Hello Angels, Bosley, Mr. X and the UnNamed One,

Ok, who got to see the race today where the lady in black tamed a lot of different drivers?  Michael Waltrip was the first driver to fall to the lady’s blackmagic, while Jeff Gordon felt the sting a few laps later thanks to Tony Stewart being impatient early in the race.

In that incident on lap 29, Stewart was behind Andy Hillenberg, a much-slower car.  Stewart didn’t wait to pass him and punted him out of the way into the wall.  Gordon had no where to go and t-boned Hillenberg wrecking both vehicles and ending the two driver’s day very early. There are many reasons why Hillenberg was where he was at, but I don’t blame him.  I blame NASCAR and Stewart. Let me start with  NASCAR because of how expensive it is to run a NEXTEL Cup car in the series, which this year has caused a bunch of sponsors to pull their sponsorship.  This lack of sponsorship has allowed for teams, like Hillenberg, to qualify for races that he wouldn’t necessarily qualify for.  Right now, there are about 6 teams making races this year that do not have quality-cars. Their drivers start the race and very quickly drop-out or crash-out of the race because of the quality of their cars.  Today’s race is no exception.  Hillenberg definitely knew he was in a bad position and said so in his post-crash interview.  I believe that he shouldn’t have been there in the first place. 

Other teams that are having problems are teams like Todd Bodine…he finished only 33 laps and overall finished 40th.  Joe Ruttman’s team finished 43rd after completing only 22 laps.  Kirk Shelmerdine finished 39th and completed only 49 laps of the scheduled 263.  Something definitely has to be done about this lack of quality.  I’m not saying it’s the driver’s fault.  Bodine was a Cup regular two season’s ago, but K-mart pulled his sponsorship when they went bankrupt.  It’s the quality of the cars that is the problem. 

Ok, with that off my chest, let me talk about Stewart and why he was to blame also.  He knew Hillenberg was there and didn’t do anything to slow down to get around him.  I watched the replay and Stewart just punted Hillenberg out of the way.  Stewart has to show patience out there.  This wasn’t Stewart’s only incident of impatience today either.  He did the same thing, only harder to Kasey Kahne, the race’s pole sitter, with 11 laps left in the race…to gain, what, one position?  Stewart finished the race in 17th spot, one of the last cars on the lead lap.  Kahne finished 13th.  Was it worth it? I guess that is something that NASCAR has to ask Stewart.

That said, congratulations definitely go to Jimmie Johnson who became the 41st different driver to tame the lady in black in its 50-plus year history.  He beat a hard-charging Bobby Labonte who came very close to passing Johnson on the restart with four laps to go.  

So, where did our teams finish after the nine caution flags flew? Well, for you Dylan (Jen W), I wish that I could say better.  But like last week, your day was done before the start of the race. I have to take some responsibility though.  Dylan sent me an e-mail yesterday telling me that her drivers didn’t change from last week, and that she doesn’t have access to the Charlie’s Angels’ Fantasy League Web site.  I didn’t realize that she had a driver, Jimmy Spenser, on her team that doesn’t have a sponsor and is sitting this year out, still on her team.  If you remember from last week’s race at Hotlanta, I mentioned this and assumed that she would change drivers.  When she e-mailed me yesterday, I didn’t put the two-and-two together and failed to mention to her that she had a driver who wasn’t racing.  Regardless, Dylan, because you still have a driver on your team that isn’t racing this season, you automatically get the GOLDEN CABOOSE AWARD for the second week in a row. If only you had five drivers in the field, there was a good chance that you could’ve taken the Top Angel award this week because your remaining four drivers didn’t do badly at all.  Jamie McMurray had a decent day until the end when he cut a tire and had a bad-pit stop.  He finished 21st, one-lap down.  Dale Earnhardt Jr., started second and didn’t drift too far from that all day long.  He finished 10th.  Jeremy Mayfield continues on his career-making season with another top-10 finish in ninth.  Your top driver this week is Elliott Sadler who finished in fifth.  Much better luck next week, and let’s hope that you are able to change your drivers to match the starting grid.

UnNamed One (Ray) three of your drivers finished 31st or worse.  In fact the three of them, Matt Kenseth, Dale Jarrett and Ricky Rudd finished 31st, 32nd and 33rd respectively. Matt Kenseth spun early in the race and was then black-flagged for a penalty after he illegally entered the pits by hitting the pit-commitment cone with the rear of his car.  Even though his nose was in the lane, he had to have the entire car in the lane, which he did not.  Kenseth went down almost two laps in the end and was only able to come back to 33rd spot.  Jarrett hit a tire against the wall and subsequently cut that tire. Rudd had a front-right tire blow up.  Greg Biffle’s day started off bad when he failed to pit when the entire field pitted after Waltrip’s crash on lap 9.  It took him 100 laps to catch up, but he did, and finished 12th.  Your top-driver is also Sadler who finished fifth.  Your average finish this week is another disappointing one of 22.6.  Much better luck next week.

Mr. X (Ray), Kenseth woes cost you today and was your worst driver today.  Brenden Gaughn didn’t have a great day either, finishing 27th.  Helping you was having Kahne’s 13th place finish, Earnhardt’s 10th place finish and Ryan Newman’s third-place finish count on your team’s average finish. Speaking of average finish, yours is 16.8.  Better luck next week.

Julie (Sally), Kenseth’s woes cost you dearly too because everyone else on your team had a decent day. Joe Nemachek didn’t have a great car, but he still finished just barely off the lead-lap in 20th place.  Casey Mears overcame going a lap down and finished 15th.  I’ve already mentioned what happened to Kahne, thanks to Stewart’s recklessness, but he still finished 13th.  Your top-driver is Labonte and his hard-charging second place finish.  Your average finish is still not a bad one at 16.2.  Better luck next week.

Here’s where you see why I was so upset with Stewart.  I have Gordon and Kahne both on my team.  Gordon finished 41st, while Kahne finished 13th.  Mears had another good day and finished 15th, while Sadler also continued on his career-year with his fifth-place finish.  My top driver this week is Johnson and his win.  What could’ve spelled disaster for me this week didn’t turn out too bad with my 15 even average finish.  J

Kris (Peggy), you squeaked by me this week…but barely.  This is because Rudd and Brian Vickers finished 33rd and 23rd respectively, while Earnhardt has his second top-10 finish in a row.  Having Sadler and Johnson on your team definitely helped too.  Your average finish is just 6/10ths better than mine with 14.4.  Not too bad.  Better luck next week.

Sabrina (Susan), you picked the wrong week to change your drivers out.  I believe you gave up the “other” Gordon, Robby, for Ken Schrader.  Well, Robby Gordon decided to get out of his slump and finished in the top-10 for the first time this season.  Schrader, however, didn’t, and finished 22nd.  I won’t harp on Stewart and his antics any more, except to say that I’m surprised NASCAR didn’t summon him to the “whitehouse” after the race was done to talk about his impatience again.  (For those of you who don’t know about the Whitehouse, it is NASCAR official’s trailer.  Last year it was called the big-red truck…this year because of the new sponsorship; it’s changed to white, hence, the name Whitehouse.) I see you also have Kahne on your team, so, Stewart could’ve hurt you dramatically too had Kahne not continued in the race.  Earnhardt helped you with his 10th place finish, while your top driver today is Mr. Viagra himself, Mark Martin and his seventh place finish.  Your average finish is a nice 13.8.  Nice job.

Bosley (Jude), McMurray was your top-winning-spot challenged driver today with his 21st place finish. Stewart and Scott Wimmer finished 17th and 16th respectively, while Kurt Busch and Newman finished sixth and third respectively too.  Your average finish is a very respectable 12.6.  Unfortunately for you this week, is that four other teams better than you.

Kelly (Sarah) you are one of those team.  All of your drivers finished in the top-20 today.  Like Bosley before, you have Stewart and Wimmer, whom didn’t hurt you too badly.  You also have Kahne and Earnhardt who are both doing quite well in Cup points this year.  Your top driver today is your Texas heartthrob, Labonte, in second place.  Your average finish is 11.6.  Nice job.

Tiffany (Jen Y), you topped that by having all of your drivers finish in the top-15.  in that 15th position is Mears, while Kahne finished 13th.  Earnhardt is your first driver in the top-10 where Mayfield and Harvick finished ninth and eighth respectively themselves.  Your just outside of the top-10 average finish is a still a very nice 11 even. 

Natalie (Donna), welcome back to another great week of NEXTEL Cup racing for you.  Two weeks ago you were our Golden Caboose award winning teammate.  This week your our runner-up for the Top Angel award.  This is because four of your drivers finished 13th or better.  The lone-driver is Jarrett and his tire versus the wall incident. To refresh your memory, he finished 32nd.  Kahne finished 13th, while Sadler finished fifth.  You also have Johnson and Labonte who finished in the top-2 spots today.  Your average finish is also a very nice 10.6.  Keep up the good work.

Well, Jill (Jennie), you did it again….three straight weeks of being our TOP-ANGEL Award winner.  You’ve done by having all of your drivers finish in the top-15 this week.  Like some of our teams before you, you have Mears and Kahne on your team.  But you stacked your team this week with Busch and Newman, both of whom who have done well at Darlington in the past.  Busch lost this race last year to Ricky Craven in the closest finish ever when the two cars went crashing through the finish line stuck together sideways as they crossed the finish line last year. This year it wasn’t that close, and Busch finished sixth. Newman finished third.  Your top driver this week is the top driver overall today and Johnson’s first win at Darlington.  Congratulations on your TOP ANGEL AWARD winning average finish of 7.6.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed but, our overall teams’ combined average finish this week, even with Dylan’s four drivers, is 14.6   I gave Jimmy Spenser a finishing spot of 44 to reach that average.  Not so bad considering we have 12 teams competing each week.

Ok, so next week’s race is the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.  Can you say short-track racing anyone?  Let’s just say that there is going to be some beating and banging next week.  Let the tempers flare….lol

Good luck Angels,