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Friday, May 14, 2010
By Natalie Anthony Autism Speaks 400
May16, 2010 (Sunday) 1:00 pm – Fox
Jimmie Johnson - 2009 Autism Speaks 400 Winner!
Wow, Jimmie Johnson hasn’t
been into Victory Lane
in the last six races and he is still in the news almost every day. Look, Jimmie even made it into my blog
without doing anything extraordinary.
Speculation is running wild in the media streets of NASCAR because the
four-time champion of the Sprint Cup series has been struggling even to make it
into the Top 10. Well, yeah, it looks
like a struggle when you dominate every race.
Jimmie’s performance of late has nothing to do with some lost edge or the fall of a racing monarchy. Speculation has even gone as far as to say
the new spoiler on the car has given the Hendrick Lowes
Chevrolet team an added thorn in their side.
Jimmie Johnson is experiencing the normal ups and downs of a season like
every other driver on the track. NASCAR
has taken more of a notice to his deficiencies because Jimmie started the
season off too strong and put the #48 bar too high. Fans, media, and conspiracy theorist can rest
easy this weekend at Dover International Speedway (DIS) because in case they
hadn’t notice, JJ won both races last season.
DIS makes good on its name as the “Monster Mile.” If you have never had the pleasure to visit
the Delaware
track in person, you are surely missing a unique experience. Every track on the NASCAR circuit has
something special to offer, but Dover
exclusiveness arises from the fan and driver experience in the monster mixing
bowl of doom. Every seat at DIS brings
with it the quasi -vortex effect that you would expect when forty – three
drivers are driving around the mile track at top speed and you are trapped inside
with them. Fans dig it, but drivers
resist it. Dover has been referred to many as a “Wannabe
Bristol” because of the 24 degree banking and the confinement of the
track. As a driver you either know your
way around the track or you don’t. There
is really not a margin of in between when it comes to displaying your talent at
DIS. Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman, Mark Martin,
Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart
and of course Jimmie Johnson don’t seem to mind driving in the dust oval
because each of these drivers finished in the Top 10 both races last season at
Dover.
There
are only a handful of drivers that can wreck at DIS and keep the car of the
wall and some of them are mentioned above.
DIS demands more car control than most tracks and given the diverseness
of the talent pool for this Sunday, not all of the drivers are going to finish
on the lead lap or maybe even not at all.
Best wishes to Brian Vickers for a healthy
and fast return to NASCAR.
Track Stats
Autism Speaks 400
(May 31, 2009)
Top 10
Results
1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Tony Stewart
3. Greg Biffle
4. Matt Kenseth
5. Kurt Busch
6. Kasey Kahne
7. Carl Edwards
8. Ryan Newman
9. Casey Mears
10.Mark
Martin
AAA 400
(September 27,
2009)
Top 10
Results
1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Mark Martin
3. Matt Kenseth
4. Juan Pablo Montoya
5. Kurt Busch
6. Jeff Gordon
7. AJ Allmendinger
8. Kasey Kahne
9. Tony Stewart
10.Ryan
Newman
Post Questions
& Comments to:
NASCARNATALIEANTHONY@yahoo.com
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