Here in no particular order are the top five chasers

Gordon
Johnson
Busch, Ky
Bowyer
Stewart

Somehow, I gotta believe that young Mr. Kahne will get the win… his luck
has gotta change sometime… doesn’t it?

Bonus Prediction:

The clergy scheduled to conduct the pre-race invocation will develop a case
of severe laryngitis and Father Moleski will be flown in at the last minute
to save the day.  His on-track persona will so impress the guru’s at ESPN
that he will be offered a job to sit along side Rusty and provide color for
the races…. GO Marty!!!

;^)

Mike
(whose tongue is firmly implanted in his cheek)

Here in no particular order are the top five chasers

Gordon
Johnson
Busch, Ky
Bowyer
Stewart

Somehow, I gotta believe that young Mr. Kahne will get the win… his luck
has gotta change sometime… doesn’t it?

Bonus Prediction:

The clergy scheduled to conduct the pre-race invocation will develop a case
of severe laryngitis and Father Moleski will be flown in at the last minute
to save the day.  His on-track persona will so impress the guru’s at ESPN
that he will be offered a job to sit along side Rusty and provide color for
the races…. GO Marty!!!

;^)

Mike
(whose tongue is firmly implanted in his cheek)

My daughter and her family have lived in Martinsville for several
years, but have thus far failed to produce any free tickets for dear
ole dad.  But I still love her. ((^:

The winner:  No strong feelings on this except I don’t want it to be a
Hendrick car.  So let’s call it for DEJr.  His aggressiveness the last
couple of races should serve him well here.

1.  The three MWR cars qualified in the order 00, 55, 44.  They finish
in the same order.

2.  Ward Burton qualified behind all the MWR cars but he finishes in
front of them.

3. Jamie McMurray gets a top 5.

4.  Bobby Labonte makes it into the top 10 for the king.

5.  Eight of the top 10 qualifiers are Chevys.  There will be no more
than four ( four or fewer) Chevys finishing in the Top 10.

Tom S.

There is discussion that Kyle Petty and Bobby LaBonte may switch cars in an
attempt to keep both Petty cars racing every week.  While this is perfectly
legal, it seems to me to be an act of desperation on the part of Petty to
stay in the hunt.

While I respect Kyle enormously as an individual, I think the time has long
passed for him to hang up the helmet and find a new driver for the 45.  It
appears that there are an abundance of young guns available who would be
thrilled to take the helm of the 45 and while they lack Petty’s experience
they would bring a competitive drive that the team so desperately needs.

In watching Kyle the past few years, he doesn’t seem to "want" to win.  He
just seems content in finishing the race regardless of his final position.
I think Adam’s untimely death took the wind out of the Petty’s sail and they
had no plans for succession.  LaBonte has shown that the Petty cars "can" be
competitive, albeit maybe not in the same league with Hendrick, et al at
least not consistently in the back of the pack.

Speaking of LaBonte, he is no youngster either.  While he still maintains a
competitive drive, the Petty organization needs to plan for the future and
get a couple of young guns lined up and soon.

Just my observations… whaddya all think?

Mike

My buddy and I took down half of an old chimney yesterday and
made some more progress gutting the 1857 farm house at my
family’s camp.

I’m not making any progress grading my RPGs.  Or student
papers.  Or doing my self-evaluation for the Dean.  :o(

Just to keep one oar in the water, here’s what Mr. Random
thinks today (new, quick-and-dirty system):

9
23
41
11
1
42

>From qualifying:

9       26      Jamie McMurray  Ford    Crown Royal     94.444  20.050  -0.112
23      88      Ricky Rudd      Ford    Combos  93.975  20.150  -0.212
41      6       David Ragan+*   Ford    AAA     92.615  20.446  -0.508
11      2       Kurt Busch      Dodge   Miller Lite     94.359  20.068  -0.130
1       24      Jeff Gordon     Chevrolet       DuPont          94.974  19.938  Leader
42      45      Kyle Petty+     Dodge   Marathon American Spirit Motor Oil      92.429  20.487  -0.549

So:

#26 will finish ahead of #88.
#88 will finish ahead of #6
#6  will finish ahead of #2
#2  will finish ahead of #24
#24 will finish ahead of #45.  Well, that’s a gimme.  Turn it around:
#45 will finish ahead of #24

Mr. Random picked the 25th qualifier to win:

25      84      A.J. Allmendinger*      Toyota  Red Bull        93.859  20.175  -0.237

Gotta get to Lockport for Mass!

                                        Marty
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Here in no particular order are the top five chasers

Gordon – +1
Johnson – +1
Busch, Ky – +1
Bowyer – 0
Stewart – 0

Somehow, I gotta believe that young Mr. Kahne will get the win… his luck
has gotta change sometime… doesn’t it?

<sigh> I guess it doesn’t

Bonus Prediction:

The clergy scheduled to conduct the pre-race invocation will develop a case
of severe laryngitis and Father Moleski will be flown in at the last minute
to save the day.  His on-track persona will so impress the guru’s at ESPN
that he will be offered a job to sit along side Rusty and provide color for
the races…. GO Marty!!!

durn!

I enjoyed what I saw of the telecast–probably
a couple of hundred laps toward the end.

The Bills beat the Ravens, 19-14, to go to
2-4.  I flew a friend’s trainer in 10-20 mph
winds on a warm, sunny autumn day.  A golden
glow lingered into the early evening hours
in front of the TV set.  :o)

They did some nice split-screen coverage
of folks in mid-field.

They explained one of the things JG does:
stay off the brakes for 150 laps so that
he’s got them when he needs them later
in the race.  I’ve never heard that before.

I enjoyed watching the last 100 laps or
so.

21 cautions!  I wouldn’t have enjoyed that
at the track.  At home, I surfed contentedly
while waiting for the cleanup and restarts.

                        Marty
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Well, we had a race back to the yellow at the Martinsville race,
if you ignore the fact that the yellow wasn’t actually displayed
when Ragan spun and parked himself crosswise to the track in
turn 1.

And guess what – despite the field blasting past the start/finish
line at full race pace, and Ragan being totally crosswise in the
groove, no disasters occured.

John

How many think NASCAR  was late with the caution flag at end.

Wow!  I just looked at the race lineup on NASCAR’s website and was
shocked… must be a mistake I sez to myself… I went to Jayski and sure
enuf… WOW!!

Did NASCAR decide to give the Toy’s a break and let ‘em all start first or
what?  Six Toy’s in the top ten?  They musta ate their Wheaties before
qualifying.

In fact, looking at the lineup, it is curious that the first Chase driver
(Stewart) is starting 10th.  Do y’all the think the Chase drivers and the
other shoes (Kahne, Newman, Biffle, et al) may be hanging back for a reason?

Sumpin’ just doesn’t make sense, there are too many good drivers in the back
of the pack for this to be a coincidence.  Has anyone spotted any black
helicopters flying over ‘Dega?

Mike