I always hate hearing people say "If Dale had never won the Daytona 500, his career wouldn't have been complete". Horseshit. If anything, the opposite is true. Had Dale never won the Daytona 500, that race would lose a lot of luster. Dale and David Pearson are probably the two best drivers in NASCAR history. Their combined Daytona 500 win total is equal to Michael Waltrip's. Besides, Cale Yarborough never won the World 600. A legend? Yes. One of the Top 5 drivers ever? Oh yeah. 3 straight championships, 4 Daytona 500s, FIVE Southern 500s (but curiously none in the Spring event), and 83 wins. "Besides, the luster of being a Daytona 500 winner is kinda killed by the fact that Michael Waltrip has won the event as many times as Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin, Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart, Terry Labonte and Bobby Labonte combined. Those drivers combine for 359 wins and 17 championships and they have combined to win the Daytona 500, the biggest race in America, as many times as MICHAEL WALTRIP has." Thank you. 110. Talon64 posted: 05.31.2011 - 4:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Sebastian Vettel career win 15 Dan Wheldon career win 16 Kevin Harvick career win 17 the odds of something like this happening especially with the way Indy and Charlotte ended have to be crazy ridiculous." Interesting. Something to point out is that despite having more career wins in his respective racing series Harvick's the least successful of the 3. Harvick: .0459 win% in Cup, 2007 Daytona 500 winner. Wheldon: .1212 win% in Indycar, 2005 champion & 2 time Indy 500 winner. Vettel: .2206 win% in F1, 2010 (and let's face it he's got 2011 locked up) champion. 111. Cooper posted: 05.31.2011 - 4:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I consider The Daytona 500/World 600/Brickyard 400 "gimmick" races. They are more about the show and glamour than the actual racing. It's not surprising that both the 500 and 600 have been crashfests with crazy crap happening every lap. They always are. They have no direct correlation to a driver or team having more talent and success. 112. 00andJoe posted: 05.31.2011 - 4:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Entry list for Kansas is out. 45 cars: - Patrick Carpentier is in the #32 - This isn't a Golden Corral race for the #36 - T.J. Bell in the #50 - Riggs in the #81 113. Eric posted: 05.31.2011 - 5:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The only major crown jewel for Nascar that is a true showcase for talent is the old Southern 500. The labor day Southern 500 was racing on a track that is hot, slick, and tire management was needed. The driver was supposed to take car of the car and it deepened a lot on driver feedback. The 600 is a mechanical exercise besides having wrecks. Daytona 500 since plate racing is totally unpredictable. Before plate racing, engines played a huge part in horsepower besides drafting. There always was wrecks, but not to that extent. 114. Rusty posted: 05.31.2011 - 6:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) I'm not trying to say winning the Daytona 500, Coke 600 or Brickyard 400 isn't a big achievement or anything. But they don't make a career. At the end of the day they are just a normal race with a bigger paycheck and a more prestige. You have to look a driver's body of work. While Kevin Harvick has won NASCAR's three crown jewel races (I don't consider the current Southern 500 to be a crown jewel) and Kyle Busch hasn't won any. Kyle has won more races overall and has flashed more dominant ability than Harvick, so I'd say he is a better driver. 115. Talon64 posted: 05.31.2011 - 7:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) While winning and contending for races and championships makes up the cake of a career, wins in the "big ones" like the Daytona 500, Brickyard, Coke 600 and Southern 500 are like the icing on the cake. If those are the only races you've won then your career's just more icing than cake and isn't the more impressive for it. Look at Michael Waltrip, he's a 2 time Daytona 500 winner but only had 4 wins in 765 Cup starts. Plenty of icing but little actual cake underneath it. 116. Jackie posted: 05.31.2011 - 7:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I don't care for Harvick but I would rather see anybody win than Jr. The Jr. nation consist of the most obnoxious fans of all time. They cheer when Kyle Busch has trouble or crashes but take offense if anybody dares to detract from their guy. He doesn't win because he doesn't deserve to. Hendrick Motorsports has been on the decline ever since he got there. Rick Hendricks has repeatedly shuffled personel, crew chiefs even whole teams trying to make a winner out of Silver spoon Jr. Now Johnson is struggling in qualifying & races since Jr. moved into the 48 shop. They might eventually manufacture a win for him but at what cost? 117. IglooRacer posted: 05.31.2011 - 7:56 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) KBM 18, it's not like harvick wasn't finishing them, he just sucks at Charlotte. It's one of his worse tracks and he said that when he won. Every driver has a weak track, up until this year it was Charlotte and California at times that frustrated the heck out of harvick. Do us a favour and take a chill pill. 118. KBM18 posted: 05.31.2011 - 8:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) "KBM 18, it's not like harvick wasn't finishing them, he just sucks at Charlotte. It's one of his worse tracks and he said that when he won. Every driver has a weak track, up until this year it was Charlotte and California at times that frustrated the heck out of harvick. Do us a favour and take a chill pill." You gotta understand, when arguing with someone as dense as Ryan, you pretty much have to shout (i.e, use caps) to get through to them. When his entire argument is, "Kyle Busch can't handle long races", yet the evidence supports that his driver is actually the one that can't handle long races, repetition and shouting is the only answer. Did I mention it took Harvick a DECADE to get a top 10 in the longest race of the season? Maybe I should go through the list of drivers who got top 10's in the Coke 600 in that same amount of time, I bet that would make Harvick look good. I know for a fact that Kyle Petty is on that list. 119. 18fan posted: 05.31.2011 - 8:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ryan, in my opinion short tracks and road courses are the best way to show driver ability. So let's compare Kyle and Kevin on those two disciplines: Short tracks: Kyle: 39 starts, 8 wins, 24 top 5s, 28 top 10s, 2501 laps led, 9.7 average finish. Kevin: 62 starts, 3 wins, 16 top 5s, 34 top 10s, 1461 laps led, 13.4 average finish. Road courses: Kyle: 12 starts, 2 wins, 3 top 5s, 7 top 10s, 15.2 average finish Kevin: 20 starts, 1 win, 5 top 5s, 8 top 10s, 15.2 average finish Therefore, Kyle's stats are better. However, I do believe Harvick knows how to take care of his equipment better than Kyle, although hanging back like he does probably will catch up with him. I think "The Finisher" would be a more appropriate nickname because he shows up in the last few laps to win. "The Closer" makes it seem like there is longer to go when he jumps to the front than he does. 120. IglooRacer posted: 05.31.2011 - 8:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Here's a bizarre stat. The stats of both rowdy and happy from the past five years. Kyle busch- 156 starts, 18 wins, 79 top tens, 12 dnfs, 13.9 avg finish Kevin harvick- 156 starts, 7 wins, 76 top tens, 4 dnfs, 13.9 avg finish In the past five years Kyle busch has had the second most wins only to jimmie while harvick Has the least dnf's among all drivers that made all 156 starts. The average finish made me laugh. 121. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.31.2011 - 10:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Smokefan, that is a good observation. And Cooper, I love the rankings of the teams. I wouldn't argue. " Kyle busch- 156 starts, 18 wins, 79 top tens, 12 dnfs, 13.9 avg finish Kevin harvick- 156 starts, 7 wins, 76 top tens, 4 dnfs, 13.9 avg finish " Those are eye opening stats. I love stat based analysis. I think that pretty much showcases both driver's weaknesses. 128's ability to run up front, collect many wins, but with stunning inconsistency. And Harvick's ability to avoid trouble, but also avoid victory lane despite this tear he is on. Somewhere between these two lies the perfect formula for success. It's called the 48 team. 122. RCRandPenskeGuy posted: 05.31.2011 - 11:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Harvick and Busch are both great drivers who will give you a great shot at success if you put them in your car. They both obviously have running up front and racking up top 10's figured out. With that said, I'll now point out their weak points. For Harvick it's being conservative. It's working out great for him now, but I don't believe that will last. Sooner or later he will have to step it up because the competition level is only going to grow. For Busch it's driving too hard at times when he's mired from 6th-10th, and ends up getting into the wall. He doesn't do it all the time, but I've noticed that he's done it on occasion. He'll definitely need to fix that if he's going to win a championship. As far as this race goes, I'd have rather seen Dale Jr win than Harvick. I don't care for Kevin's attitude while I'm neutral on Jr. 123. RCRandPenskeGuy posted: 06.01.2011 - 12:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Besides, the luster of being a Daytona 500 winner is kinda killed by the fact that Michael Waltrip has won the event as many times as Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin, Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart, Terry Labonte and Bobby Labonte combined. Those drivers combine for 359 wins and 17 championships and they have combined to win the Daytona 500, the biggest race in America, as many times as MICHAEL WALTRIP has." I totally agree. Michael Waltrip didn't do much at all in his career outside of 2001-2003. In fact, those were the only years he even won races. He contended for a few with other teams, but those moments came very rarely. It's having a great career that people will remember you for. All those other guys you mentioned definitely fit that mold. "Are Derrike Cope, Trevor Bayne, Michael Waltrip or Ward Burton better than..." Cope and Waltrip, no. Too early to tell with Bayne (although he probably won't reach Martin and Wallace's status), and I think Ward Burton could have put up better results if he'd driven for a better team than BDR. 124. GDR posted: 06.01.2011 - 12:21 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) The only one of Kevin wins he "backed" into this year was this one, and again, he made it on the same gas strategy that everybody else around him (88, 16, 11, 17, 4, etc.) failed at, so I give him credit for doing what those guys couldn't do. At California, he went up and passed five-time and at Martinsville he passed the 42, the 18, and the 88 in the last 25 laps. Would I like to see him go out and just totally dominate things, sure, but I like seeing him win no matter how they come. 125. 18fan posted: 06.01.2011 - 12:34 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I would rather have a career like Rusty Wallace's where I win a lot and contend for championship don't win the Daytona 500 over a career like Waltrip or Cope where the only notable thing they did was win a Daytona 500. 126. Anonymous posted: 06.01.2011 - 2:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) "Wins in 600 Harvick- 1 Ky. Busch- 0" Oh so it's just about wins to you now, Ryan? And not whether or not a driver can handle the pressure of a long race (as KBM18 already pointed out...a decade, seriously?) Well fantastic! I've been waiting for you to come around to the "wins above all else" line of thinking. So here we go: Wins: Busch - 21 Harvick - 17 Starts: Busch - 234 Harvick - 370 Checkmate, I guess! P.S. - A decade, seriously? Thanks for the info KBM! Now I have definitive proof that Harvick is one of the worst drivers in the series when it comes to running a long race. He just can't take care of his equipment I guess! 127. martin-n-rusty posted: 06.01.2011 - 6:11 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) RCRandPenske, around the early-mid 90's, Waltrip was reasonably competitive, would usually have luck not go his way. Had that Bahari (or Wood Brothers) team of that time been around in the ultra competitive late 90's to early 00's, he would of won a race or two as well. 128. IglooRacer posted: 06.01.2011 - 10:33 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Harvick has never had a dnf in the 600, but three poor finishes due to nursing sick engines home in 02 and 06, and an accident in 09. The accident is obviously self inflicted but taking care of sick engines and making them last to the finish is taking care of equipment too. Kyle busch has two dnfs and a poor finish in 07 due to accidents 129. Smiff_99 posted: 06.01.2011 - 10:45 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Post #123.......THANK YOU!!! I've been debating for years with my friend over whether or not Ward could've been better if he'd had, say, the #99 that his brother drove. Davis' stuff was quite obviously a deep cut below Roush or Hendrick's stuff at the time. My buddy INSISTS that Ward would not have put up any more wins in the #99. I say he would've (at least) DOUBLED his career win total if he'd been in the Exide car. Ward Burton was/is criminally underrated. 130. Cooper posted: 06.01.2011 - 11:43 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I thought it was general knowledge in the NASCAR world that Ward was a way better driver than his statistics showed...When Ward joined Bill Davis in 1995 he won in his 7th start with the team. Ward stats that year in that car was: Ward: 9 races, 1 win, 3 Top 5's, 4 Top 10's, 16.2 Avg. Finish Other Drivers: 19 races, 0 wins, 1 Top 5, 1 Top 10, 26.4 Avg. Finish In the seasons Bill Davis had a second team... 1999 in the five races Ward had a teammate Dave Blaney: 33rd, 40th, 28th, 23rd, 37th Ward Burton: 4th, 15th, 6th, 14th, 11th 2000 Dave Blaney: 33 races, 0 wins, 0 Top 5's, 2 Top 10's Ward Burton: 34 races, 1 win, 4 Top 5's, 17 Top 10's 2001 Dave Blaney: 36 races, 0 wins, 0 Top 5's, 6 Top 10's Ward Burton: 36 races, 1 win, 6 Top 5's, 10 Top 10's 2002 Bill Davis #23 team: 35 races, 0 wins, 0 Top 5's, 0 Top 10's Ward Burton: 36 races, 2 wins, 3 top 5's, 8 Top 10's 2003 Ward outperforms his teammates again, gets released and Bill Davis fades into oblivion with Scott Wimmer. Ward was simply a victim to NASCAR's ego trip where they wanted all the drivers to be cardboard cutouts. Just like many other talented drivers, Ward got pushed to the curb because sponsors felt the need to support untalented young drivers for more money. Ward was and probably still is a better driver than his brother. They have the same talent level, but Ward showed more passion and aggresiveness that his brother did and never will show. This is a case where the numbers and perception meet eye to eye and show the truth. 131. Rusty posted: 06.01.2011 - 11:52 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I agree that Ward Burton could've been a better driver with better equipment. But my point was just throwing out a few names of guys who won the Daytona 500 but didn't do much else and compare them to guys like Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin who have had great careers and failed to win a Daytona 500. Restrictor plate races have become sucha wild card luck of the draw kind of thing that you can get a kid one day after turning 20 winning the Daytona 500 in his first try in subpar equipment. Not taking anything from Bayne there, but he hasn't really done anything else yet. 132. Smokefan05 posted: 06.01.2011 - 12:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "RCRandPenske, around the early-mid 90's, Waltrip was reasonably competitive, would usually have luck not go his way. Had that Bahari (or Wood Brothers) team of that time been around in the ultra competitive late 90's to early 00's, he would of won a race or two as well." I agree. He easily had the best car at that one Darlington race in the early 90's but his pit crew hosed him over. Mikey was competitive for a time during his carrer but should have stopped while he was ahead. Since he is now part time i have very little issue with him being around the racetrack. (since he only shows up to places where he can be competitive) Unlike Conman, Mikey has shown the ability to drive and have speed. Conman has shown neither of those things. 133. Ryan posted: 06.01.2011 - 1:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Point is, while winning the Daytona 500 or Coca-Cola 600 is a nice achievement. It is hardly a good reason to compare drivers' ability. Especially since Daytona and Charlotte are not two of the most challenging tracks on the schedule." All of that's true, but I wasn't comparing drivers. And the 600 is a tough race to win. You have to to battle race conditions, day and night conditions because it challenges the car and set up. 134. Ryan posted: 06.01.2011 - 2:14 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "That has nothing to do with the argument. That's just all you could come up with when confronted with evidence that proves your bullshit theory about Busch wrong. He can finish long races, more often than Harvick can, and in fewer tries. And that's a fact." It's either you win or lose buddy. No in between. Harvick has more wins than Busch in the 600, that's a fact. Busch should have at least one, but he can't deal with adversity like the 29 can and that's the whole argument. And again, SINCE 1995 and SINCE Harvick has been in the series, Gibbs, Roush, and Hendrick have had overall better equipment over that time period since he has been here. You don't listen or see very well, I admit the 18 is very talented, but he is a head case and can't deal with his emotions. Get over it. Everyone knows that Kyle has issues with his brain when the going gets tough. For Kyle it's like, when the going get tough, the weak spins out. "Wins in 600 Harvick- 1 Ky. Busch- 0" Oh so it's just about wins to you now, Ryan? And not whether or not a driver can handle the pressure of a long race (as KBM18 already pointed out...a decade, seriously?) Well fantastic! I've been waiting for you to come around to the "wins above all else" line of thinking. So here we go: Wins: Busch - 21 Harvick - 17 Starts: Busch - 234 Harvick - 370 Checkmate, I guess! "P.S. - A decade, seriously? Thanks for the info KBM! Now I have definitive proof that Harvick is one of the worst drivers in the series when it comes to running a long race. He just can't take care of his equipment I guess!" Apperently he does, because he won the longest race in Nascar history other day. checkmate "Harvick has never had a dnf in the 600, but three poor finishes due to nursing sick engines home in 02 and 06, and an accident in 09. The accident is obviously self inflicted but taking care of sick engines and making them last to the finish is taking care of equipment too. Kyle busch has two dnfs and a poor finish in 07 due to accidents" Thank you, my whole point about the two all year. For some reason other reasons are brought up other than what I talk about... taking care of the car, over coming adversity, and being there at the end to win. 135. RCRandPenskeGuy posted: 06.01.2011 - 2:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Ward Burton was/is criminally underrated." Yep, and same with Sterling Marlin. They each had to remain competitive to stay in Cup and did not catch a break at all during tough times. Ward left BDR after Dodge found out Davis had been leaking info to Toyota, and only drove worse rides after that. Marlin got the shaft from Ganassi Racing after 2005, and like Ward, only drove for worse teams after that. It's a shame that people like Michael Waltrip get to keep their ride despite rarely contending for a win, while guys who CAN compete like Burton and Marlin are left in the cold. "I thought it was general knowledge in the NASCAR world that Ward was a way better driver than his statistics showed...When Ward joined Bill Davis in 1995 he won in his 7th start with the team. Ward stats that year in that car was: Ward: 9 races, 1 win, 3 Top 5's, 4 Top 10's, 16.2 Avg. Finish Other Drivers: 19 races, 0 wins, 1 Top 5, 1 Top 10, 26.4 Avg. Finish" I agree. In fact, I pointed this out on his driver page. It was pretty impressive how he lifted the #22 team from irrelevant to decent almost straight away. 136. Anonymous posted: 06.01.2011 - 3:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "" Kyle busch- 156 starts, 18 wins, 79 top tens, 12 dnfs, 13.9 avg finish Kevin harvick- 156 starts, 7 wins, 76 top tens, 4 dnfs, 13.9 avg finish " Kyle Busch - 5,590 laps led (2nd only to Jimmie) Kevin Harvick - 1,087 (14th) in the same span. Then again Kyle has more laps led and wins than all of RCR combined (3316, 14). 137. 00andJoe posted: 06.01.2011 - 4:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Blast from the Past: The #09 has been changed to the #51. #130: I agree. I think another problem Ward had was that he (as much as it pains me to say this) was too loyal to Davis; I'm pretty sure I remember his name being tossed around for some higher-flight rides in the late 90s but he stuck with BDR. Admirable loyalty, but... 138. Anonymous85 posted: 06.01.2011 - 4:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I have a part Wrestling Part Racing Question who do you think would win a fight between Danica Patrick and Trish Stratus (I know the answer to the question I just want your opinion on the matter) 139. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.01.2011 - 4:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ward should have done everything he could to get in better equipment. From what I hear, others were offering, but he was loyal to Bill Davis for giving him his big break. How did Bill repay him? By never really improving the organization, doing stupid business with Toyota that got their factory support from Dodge pulled 3 and 1/2 years before Toyota even entered the Cup Series, then dumping him. "Then again Kyle has more laps led and wins than all of RCR combined (3316, 14)." I'm telling ya, RCR stands for Really Conservative Racing, and it has held them back. They rarely lead laps anywhere except New Hampshire. Seriously, I'd like to know, beginning with 2006, what percentage of RCR's laps led have come at that one track. "Blast from the Past: The #09 has been changed to the #51." Awesome. Are they gonna paint it bright yellow and pink like the Country Time car? That car was something to be seen in person. It was BRIGHT! 140. Anonymous posted: 06.01.2011 - 5:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) "know I have had some critics when it comes to me saying stuff about Kyle Busch, but I really believe he has problems running a long race." That was your original point. Now that it's been shot down, and Harvick has been exposed as the one who has trouble running a long race, you're clinging to this one single scrap, that Harvick has a Coke 600 win. It used to just be about finishing strongly, but you had to change your tune, because you got owned by facts. Harvick could only finish the race 3 times in 10 years, while Busch rang up 3 consecutive top 10's in a shorter time span. And yet you really think this one win makes all the difference, even though Busch has more wins in 136 fewer starts. Busch is better at finishing a long race. Yet you've been on his case about that all year. Harvick only JUST now has that win. I would have loved to see your back-peddling had we brought up Harvick's dismal record earlier in the season. But like a snake in the grass you didn't want to expose that little nugget, that you were a Harvick fanboy, because you knew it would shatter your entire argument. You are a pathetic, sad, little man Ryan. "It's either you win or lose buddy. No in between." I'm logging that in the bank. You can no longer mention anything about Busch not being able to finish races, because obviously that isn't important to you anymore. It's all about wins, and Busch has more. He has more in far fewer starts, he has more at a far younger age, and he has more in every single series than Harvick. He has put Harvick to shame time and time again in Trucks, Nationwide, and Cup, and he's just now on the other side of 25. It's either you win or lose, eh? No in between? And yet you want to argue that point between Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch. Amazing. Simply amazing. Oh and by the way. Checkmate. Again. 141. soupclan posted: 06.01.2011 - 6:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) to post 1.....really....if anything nascar would manufacture the win FOR JR not against him....idiot.....Harvick stole nothing....he won te race....get over it.... so hes completed 3/4ths of the career grand slam. Daytona 500.....check Brickyard 400...check Coke 600........check all thats left is the Southern 500 142. IglooRacer posted: 06.01.2011 - 6:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) DaleSrFanForever- The RCR cars have led a total of 4832 laps since 2006 and 827 of those laps came from New Hampshire 143. GDR posted: 06.01.2011 - 7:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kyle and Kevin both have four wins in races of 500 miles or longer - Kevin (Atlanta, Daytona, Talladega, Charlotte), Kyle (Atlanta, Fontana, Talladega, Darlington), so I think this entire argument on either side lacks any basis. 144. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.01.2011 - 9:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Thanks Igloo. That is 17% of their laps led in that time. That is the only track I ever remember any RCR cars just dominating (Bowyer twice and Harvick once). "Kyle and Kevin both have four wins in races of 500 miles or longer" A surprisingly low number for both. 145. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.01.2011 - 9:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kurt Busch, June, Hamlin, Biffle, Kenseth, Carl, and Kahne all have more 500 mile victories along with Mark, Tony, Bobby Labonte, Jeff Burton (who have been around forever), JJ (who is on his own planet), and Gordon (who has been around forever AND is on his own planet). Jamie Mac also has 4 career 500 mile wins. 146. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.01.2011 - 9:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeff Gordon has a stunning THIRTY wins in 500+ mile races. I didn't count rain shortened races that were scheduled to be that long. If the 1997 Coke 600 would have gone one lap longer it would have counted, but it didn't. I was at that race, it is the one that ended at 2 am after two rain delays and finally got shut down due to a noise ordinance. Me and Dad stayed the entire time. Good times. 147. Larry posted: 06.01.2011 - 10:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Who cares about the actual mile length of a race? Is 500 laps at Bristol or Martinsville not as grueling as 200 at Daytona? Do they take significantly less time to complete? Is running 219 miles at Sonoma easier than running 500 at Atlanta? No, no, and no. What a dumb argument. You guys will come up with anything to try to make drivers you don't like look bad. And I know I remember several of you actually arguing for shorter races at different points in the last year. "Only a few select, traditional races should be 500 miles" I remember people arguing. Also, there are what, 12 or 13 races on the schedule out of 36 that even run 500 miles in length? So all of a sudden the wins in the other 2/3 of a season don't mean as much? You guys are really reaching this time. 148. Larry posted: 06.01.2011 - 10:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) After looking over the tracks where Busch has won, are you people really trying to argue that because he only has 4 "500 mile wins" that his other wins are somehow weaker? 5 Bristol wins, 3 Richmond wins, 2 Dover wins, 1 Darlington win, 1 Sonoma win, 1 Watkins Glen win.... we have a name for these tracks, they're called "Driver's tracks", because they are more about skill than horsepower. Harvick doesn't have as many as Busch at "Driver's tracks" but who cares? Here I was thinking that a win was a win, but apparently the only wins that count anymore are 500 mile wins at non-restrictor plate tracks, and there are a whopping 10 of those on the schedule, and more than half of those are at the so-called "Cookie Cutters" that everyone loooooves to complain about. I just don't get NASCAR fans anymore. And yes, I know the core of this is some stupid crap about "drivers who can't finish races" even though everyone we're talking about has dozens and dozens of finishes, even good finishes, at all these tracks. Way to go, you all proved a big pile of nothing. 149. RCRandPenskeGuy posted: 06.02.2011 - 12:21 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I think another problem Ward had was that he (as much as it pains me to say this) was too loyal to Davis; I'm pretty sure I remember his name being tossed around for some higher-flight rides in the late 90s but he stuck with BDR. Admirable loyalty, but..." You're absolutely right. Being loyal to your owner is honorable, but not always sensible. The way RCR ran in 2006 was OK to me. Harvick flat out dominated in a couple of his wins that year, Burton dominated a couple of races only to lose it in the end but he'd eventually win Dover (only leading the final few laps), and Bowyer ran really good for a rookie. They haven't really put together a season like that since. Sure, they've had seasons where they won a number of races, but not really destroyed anyone in the category of laps led. As a fan of the team, it pains me to see that. 150. Cooper posted: 06.02.2011 - 10:34 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Larry is 100% correct. A win is a win. And taking car of your equipment at Martinsville for 250 miles is harder than 600 miles at Charlotte. But everyone has their own opinions and ideals so I won't say it's "dumb". 151. Cooper posted: 06.02.2011 - 10:45 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "You're absolutely right. Being loyal to your owner is honorable, but not always sensible." Don't remind me about it. Sterling had a chance to break contract with Chip after 2004 when Jack Daniels came on board for RCR in 2005. He of course finished his contract out in 2005 and ended up at MB2 for 2006. That was a complete gong show. Basically ended Joe and Sterling's careers. 152. Smiff_99 posted: 06.02.2011 - 12:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) My top 5 most underrated drivers of the last 20 years(in no particular order): Sterling Marlin, Ricky Craven, Ward Burton, Ted Musgrave, Joe Nemechek I'd take the time to break them down individually, but I'm at work currently, so time is limited. Instead, I'll leave that to the rest of you. You may begin.... 153. Eric posted: 06.02.2011 - 1:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It is hard not to argue against Sterling Marlin, Ricky Crave, Ward Burton, Ted Musgrave and Joe Nemechek as the top 5 underrated cup drivers of the last 20 years. The only change I would do is put Johnny Benson in there instead of Ted Musgrave. Benson the same problem at Roush as Ted Musgrave did. Jack focused on Mark Martin and Jeff Burton. I mentioned Benson because look at what he did at Chuck Rider compared to Micheal Waltrip. Benson also over achieved with the 10 car. 154. Talon64 posted: 06.02.2011 - 3:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Martinsville and Bristol are the only active Cup tracks that go 500 laps. Kyle Busch has 5 wins, all at Bristol, while Kevin Harvick has 2 wins, 1 at Bristol and 1 at Martinsville. 155. Talon64 posted: 06.02.2011 - 4:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I posted this on David Ragan's page... Since 2007 Roush Fenway Racing has 28 wins, 14 poles, 146 top 5's, 276 top 10's and 7,010 laps led. By percentage, David Ragan has accounted for 0% of wins, 7.1% of poles, 6.8% of top 5's, 9.4% of top 10's, and 1.04% of laps led. adding to that, this season Roush has 3 wins, 4 poles, 13 top 5's, 22 top 10's and 800 laps led. 0% of wins, 25% of poles, 13% of top 5's, 18.2% of top 10's, and 3.4% of laps led from Ragan. 156. Anonymous posted: 06.02.2011 - 7:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dale Earnhardt Sr. had 5 times the 500 mile wins as Kyle Busch and Kevin harvick combined. 157. IglooRacer posted: 06.02.2011 - 8:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) You can't argue victories between kyle and harvick. Kyle has him beat in number of victories in all three series, don't care if he's taking rides from up and comers, 13 nationwide wins in a season is impressive. But you can't argue them in reliability and the consistency to be there at the end, harvick has kyle beat and only four dnfs in the past five years at nascars top series is impressive as well. Ryan was arguing about reliability while KBM18 and post 140 were arguing victories, I call stalemate and let's move on to Kansas. . . . 158. Anonymous posted: 06.02.2011 - 10:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) "Ryan was arguing about reliability while KBM18 and post 140 were arguing victories, I call stalemate and let's move on to Kansas. . . . " Actually Ryan was arguing reliability in long races, then back-peddled to talk about victories after finding out how bad Harvick has been in the Coke 600. And now he just has nothing. 159. Jarrett88fan posted: 06.02.2011 - 11:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) A win is a win, and Cup wins are hard to come by in 2011. I keep saying this on these boards...but, IF Harvick can keep a level head in the Chase, not get distracted by his Nationwide program or Kyle Busch, Kevin has the equipment and tenacity to win a Cup championship. That being said, I'm impressed Harvick won because Charlotte is his worst track and he hadn't finished better than 11th in the 600 since finishing 2nd as a rookie in 2001. 160. 00andJoe posted: 06.02.2011 - 11:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Since it hasn't been mentioned yet, Johnny Sauter is going to be driving the #7 this weekend. 161. JG24FanForever posted: 06.03.2011 - 12:06 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) to DaleSrFanForever "Kurt Busch, June, Hamlin, Biffle, Kenseth, Carl, and Kahne all have more 500 mile victories along with Mark, Tony, Bobby Labonte, Jeff Burton (who have been around forever), JJ (who is on his own planet), and Gordon (who has been around forever AND is on his own planet). Jamie Mac also has 4 career 500 mile wins." yeah Gordon is on his own planet even at the faded end of his career here are the top career and season statistics since 1993's first lap in the Daytona 500, you remember who led that first lap? Top 5 Wins 1. Jeff Gordon 83 2. Jimmie Johnson 54 3. Tony Stewart 39 4. Rusty Wallace 34 5. Mark Martin 33 Poles 1. Jeff Gordon 70 2. Ryan Newman 46 3. Mark Martin 31 4. Bobby Labonte 26 5. Jimmie Johnson 25 Laps Led 1. Jeff Gordon 21868 2. Rusty Wallace 13973 3. Jimmie Johnson 11469 4. Tony Stewart 11443 5. Mark Martin 10189 Top 5's 1. Jeff Gordon 277 2. Mark Martin 204 3. Dale Jarrett 155 4. Tony Stewart 154 5. Jimmie Johnson 138 Top 10's 1. Jeff Gordon 381 2. Mark Martin 334 3. Tony Stewart 251 4. Jeff Burton 237 5. Dale Jarrett 229 Most Wins in a season 1. Jeff Gordon 13 in 1998 2. Rusty Wallace 10 in 1993 Jeff Gordon 10 in 1996 Jeff Gordon 10 in 1997 Jimmie Johnson 10 in 2007 Poles in a season 1. Ryan Newman 11 in 2003 2. Rusty Wallace 9 in 2000 3. Ryan Newman 9 in 2004 4. Jeff Gordon 8 in 1995 5. Ryan Newman 8 in 2005 Laps Led in a season 1. Rusty Wallace 2860 in 1993 2. Jeff Gordon 2610 in 1995 3. Jeff Gordon 2320 in 2001 4. Jeff Gordon 2314 in 1996 5. Jimmie Johnson 2238 in 2009 Top 5's in a season 1. Jeff Gordon 26 in 1998 2. Dale Jarrett 24 in 1999 3. Bobby Labonte 23 in 1999 4. Jeff Gordon 22 in 1997 5. Jeff Gordon 21 in 1996 Terry Labonte 21 in 1996 Jeff Gordon 21 in 2007 Top 10's in a season 1. Jeff Gordon 30 in 2007 2. Dale Jarrett 29 in 1999 3. Jeff Gordon 28 in 1998 4. Carl Edwards 27 in 2008 5. Bobby Labonte 26 in 1999 Mark Martin 26 in 1999 Kevin Harvick 26 in 2010 Consecutive wins 1. Mark Martin 4 in 1993 Jeff Gordon 4 in 1998 Jimmie Johnson 4 in 2007 3. Rusty Wallace 3 in 1993 Rusty Wallace 3 in 1994 Jeff Gordon 3 in 1996 Jeff Gordon 3 in 1998-99 Jimmie Johnson 3 in 2004 Consecutive Top 5's 1. Jeff Gordon 17 in 1998(awesome!) 2. Jeff Gordon 8 in 1996 Mark Martin 8 in 1997 4. Terry Labonte 7 in 1996-97 Jimmie Johnson 7 in 2003-04 Jeff Gordon 7 in 2007 Consecutive Top 10's 1. Jeff Gordon 21 in 1998-99(average finish of 1.95, all Top 7's) 2. Dale Jarrett 19 in 1999 3. Jeff Gordon 14 in 1995 4. Tony Stewart 13 in 2005 5. Terry Labonte 12 in 1996 Most season win crowns 1. Jeff Gordon 6(1995-99,01) 2. Jimmie Johnson 3(2004,2007,2009) 3. Rusty Wallace 2(1993-94) 4. 7 Tied with 1 Most Pole Crowns 1. Jeff Gordon 6(1995-96,98-99,01,07) 2. Ryan Newman 4(2002-05) 3. Mark Martin 2(1997,09) Kasey Kahne 2(2006,2010) 5. A lot of people tied with 1 Most Top 5 season crowns 1. Jeff Gordon 6(1996-98,01,07,09) 2. Tony Stewart 3(2002,2005-06 Jimmie Johnson 3(2004,2009-10) 4. Dale Earnhardt 2(1994-95) 5. A lot of people tied with 1 Most Top 10 season crowns 1. Jeff Gordon 7(1995-96,98,01,04,07,09 2. Dale Earnhardt 4(1993-95,2000) 3. Dale Jarrett 2(1999-00) Mark Martin 2(1997,02) 5. A lot of people tied with 1 Most Average finish Crowns 1. Jeff Gordon 5(1998,01,04,07,09) 2. Dale Earnhardt 3(1993-95) 3. Mark Martin 2(1997,2002) 4. 8 drivers tied with 1 Best average finish in a season 1. Jeff Gordon 5.69 in 1998 2. Dale Jarrett 6.76 in 1999 3. Jeff Gordon 7.33 in 2007 4. Bobby Labonte 7.44 in 2000 5. Dale Earnhardt 8.03 in 1994 Winning % 1. Jimmie Johnson .1593 2. Jeff Gordon .1322 3. Kyle Busch .0897 4. Dale Earnhardt .0895 5. Tony Stewart .0886 Top 5 % 1. Jeff Gordon .4411 2. Jimmie Johnson .4071 3. Dale Earmhardt .3930 4. Tony Stewart .3500 5. Mark Martin .3377 Top 10 % 1. Dale Earnhardt .6226 2. Jimmie Johnson .6195 3. Jeff Gordon .6067 4. Tony Stewart .5705 5. Mark Martin .5530 Let's not overlook Gordon having the Most Crown Jewel wins in history(20),and Plate wins(12) and Road-Race wins(9). Jeff Gordon is the Richard Petty of his era. 162. potatosalad48 posted: 06.03.2011 - 12:07 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) I watched a replay of the last yellow and Harvick should've been penalized. He deliberately passed several cars under caution in order to get a push from his teammates. Last time I checked, passing under caution is illegal. 163. Jarrett88fan posted: 06.03.2011 - 1:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) JG24FanForever After witnessing Jeff whip up on the field throughout his prime (95-01)I can honestly say he is the Richard Petty of his era. Due to the nature of the Chase, and the fact that Jimmie ran only two seasons under the same point system Jeff won all four of his championships, we may never know how great Jimmie really is. That is why it is difficult to compare different eras. However, both Jeff and Jimmie are in the top-5 of all-time greatest Nascar drivers hands down. I will be interested to see what Jimmie does on the road courses in the next few years and how many more Crown Jewel wins he can get. 164. Red posted: 06.03.2011 - 1:48 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) JG24FanForever, thanks for posting that list (must have taken awhile!) What impresses me most about Jeff Gordon's career is his staggering versatility. It's one thing to rack up a ton of wins on one type of track, like Rusty and DW on short tracks, or Awesome Bill on superspeedways. But Jeff Gordon has been consistently great on ALL types of tracks. Jeff has multiple wins on 19 different tracks He also has 4+ wins on 13 different tracks (holy shit!) And he's won 52 races on driver's tracks (non cookie-cutter or plate) 165. JG24FanForever posted: 06.03.2011 - 2:29 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) yeah and it's worth noting that Gordon is to the season points title(despite winning four title's)what Dale was to the Daytona 500,I mean look at the seasons in which he didn't win the title like 96,99,04,07 and three of those he could easily be a 7 time champion, and in 99 he won the Daytona 500, swept the road-races and even managed to win the first 2 races without his career long crew chief at Martinsville and then Charlotte, winning the most races for an all-time record fifth straight year,before tapering off until 2001. Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt and David Pearson all won title's with completely differant teams,how well would Jimmie Johnson do if he lost Ron Malec and Chad Knaus? 166. Sean posted: 06.03.2011 - 10:22 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) JG24FanForever, good stats but I think you've missed some streaks. Mark Martin had 16 straight top tens (last 15 races of '96, despite not winning, and first race of '97), and Jimmie Johnson had 13 straight top tens (last 6 of '04, first 7 of '05). There are probably others... 167. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.03.2011 - 11:06 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Looking at JG24's stats, I can't believe how many times JJ shows up in the "All Time since 1993" Top 5 lists (wins, poles, laps led, Top 5s) considering he didn't start until 2002. Also interesting Dale's name come up quite a bit considering that, at the start of 1993, that was the beginning of the last 3 years of his prime ('85-'95), which led to 4 years ('96-'99) in which he battled injuries from many vicous wrecks, most importantly from the grinding wreck at Dega in '96 that pretty much ended his reign as The Dominator, and RCR falling behind before resurging in 2000. Also this includes 11 seasons since his death. Pretty spectacular. "I mean look at the seasons in which he didn't win the title like 96,99,04,07" I still say 2004 would have been JJ's. They had a 230+ point lead over the summer, realized that would be erased after Richmond and that the only thing that would matter would be their performance over the last 10 races, then began experimenting. They blew 3 straight motors. Under the old system, they run off with that one. Which leads me to a pet peeve of mine. I hate the cha$e, make no mistake about that. But that is the system NASCAR said would determine the champion, and everyone knew it. Why do we penalize the 48 team for figuring it out before everyone else and doing what needs to be done way better than anyone else. It's funny that the 11 team finally decided to take that approach last year, and the 29 is trying it this year. That would be admirable except for the fact the cha$e has been around for 8 annoying seasons now. But as for the other 3, in 1996 and 2007, Jeff fell victim to the flaws in each respective point system. He was absolutely the best driver in each of those seasons, but lost on a fluke. 1999 had too much inconsistency despite his high win total. "Jeff Gordon is the Richard Petty of his era." I agree (if you are talking about '93-'07). He had the best equipment and made the most of it. I am in no way debating Jeff's greatness. His '97 and '98 seasons (when he was the same age 128 is now) were the greatest two year stretch in NASCAR's modern era. His stretch from '95-'99 was the greatest 6 year stretch of the modern era (although this will probably be replaced at the end of this year unless the 48 totally goes into the tank). "Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt and David Pearson all won title's with completely differant teams,how well would Jimmie Johnson do if he lost Ron Malec and Chad Knaus?" That is an excellent question. 168. Cooper posted: 06.03.2011 - 11:41 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 162. potatosalad48 posted: 06.03.11 - 12:07 am "I watched a replay of the last yellow and Harvick should've been penalized. He deliberately passed several cars under caution in order to get a push from his teammates. Last time I checked, passing under caution is illegal." I'm to lazy to rewatch the ending but I believe you. I also remember Paul Menard passing cars to help JB and KH under that yellow. I really don't know why NASCAR even has rules, considering they change race to race and their all circumstantial. But NASCAR has been like that since 1949. Their motto has always been: We do what we want, whenever we want, to whoever we want.. They own the playground and the ball. Is it frustrating when they don't follow the rules correctly? Heck yeah. In reality, this race will be meaningless in the chase. Harvick deserved a 10th place finish which will not be good in October. The only way you can win a championship is by constantly running up front which Harvick has failed to do. (Not including 1 or 2 drivers that backed into a title.) 169. Jarrett88fan posted: 06.03.2011 - 3:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This is the big question of 2011... "Jeff Gordon,Dale Earnhardt and David Pearson all won title's with completely differant teams, how well would Jimmie Johnson do if he lost Ron Malec and Chad Knaus?" 170. Smokefan05 posted: 06.03.2011 - 8:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ^ I don't doubt Jimmie Johnsons talent, but lets be honest here. He wouldn't be where he is now if it weren't for Rick Hendrick and Jeff Gordon. Since those guys in that post have won championships with different teams/ different CCs, IF Jimmie doesn't win a championship without Chad Knaus or Rick Hendrick, then i'd have to say he is a one trick pony. I really wouldn't like to say it when Jimmie retires but it would be true *IF* he doesn't switch CCs or teams during his carrer. "But NASCAR has been like that since 1949. Their motto has always been: We do what we want, whenever we want, to whoever we want.. They own the playground and the ball. Is it frustrating when they don't follow the rules correctly? Heck yeah." Ok this has to be a record, we have thrown Brian France under the bus, we have thrown Bill France Jr. under the bus, and now we have thrown Bill France Sr. under bus. *stands up and claps* 171. Cooper posted: 06.03.2011 - 8:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) HAHA, it's true though. --Let's screw over the only african-american driver in the field out of a well deserved victory. --Let's ignore the drivers safety plea for a questionable new mammoth speedway, then make it look like it's the drivers fault. C'mon man, the stories go way back with NASCAR. That's what they've always done. (According to documented comments from NASCAR personalities in those eras). It's not a bad thing either. You live with it and go on to the next race. 172. Anonymous posted: 06.03.2011 - 11:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The France family is overrated and gets entirely too much credit for NASCAR's success. These guys would be racing regardless. If they hadn't done what they did, someone else would have. The drivers are the ones who put on the show, the drivers are the ones risking their lives, and the fans are there because of the drivers. The Frances are just smart business men. And who cares? I am still pissed that the first Hall of Fame class included 2 Frances. That was and still is, a bunch of s***. Two fifths of the first class are nothing but suits? Maybe it's just me, but I couldn't care less about the guys rubber stamping the decisions made by a committee up at the top. People act like the Frances personally financed and designed every track, personally fronted the money for everything and everyone, and made all these "tough" decisions all on their own. The France family can go to hell for all I care. 173. Cooper posted: 06.04.2011 - 11:09 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I wouldn't go that far. My problem isn't even with the France Family. It's NASCAR in general. All I wanted to do was to point out that NASCAR (Doesn't mean it's the Frances') does what they want without any restrictions. 174. Anonymous posted: 06.04.2011 - 11:35 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Even if though was no "scoring error",the problem is Wendell's win happened in the deep south considering culture in the south was like in 1963. Segregation still existed in the south during 1963. I know that for a fact because my late great uncle was a chairmen of a committee that was for ending segregation in public places in a city in Kentucky and segregation was an issue there when he ran for mayor. Wendell might have been in danger if that trophy was given to him at the race track. Wendell had a possibility of facing an anger mob coming from the stands or getting out of Jacksonville. 175. Ryan posted: 06.04.2011 - 8:47 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Apparently after Friday's truck race, Kyle Busch finally got what has been coming to him for a while now. This is way past due. http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/blog/from_the_marbles/post/Report-Richard-Childress-and-Kyle-Busch-in-alte;_ylt=AgLlknOGQFBIrjlJeYesNlI5nYcB?urn=nascar-wp1701 176. JackDaniels posted: 06.04.2011 - 9:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Apparently after Friday's truck race, Kyle Busch finally got what has been coming to him for a while now. This is way past due." Nobody deserves to be assaulted. Not because of something happens in a sport. Richard Childress had absolutely no right to do what he did. He assaulted a driver, who for all intents and purposes, cannot fight back. It's pathetic, and so is anyone who supports that behavior. You cannot call Busch immature, and then turn around and support this sort of behavior. It's hypocritical, and stupid. This makes NASCAR look bad and it makes RCR look bad. Just because Busch gets under your skin, gives you no right to "beat him up" after the race. Keep it on the track, beat him on the track, and be the bigger man. 177. Anonymous posted: 06.04.2011 - 11:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) "Just because Busch gets under your skin, gives you no right to "beat him up" after the race. Keep it on the track, beat him on the track, and be the bigger man." You're barking up the wrong tree there, Jack. Ryan has no idea what it means to be the bigger man, and neither does his favorite driver, or apparently that team's owner. 178. the_man posted: 06.05.2011 - 3:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) David Ragan on a 2nd place finish: â??We had a top three or four car, I think. That last caution came out we were going to be like a lap or two short. If we would have been leading, we would have stayed out. You canâ??t pit when youâ??re leading that late, but we were running fourth or fifth at the time. I thought Drew made a pretty gutsy call to come in and pit and when youâ??ve got four fresh tires and youâ??re full of fuel, you can be aggressive on those restarts and I was just very lucky to get through turn one without getting wrecked. It was either the No. 4 or the No. 83, I donâ??t know which one of the Red Bull cars was on the outside, but he ran out getting into one. There was just barely enough room. We clipped the right-front fender and bent it in, we probably couldnâ??t have made many more laps, but we were just in the right place at the right time. We had a strong car all day. Thatâ??s a finish that we deserved, but we just went about doing it the hard way.â? 179. Soxfan24 posted: 06.06.2011 - 3:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Post 66: greatest post ...ever. Post 138: who gives a shit? 180. b4il3y posted: 06.11.2011 - 4:02 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) ++176. - go home. kevin and harvick both needed to be punched....id loved it if they beat the total hell out of each other...they need it... 181. Anonymous posted: 06.12.2011 - 8:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kevin Harvick becomes the 29th driver to win a 600 mile race. 182. Cy posted: 07.08.2011 - 4:23 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The most pathetic part of this race was the amount of cash handed to the Wood Brothers to allow Wrecky Stenhouse to race... 183. 00andJoe posted: 08.01.2011 - 3:40 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #32 sponsor should be listed simply as blu Cigs. 184. Daniel posted: 05.21.2012 - 3:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) In using fastest 43: #50 T.J. Bell, #71 Andy Lally, #77 Scott Wimmer Out using fastest 43: #09 Landon Cassill, #7 Robby Gordon, #36 Dave Blaney 185. Robert Nelson posted: 07.12.2012 - 8:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) F1 points Carl Edwards 126 Kyle Busch 114 Kevin Harvick 106 186. Nascar24JeffGordon posted: 03.11.2013 - 11:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dale Earhardt JR is trying but he ran out of fuel. 187. 83andJoe posted: 09.25.2013 - 11:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #95 sponsor: Jordan Truck Sales/TWD Drywall/B&D Electrical 188. TTF24 posted: 08.04.2014 - 2:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And he's scooting away uh-oh Dale JR is slowing down he's out of fuel and the leader finishes 7th Harvick wins D: 189. ... posted: 10.12.2014 - 6:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Longest Race In NASCAR History as of 2015. I am posting this after the 2014 Coke 600 So there's no way there can be over like 500 something mile race (Talledega, Texas) 190. Tide1732 posted: 04.21.2016 - 2:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Thats a Similar Finish Reenactment from 2001 NAPA 500, Jerry Nadeau runs out of the fuel near third turn, to Bobby Labonte Win in 2011 Jr Out of the gas in turn 3 for Harvick Win 191. Tide1732 posted: 09.02.2017 - 7:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The last time to #09 run a NASCAR cup race. 192. Yeet posted: 08.12.2019 - 3:29 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #71 sponsor update: Children's Tumor Fnd/Special Ops Warrior Fnd 193. Ryan posted: 09.22.2019 - 8:17 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @158 The main point I made was that Harvick was not in top tier equipment like some at this time and was still managing to win races some way some how. Once he got in top equipment the rest has been history. 194. Anonymous posted: 05.05.2020 - 8:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It was one crazy Sunday Both Indy and charlotte 2011 crazy finishes, it took place the day after I graduated from High School in case you didn't know, But this race will air 6:00 A.M not PM eastern time on Fs1, hours before NASCAR returns, May 17! 195. Foote posted: 05.05.2020 - 11:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) With his hometown Joplin, MO on the side of the car, which had just been destroyed by tornadoes, Jamie McMurray was battling for the lead with Matt Kenseth when his engine blew. It was the lone race in his disastrous 2011 where he had that kind ofmpeed but true to form something bad happened when he's in the top 5. 196. dantheracer99 posted: 05.19.2020 - 9:27 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was a really good race and probably still one of my favourite Coca-Cola 600's. I had always been and still am a lifelong Mark Martin supporter but I lost a bit of respect for him during this race and he frustrated me a bit. He flat out took David Gilliland out of the race. Don't know how he didn't see it, don't know why he couldn't man up to it but it frustrated me. "I just got caught up in a wreck", Mark come on man you damn well caused the wreck, take responsibility for it mate. This frustrated me for two reasons. 1. After his stunning 3rd place in the Daytona 500 of 2011 I had started to take a liking to David Gilliland and always kept an eye on his progress on the track and felt like if he had better equipment he could have made more of a difference out there. He had a couple of really good runs in 2011 and showed a lot of maturity behind the wheel that hadn't previously been shown. He was looking good for another solid finish in this race until Mark swooped down into his line and took them both out of the race. Very frustrating for me watching at the time! 2.It was this crash that made me start to realise that Mark Martin was starting to lose his edge as a Cup Series driver, more errors were starting to creep in, more accidents were occurring and he just wasn't as fast as he once was. It's sad to see your childhood hero start to lose that swagger and killer instinct that he once had but just turning straight into David and ruining both their races as well as the drop in form in 2011 showed it was all coming to an end. Wow, I didn't plan on this post being this longwinded! :O :P 197. Rich posted: 12.15.2020 - 10:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds and Darrell Waltrip were the commentators. Steve Byrnes, Matt Yocum, Krista Voda and Dr. Dick Berggren were the pit road reporters. Chris Myers and Jeff Hammond were in the Hollywood hotel. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: