THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
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The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
October 3rd, 2011
Volume V, Edition CCVII
Sprint Cup Race Recap: Kurt Busch Outlasts Johnson, Edwards To Win At Dover
by Brody Jones
Carl Edwards had a dominant car. Jimmie Johnson followed suit. But by the race's fourth quarter, it was Kurt Busch left to capitalize on that duo's self-inflicted mistakes, surging to the front during two final restarts to capture Sunday's AAA 400 at Dover.
"It was just perfect execution today with making the car better during the race," said Busch, ecstatic in leading the final 42 circuits to capture his first career victory on the Monster Mile. "The last hundred laps, our car was right there for us, right where we needed it to be."
And Busch knew right when to press down on that accelerator pedal, too. Touting skills learned during his side hobby racing dragsters, the No. 22 Dodge made Johnson look silly on those restarts after the Lowe's Chevy had led a race-high 157 laps. With both cars on just two fresh tires, a strategy call following a yellow for Mike Bliss' crash on Lap 353 Johnson was unable to close the gap after falling back. Stuck behind Busch's Dodge, he could only watch while the aerodynamic advantage of clean air out front took control.
"I felt like that was the difference maker today," Busch said about coming up to speed, charging to a 0.908-second margin of victory when all was said and done. "I just wanted to get out in front of [Jimmie] Johnson. It was great that we were able to jump him on both restarts and pull away. I mean, to beat your arch nemesis, that's just icing on the cake and it's pretty sweet. "
For Johnson, the ending was fairly sour after charging to the front at a track where he'd won the last two Fall events. The No. 48 has now led 1,349 of the last 2,400 laps run at Dover but on this day, it was his poor performance on coming through the gears that decided it - especially after the final caution for Greg Biffle's wreck with 37 to go.
"I blew it by spinning the tires," Johnson acknowledged, admitting his defeat. "I didn't time it right. I put it on me, because the starts I had earlier in the day, regardless of the lane, leading or not -- I cleared them typically going into one so, it's on me."
If it makes the five-time champ feel any better, well, he wasn't the only one who threw away a victory on this day. Carl Edwards, who himself led 116 laps was doomed to third after a pit road speeding penalty midrace. Hit during a green-flag stop, on Lap 246 the consequences left the No. 99 a lap down and it took the rest of the day simply to work himself back into a position to contend.
"It's real easy to say if we didn't make that mistake, we would have won," Edwards mused; indeed, his Ford had the fastest car at the finish but never had the track position, ultimately falling one car length behind Johnson for second place. "It's the smallest I've ever felt in a race car. I'm gonna think about it. I'm gonna think about it all the way home. I'll lay in bed and my wife is gonna yell at me and tell me to get over it and that's just how it goes."
Kasey Kahne and Matt Kenseth, the first car on four fresh tires after the final round of those caution-flag stops rounded out the top-5 finishers. Kyle Busch wound up sixth, while Richard Petty Motorsports' A.J. Allmendinger performed a miraculous comeback to surge to seventh. An innocent victim of contact with Denny Hamlin, Allmendinger performed a "half-spin" on Lap 6, causing a caution but never hitting anything on Dover's high-banked Turns 3 and 4. Dropping to dead last after pitting, it took the majority of the race in this track-position battle simply to climb all the way back into the top 10.
"I'd say it was 60 percent driver and 40 percent luck," he joked afterwards. "As I was spinning I thought, 'Okay, the day is over already,' but it was a solid day."
Clint Bowyer, Marcos Ambrose, and Kevin Harvick, who is now tied for the points lead rounded out your top-10 finishers. Only six Chasers made the cut on that list, with several experiencing disastrous days including Brad Keselowski (20th), Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (24th), and Tony Stewart (25th). Polesitter Martin Truex, Jr. also struggled, a flat tire combining with handling problems to leave him a distant 30th, four laps back at the checkered flag.
But this day was about the outside polesitter, who led early only to fall back over the course of long runs during the early part of the race. However Busch, who's been brutal on the radio to crew chief Steve Addington in recent weeks gave credit to his crew for sticking with it.
"I just have got to thank Steve for helping me stay on top of the adjustments," he said. "They know they know how to do their jobs. They are all tied together right at the belt loops. And everyone is so positive with the way they feel about their position and the way that Steve is leading these guys that we are not looking back, yet we are not looking too far ahead, because this is a long Chase."
The average speed was 119.413 mph and the race took 3 hours, 30 minutes, and 59 seconds to complete. There were 24 lead changes among 13 drivers and ten cautions for 44 laps, including one competition yellow and two for passing showers - Mother Nature flirted with stopping the race but there never was enough moisture to pull the cars down pit road.
Attendance, listed at 83,000 was up 1.2 percent from the Spring race. Next up, the series travels to Kansas for the fourth event in the ten-race playoff this Sunday.
Brody Jones is a Contributor to Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at brody.jones@frontstretch.com.
"You're going to be consistent and solid," Harvick said of how to succeed in this postseason. "It's just a matter of keeping yourself in it until you get to the last couple of races and if you can keep yourself in contention, hopefully you've eliminated most of the other guys in the Chase."
That hasn't happened yet, though as Harvick finds himself with company at the top. Carl Edwards, who overcame that midrace pit road speeding penalty to finish third is now tied for the point lead. With the victory tiebreaker, Harvick has the edge over Edwards with his four wins but the No. 99 has the better track record heading to Kansas, a hometown race for the Missouri native in the best position to win a Sprint Cup since 2008.
Despite winning the last two races, many expected Tony Stewart to have a difficult time at the Monster Mile. He had struggled during his last visit here and also was awful at both Bristol races, a track similar to Dover. Things didn't get off to a good start after qualifying 28th, and Smoke was never able to work his way up. Instead, he was outside the top-25 positions for most of the afternoon, never took the wavearound once lapped, and a series of long green-flag runs left him two laps down. He was running as low as 30th late in the going, but thanks to some late-race mishaps for several others, Stewart ended the day a distant 25th. Dropping from first to third in the standings, he is still just nine points out of the lead going forward.
While Stewart went from hero to zero this week, Kurt Busch did the complete opposite. After having a terrible weekend at Loudon, Busch rebounded quite nicely on Sunday. He was strong early, leading 46 laps after starting on the outside pole. But both Edwards and Jimmie Johnson blew by him, causing the No. 22 to start fading and it looked like drama again in the Penske Racing camp. In fact, Busch expressed frustration on his radio about needing to find out what his teammate has been doing to be so strong at the end. But as it turns out, the No. 22 car took off like a rocket ship in the race's final quarter, running second to Johnson before beating him over the race's final two restarts to cruise to victory. The 2004 champ is now tied with Stewart for third in points.
Anyone that thought Jimmie Johnson was done after a 18th-place finish last week obviously missed his comeback in 2006. After Carl Edwards' pit road speeding penalty, Johnson became the man to beat, and looked unstoppable past the halfway point. While Busch was able to sneak past on the final run, Johnson's runner-up finish, along with an extra bonus point for leading the most laps, has moved him to fifth in the standings, just 13 out of the lead. With seven races still remaining, Johnson is very well in the thick of things for the championship hunt.
Falling back three spots in the standings to sixth is this year's surprise driver, Brad Keselowski. After running in the top-10 most of the day, Keselowski lost his power steering that cost him a lap as his crew made repairs. He received the free pass on the race's final caution, but was unable to capitalize and ended the day a disappointing 20th. "By the time we finally got back on the lead lap, we didn't have any time left to gain back any of the track position we lost," a disappointed Keselowski would say post-race. "It's frustrating. I think we were good enough to get a solid run out of it, but that's the way it goes." He's now 14 markers behind Harvick and Edwards.
Tied for sixth with Keselowski is Matt Kenseth. After starting the day in 18th, he was slow to race his way into the top-10 and hardly looked like a victory contender early. But after some pit strategy, he was able to inch closer to the front and simply took off. In fact, for awhile it looked as if he may have even had something for Johnson during the long, green-flag runs that typify the midrace section of Dover's 400-lappers. But unfortunately for Kenseth, the team did not keep up with the track over the race's second half and the No. 17 Ford faded with every adjustment. With 47 laps remaining, they also took on four tires while most of the leaders opted for two, an ironic twist as that was the exact call they made to win the spring race here. Kenseth, losing precious track position was able to rally from ninth on the final restart to end the day in fifth - but that's as far as his car would go.
Want a sign as to how close these standings are? Kyle Busch finished sixth yet dropped two positions to eighth in the points. It was a solid albeit unspectacular day for Busch, "stuck" in third to eighth for almost the entire race. Just his first top-10 result of the Chase, the season's four-time winner has dropped from the top seed to 15 points behind the leader.
Dropping four spots to ninth in the standings is Jeff Gordon. After starting the day 34th, Gordon quickly worked his way up into the top-20 runners and appeared to have one of the better cars. However, his charge to the front stalled out shortly thereafter, as he never could really crack the top-10. He was only able to muster a 12th-place effort, and - much like Kyle Busch - that regular season momentum hasn't carried over into the final ten races.
Fan favorite Dale Earnhardt, Jr. overcome a broken sway bar early in the race, which put him a lap down then looked to have one of the fastest cars after receiving the free pass. However, a loose wheel during a green-flag run cost the team two laps, a dose of bad luck they were never quite able to make up. As a result, Junior finished the day a disappointing 24th, and dropped two spots to tenth in the standings. "That's racing. That is all I can say," said the dejected driver post-race. "I have had a lot of stuff happen to me over the years, good and bad, and you just have to roll with the punches."
Much like his boss/teammate Stewart, Dover also proved to be a struggle for Ryan Newman. In what has been, statistically speaking his best track Newman was never a threat after starting the day in 20th. Long green-flag runs cost him two laps, and he was only able to come home 23rd. The driver remains 11th in the standings, 41 behind the lead, almost a full race's worth of points back with seven to go.
Rounding out the top-12 is Denny Hamlin, who continues to struggle in the Chase. He started the afternoon in 11th, then quickly worked his way into the top-5 runners despite spinning out A.J. Allmendinger early on. However, the good run was short lived, as handling became an issue for the No. 11 team once the track rubbered up. In the race's second half, the team faded badly, and finished the day a disappointing 18th. Still his best performance in the three Chase races to date, Hamlin sits 68 points out and would need a miracle already to capture the season title.
In the "Best of the Rest" battle, Allmendinger's surprising comeback from that early spin, to seventh allowed him to keep the pressure on Clint Bowyer. The gap between them sits at just two with Bowyer likely facing distractions ahead; rumor has it the driver will be announced as the newest addition to Michael Waltrip Racing for 2012 this Friday.
Standings: t-1) Kevin Harvick 2122, t-1) Carl Edwards 2122, t-3) Tony Stewart -9, t-3) Kurt Busch -9, 5) Jimmie Johnson -13, t-6) Brad Keselowski -14, t-6) Matt Kenseth -14, 8) Kyle Busch -15, 9) Jeff Gordon -19, 10) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -34, 11) Ryan Newman -41, 12) Denny Hamlin -68.
Best of the Rest: 13) Clint Bowyer 811, 14) A.J. Allmendinger -2, 15) Greg Biffle -22, t-16) Mark Martin -36, t-16) Kasey Kahne -36.
Tracking The Top 35: Lally, TRG Motorsports Make A Small Gain
Even though FAS Lane Racing's Mike Bliss and Germain Racing's Casey Mears had poor finishes, the No. 38 car of Front Row Motorsports driven by J.J. Yeley didn't fare much better as the battle for NASCAR's top 35 failed to tighten up. Yeley hit the wall on lap 301, able to continue but losing several laps in the process - he finished just two positions ahead of Bliss after that veteran crashed out the No. 32 Ford on lap 353. Those issues were music to the ears of TRG Motorsports, whose rookie Andy Lally struggled all day at the Monster Mile but still beat 36th-place FRM and the No. 38 by one position - the No. 71 car wound up 33rd.
At this point, it appears that just FAS Lane and TRG are vulnerable to a challenge for their spots. But with the margin 50 and 39 points, respectively, over Yeley's team the challenge of closing the gap remains difficult.
31) Front Row Motorsports (No. 34 - David Gilliland), +135 points ahead of 36th.
32) Germain Racing (No. 13 - Casey Mears), +66 points ahead of 36th.
33) Tommy Baldwin Racing (No. 36 - Dave Blaney), +60 points ahead of 36th.
34) FAS Lane Racing (No. 32 - Mike Bliss), +50 points ahead of 36th.
35) TRG Motorsports (No. 71 - Andy Lally), +39 points ahead of 36th.
36) Front Row Motorsports (No. 38 - J.J. Yeley), -39 points behind 35th.
37) Robby Gordon Motorsports (No. 7 - Reed Sorenson), -89 points behind 35th.
38) Wood Brothers Racing (No. 21 - Trevor Bayne), -127 points behind 35th.
39) MaxQ Motorsports (No. 37 - Josh Wise), -206 points behind 35th.
With that type of free agent frenzy upcoming, and no sponsor or driver set to replace him, it should make the No. 33 Chevrolet a circus-like atmosphere of distractions - creating a lame-duck disaster of an ending. Add in their Chase near-miss, a close-but-no-cigar run to 13th-best and you'd think the rest of the season would be all about going through the motions.
Instead? Bowyer nearly won New Hampshire, leading until running out of gas then put together a workmanlike, top-10 effort at Dover on Sunday. Hardly heard from, but clearly consistent Bowyer was the top-finishing driver within the four-car RCR stable, running eighth and giving this team another chance to showcase top-tier results to potential sponsors. It wasn't flashy, sure, but this focused run is what you rarely see from two sides preparing to divorce. Maybe Bowyer and Childress will remain friends after all next season? – Tom Bowles
STAT OF THE WEEK: 1. Top-5 finishes for Kasey Kahne in 16 career starts at the Monster Mile. Kahne, who registered a fourth-place result on Sunday, came in with a horrible track record that included six Dover DNFs (four for wrecks) and just four career lead-lap results at the one-mile oval. Kahne, whose average finish there is still a measly 22.6 has now strung together three top-15 performances to start his own version of "The Chase" – he's 36 points behind Clint Bowyer for 13th place. – Tom Bowles
Friday's Answer:
Q: The 1993 SplitFire Spark Plugs 500 also marked the final start for a notable car. Which car was it, and who was driving it?
A: It was the final Winston Cup start for the "Underbird," the car in which Alan Kulwicki won the 1992 Winston Cup Championship at Atlanta Motor Speedway. By this point, Kulwicki's team had been purchased from his estate by Geoff Bodine. Bodine was driving his first race in the No. 7, now sponsored by The Family Channel (now ABC Family) at Dover. Unfortunately, Bodine crashed late in the race after contact from Jeff Gordon. The crash can be seen in this clip. The car was originally said to be totaled, but its remains were eventually sold to a collector, who restored it to 1992 Hooters 500 condition (including the same engine that Kulwicki used that day). Today, the car resides at the Hooters Casino in Las Vegas. This website is dedicated to the car (and Kulwicki) and run by the people who purchased the car from Geoff Bodine Racing.
Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: If we mess up, you get the shirt off our backs! If we've provided an incorrect answer to the Frontstretch Trivia question, be the first to email the corrected trivia answer to trivia@frontstretch.com and we'll send you a Frontstretch T-Shirt ... FREE!
Coming Tuesday in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from Tom Bowles
-- Sitting In The Stands: A Fans' View by S.D. Grady
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
The Yellow Stripe by Danny Peters
Danny is back with a commentary piece based on recent events in NASCAR.
Who's Hot / Who's Not in Sprint Cup: Dover-Kansas Edition by Summer Dreyer
Summer takes a look at post-Dover numbers to see who's got the most momentum heading into Kansas... and beyond.
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
October 3rd, 2011
Volume V, Edition CCVII
Sprint Cup Race Recap: Kurt Busch Outlasts Johnson, Edwards To Win At Dover
by Brody Jones
Carl Edwards had a dominant car. Jimmie Johnson followed suit. But by the race's fourth quarter, it was Kurt Busch left to capitalize on that duo's self-inflicted mistakes, surging to the front during two final restarts to capture Sunday's AAA 400 at Dover.
"It was just perfect execution today with making the car better during the race," said Busch, ecstatic in leading the final 42 circuits to capture his first career victory on the Monster Mile. "The last hundred laps, our car was right there for us, right where we needed it to be."
And Busch knew right when to press down on that accelerator pedal, too. Touting skills learned during his side hobby racing dragsters, the No. 22 Dodge made Johnson look silly on those restarts after the Lowe's Chevy had led a race-high 157 laps. With both cars on just two fresh tires, a strategy call following a yellow for Mike Bliss' crash on Lap 353 Johnson was unable to close the gap after falling back. Stuck behind Busch's Dodge, he could only watch while the aerodynamic advantage of clean air out front took control.
"I felt like that was the difference maker today," Busch said about coming up to speed, charging to a 0.908-second margin of victory when all was said and done. "I just wanted to get out in front of [Jimmie] Johnson. It was great that we were able to jump him on both restarts and pull away. I mean, to beat your arch nemesis, that's just icing on the cake and it's pretty sweet. "
For Johnson, the ending was fairly sour after charging to the front at a track where he'd won the last two Fall events. The No. 48 has now led 1,349 of the last 2,400 laps run at Dover but on this day, it was his poor performance on coming through the gears that decided it - especially after the final caution for Greg Biffle's wreck with 37 to go.
"I blew it by spinning the tires," Johnson acknowledged, admitting his defeat. "I didn't time it right. I put it on me, because the starts I had earlier in the day, regardless of the lane, leading or not -- I cleared them typically going into one so, it's on me."
If it makes the five-time champ feel any better, well, he wasn't the only one who threw away a victory on this day. Carl Edwards, who himself led 116 laps was doomed to third after a pit road speeding penalty midrace. Hit during a green-flag stop, on Lap 246 the consequences left the No. 99 a lap down and it took the rest of the day simply to work himself back into a position to contend.
"It's real easy to say if we didn't make that mistake, we would have won," Edwards mused; indeed, his Ford had the fastest car at the finish but never had the track position, ultimately falling one car length behind Johnson for second place. "It's the smallest I've ever felt in a race car. I'm gonna think about it. I'm gonna think about it all the way home. I'll lay in bed and my wife is gonna yell at me and tell me to get over it and that's just how it goes."
Kasey Kahne and Matt Kenseth, the first car on four fresh tires after the final round of those caution-flag stops rounded out the top-5 finishers. Kyle Busch wound up sixth, while Richard Petty Motorsports' A.J. Allmendinger performed a miraculous comeback to surge to seventh. An innocent victim of contact with Denny Hamlin, Allmendinger performed a "half-spin" on Lap 6, causing a caution but never hitting anything on Dover's high-banked Turns 3 and 4. Dropping to dead last after pitting, it took the majority of the race in this track-position battle simply to climb all the way back into the top 10.
"I'd say it was 60 percent driver and 40 percent luck," he joked afterwards. "As I was spinning I thought, 'Okay, the day is over already,' but it was a solid day."
Clint Bowyer, Marcos Ambrose, and Kevin Harvick, who is now tied for the points lead rounded out your top-10 finishers. Only six Chasers made the cut on that list, with several experiencing disastrous days including Brad Keselowski (20th), Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (24th), and Tony Stewart (25th). Polesitter Martin Truex, Jr. also struggled, a flat tire combining with handling problems to leave him a distant 30th, four laps back at the checkered flag.
But this day was about the outside polesitter, who led early only to fall back over the course of long runs during the early part of the race. However Busch, who's been brutal on the radio to crew chief Steve Addington in recent weeks gave credit to his crew for sticking with it.
"I just have got to thank Steve for helping me stay on top of the adjustments," he said. "They know they know how to do their jobs. They are all tied together right at the belt loops. And everyone is so positive with the way they feel about their position and the way that Steve is leading these guys that we are not looking back, yet we are not looking too far ahead, because this is a long Chase."
The average speed was 119.413 mph and the race took 3 hours, 30 minutes, and 59 seconds to complete. There were 24 lead changes among 13 drivers and ten cautions for 44 laps, including one competition yellow and two for passing showers - Mother Nature flirted with stopping the race but there never was enough moisture to pull the cars down pit road.
Attendance, listed at 83,000 was up 1.2 percent from the Spring race. Next up, the series travels to Kansas for the fourth event in the ten-race playoff this Sunday.
Brody Jones is a Contributor to Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at brody.jones@frontstretch.com.
Tracking The Chasers: Harvick Reclaims Share of Lead After Stewart's Subpar Day
by Garrett Horton
"You're going to be consistent and solid," Harvick said of how to succeed in this postseason. "It's just a matter of keeping yourself in it until you get to the last couple of races and if you can keep yourself in contention, hopefully you've eliminated most of the other guys in the Chase."
That hasn't happened yet, though as Harvick finds himself with company at the top. Carl Edwards, who overcame that midrace pit road speeding penalty to finish third is now tied for the point lead. With the victory tiebreaker, Harvick has the edge over Edwards with his four wins but the No. 99 has the better track record heading to Kansas, a hometown race for the Missouri native in the best position to win a Sprint Cup since 2008.
Despite winning the last two races, many expected Tony Stewart to have a difficult time at the Monster Mile. He had struggled during his last visit here and also was awful at both Bristol races, a track similar to Dover. Things didn't get off to a good start after qualifying 28th, and Smoke was never able to work his way up. Instead, he was outside the top-25 positions for most of the afternoon, never took the wavearound once lapped, and a series of long green-flag runs left him two laps down. He was running as low as 30th late in the going, but thanks to some late-race mishaps for several others, Stewart ended the day a distant 25th. Dropping from first to third in the standings, he is still just nine points out of the lead going forward.
While Stewart went from hero to zero this week, Kurt Busch did the complete opposite. After having a terrible weekend at Loudon, Busch rebounded quite nicely on Sunday. He was strong early, leading 46 laps after starting on the outside pole. But both Edwards and Jimmie Johnson blew by him, causing the No. 22 to start fading and it looked like drama again in the Penske Racing camp. In fact, Busch expressed frustration on his radio about needing to find out what his teammate has been doing to be so strong at the end. But as it turns out, the No. 22 car took off like a rocket ship in the race's final quarter, running second to Johnson before beating him over the race's final two restarts to cruise to victory. The 2004 champ is now tied with Stewart for third in points.
Anyone that thought Jimmie Johnson was done after a 18th-place finish last week obviously missed his comeback in 2006. After Carl Edwards' pit road speeding penalty, Johnson became the man to beat, and looked unstoppable past the halfway point. While Busch was able to sneak past on the final run, Johnson's runner-up finish, along with an extra bonus point for leading the most laps, has moved him to fifth in the standings, just 13 out of the lead. With seven races still remaining, Johnson is very well in the thick of things for the championship hunt.
Falling back three spots in the standings to sixth is this year's surprise driver, Brad Keselowski. After running in the top-10 most of the day, Keselowski lost his power steering that cost him a lap as his crew made repairs. He received the free pass on the race's final caution, but was unable to capitalize and ended the day a disappointing 20th. "By the time we finally got back on the lead lap, we didn't have any time left to gain back any of the track position we lost," a disappointed Keselowski would say post-race. "It's frustrating. I think we were good enough to get a solid run out of it, but that's the way it goes." He's now 14 markers behind Harvick and Edwards.
Tied for sixth with Keselowski is Matt Kenseth. After starting the day in 18th, he was slow to race his way into the top-10 and hardly looked like a victory contender early. But after some pit strategy, he was able to inch closer to the front and simply took off. In fact, for awhile it looked as if he may have even had something for Johnson during the long, green-flag runs that typify the midrace section of Dover's 400-lappers. But unfortunately for Kenseth, the team did not keep up with the track over the race's second half and the No. 17 Ford faded with every adjustment. With 47 laps remaining, they also took on four tires while most of the leaders opted for two, an ironic twist as that was the exact call they made to win the spring race here. Kenseth, losing precious track position was able to rally from ninth on the final restart to end the day in fifth - but that's as far as his car would go.
Want a sign as to how close these standings are? Kyle Busch finished sixth yet dropped two positions to eighth in the points. It was a solid albeit unspectacular day for Busch, "stuck" in third to eighth for almost the entire race. Just his first top-10 result of the Chase, the season's four-time winner has dropped from the top seed to 15 points behind the leader.
Dropping four spots to ninth in the standings is Jeff Gordon. After starting the day 34th, Gordon quickly worked his way up into the top-20 runners and appeared to have one of the better cars. However, his charge to the front stalled out shortly thereafter, as he never could really crack the top-10. He was only able to muster a 12th-place effort, and - much like Kyle Busch - that regular season momentum hasn't carried over into the final ten races.
Fan favorite Dale Earnhardt, Jr. overcome a broken sway bar early in the race, which put him a lap down then looked to have one of the fastest cars after receiving the free pass. However, a loose wheel during a green-flag run cost the team two laps, a dose of bad luck they were never quite able to make up. As a result, Junior finished the day a disappointing 24th, and dropped two spots to tenth in the standings. "That's racing. That is all I can say," said the dejected driver post-race. "I have had a lot of stuff happen to me over the years, good and bad, and you just have to roll with the punches."
Much like his boss/teammate Stewart, Dover also proved to be a struggle for Ryan Newman. In what has been, statistically speaking his best track Newman was never a threat after starting the day in 20th. Long green-flag runs cost him two laps, and he was only able to come home 23rd. The driver remains 11th in the standings, 41 behind the lead, almost a full race's worth of points back with seven to go.
Rounding out the top-12 is Denny Hamlin, who continues to struggle in the Chase. He started the afternoon in 11th, then quickly worked his way into the top-5 runners despite spinning out A.J. Allmendinger early on. However, the good run was short lived, as handling became an issue for the No. 11 team once the track rubbered up. In the race's second half, the team faded badly, and finished the day a disappointing 18th. Still his best performance in the three Chase races to date, Hamlin sits 68 points out and would need a miracle already to capture the season title.
In the "Best of the Rest" battle, Allmendinger's surprising comeback from that early spin, to seventh allowed him to keep the pressure on Clint Bowyer. The gap between them sits at just two with Bowyer likely facing distractions ahead; rumor has it the driver will be announced as the newest addition to Michael Waltrip Racing for 2012 this Friday.
Standings: t-1) Kevin Harvick 2122, t-1) Carl Edwards 2122, t-3) Tony Stewart -9, t-3) Kurt Busch -9, 5) Jimmie Johnson -13, t-6) Brad Keselowski -14, t-6) Matt Kenseth -14, 8) Kyle Busch -15, 9) Jeff Gordon -19, 10) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -34, 11) Ryan Newman -41, 12) Denny Hamlin -68.
Best of the Rest: 13) Clint Bowyer 811, 14) A.J. Allmendinger -2, 15) Greg Biffle -22, t-16) Mark Martin -36, t-16) Kasey Kahne -36.
Tracking The Top 35: Lally, TRG Motorsports Make A Small Gain
Even though FAS Lane Racing's Mike Bliss and Germain Racing's Casey Mears had poor finishes, the No. 38 car of Front Row Motorsports driven by J.J. Yeley didn't fare much better as the battle for NASCAR's top 35 failed to tighten up. Yeley hit the wall on lap 301, able to continue but losing several laps in the process - he finished just two positions ahead of Bliss after that veteran crashed out the No. 32 Ford on lap 353. Those issues were music to the ears of TRG Motorsports, whose rookie Andy Lally struggled all day at the Monster Mile but still beat 36th-place FRM and the No. 38 by one position - the No. 71 car wound up 33rd.
At this point, it appears that just FAS Lane and TRG are vulnerable to a challenge for their spots. But with the margin 50 and 39 points, respectively, over Yeley's team the challenge of closing the gap remains difficult.
31) Front Row Motorsports (No. 34 - David Gilliland), +135 points ahead of 36th.
32) Germain Racing (No. 13 - Casey Mears), +66 points ahead of 36th.
33) Tommy Baldwin Racing (No. 36 - Dave Blaney), +60 points ahead of 36th.
34) FAS Lane Racing (No. 32 - Mike Bliss), +50 points ahead of 36th.
35) TRG Motorsports (No. 71 - Andy Lally), +39 points ahead of 36th.
36) Front Row Motorsports (No. 38 - J.J. Yeley), -39 points behind 35th.
37) Robby Gordon Motorsports (No. 7 - Reed Sorenson), -89 points behind 35th.
38) Wood Brothers Racing (No. 21 - Trevor Bayne), -127 points behind 35th.
39) MaxQ Motorsports (No. 37 - Josh Wise), -206 points behind 35th.
Garrett Horton is a Contributor to Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at garrett.horton@frontstretch.com.
Got NASCAR-related questions or comments about 2011? John's got answers!
A new year means a new columnist to answer all your pressing questions about the sport! Our legendary flagman John Potts is taking over our Fan Q & A, so be sure to stack his inbox with plenty of queries and comments for the New Year! Send them his way at john.potts@frontstretch.com; and if you're lucky, you'll get your name in print when he does his weekly column answering back to you – the fans!
Secret Star of the Race: The Race You Never Saw
With that type of free agent frenzy upcoming, and no sponsor or driver set to replace him, it should make the No. 33 Chevrolet a circus-like atmosphere of distractions - creating a lame-duck disaster of an ending. Add in their Chase near-miss, a close-but-no-cigar run to 13th-best and you'd think the rest of the season would be all about going through the motions.
Instead? Bowyer nearly won New Hampshire, leading until running out of gas then put together a workmanlike, top-10 effort at Dover on Sunday. Hardly heard from, but clearly consistent Bowyer was the top-finishing driver within the four-car RCR stable, running eighth and giving this team another chance to showcase top-tier results to potential sponsors. It wasn't flashy, sure, but this focused run is what you rarely see from two sides preparing to divorce. Maybe Bowyer and Childress will remain friends after all next season? – Tom Bowles
STAT OF THE WEEK: 1. Top-5 finishes for Kasey Kahne in 16 career starts at the Monster Mile. Kahne, who registered a fourth-place result on Sunday, came in with a horrible track record that included six Dover DNFs (four for wrecks) and just four career lead-lap results at the one-mile oval. Kahne, whose average finish there is still a measly 22.6 has now strung together three top-15 performances to start his own version of "The Chase" – he's 36 points behind Clint Bowyer for 13th place. – Tom Bowles
Running Their Mouth: 2011 AAA 400
by Brody Jones
Best Quote:
"The drag racing is a lot of fun. There's a lot of technique and what you have to do to get your tires warm and to feel the traction when you're coming up through the gears. It's important. I love racing, I don't care what it is. The way that you can get an advantage on guys on restarts is to feel the rear traction and if it's slipping, to not be full-throttle and baby that throttle perfectly. I felt that was the difference-maker today. I was able to wrestle the lead away from (Jimmie) Johnson on the outside. On the final restart, when we had the inside lane, I pulled away with a great launch right out of the hole. Pro Stock racing, I have to thank all those guys for having fun and doing that. It's all a matter of how your setup is for your own car. You have to get that throttle pedal just right on restarts. I've always prided myself in trying to get good restarts and not lose spots." - Kurt Busch, race winner, on how his drag racing experience paid off on Sunday
Who knew that NHRA Pro Stock competition would pay off for Kurt Busch in his victory over Jimmie Johnson? On the surface, both forms of motorsports are very different from one another. In particular, drag racers just go in a straight line for a few seconds while NASCAR drivers race up to 600 miles at around 200 MPH for three and a half hours. But Busch's insight revealed that when it comes to restarts, the Pro Stock experience he gained through "hobby racing" paid dividends when it mattered most. The driver utilized both knowledge of the proper tire grip and hit all the necessary gear shifts on cue. Perhaps his fellow Chase contenders might want to start thinking about moonlighting in the NHRA as well?
Funniest Quote:
"Does that mean you're going to leave me alone? [Will] all you media people leave me alone about being down in points?" - Jimmie Johnson, runner-up
What a difference a week makes. One week ago, several members of the media had Johnson on the ropes and were speaking of possible tension between he and Chad Knaus. This week, following his runner-up finish at Dover, the proverbial egg is now on the face of those same media members who penciled Johnson out of the Chase hunt. Have we not learned anything in the last five seasons? Johnson's team is one that, no matter what the circumstances, can never be counted out, while his track record at Dover has always been strong. This event was a bounce-back race the No. 48 team desperately needed, putting them back in position to take the Chase title down the stretch. Don't look now, but Mr. Five-Time is knocking on the door...
Crew Chief Quote Of The Week
"The biggest thing was that he was giving great feedback. We were just trying to figure out how to get our car going. It took our car 10 to 15 laps to settle in where we thought that we would be. We made some adjustments and brought it to life earlier in the runs and that was a big key for us getting on top of that and finding a direction. It was probably halfway through the race when we finally got a hold on what direction we needed and we got the breaks of getting the (pit) stops and making those adjustments." - Steve Addington, winning crew chief for Kurt Busch
Kurt Busch might not have had the most dominant car in the field, but he was certainly among the better cars today, especially at the end. Crew chief Steve Addington managed to incorporate Busch's feedback into the car with proper adjustments and, at the end of the day, it was Busch who was the "concrete kingpin" at Dover. If Addington and Busch can put together a consistent next seven races, this team could very well be one landing in the center of the discussion for the Sprint Cup championship. To go from the inspection fiasco last week to victory this week has to mollify Addington greatly.
Hard-Luck Quote Of The Week:
"It is tough. It's frustrating. If I were Jimmie I would be so frustrated I gave up that win, I mean he otherwise had a perfect day. It would probably bother me all week if I were Jimmie (joking). It is tough. I think someone wrote a long time ago, I don't remember which book it was, but my buddy Carl Fredrickson had this book at his house and it said that you don't succeed by being the guy that does everything perfect, you succeed by being the guy that minimizes the mistakes because everyone is going to make mistakes. They are very difficult to get over. Today, I think both of us were fortunate. We finished up front. We didn't cost ourselves a ton of points, but we're race car drivers. We're gonna think about what we did wrong and try not to do it again, but it seems like as soon as you've got everything figured out, you start forgetting things you remembered a long time ago and start making the same mistakes over again. It's very difficult." - Carl Edwards, third, on how he's going to get over his pit road mistake
Poor Carl Edwards. In the closing laps, Edwards was turning laps faster than Kurt Busch or Jimmie Johnson, but that untimely pit road speeding penalty cost enough track position to keep him of Victory Lane. Make no mistake, to rally from a lap down to third place following the penalty is nothing short of amazing, but one cannot help but wonder what might have been had Edwards not made that uncharacteristic blunder.
Best Of The Rest
"I can only drive this car. We can only work on this car and can't control what anybody else does. We had a pretty solid day today. We were able to lead a little bit. There were times in the race when we were pretty dominant. We didn't have our worst run at the end and were able to drive back to fifth. My guys did a good job on pit road, so we'll just keep working on it." - Matt Kenseth, fifth, on other guys in the Chase finishing ahead of him
"It's deceiving because you shave points off, but then you lose two spots. It's alright. It's the margin. You're back, which is all that matters. We're still in the thing, so you keep fighting and keep doing what you know how to do and hope that your Michigan setup works pretty good at Kansas." - Kyle Busch, sixth
"Denny had a nose right there, but it was lap four. Those guys would expect you to give them some room, but he just stuffed it down in there and jacked me sideways. It was no surprise, and as I started spinning toward the wall I just hammered the throttle. I didn't think it was gonna hit the wall, but then I was afraid that everybody behind me would come piling in. I'd like to say it was all driver, but luckily I tapped the brake and kept it on the throttle it straightened back up to where I didn't stop in front of anybody and, thank God, everybody behind us was alert and kind of got it slowed down. I'd say it was 60 percent driver and 40 percent luck. I'll give myself a little bit of credit." - A.J. Allmendinger, seventh, on his early save on lap 5
"That's racing. That is all I can say. I have had a lot of stuff happen to me over the years good and bad and you just have to roll with the punches. I don't think I am B.S.ing myself when I think that we brought a good car to the track. We improved it from practice and I thought we weren't really that good in practice and I thought we improved on it and we kind of went toward where Jimmie was and it helped my car so we know that was a good direction. We know that for next time we come here, because I really have a hard time with this place lately and need to get something figured out here. There was a couple promising things today but we didn't finish like we wanted to." - Dale Earnhardt Jr., 24th, on a day-long rally going sour late
"Well, we've got seven weeks to worry about it. So we'll see." - Tony Stewart, 25th
"You know the saying, 'If it weren't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all?' Unfortunately, that's the kind of day we had in our No. 38 'Drive Sober' Ford Fusion today. It started with a loose plug wire and then we had a setback with a penalty for a pit road violation and then we blew a tire and got into the wall. Not the day we were hoping for with the 'Drive Sober' campaign. Our Ford Fusion actually was pretty good. We just had all these other things trip us up." - J.J. Yeley, 34th
Brody Jones is a Contributor to Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at brody.jones@frontstretch.com.
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Hey Frontstretch Readers! We know you love the roar of raw horsepower under the hood that powers 43 of the best drivers in the world every weekend, but did you ever wonder how the sponsor on top of that hood also contributes to keeping the sport moving? What about the contributions of official NASCAR companies? If you think they are simply writing checks, think again. Check out our newest feature - Sunday Money. This weekly Frontstretch exclusive provides you with a behind the scenes look how NASCAR, it's affiliates and team sponsors approach the daunting task of keeping fans interested and excited about the sport for 38 weeks of the year.
TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud: Dover-2 Race Recap
by Matt McLaughlin
Monday Morning Teardown: NASCAR Penthouse To Outhouse, Vol. 3
by Ron Lemasters
David vs. Goliath: A Low But Costly Body Count For Miles the Monster
by Bryan Davis Keith
Bowles' Eye View: Surviving, Not Thriving: Two Drivers Miss Prime Opportunity To Cash In
by Tom Bowles
Big Six Questions Answered: AAA 400
by Amy Henderson
Tracking The Trucks: Kentucky 225
by Beth Lunkenheimer
ADVERTISEMENT
Get THE ANNUAL, 2011 Racing Preview for your mobile device.
Go to Frontstretch.com and click on "The Annual" link on the right side to order and download this special issue that includes: Track Information, Driver profiles and In-Depth Features.
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: This upcoming weekend, Sebastien Vettel has a chance to clinch the World Drivers' Championship in Japan at Suzuka Circuit. The track has a long history of notable instances in its time on the Formula One calendar. However, the 1993 running of the Grand Prix of Japan ended with a confrontation between winner Ayrton Senna and upstart newcomer Eddie Irvine. What happened?
"The drag racing is a lot of fun. There's a lot of technique and what you have to do to get your tires warm and to feel the traction when you're coming up through the gears. It's important. I love racing, I don't care what it is. The way that you can get an advantage on guys on restarts is to feel the rear traction and if it's slipping, to not be full-throttle and baby that throttle perfectly. I felt that was the difference-maker today. I was able to wrestle the lead away from (Jimmie) Johnson on the outside. On the final restart, when we had the inside lane, I pulled away with a great launch right out of the hole. Pro Stock racing, I have to thank all those guys for having fun and doing that. It's all a matter of how your setup is for your own car. You have to get that throttle pedal just right on restarts. I've always prided myself in trying to get good restarts and not lose spots." - Kurt Busch, race winner, on how his drag racing experience paid off on Sunday
Who knew that NHRA Pro Stock competition would pay off for Kurt Busch in his victory over Jimmie Johnson? On the surface, both forms of motorsports are very different from one another. In particular, drag racers just go in a straight line for a few seconds while NASCAR drivers race up to 600 miles at around 200 MPH for three and a half hours. But Busch's insight revealed that when it comes to restarts, the Pro Stock experience he gained through "hobby racing" paid dividends when it mattered most. The driver utilized both knowledge of the proper tire grip and hit all the necessary gear shifts on cue. Perhaps his fellow Chase contenders might want to start thinking about moonlighting in the NHRA as well?
Funniest Quote:
"Does that mean you're going to leave me alone? [Will] all you media people leave me alone about being down in points?" - Jimmie Johnson, runner-up
What a difference a week makes. One week ago, several members of the media had Johnson on the ropes and were speaking of possible tension between he and Chad Knaus. This week, following his runner-up finish at Dover, the proverbial egg is now on the face of those same media members who penciled Johnson out of the Chase hunt. Have we not learned anything in the last five seasons? Johnson's team is one that, no matter what the circumstances, can never be counted out, while his track record at Dover has always been strong. This event was a bounce-back race the No. 48 team desperately needed, putting them back in position to take the Chase title down the stretch. Don't look now, but Mr. Five-Time is knocking on the door...
Crew Chief Quote Of The Week
"The biggest thing was that he was giving great feedback. We were just trying to figure out how to get our car going. It took our car 10 to 15 laps to settle in where we thought that we would be. We made some adjustments and brought it to life earlier in the runs and that was a big key for us getting on top of that and finding a direction. It was probably halfway through the race when we finally got a hold on what direction we needed and we got the breaks of getting the (pit) stops and making those adjustments." - Steve Addington, winning crew chief for Kurt Busch
Kurt Busch might not have had the most dominant car in the field, but he was certainly among the better cars today, especially at the end. Crew chief Steve Addington managed to incorporate Busch's feedback into the car with proper adjustments and, at the end of the day, it was Busch who was the "concrete kingpin" at Dover. If Addington and Busch can put together a consistent next seven races, this team could very well be one landing in the center of the discussion for the Sprint Cup championship. To go from the inspection fiasco last week to victory this week has to mollify Addington greatly.
Hard-Luck Quote Of The Week:
"It is tough. It's frustrating. If I were Jimmie I would be so frustrated I gave up that win, I mean he otherwise had a perfect day. It would probably bother me all week if I were Jimmie (joking). It is tough. I think someone wrote a long time ago, I don't remember which book it was, but my buddy Carl Fredrickson had this book at his house and it said that you don't succeed by being the guy that does everything perfect, you succeed by being the guy that minimizes the mistakes because everyone is going to make mistakes. They are very difficult to get over. Today, I think both of us were fortunate. We finished up front. We didn't cost ourselves a ton of points, but we're race car drivers. We're gonna think about what we did wrong and try not to do it again, but it seems like as soon as you've got everything figured out, you start forgetting things you remembered a long time ago and start making the same mistakes over again. It's very difficult." - Carl Edwards, third, on how he's going to get over his pit road mistake
Poor Carl Edwards. In the closing laps, Edwards was turning laps faster than Kurt Busch or Jimmie Johnson, but that untimely pit road speeding penalty cost enough track position to keep him of Victory Lane. Make no mistake, to rally from a lap down to third place following the penalty is nothing short of amazing, but one cannot help but wonder what might have been had Edwards not made that uncharacteristic blunder.
Best Of The Rest
"I can only drive this car. We can only work on this car and can't control what anybody else does. We had a pretty solid day today. We were able to lead a little bit. There were times in the race when we were pretty dominant. We didn't have our worst run at the end and were able to drive back to fifth. My guys did a good job on pit road, so we'll just keep working on it." - Matt Kenseth, fifth, on other guys in the Chase finishing ahead of him
"It's deceiving because you shave points off, but then you lose two spots. It's alright. It's the margin. You're back, which is all that matters. We're still in the thing, so you keep fighting and keep doing what you know how to do and hope that your Michigan setup works pretty good at Kansas." - Kyle Busch, sixth
"Denny had a nose right there, but it was lap four. Those guys would expect you to give them some room, but he just stuffed it down in there and jacked me sideways. It was no surprise, and as I started spinning toward the wall I just hammered the throttle. I didn't think it was gonna hit the wall, but then I was afraid that everybody behind me would come piling in. I'd like to say it was all driver, but luckily I tapped the brake and kept it on the throttle it straightened back up to where I didn't stop in front of anybody and, thank God, everybody behind us was alert and kind of got it slowed down. I'd say it was 60 percent driver and 40 percent luck. I'll give myself a little bit of credit." - A.J. Allmendinger, seventh, on his early save on lap 5
"That's racing. That is all I can say. I have had a lot of stuff happen to me over the years good and bad and you just have to roll with the punches. I don't think I am B.S.ing myself when I think that we brought a good car to the track. We improved it from practice and I thought we weren't really that good in practice and I thought we improved on it and we kind of went toward where Jimmie was and it helped my car so we know that was a good direction. We know that for next time we come here, because I really have a hard time with this place lately and need to get something figured out here. There was a couple promising things today but we didn't finish like we wanted to." - Dale Earnhardt Jr., 24th, on a day-long rally going sour late
"Well, we've got seven weeks to worry about it. So we'll see." - Tony Stewart, 25th
"You know the saying, 'If it weren't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all?' Unfortunately, that's the kind of day we had in our No. 38 'Drive Sober' Ford Fusion today. It started with a loose plug wire and then we had a setback with a penalty for a pit road violation and then we blew a tire and got into the wall. Not the day we were hoping for with the 'Drive Sober' campaign. Our Ford Fusion actually was pretty good. We just had all these other things trip us up." - J.J. Yeley, 34th
Brody Jones is a Contributor to Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at brody.jones@frontstretch.com.
ADVERTISEMENT
Hey Frontstretch Readers! We know you love the roar of raw horsepower under the hood that powers 43 of the best drivers in the world every weekend, but did you ever wonder how the sponsor on top of that hood also contributes to keeping the sport moving? What about the contributions of official NASCAR companies? If you think they are simply writing checks, think again. Check out our newest feature - Sunday Money. This weekly Frontstretch exclusive provides you with a behind the scenes look how NASCAR, it's affiliates and team sponsors approach the daunting task of keeping fans interested and excited about the sport for 38 weeks of the year.
TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud: Dover-2 Race Recap
by Matt McLaughlin
Monday Morning Teardown: NASCAR Penthouse To Outhouse, Vol. 3
by Ron Lemasters
David vs. Goliath: A Low But Costly Body Count For Miles the Monster
by Bryan Davis Keith
Bowles' Eye View: Surviving, Not Thriving: Two Drivers Miss Prime Opportunity To Cash In
by Tom Bowles
Big Six Questions Answered: AAA 400
by Amy Henderson
Tracking The Trucks: Kentucky 225
by Beth Lunkenheimer
ADVERTISEMENT
Get THE ANNUAL, 2011 Racing Preview for your mobile device.
Go to Frontstretch.com and click on "The Annual" link on the right side to order and download this special issue that includes: Track Information, Driver profiles and In-Depth Features.
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: This upcoming weekend, Sebastien Vettel has a chance to clinch the World Drivers' Championship in Japan at Suzuka Circuit. The track has a long history of notable instances in its time on the Formula One calendar. However, the 1993 running of the Grand Prix of Japan ended with a confrontation between winner Ayrton Senna and upstart newcomer Eddie Irvine. What happened?
Friday's Answer:
Q: The 1993 SplitFire Spark Plugs 500 also marked the final start for a notable car. Which car was it, and who was driving it?
A: It was the final Winston Cup start for the "Underbird," the car in which Alan Kulwicki won the 1992 Winston Cup Championship at Atlanta Motor Speedway. By this point, Kulwicki's team had been purchased from his estate by Geoff Bodine. Bodine was driving his first race in the No. 7, now sponsored by The Family Channel (now ABC Family) at Dover. Unfortunately, Bodine crashed late in the race after contact from Jeff Gordon. The crash can be seen in this clip. The car was originally said to be totaled, but its remains were eventually sold to a collector, who restored it to 1992 Hooters 500 condition (including the same engine that Kulwicki used that day). Today, the car resides at the Hooters Casino in Las Vegas. This website is dedicated to the car (and Kulwicki) and run by the people who purchased the car from Geoff Bodine Racing.
Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: If we mess up, you get the shirt off our backs! If we've provided an incorrect answer to the Frontstretch Trivia question, be the first to email the corrected trivia answer to trivia@frontstretch.com and we'll send you a Frontstretch T-Shirt ... FREE!
Coming Tuesday in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from Tom Bowles
-- Sitting In The Stands: A Fans' View by S.D. Grady
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
The Yellow Stripe by Danny Peters
Danny is back with a commentary piece based on recent events in NASCAR.
Who's Hot / Who's Not in Sprint Cup: Dover-Kansas Edition by Summer Dreyer
Summer takes a look at post-Dover numbers to see who's got the most momentum heading into Kansas... and beyond.
Five Points To Ponder by Bryan Davis Keith
Bryan's back with his weekly edition of talking points to tie up Dover and get us set for the week of NASCAR news ahead.
Talking NASCAR TV by Phil Allaway
This past weekend, the Sprint Cup Series made their second visit of the year to Dover for a 400-mile race, with the Nationwide Series serving as main support. Meanwhile, the Camping World Truck Series made their second visit of the season to Kentucky Speedway. Were the race telecasts up to snuff, or were they missing something? Find out in this week's edition of the TV Critique.
Fact Or Fiction by Tom Bowles
Tom's back with a look at some intriguing subplots heading into this weekend's exploits in Kansas.
------------------------------
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