Backpost - After Pocono

Well, another Sunday drive yields another eliminated driver. Carl Edwards finished a very average 21st, but was the slowest of the 7 remaining drivers. "The Pope" is eliminated this week, and in turn Kenny is eliminated from the competition. Welcome to the club K-Ro. My sister is still a frontrunner with 2 drivers remaining. All of the 6 remaining drivers run Chevy's, two are Hendrick, two are RCR, one DEI and one JGR cars remain.

This weeks race was not the most exciting that I can recall. The Elder Busch ran away with this one. The only excitement was watching the 26 car wreck repeatedly. I swear to god I fell asleep during his first spin early in the race and woke up an hour later and he was still spinning. He must have been dizzy! Much like his personal life, McMurray couldn't keep his car straight. Finally, late int he race he got caught up in some cars checking up thanks to a run-in between the #15 and the #7 (driven by PJ Jones after a Robby Gordon suspension from Saturday's Busch activities - he was robbed in my opinion, but that is a long conversation for another time) that finally put McMurray out of his (my) misery.

The pre-race was pretty funny. Good old Chris Rock, er, I mean Chris Tucker was the starter. He did a nice job with that, but in the pre-race interview he looked like a dumbass. When asked if he'd spoken with any of the drivers he said "I met Dale and that other guy that's one of the best drivers. I'm a big fan of these guys". I should not have to explain what is wrong with that statement. I won't fault him, however, for claiming that the #96 was going to win. He's new to this NASCAR thing, and he is supposed to have confidence in the car with his face on the hood. Go Hollywood promotion machine! Put a number on it and it would given the blue deuce a run for its money today. I was, however, shocked not to hear the following "Gentlemen, do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth? start your engines!". THANK GOD THAT DID NOT HAPPEN. I would have died in my lay-z-boy of disgust.

Next week, road course. This is my favorite track to run NR2003 on, so I will be leaning into every turn. That reminds me, Curtis, we need to get back to racing once a week. Anyway, I don't have the stats in front of me or anything, but of the 6 drivers remaining, I believe 3 have road course wins. I don't recall a win from the #31, #5, or the #8. I know Jr. has run well, but I also know the #5 and the #31 struggle on right hand turns. This could spell trouble for Curtis and Susie. Have faith though Curtis, Jeff Burton ran well at Montreal and will run the Busch race on Saturday in an effort to improve.

Finally, is anyone fooled at all by ESPN's Draft Track? Its all smoke and mirrors, but they pass it off like there are atmospheric gages feeding info to a computer. I hate to play the spoiler (OK, I don't hate it) but its just a crappy animation that some intern is pasting onto a replay. I will admit, this is the only really bad thing ESPN has done so far (besides their commentators not knowing drivers names). I will rate them very well so far.

See you next week.

Standings after Pocono:

Eliminated Drivers:

Dover - #2 Kurt Busch (Scott Mann)
Charlotte - #16 Greg Biffle (Jon Lommerin)
Pocono - #48 Jimmy Johnson (Jon Lommerin) - ELIMINATED
Michigan - #17 Matt Kenseth (Kenny Ross)
Sonoma - #veintiséis (thats #26 for those of from north of the border) Jamie McMurray (ME)
Louden - #07 Clint Bowyer (Curtis Krakowski)
Daytona - #11 Denny Hamlin (Thornton) - ELIMINATED
Chicago - #70 Johnny Sauter (Steve Shaffer)
Indianapolis - #12 Ryan Newman (Mike Inskeep)
Pocono - #99 Carl Edwards (Kenny Ross) - ELIMINATED

Survivors:
#24 (Inskeep)
#31 (Krakowski)
#8 (Shaffer)
#20 (Mann)
#29 (Mikesell)
#5 (Mikesell)