Irwin Tools Night Race

Hello Angels,

Saturday night’s Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, in my opinion, was a preview of the upcoming “Chase for the NASCAR Champion,” NASCAR’s version of the post-season playoffs. The preview being, the really good teams shined and the not-so-good teams didn’t.

Jeff Gordon completely dominated the race leading the field for 204 of the 500 laps. Matt Kenseth led, Jimmie Johnson led, and Brad Keselowski led the final 80 or so laps to win the race – his third win this season.

Keselowski is on such a run right now that he hasn’t finished lower than third in the last four races, and ninth in the last five races. He’s jumped from I believe 22nd in points up to 11th in those five races.  Being just 21 points out of 10th place overall in points, Keselowski has two races to make up those points and not use the Wild Card position to get into the Champion Chase.

On the flip side are Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch, and Paul Menard. While Edwards is securely in the Chase, like Earnhardt, Stewart, Busch and Menard, they’re all struggling right now even though they were all strongly in chase contention earlier in the year. With Keselowski’s team surging the way they are, both Earnhardt and Stewart need to step it up a bit with only two races left. Both of them haven’t won a race yet and if they fall out of their ninth and 10th place in points positions respectively, they could find themselves out of championship contention altogether. The 11th and 12th place wild-card slots would be taken by teams who’ve won races and are 20th or better in points. Denny Hamlin and Menard would be the two drivers to fill those positions if Keselowski gets into the chase without using the wild card. Menard is currently 20th in points, but only a couple of points ahead of 21st place David Ragan and 22nd place Marcos Ambrose — both of which also have wins this season. Obviously with two races left, there are plenty of scenerios to play out — with the final standings for the 12-driver Championship Chase to be set after the Richmond International Raceway race in two weeks.

Saturday night’s top-10 drivers are Keselowski in first, Martin Truex Jr., in second, Gordon in third, Johnson in fourth, Jamie McMurray in fifth, Kenseth in sixth, Hamlin in seventh, Ryan Newman in eighth, Edwards in ninth and Marcos Ambrose in 10th.

Kyle Busch, who has dominated the repaved Bristol Motor Speedway over the past few years, brushed the wall and finished outside the top-10 in 14th place.

As for us Angels, the streak is over.

After going three weeks in a row in earning the CHARLIE’S ANGELS’ TOP ANGEL AWARD, my team, err, rather I doomed the team to earn this week’s CHARLIE’S ANGELS’ BONEHEAD AWARD – and went from hero to zero just like that! Landon Cassill has been a staple on the Charlie’s Boyz!!!!’s team for many weeks now and helped earn the three TAAs in a row. But for whatever reason, Cassil wasn’t entered into Saturday night’s race and I, as Charlie’s Boyz!!!’ team owner, didn’t catch that he was replaced for the Bristol race by Mike Bliss in the No. 51 car. For that I humbly accept the BHA this week. Charlie’s Boyz!!!’ remaining four drivers of Keselowski, Gordon, Johnson and Busch finished first, third, fourth and 14th. They earned a 5.5 average finish – definitely not bad considering.

Regardless of the BHA this week, even with all five drivers in the field, my team wouldn’t have won the TAA – that honor goes squarely to Mr. X’s team, who completely dominated the field with his drivers – Keselowski, Truex, Kenseth, Edwards and Jeff Burton. The five of them finished in the top-15 – four of them in the top-10 and two in the top-two! Keselowski and Truex are the drivers in the latter group with their one-two finishes respectively. Kenseth and Edwards finished sixth and ninth respectively, while Burton had a decent run with his 15th place finish. All totaled, Mr. X, your team’s 6.6 average finish was one of the better average finishes this segment! Congratulations!

Candy Man, unfortunately for you, my team earned the BHA, but even if it hadn’t, your drivers would still have earned this week’s CHARLIE’S ANGELS’ GOLDEN CABOOSE AWARD with their 20.8 average finish. Edwards is your best driver to finish with his ninth place run at Bristol. Kasey Kahne finished 11th, while Burton finished 15th. Greg Biffle and Mark Martin had on-track incidents where Biffle cut a tire and Martin crashed hard into both the inside and outside retaining walls. Biffle fell several laps down and finished 31st, while Martin was out of the race in 38th place. Better luck next week!

Kris, your drivers earned this week’s CHARLIE’S ANGELS’ RUNNER-UP ANGEL AWARD with their combined average finish of 9.2. Keselowski, Gordon and Edwards finished in the top-10 with their first, third and ninth place efforts. Kahne and Kevin Harvick finished outside the top-10 with their 11th and 22nd place finishes respectively.

Evelyn and Knox’Ville, you teams tied for the No. 3 Angels’ spot with their 9.4 average finishes.

Knox’Ville, for your team, Keselowsi, Gordon and Johnson had top-five finishes with their first, third and fourth place runs respectively. Busch finished 14th, while Andy Lally finished 25th.

Evelyn, for your team, McMurray, Newman, Edwards and Ambrose had top-10 finishes with their fifth, eighth, ninth and 10th place runs. Jeff Burton rounds your team out with his 15th place finish.

Pete, your team has three drivers – Keselowski, McMurray, and Newman – with top-10 finishes. Keselowski won the race, while McMurray and Newman finished fifth and eighth respectively. Joey Logano finished 13th, while Martin had a horrible finish with his 38th place finish after crashing mid-way through the night race. Your drivers’ average finish is 13 even.

Madison, this week your drivers’ average finish of 13.8 is nowhere near the bottom this week as in recent weeks. That’s because four of your five drivers finished in the top-11, while David Reutimann had an on-track incident where he was crashed by David Stremme while both were going for the same piece of real estate. Reutimann finished 36th. That said, Kenseth tops your drivers’ chart with his sixth place finish, while Hamlin, Edwards and Kahne finished seventh, ninth and 11th respectively.

Gibbons, for your team, two of your drivers – Johnson and McMurray – had top-five finishes with their fourth and fifth place runs respectively. Burton finished 15th, while Earnhardt finished 16th. Menard rounds out your team with his 30th place finish. He was involved in the Reutimann and Stremme incident when Menard and Hamlin spun trying to avoid Reutimann. Your drivers’ average finish is 14 even.

Corwin, for you, three of drivers – Keselowski, Newman and Ambrose – finished in the top-10 with their first, eighth and 10th place finishes. Regan Smith and Martin finished 18th and 38th to round out your team. All totaled, your team’s average finish is 15 even.

Vivian, for you, McMurray and Edwards finished in the top-10 with their fifth and ninth place runs respectively. Burton finished outside the top-10 in 15th place, while Harvick and Stewart really need to step up their game if they’re going to contend for a championship starting after the next two races. They finished 22nd and 28th respectively this week. Your drivers’ average finish is 15.8.

Julie, two of your drivers – Keselowski and Edwards – finished in the top-10 with their respective first and ninth place runs. Earnhardt had a tougher go at it with his 16th place finish, while David Gilliland and Biffle had off nights with their 24th and 31st place finishes respectively. Your team’s average finish is 16.2.

Kelly, for you, Keselowski earned yet another top-three finish with his win on Saturday night. That said, your other four drivers didn’t help out very much as Burton and Kurt Busch finished 15th and 17th respectively, while David Ragan could only manage a 20th place finish. Biffle, who rounds out your five-driver team, finished in 31st place after he cut a tire. Your drivers’ average finish is 16.8.

Next week’s race is a rare Sunday Night race at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Labor Day Weekend running of the AdvoCare 500. Four drivers – Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Marcos Ambrose and Paul Menard – will be competing for a $3 million purse in the Sprint Summer Showdown where one million dollars goes to the winner (if any of the four drivers mentioned above wins the AdvoCare 500 race), another million dollars goes to a lucky fan of said driver and the third million goes to the charity of the winning drivers’ choice. Definitely should make for an interesting race for those four drivers – two of which are serious contenders to win the $3 million purse with Busch and Keselowski.

Don’t forget to check the ESPN Stock Car Challenge website to see where you stack up against the other Angels after Saturday night’s Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Good luck Angels,

Charlie