The long wait is finally over and the 50th running of the Great American Race had a finish that was worthy as one of the best. Once again the fastest car did not win the race, rather a consistent car with a very helpful teammate did. Ryan Newman came out on top with the help of a big time push on the back stretch by teammate Kurt Busch to take an exciting victory.
Kyle Busch, running his first Cup race for Joe Gibbs Racing had the car to beat all day. From the drop of the green flag his Toyota Camry was by far the quickest car. Both his teammates, Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin also had strong cars at the start, but Stewart had to battle his way back a few times and Hamlin ran into trouble early on.
My favorite driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a good showing for his first ride for Hendrick motor sports, but was a consistent 4th place car all day. Junior just didn't have a car to win or a teammate to help him as all three of them fell by the wayside.
At the white flag Tony Stewart had the lead but chose to go to the bottom of the race track instead of staying high to block the Penske duo of Newman and Busch. I guess Tony thought he would get more help from Kyle Busch on the bottom but he was too far back to give Tony the push needed. In fact, the Dodge Chargers were the cars to beat at the finish as Reed Sorenson also played a key role by helping the Penske cars push across the finish line 1-2.
Well, all in all it was a pretty good race for the new Cup Car as it seemed like a race from the late 70's and earl;y 80's, prior to restrictor plates. The cars spread out very nicely for most of the race but found their way to bunch up at the end for another fantastic finish. Congratulations to Ryan Newman for snagging the biggest prize in Cup competition and his first win since September of 05. Maybe the Hendrick dream team won't be as dominant as most have predicted for 2008. What do you thing? The Auto Racing Junkie would like to know!
Kyle Busch, running his first Cup race for Joe Gibbs Racing had the car to beat all day. From the drop of the green flag his Toyota Camry was by far the quickest car. Both his teammates, Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin also had strong cars at the start, but Stewart had to battle his way back a few times and Hamlin ran into trouble early on.
My favorite driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a good showing for his first ride for Hendrick motor sports, but was a consistent 4th place car all day. Junior just didn't have a car to win or a teammate to help him as all three of them fell by the wayside.
At the white flag Tony Stewart had the lead but chose to go to the bottom of the race track instead of staying high to block the Penske duo of Newman and Busch. I guess Tony thought he would get more help from Kyle Busch on the bottom but he was too far back to give Tony the push needed. In fact, the Dodge Chargers were the cars to beat at the finish as Reed Sorenson also played a key role by helping the Penske cars push across the finish line 1-2.
Well, all in all it was a pretty good race for the new Cup Car as it seemed like a race from the late 70's and earl;y 80's, prior to restrictor plates. The cars spread out very nicely for most of the race but found their way to bunch up at the end for another fantastic finish. Congratulations to Ryan Newman for snagging the biggest prize in Cup competition and his first win since September of 05. Maybe the Hendrick dream team won't be as dominant as most have predicted for 2008. What do you thing? The Auto Racing Junkie would like to know!
Daytona 500
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