Turn 4 Transitions

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

By Natalie Anthony

 

Price Chopper 400

October 4, 2009 (Sunday) 2:00 pm – ABC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            Whoa Logano!  It looks like the rookies are being shook up.  Last season, rookie Michael McDowell shocked qualifying watchers when he spun out and flipped his #00 Aarons Toyota eight times trying to run a fast qualifying lap for the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.  And it looks like Joey Logano has taken his place in crash history by taking the Home Depot #20 Toyota into the air for a seven flip ride.  When viewers see the crash happen on television, it is a secondary emotion and you feel sorry for the driver, but if you watch a crash like that live you feel scared for the very life of that driver.   I don’t mind if drivers bump and bang or spin out or even kiss the wall, but flipping over repeatedly and leaving the ground is not in my vocabulary as fun.  As a matter of fact, it makes me down right angry for a driver to be put in a life or death situation.  I honestly appreciate the safety of the cars that surround each driver with a protective cocoon, but can’t NASCAR make changes to keep the cars on the ground?

            Jimmie Johnson stormed away with the win at Dover and is looking to make it two wins in a row and consecutive wins at Kansas Speedway (KS).  Even though the #48 is on the right path towards his fourth championship, it is certainly too early to award him the trophy yet.  Jimmie is still in second place behind teammate and points leader Mark Martin, who has proven to be the driver who maintains his points lead by finishing in the Top Five two weeks in a row for the first two races of the chase.  Of course, Mark’s Top Five at New Hampshire Motor Speedway was actually a win, which is monumental for earning points.  Mark’s success at KS has been up and down with Mark finishing in the Top Ten one season and the Top Twenty the next season.  It looks as though this Sunday’s race may be the race that some of the Cup contenders wish they could skip.  Only four of the chase contenders finished in the Top Ten last season in September.  That includes Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, and Jeff Gordon; respectively.  Brian Vickers is still in the chase with no chance of winning the cup, but he may have a good finish or even at win at Kansas he can be proud of.  Brian likes to toy with the Top fifteen and has three of them out of his four starts at KS.  A non-chase contender that might give the Cup guys a run for the trophy is Clint Bowyer.  Clint has two Top Tens and missed a third one by finishing twelfth last September.

 

 

Track Stats

 

 

Camping World RV 400

(September 28, 2008) 

Top 10 Results  

1.  Jimmie Johnson

2.  Carl Edwards

3.  Greg Biffle

4.  Jeff Gordon

5.  Matt Kenseth

6.  Kevin Harvick

7.  Jeff Burton

8.  David Ragan

9.  AJ Allmendinger

10.Elliott Sadler

 

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