And So It Begins…

Last night found our NASCAR boys at Richmond Int’l Raceway and the end of the “Race for the Chase”, which made last night’s race not quite the wild “do or die” free-for-all it has been in the last couple years, but darn close. But the last few races have been remarkable for their clean racing, so whatever mad-craziness may have infected our drivers, there was enough maturity to go around as well...except in Jeff Green's car, but that's nothing new.

Elliott sadly was not in contention, so other than being mentioned in passing a couple times, I have no idea what was going on other than him hanging around in the late teens-low twenties most of the evening. However, when he moved to Evernham he said one of the goal his team had was to make sure his teammate: Kasey Khane got in the Chase and that they have accomplished.

Mark Martin and his team never gave up, hanging on to an ill-handling car and working it practically until the end to finish 5th. He’s in *Yea!*

As...annoyed as I have been with some of the things Dale Jr. has said and done off the track, he still impresses the hell out of me behind the wheel. Last night Dale Jr.’s brakes went out, he spent half the race with just front brakes and then the final 40 laps with no brakes. Considering Richmond is only 3/4 of a mile and he continued to stay in the top twenty while threading through 41 other cars…

Day-um.

The guy is good. You cannot deny.

Great finish with Harvick going up the middle three-wide for the lead on the second to last lap (also so cool he won driving a paint scheme for BNL, one of the most unique bands with the most fun shows out there now). It is sad about Tony Stewart missing the Chase, part of me feels like it just won’t seem like a Championship run without him. But when you compare his year to that of Kasey Khane, the man he was in contention for the final spot, you can see why Khane deserves to be there this year.

The next ten races promises to be very, very interesting. Best of Luck to all the “Chasers”:

Matt Kennseth - #17 - Dewalt Tools
Jimmie Johnson - #48 - Lowes
Kevin Harvick - #29 - Mr. Goodwrench
Kyle Busch - #5 - Kellog’s
Denny Hamlin - #11 - FedEx
Dale Earnhardt Jr. - #8 - Budweiser
Mark Martin - #6 - AAA
Jeff Burton - #31 – Cingular
Jeff Gordon - #24 – DuPont
Kasey Khane - #9 – Dodge

Who are now only separated by 5 points each.

And best of luck to the guys duking it out for the 11th place million dollar payoff which includes Smoke, Carl Edwards, Gregg Biffle and Kurt Busch. Now there's an interesting crew... :D