Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400

Hello Angels,

Sunday’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 race at Michigan International Raceway kind of followed suit with last week’s 5-Hour Energy 500 race at Pocono – a lot of green-flag racing and not very much contact between cars. Don’t get me wrong the racing was present, but track position was very hard to come by and it was very hard to pass other cars.

The racing weekend didn’t start out that well for the three Joe Gibbs Racing teams of Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano as all three had an unapproved oil pan mounted to their vehicles during pre-qualifying inspection. Because the part was not NASCAR approved, there will be penalties involved, but NASCAR already said that it will most likely be monetary and no championship points will be taken away from any of the teams. NASCAR did however leave open the possibility for crew-member suspensions as well. This could be a humongous blow to all three teams if their respective crew chiefs are suspended. For the record, Joe Gibbs himself is taking the blame for the oversight.  While he said the part on each car was not meant to cheat the system, the organization hadn’t had it approved by NASCAR for the racing environment prior to installing it on the vehicles.

On the flip side, apparently they didn’t need the part because Hamlin went on to win the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 race and in doing so, he also won his first race of the 2011 Sprint Cup season. Hamlin didn’t dominate the race like he did last year where he won that race as well, but he had track position when he needed it after  Dale Earnhardt Jr., hit the wall with about 10 laps left. He capitalized on pit road and then led the final eight or so laps – five of them green-flag racing – for the win.

Greg Biffle dominated early, but because of pit strategy not working out with an ill-timed caution late in the race, he faded to mid-pack. He finished 15th. The first caution came early in the race as Jimmie Johnson spun his car out coming off Turn 2. While he didn’t have any contact with any other cars, aerodynamics played a key role with the air being taken off his rear-end by another car in close proximity. Unfortunately for Johnson fans, the damage to his car was worse than three flat tires — a broken front-right sway bar. It wasn’t discovered until after they pitted and went racing again. Because his car wasn’t handling properly, he had to run a couple of seconds slower on the track than the leaders. Johnson got “lucky” however when another caution came out a few laps later, but the repair took two yellow-flag laps to repair. Johnson never recovered both laps back and finished the race one-lap down in 27th place.

Earnhardt’s crash with the wall was his second late in the race. Racing with Mark Martin – his Hendricks Racing teammate – Earnhardt lifted to give Martin room coming off the corner. Martin in turn didn’t give Earnhardt enough room and ran him into the wall. There was light damage and the racing continued. Unfortunately the damage was enough as a few laps later Earnhardt blew a right-front tire and took a top-10 car hard into the wall and finished well outside the top-10 in 21st place. Matt Kenseth had a very good car all race, but didn’t have enough to outrun Hamlin and in the end finished a close second place. Kyle Busch finished third; Paul Menard finished fourth; Carl Edwards finished fifth; Ryan Newman finished sixth; Tony Stewart finished seventh; Clint Bowyer finished eighth; Mark Martin finished ninth; and Brian Vickers rounds out the top-10 with his 10th place finish.

Kurt Busch, who earned his third Coors Light Pole award for the third race in a row, finished outside the top-10 in 11th place after racing most of the race in the top-10.

As for us Angels, we have a repeat CHARLIE’S ANGELS’ TOP ANGEL AWARD winner with Knox’Ville or I might say, Knox’Villens’ team stealing the show by earning the  second TAA in a row with an average finish of 12 even. Hamlin won the race, while his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch came in a not-so-distant third place. Landon Cassil earned his best finish of 2011 so far, I believe, with his 12th place finish. Jeff Gordon ran mid-pack all race long until the late-race cautions completely flipped the field. He found himself in the front pack late, but took, four tires when the leaders took two tires on the final pit stop and faded back to finish 17th. Johnson finished 27th. Congratulations Knox’Ville on your second TAA in a row.

On the flip side are my drivers of Edwards, Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski, Johnson and Regan Smith, who earned me this week’s CHARLIE’S ANGELS’ GOLDEN CABOOSE AWARD with their average finish of 20.2. Regan Smith qualified in the top-five, but during that first caution had contact with another driver and fell to the back of the pack. He recovered and then cut a tire late in the race. He finished 33rd. Johnson finished 27th, while Keselowski hit the wall twice and finished 25th. Edwards and Kurt Busch are my top-two drivers with their fifth and 11th place finishes respectively.

CorWin, you earned this week’s CHARLIE’S ANGELS’ RUNNER-UP ANGEL AWARD with your team’s average finish of 12.6. Menard, Newman and Martin finished inside the top-10 with their fourth, sixth and ninth place finishes respectively. Kurt Busch finished 11th, while Smith finished 33rd overall. Congratulations on your RUA award this week.

Vivian, Edwards and Stewart are your top-two drivers this week with their fifth and seventh place finishes respectively. Kevin Harvick finished 14th; Jamie McMurray finished 19th; and Jeff Burton, who had an unknown issue late in the race, finished 24th. Your average finish is 13.8.

Madison, you had three drivers finish in the top-five – Hamlin in first, Kenseth in second and Edwards in fifth. Keeping you from the TAA however are Kasey Kahne and David Reutimann. Kahne ran out of gas and lost two laps in the process to get his car restarted and Reutimann had an engine issue. The two finished well outside the top-10 with Kahne finishing 28th, while Reutimann finished 35th. Your average finish is 14.2.

Julie, for you, Edwards and Stewart’s top-10 finishes of five and seventh respectively were the only top-10 finishers on your team. Trevor Bayne finished 16th, Earnhardt finished 21st and Burton finished 24th. Your average finish is 14.4.

Kelly, you had two drivers – Hamlin and Edwards – finish in the top-five. Hamlin won the race, while Edwards finished a distant fifth. Harvick, Smith and David Ragan round but your team with their 14th, 20th and 33rd place finishes respectively. Your average finish is 14.6.

Evelyn, Edwards and Martin teamed up to be the only two drivers on your team to finish inside the top-10 with their respective fifth and ninth place finishes. Bayne finished 16th, while Earnhardt and Marcos Ambrose finished with their respective 21st and 23rd place finishes to earn you a 14.8 average finish.

Mr. X and Candy Man, you are the only two Angels to tie average finishes this week. Your respective 16.2 average finishes tied you both for the No. 8 Angels’ spot.

Both of you share Edwards and his fifth place finish.

Candy Man, your four remaining drivers are Martin, Biffle, Burton and Kahne. They finished ninth, 15th, 24th and 28th respectively.

Mr. X, your remaining drivers are Harvick, Gordon, Ragan and Keselowski who finished 14th, 17th, 20th and 25th respectively.

Kris, this week you only had one driver in the top-10 – Edwards, who finished fifth overall. Harvick finished 14th, while Gordon finished 17th. Keselowski and Kahne finished well-outside the top-10 with their respective 25th and 28th place finishes. Your average finish is 17.8.

Gibbons, you had two drivers – Hamlin and Edwards – finish in the top-five, but their first and fifth place finishes wasn’t enough to keep your teams’ average finish any better 18 even. Burton finished in 24th place; Johnson finished one lap down in 27th place; while Smith finished 33rd overall.

Pete, you are the only Angel not to have at least one driver finish in the top-10, but you still didn’t earn this week’s GCA. Kurt Busch finished 11th; Biffle finished 15th; and McMurray finished 19th. Earnhardt isn’t too happy with his teammate Martin after the latter ran Earnhardt into the wall and a subsequent 21st place finish. Smith likewise isn’t very happy with his 33rd place finishing spot after running as well as he did late in the race. That said, your average finish is 19.8.

This week’s combined teams’ average finish is 15.73.

Next week’s race is the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. I’d say Marcos Ambrose will like to get back to that track and avenge his mistake of last year when he stalled the engine while trying to save gas late in the race.

Don’t forget to check the ESPN Stock Car Challenge website to see where you stack up against the other Angels after this week’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 race at Michigan International Raceway.

Good luck Angels,

Charlie