Geico 400

Hello Angels,

Starting the Chase for the Sprint Cup Champion was supposed to start Sunday. Mother Nature obviously had something to say to NASCAR about that and because of a full day of rain, the Geico 400 race was postponed until Monday.

The command to start engines came from the Caveman, made famous for Geico’s moniker – “So easy, even a caveman can do it!” I almost felt more like he was giving an acceptance speech rather than start the race, but after a lengthy dialog, he finally gave the command.

The race got off without a hitch and there was plenty of battling going on. In all, it was quite the contrast to Richmond’s race last week where there were 15 cautions. Monday’s race had five – three of them for debris, one for a car against the wall and one for Jamie McMurray, whose Earnhardt-Ganassi Chevy burnt up an engine.

Denny Hamlin was the first of the 12 Chase drivers to blink having tire issues and falling off the pace and in the process two laps down to make green-flag repairs.

Up until the last lap of the race, there really wasn’t a lot of drama going on – until about 15 cars ran out of gas going into the white-flag lap. Of the Chase drivers, Jimmie Johnson ran out and fell from third place to finish 10th. Matt Kenseth fell from fourth or fifth and because he was pushed by his teammate, he was penalized one lap and finished in the 21st place. Kyle Busch fell from eighth or ninth to finish 22nd, while Jeff Gordon – definitely hurt the worst in the points – finished 24th and fell from third in points down to 11th.

On the flip side, Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr., had plenty of fuel for the finish and finished in that order. Stewart couldn’t have picked a better time to earn his first victory of the season as he held off a hard-charging Harvick for the win. Earnhardt jumped from sixth or seventh place to finish third when Johnson and Kenseth ran out of fuel. By the way, this had to be Déjà vu for Stewart as he was leading the first race of the Chase last year at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and ran out of fuel on the last lap thus losing the race and the Sprint Cup Championship as his team never recovered from that loss. This year however, his team has all the momentum they need going into New Hampshire by winning the first race of the Chase by fuel strategy.

With Stewart’s win, he jumps from 10th in points to second behind Harvick who jumped one spot.

The top-10 finishers of the race are Stewart, Harvick, Earnhardt, Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Clint Bowyer Ryan Newman, Mark Martin and Johnson.

The Chase for the Championship is now completely lopsided with one constant – Hamlin in 12th. He fell back 41 points to Harvick after his tire debacle. Gordon dropped from third to 11th after running out of fuel, while Kenseth, Kyle Busch and Johnson also fell to the back of the pack in 10th through eighth respectively. Newman jumped one spot to seventh in points, while Keselowski and Earnhardt jumped five spots each to sixth and fifth respectively. Kurt Busch is now in fourth, while Edwards and Stewart jumping two and seven positions respectively and are now in the third and second places. Harvick is the new point’s leader, just seven points ahead of Stewart.

For us Angels, there are a few changes to our teams as start the third segment of the season. We say temporarily goodbye to Madison who is taking a hiatus while she is off in a foreign land fighting the good cause. We also welcome back Sabrina who is joining us once again after taking the first two segments off. Madison we wish you the best of luck whilst you’re away and cannot wait until you return to Charlie’s Angels next year.
That said, anyone seen CorWin or Mr. X? Let them know we’ve got a Chase going on and we’d still like them to participate!

As for our remaining Angels’ after the Geico 400 race at Chicagoland Raceway, there are four awards to give out this week – including the least favorite, but funny to those of us who don’t get it – CHARLIE’S ANGELS’ BONEHEAD AWARD.

This week’s BHA goes to Vivian, who after looking at her average finish with only four drivers in the race, still beats all of our Angels this week. That said, Terry Labonte didn’t race in Monday’s Geico 400 and because of it, Vivian, you get the BHA. Your remaining four drivers – Stewart, Edwards, Bowyer and Newman – all finished in the top-10 with Stewart winning the race. Edwards recovered nicely after some shaky restarts to finish fourth, while Bowyer and Newman inherited seventh and eighth after drivers in front of them ran out of fuel. With only four drivers in the race, your average finish is a whopping five even this week Vivian – too bad you didn’t have a fifth driver in the field.

This week’s CHARLIE’S ANGELS’ TOP ANGEL goes to Julie after her five drivers earned her a 9.8 average finish. Stewart finished first, while Edwards and Keselowski finished fourth and fifth after saving fuel for the last segment of the race. Marcos Ambrose finished 19th and Paul Menard finished 20th after they both ran out of fuel on the last lap as well. Congratulations on winning Segment III’s first TAA!

Kelly, unfortunately for you, your five drivers earned you this week’s CHARLIE’S ANGELS’ GOLDEN CABOOSE AWARD with their combined 20.4 average finish. Keselowski salvaged a fifth place finish, while your remaining four drivers weren’t able to salvage much of anything going coming out of the first race of the Chase. Jeff Burton finished 15th, while Gordon and A.J. Allmendinger ran out of fuel to finish 24th and 27th respectively. Hamlin rounds out your team with his Chase debacle and 31st place finish. Better luck next week, Kelly!

Gibbons, you were a close CHARLIE’S ANGELS RUNNER-UP ANGEL this week with your drivers’ average finish of 10 even. Stewart won the race for you as Kurt Busch and Johnson did a good job of racing each other cleanly and finishing sixth and 10th respectively. Brian Vickers finished 13th, while Menard rounds out your team with his 20th place finish. Nicely done!

Pete, for you this week, Keselowski, Kurt Busch and Newman finished in the top-10 with their fifth, sixth and eighth place runs respectively. David Ragan just missed the top-10 with his 11th place finish, while Greg Biffle had tire-wear issues and fell back two laps to Stewart. Biffle finished 26th. Your team’s average finish is 11.2.

Candy Man, you had three drivers on your team finish in the top-10 – Edwards, Keselowski and Martin – with their fifth, sixth and ninth place finishes. Burton had a decent 15th-place finish once all the drivers started running out of fuel. Biffle rounds out your team with his 26th place finish – two laps down. Your drivers tallied up an 11.8 average finish this week.

Evelyn, three of your drivers finished in the top-10 this week as well. Earnhardt, Bowyer and Johnson finished third, seventh and 10th respectively on Monday. Trevor Bayne hasn’t had much luck in the Sprint Cup Series since his Daytona 500 victory to start the 2011 season and Monday’s Geico 400 did nothing to turn his luck around. He finished one-lap down in 23rd place. Gordon’s team shot themselves in the foot with their fuel strategy and 24th place finish. In the process, Gordon’s team fell 25-points behind Harvick in the points. Your team’s average finish is 13.4.

Knox’Ville, Gordon’s fuel strategy and lack of saving ability cost him dearly as he finished 24th after running out of fuel. Marcos Ambrose backed his car into the outside retaining wall, but still managed to continue racing hard. He was poised to earn a top-15 finish despite the damage, but ran out of fuel in the end and finished 19th. Edwards finished fourth, while Johnson coasted, literally, to a 10th place finish. Brian Vickers rounds out your team with his 13th place finish. Your team’s average finish is 14 even.

Sabrina – again, welcome back! You managed to have three of your drivers finish in the top-10 – Stewart, Earnhardt and Newman. Stewart won his first race of the season, while Earnhardt finally got a very-lucky break to get a third place finish. Newman inherited eighth place with drivers in front of him falling out of contention as they ran out of fuel. Kenseth was one of them, but was further penalized when one of his teammates pushed him to the start/finish line. That’s illegal on the final lap. Kenseth was ruled the first car one-lap-down and finished 21st. I have to say that you’re the first Angel to pick Joe Nemachek this year. Unfortunately for you, he isn’t running a full schedule this year and is one of the “start-and-park” teams competing this year. He finished 40th to round out your team. Your drivers’ average finish is 14.6.

Kris, only having one driver finish in the top-five is not the way you, nor they, wanted to start the Chase on Monday. That said, your one driver in the top-10 is Edwards and his fourth place finish. Regan Smith and Ambrose finished on the lead lap with their 17th and 19th place finishes. Kyle Busch and Gordon round out your team with their one-lap down finishes of 22nd and 24th respectively. Your average finish is 17.2.

For me, Keselowski and Johnson finished on the lead lap with their top-10 finishes of fifth and 10th respectively. Gordon, Biffle and Landon Cassill finished at least a lap down with their 24th, 26th and 30th place finishes. My drivers’ average finish is 19 even.

Next week’s NASCAR returns to “Magic Mile” of New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the Sylvania 300.

Don’t forget to check the ESPN Stock Car Challenge website to see where you stack up after Monday’s Geico 400 race at Chicagoland Speedway in Illinois.

Good luck Angels,

Charlie