Watkins Glen Cup Race Thread

[Jonesi]

Entry List 46 cars entered, 3 will DNQ.
Top 35 (#8 Almirola in for Martin, #01 Fellows in for Smith)
18 KYLE BUSCH
88 DALE EARNHARDT JR
99 CARL EDWARDS
48 JIMMIE JOHNSON
31 JEFF BURTON
24 JEFF GORDON
9 KASEY KAHNE
16 GREG BIFFLE
20 TONY STEWART
11 DENNY HAMLIN
--
29 KEVIN HARVICK
07 CLINT BOWYER
17 MATT KENSETH
6 DAVID RAGAN
12 RYAN NEWMAN
83 BRIAN VICKERS
1 MARTIN TRUEX JR
2 KURT BUSCH
26 JAMIE McMURRAY
43 BOBBY LABONTE
--
19 ELLIOTT SADLER
28 TRAVIS KVAPIL
5 CASEY MEARS
42 JUAN MONTOYA
38 DAVID GILLILAND
44 DAVID REUTIMANN
15 PAUL MENARD
22 DAVE BLANEY
7 ROBBY GORDON
41 REED SORENSON
--
55 MICHAEL WALTRIP
77 SAM HORNISH JR
66 SCOTT RIGGS (only +4 points over 36th)
8 ARIC ALMIROLA
01 RON FELLOWS

GOGH (No Champ Prov)
96 J.J. YELEY
10 PATRICK CARPENTIER
78 JOE NEMECHEK
00 MICHAEL McDOWELL (out of Top 35 by -4)
84 AJ ALLMENDINGER (now only 38 points out of top 35)
45 KYLE PETTY (back in car)
21 MARCOS AMBROSE
70 MAX PAPIS
81 REGAN SMITH (moves from #01 for this race)
60 BORIS SAID
34 BRIAN SIMO

[Jonesi]

PJ Jones now listed in #96 replacing Yeley.

[Oli_M]

I'm struggling to pick the 3 DNQ's...... 01, 00 and 78 perhaps??

Surprised to see Pruett not entered in either this or the Nationwide race, although Dario back in the 40 in NW.

[Jonesi]

I'm struggling to pick the 3 DNQ's...... 01, 00 and 78 perhaps??
Surprised to see Pruett not entered in either this or the Nationwide race, although Dario back in the 40 in NW.

#41 is in Top 35 by +100 points so there's no serious reason to take Sorenson out to put Pruett in, (he needs road course experience to get better at road courses.)
#01 is in top 35 (barely) so it's in, Jayski has a new rumor that #81 Regan Smith may be withdrawn. I don't think the #78 with a Hendrick motor & Joe N driving will miss. More likely, don't think #34 is strong enough even with Brian Simo driving to be fast enough.

[Jonesi]

Qualifing Rained out, Starting Grid set by owner points:
18 KYLE BUSCH
88 DALE EARNHARDT JR
99 CARL EDWARDS
48 JIMMIE JOHNSON
31 JEFF BURTON
24 JEFF GORDON
9 KASEY KAHNE
16 GREG BIFFLE
20 TONY STEWART
11 DENNY HAMLIN
--
29 KEVIN HARVICK
07 CLINT BOWYER
17 MATT KENSETH
6 DAVID RAGAN
8 ARIC ALMIROLA
12 RYAN NEWMAN
83 BRIAN VICKERS
1 MARTIN TRUEX JR
2 KURT BUSCH
26 JAMIE McMURRAY
--
43 BOBBY LABONTE
19 ELLIOTT SADLER
28 TRAVIS KVAPIL
5 CASEY MEARS
42 JUAN MONTOYA
38 DAVID GILLILAND
15 PAUL MENARD
44 DAVID REUTIMANN
22 DAVE BLANEY
41 REED SORENSON
--
7 ROBBY GORDON
01 RON FELLOWS
55 MICHAEL WALTRIP
77 SAM HORNISH JR
66 SCOTT RIGGS
00 MICHAEL McDOWELL
84 AJ ALLMENDINGER
96 P. J. JONES
10 PATRICK CARPENTIER
45 KYLE PETTY
--
78 JOE NEMECHEK
70 MAX PAPIS
21 MARCOS AMBROSE

DNQ:
60 BORIS SAID
34 BRIAN SIMO

[Hotlavaaaa]

Boris Said will replace Kyle Petty in the 45.

[Lee Roy]

Boris Said will replace Kyle Petty in the 45.

Good move.

[bowers]

Yesterday qualifying for the NASCAR CUp race at Watkins Glen was cancelled due to rain. Because of the cancellation 2 teams are going home (#60 and #34). These teams have full pit crews, paid the entry fees, signed the sponsors, hauled their cars and equipment up to NY state only to get told you wont even get a chance at making the race!? Keep in mind that NASCAR has run a practice (another was raine dout also) since then. There is some on track activity today but if you ran a shortened happy hour followed by qualifying (or vice-versa) you would get the show fans paid for, the show sponsors paid for (especially with the smaller teams), and qualifying would be ran ensuring a safer and more sporting race. Yet for some reason this isn't how NASCAR runs things. I simply don't get it (more cars go home at ovals too... I think 9 cars went home after a Bristol rain out last year?).

(sorry for the grammatical error in the thread title "it's" should be "its"... sorry)

[Mr Peppermill]

Junior have to fire his crew chief, that guy is a total idiot.

[Vez]

Lap 83 -- RED FLAG: NASCAR has displayed the red flag at 4:24 p.m. ET to clean up the major crash in the final corner.

Lap 83 -- YELLOW FLAG NO. 4: Big crash coming out of Turn 11 at the entrance of pit road. Multiple cars have heavy damage. David Gilliland and Bobby Labonte suffered the worst damage. Michael McDowell makes contact with Gilliland coming out of the turn, and Gilliland bounced off the wall into traffic. Labonte slammed Gilliland, and others were collected.

Cars involved:
• David Gilliland
• Michael McDowell
• Bobby Labonte
• Sam Hornish Jr.
• Reed Sorenson
• Dave Blaney
• Joe Nemechek
• Max Papis
• Ryan Newman

That's a big blow for the lot of them. Hope they are all ok.

[gm99]

Junior have to fire his crew chief, that guy is a total idiot.

Didn't Junior fire Eury something like 10 times already over the past couple of years?

Shame about the crash (Labonte evidently is being transported to hospital for further checks, hope he's ok), it was a pretty good race (with very few cautions for NASCAR standards) until that point. Could be a mad 8-lap dash to the finish now.

[nigelred5]

Yeah, he has. Never do business with family.

[ShiftingGears]

43rd to 3rd :up: Well done to Busch for his 8th victory.

[MD24]

I didn't get to see any of the race, what happened to Jeff Gordon (25th) :confused:

[harvick#1]

his car was off all race

[e2mtt]

Junior have to fire his crew chief, that guy is a total idiot.

Wow. That was horrible. I was sitting there going Pit Jr! Pit Jr! Pit!. But no. I think a conversation whent something like this somewhere:


Look ma, look Daddy's ghost, look Rick Hendrick, I'm leading on a road course!"

"Um Dale, Tony Eury, what are you guys doing? Did you stop for gas?

"Gas?"

"Yeah, everybody else behind you stopped for gas already..."

"Um, Oh. Gas. Oh Sh*t"

What a sad race, at my favorite track. Dale compeletly losing his way on pit timing, a huge wreck that stops the race for half an hour, and Kyle Busch making everybody else look slow again. Whats the deal? Not even Tony Stewart himself, running what should be identical equipment to Kyle, can give him a challenge.

[Shifter]

Tony Eury Jr. sure looked like a man incapable of running a race team today. Is it possible he just does not understand how road racing works? He seemed confused when the pit reporter questioned him.

How nice of NASCAR to give #88 a chance to come around to pit entrance before they threw the caution for debris (and closing pit road), but alas Junior wasn't pitting.

[Simmi]

It wasn't just that the strategy was wrong it was the fact there was a HUGE chance the caution was going to fly and he still didnt pit his driver. The exact same type of incident (gravel on the track) had brought out a caution earlier in the race.

Seems like a no brainer as Junior rounds the last corner to bring him in, bearing in mind he can come in at any time now for fuel and make it to the end. The yellow coming out moments later on the front straight was just a slap in the face.

[PitMarshal]

Hmm, last year it was 'blame the step-mom'. Now it's 'blame the crewchief'. Anyone thought of blaming the driver yet?

Probably Eury did goof on pit strategy, I can't understand road-course pit strategies myself. Personally, I think now that they have top-end machinery at their disposal, the shortcomings of both driver and crew chief are being laid bare.

[Mr Peppermill]

Hmm, last year it was 'blame the step-mom'. Now it's 'blame the crewchief'. Anyone thought of blaming the driver yet?

Probably Eury did goof on pit strategy, I can't understand road-course pit strategies myself. Personally, I think now that they have top-end machinery at their disposal, the shortcomings of both driver and crew chief are being laid bare.
Exactkly what wrong did Dale jr. do in yesterdays race?

[Chaparral66]

Did Eury want Dale to come in and Dale didn't want to to keep track position, or did Eury want him to and Dale wanted to stay out?

[Sparky1329]

I can't wait to hear what it was that Jr did wrong. The only driver I know of who calls his own race strategy is Robby Gordon.

[Rapier Racer]

Did the commentators not say there was no communcation between Jr and Jr during the laps that lead up to the caution? Old Eurys to blame here I think.

[wedge]

Finally managed to watch all of the weekends' action from the Glen.

Congratulations to Marcus Ambrose for the the great job all weekend.