Hello Angels,

Happy Father’s Day to those of you who are fathers and Happy Sunday to everyone else.

Today during the DHL 400 we had a race that wasn’t affected by any controversy, even if it did end under in a yellow flag condition.  The race saw several blown engines; a little mayhem and a lot of good racing till the final caution on the last lap of the race.

Congratulations to Ryan Newman on his first win of the season after coming back from one-lap down early in the race. He had to make an unscheduled pit-stop on lap 23 when he had a wrapper stuck in the grill of his car. Well 23 must be a lucky number for him, because with 23 laps left in the race, he passed Dale Jarrett for the lead and didn’t have to look back. Kasey Kahne, who also went a lap down early because of an ill-handling car, made a huge comeback and was in a position to challenge Newman for the lead on the last lap, had the caution not come out and froze the field in their current positions. I guess you can say that Kahne, so far this year, is four times the bride’s maid, but not the bride.  It’s not a matter of will Kahne win a race in his rookie season, but when.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that the race started today with a first for NASCAR. One team had the top-three starting positions. Hendrick’s Motor Sports put Jeff Gordon and Brian Vickers on the front two starting spots, while Jimmie Johnson started the race in third.  Gordon led the first 78 laps before green-flag pits, and then regained the lead three laps later. Unfortunately, that was all Gordon would do on the day because his engine broke and he was done.

There was also a little mayhem on lap one today as well. Mark Martin, who won the Dover race two week’s ago, continues to have problems this season as he didn’t finish the race last week, and this week broke his transmission at the drop of the green-flag to start the race. Also on lap one, Robby Gordon and Brenden Gaughn got together after Gaughn had to get off the gas to avoid hitting the wall. Both cars went spinning with Robby Gordon banging up Kurt Busch’s car in the process. All cars continued, but Robby Gordon ended up going in for repairs later in the race.

Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle got together on lap 194 of 200 as Biffle was passing Stewart for a position. They both went spinning down the backstretch.  Both cars were in the top-10 at the time. Stewart finished 24th, while Biffle finished 23rd.

Ok, so let’s take a look at where our teams ended up after today’s DHL 400 at Michigan International Raceway.

Last week Dylan you tied for our runner-up position, but this week it’s the GOLDEN CABOOSE AWARD for you. I mentioned earlier that there were a lot of blown engines, will your worst finisher today was one of those victims.  Ken Schrader blew up his engine on lap 87 and finished 39th today. Joe Nemachek also fell victim to the engine and finished 35th. Dale Earnhardt Jr., cut a tire with less than 10 laps remaining and had to pit. He finished 21st. Jeremy Mayfield had handling problems and finished 19th, while your top driver today is Kurt Busch and an 11th place finish. Your average finish is a very disappointing 25 even.

Tiffany, unfortunately for you, you didn’t do much better. Casey Mears had a tie-rod broken sway bar and had to make a lengthy pit-stop under green conditions.  He finished 31st, nine laps down. Biffle’s late race crash took him out of a 10th place finish and put him in the 23rd finishing spot. Earnhardt’s flat tire sent him to the back of the field and his 21st place finish took him out of the NEXTEL CUP series lead trailing Johnson by seven points now. Mayfield finished 19th and your top driver, Kevin Harvick, could only muster a 17th place finish. Your average finish is also a disappointing 22.2.

Sabrina, your Italian Stallion Tony Stewart didn’t have a great start today because he was sent to the back of the field for the start after he left the driver’s meeting early, which is a no-no for NASCAR. He had made up all that track position though with 10 laps left when he and Biffle got together sending them both to the rear of the lead-lap cars where they finished. Unfortunately for you also is that you have Kevin Lapage on your team as well. He only finished 71 laps when his car broke for the day. He finished the race in 41st. Earnhardt didn’t help you all that much as well with his 21st place finish today, but Dave Blaney did help you with his 15th place finish. Your top driver today is Johnson and his fourth place finish. Your average finish is 21 even.

Thin Man, Jeff Gordon’s engine failure and Stewart’s crash hurt your team today. They finished 38th and 24th respectively. Blaney finished 15th, while Busch finished 11th. Your top driver today is Elliott Sadler and his fifth place finish. Your average finish is 19.

Jill, three of your drivers really hurt you. They are Jeff Gordon and his 38th place finish, Jeff Green and his 27th place finish, and of course Biffle and his 23rd place finish. Your remaining two drivers, Johnson and Kahne did you well with their fourth and second place finishes respectively. Your average finish of 18.8 however didn’t do you to well in our standings today.

Unfortunately for me as well, I was hurt by Jeff Gordon’s engine failure, along with Mear’s swing-bar failure.  They finished 38th and 31st respectively. Helping me though is Scott Wimmer and his 14th place finish, along with Johnson and Kahne’s strong top-five finishes. My average finish is just a little better than Jill’s at 18 even.

Kelly, your nemeses today was Stewart and Earnhardt with their 24th and 21st finishes. Blaney helped with his 15th, while Vickers finished ninth. Your top driver is Bobby Labonte who fought an ill-handling car and still managed to finish eighth today. Your average finish is a not-so-bad 15.4.

Kris and Mr. X, you tied for our fifth spot today.

Mr. X, I’ll start with you. Your worst drivers today are Biffle and Earnhardt and their 23rd and 21st place finishes. Mayfield wasn’t his usual self today and finished 19th, while your remaining two, Vickers and Kahne finished ninth and second today.

Kris, your worst driver is Joe Nemachek who had an engine brake with only 27 laps remaining in the race. He finished 35th. Earnhardt finished 21st, while Busch finished 11th. Sadler and Kahne were your top drivers today with their fifth and second place finishes respectively.

Your tying average finishes today Mr. X and Kris is 14.8.

Julie, other than Mears and his 31st place finish, your remaining drivers did pretty well. It’s not very often that I can say that Kyle Petty had a great day, but today he did with his 18th place finish. Labonte and Matt Kenseth finished eighth and seventh respectively, while your top driver today is Dale Jarrett and his third place finish. Your average finish is 13.4.

Bosley your worst drivers today are Rusty Wallace and his 22nd place finish, along with Scott Riggs with his 20th place finish. Other than that, your drivers were perfect with Sadler finishing fifth, Kahne in second and Newman winning the pot today. Your average finish is a 10 even.

UnNamed One, with the exception of Biffle’s 23rd place finish, your drivers didn’t do so badly either. Busch finished 11th, while Kenseth, Sadler and Jarrett finished in the top-10 with their seventh, fifth and third place finishes respectively. Your average finish just a tad-bit better than Bosley with 9.8.

But it is you Natalie who took today’s Charlie’s Angels’ top finishing spot by having all of your drivers in the top-15, four of whom were in the top-six. Finishing 15th is Blaney who, with the exception of next week’s race at Infinion Raceway, is the full-time driver of the No. 30 America Online Chevy for Richard Childress Racing. Finishing sixth is Sterlin Marlin, with Sadler right in front of him in fifth and Johnson in front of both of them in fourth. Your top driver today is Kahne and his fourth-second-place finish of the year. Your TOP-ANGEL AWARD winning average finish is 6.4, and I believe the best average finish of the year so far. Congratulations.

Our teams’ combined average finish is 15.8.

Next week’s race is the Dodge/Savemart 350 road course race at Infinion Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. As I’ve mentioned before, Blaney will not racing next week, so, those of you who have him, please change your driver lineups accordingly.

Good luck Angels,