Just so fans at home know...we get commercials on the jumbotron at the track now but at least there is no Digger.
The red and white retro paint scheme on the walls were just flat out cool! I hope they leave them that way. We have original pictures from when they were painted that way the first time. Of course, by about midway thru the race there was the long black stripe going all the way from the entrance of the turn all the way thru the exit of it. Ain’t Darlington Great?
Man I would have love to been a fly on the wall at Roush on Monday. But I guess karma got Biffle as he was the class of the field part of the night then didn’t close the deal.
You have to give a hats off to Jeff Gordon, Steve Letarte, Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus. They got behind early but knew that 500 miles is a long race at Darlington. They hung in there and took home top 5's.
Of course we all had something to say about Jr. missing his pit again. Here are a few of the better ones:
1. If I were Rick Hendrick as soon as they pick their pit stall for the next race I would make Dale Jr. sleep in it.
2. They need to have a neon sign with a big neon arrow pointing to his pit stall.
And the best one from a Jr fan no less:
3. They need to put a friggin’ GPS on his dashboard and program in the location of his pit stall.
With the exception of whoever got in the lead blowing away from the field (Unfortunately that is the result of the new car and the box the crew chiefs are in and why should this race be any different than all the other races this year?) I thought this Darlington race was the best race of the season. There was lots of side by side action, cross over moves and drivers dirt trackin’ thru the turns to try to avoid hitting the wall. Many twist and turns and a surprise winner not one of the guys who drove away from the field all night....that’s the Lady in Black for you.
Yes I know Biffle pulled into a big lead as did Truex but the Lady in Black showed them who was boss. And that is what makes Darlington great….it has many twist and turns that almost never leave you disappointed. As soon as the surface wears out a little more we will get to see it starting chewing up tires again and that will be the icing on the cake!
We sit in Colvin on the backstretch and let me tell you what, when they flipped the start finish line to the other side no one let the track know that turn 2 wasn’t the action turn anymore. Don’t care what anyone says, those are still the best seats in the house (now that the original Brasington Grandstand is gone)
Ok I have to make a public apology to my husband Jimmy. He picked Kesolowski as his C driver in Fantasy racing and I told him he was out of his freaking mind picking a rookie at Darlington. But I don’t think that would have been the case if the tires wore out like they used to though.
And speaking about the tires not wearing out, I do miss the tire wear factor. That just added a whole other dimension to the race. I think in another 2 years we will get that back. I also think they need to start the race about 5 or 5:30. The track is just so temperature sensitive I think it will make the racing even better.
And I don’t know what Cale Yarborough told Joey Logano when they went for their spin around Darlington a few weeks ago but he needs to start charging for that info.
And how about Markie Mark? Is he on fire or what? He's making Frankie real proud to be a long time mark martin fan.
I think there is more to the whole Jeremy Mayfield failed drug test saga.
There is talk that Elliott Sadler may lose his ride/sponsor to AJ. I like Sadler but AJ has been getting it done. I said at the beginning of the year that it was “go time” for Sadler meaning he needed to get going to prove he deserved the ride he was had.
My prayers go out to Kevin Grubb’s family and friends. Sometimes the demons are just too big.
A big shout out to Chris Browning and the
entire staff at Darlington Raceway. They
upgraded the backstretch bathrooms and
made many other improvements. The
pedestrian walkway going around turn 3
to Pearson was the best.
Ok I have to share a quote that made me
laugh out loud from Carl D. From Readers
React to Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out
Loud: Darlington Race Recap...”If the
stands in Fontana were packed the gills
with race fans and there was one blind
old lady in the stands at Darlington,
that blind old lady would see a better race than everyone in Fontana would.”
In closing I’d like to say that while it wasn’t the Darlington Labor Day Southern 500 like it should be it was certainly better than no Darlington Southern 500 at all. And I’ll take that and be happy.
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