Showtime Southern 500

Hello Angels,

Saturday night’s Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway is probably the most difficult race of the season. Not only are the Sprint Cup Series drivers fighting each other for position, but they also have to make sure they take care of their equipment and not let the track, known as either the “Lady in Black” or the “track too tough to tame,” ruin their chances at a good finish. This means keeping the car off the wall. Unfortunately there were many — more than half of the field — who weren’t able to do just that and earned their 2011 “Darlington Stripe” on Saturday night.

Coming into the race Saturday night, there were two expectations – a good race and would the feud between Juan Pablo Montoya and Ryan Newman service on the track again like it did last week. For those of you who don’t know, the two drivers were called to the NASCAR hauler on Friday for a little preemptive talking to by Mike Helton and the boys of NASCAR. The end result was the statement by NASCAR that the meeting didn’t go as well as planned and that they were watching both drivers. The “didn’t end well” rumors were that Newman punched Montoya during the meeting. The feud flared last week at Richmond when the two drivers were racing each other hard and one-little mistake – about an inch-and-a-half of real estate – caused Newman and Montoya to touch sending the latter into the outside fence. After making repairs, Montoya retaliated against Newman ruining the latter driver’s chances at a decent finish.

Back to this Saturday night — what we got was a great finish with first-time winner Regan Smith and a humongous error in judgment on the part of Kyle Busch, and what most agree was a pretty good race.

First, congratulations to Smith on earning his first win of his career. He’s been flirting with a great finish all season and a call on pit-road gamble paid off in the sense that with 30 laps or so on his tires, a late-race caution brought the field to pit road, save for Smith, Brad Keselowski and one or two other drivers. Kasey Kahne and Carl Edwards were the class of the field for most of the night, but with the restart, Smith and Keselowski were the first and third place cars with Edwards and Kahne starting behind them. Smith didn’t get the best restart, but Keselowski did and pushed Smith in front of Edwards and the rest was history. Smith pulled away with Edwards doing his best to rough-up the first-time winner. In the end, Edwards ran him clean and they finished with Smith in front, then Edwards, Keselowski and Kahne.

On Busch’s part, stupidity ensued when he, Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer were fighting for the same real estate (very similar to what happened between Newman and Montoya last week) in a place where three-wide coming out of the turn is never a good thing. All three bounced off each other and Bowyer went spinning hard into the inside retaining wall. What happened next is where the old “Kyle Busch” reared its ugly head. Showing his displeasure with Harvick, while Bowyer was still spinning, Busch and Harvick’s cars separated and then Busch appeared to turn his car into Harvick’s sending the latter’s car spinning in front of the remaining field behind them. Luckily for Harvick, no other car was involved. When the race was over, cameras were on the two drivers as a “chase” ensued. Harvick went after Busch during the cool-down lap and prevented Busch from entering pit road. Eventually, the two made it onto pit road with Harvick blocking the road with Busch’s car directly behind. Harvick got out of his car to go “talk” to Busch, but what Busch did was unfathomable…once Harvick was clear from his car, he pushed the unoccupied car forward and spun it into the pit-road wall. Harvick attempted to punch Busch through the window, but I don’t believe connected as he sped away down pit road and into the garage area. The two were called into the NASCAR hauler for their own talking to.

There is no doubt Busch is going to get a fine, probation and if NASCAR really does things right, docking him some drivers and owner points for his complete disregard for the safety of others in his pit-road antics. Some people even think a one-race suspension should be accessed to Busch. Harvick too should be penalized for his actions – especially throwing a punch on national TV…but Busch’s actions – total craziness…

As for Montoya and Newman, they never got close to each other, but Montoya did have some on-track incidents – the first one with Jimmie Johnson. The latter passed Montoya cleanly, but when Montoya went to do the “cross-over maneuver” he hit Johnson in the bumper and sent him spinning down the back stretch. Johnson had a little damage to his rear bumper but was able to continue. The second incident occurred off camera, but was enough to have Montoya get a warning from either NASCAR or his own team because after that, he stayed clear of everyone.

Johnson’s woes continued though as he spun out later in the race and fell a lap down. He eventually got back on the lead lap, but his car, like all of the Hendricks Racing cars, never really handled right throughout the night. He finished 15th. Montoya finished one lap down in 23rd.

With Smith, Edwards, Keselowski, and Kahne occupying the top-four spots, Newman, Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Jamie McMurray and Martin Truex Jr., occupied the remaining top-10 spots respectively.

For us Angels, as usual, there are three awards given out – this week to Julie, Mr. X and Mr. Munday.

Congratulations to Julie for your drivers earning you this week’s CHARLIE’S ANGELS’ TOP ANGEL AWARD. All five of your drivers finished in the top-15 with Edwards, Stewart and Truex finishing in the top-10 in second, seventh and 10th respectively. Marcos Ambrose and Dale Earnhardt Jr., rounds out your team with their 13th and 14th place finishes respectively to earn the TAA average finish of 9.2.

On the flip side of the spectrum is Mr. Munday who had only two drivers finish in the top-15 – Jeff Gordon in 12th and Johnson in 15th. Mark Martin finished 19th – last car on the lead lap, while David Ragan, who was running well until he was spun by Brian Vickers and tore-up the side of Vicker’s car, finished 21st. Joey Logano spun and hit the wall. He finished 35th. Mr. Munday, your CHARLIE’S ANGELS’ GOLDEN CABOOSE AWARD average finish is 20.4.

Mr. X, you earned this week’s CHARLIE’S ANGELS’ RUNNER-UP ANGEL AWARD with your drivers’ average finish of 10 even. It always helps your average finish when you picked the top-two drivers of the race to be on your team. Smith won, while Edwards finished a close second. Earnhardt finished 14th, Johnson 15th, while Bobby Labonte rounds out your five-driver team with his 18th place finish.

Kris, your drivers weren’t too far off Mr. X’s drivers pace, but in the end, they earned you a 10.6 average finish. Keselowski finished third, while Stewart finished seventh. Busch somehow managed to earn an 11th place finish, while Gordon, who seemed to overcome his car’s handling issues, faded in the end to finish 12th. A.J. Allmendinger finished 20th – the first car one-lap down.

Evelyn, Newman and Hamlin are the two best drivers on your team after Newman finished fifth to Hamlin’s sixth place finish. Gordon and Ambrose finished 12th and 13th respectively, while Ragan rounds out your team with his 21st place finish. Your average finish is 11.4.

CorWin, Edwards was going for his second win this season, but ultimately finished second. Hamlin hasn’t won a race yet this year, has dramatically improved his game if you will after finishing sixth this week following his second-place finish last week. Ambrose finished 13th, Martin finished 19th, while Paul Menard finished off his night with a blown engine and a 22nd place finish. Your average finish is 12.4.

Candy Man, you had three drivers finish inside the top-10 with Edwards topping them all with his second place finish. Keselowski finished third, while Biffle finished eighth. Martin finished 19th, the last car on the lead lap, while Bowyer crashed out of the race with 10 laps remaining and finished 33rd. Your average finish is unlucky 13.

Gibbons and Pete, you both tie average finishes of 14 even to share the No. 7 Angel’s spot this week.

Pete, for you, three drivers – Kahne, Newman and Hamlin – finished one-two-three, but in fourth, fifth and sixth respectively. Ragan finished 21st, while Vickers, whose car Ragan opened up like a can-opener, finished several laps down in 34th place.

Gibbons, Smith won his first Cup race of his career, while Hamlin placed sixth as he looks to win his first Cup race of the season. Johnson has already won a race in 2011, but hasn’t been performing as well lately punctuating that with two spins, a pit-road incident with a missing lug nut and an overall 15th place finish – definitely not championship-like caliber racing everyone has come to know him for. Ragan finished 21st, while Kurt Busch can’t get out of his own way lately to finish 27th.  

Kelly, for you, Newman and Hamlin finished fifth and sixth respectively, while Hendricks Racing teammates Earnhardt and Martin finished in the back of the lead lap in 14th and 19th respectively. Rounding out your drivers is Kurt Busch and his 27th place finish. Your average finish is 14.2.

Vivian, everyone expected a Newman-Montoya flare-up, but instead got Harvick-Busch flare-up instead. Regardless, you had two of those four drivers on your team – Newman, who finished fifth, and Harvick, who finished 17th. Jeff Burton wished he could’ve finished as high as either one of those two, but in the end, his blown engine led to a 33rd place finish. McMurray and Earnhardt round out your team with their ninth and 14th place finishes respectively. Your average finish is 15.6.

For me, none of my drivers finished in the top-10, but three of them finished in the top-15 with Gordon in 12th, Earnhardt in 14th and Johnson finishing 15th, despite the race he had. Ragan and Menard round out my team with their 21st and 22nd place finishes respectively. My average finish is 16.8.

Alex, Kahne’s fourth-place finish makes him the only driver on your team to score a top-10 finish Saturday night. Johnson finished 15th, while Martin and Ragan finished 19th and 21st respectively. Logano rounds out your team with his 35th place finish after he crashed out of the race about three-quarters through. Your average finish is 18.8.

Madison, you only had one driver finish in the top-15 – Earnhardt and his 14th place finish – but all of your drivers finished in the top-25. Harvick finished 17th after his contact with Busch, while Ragan finished 21st; Menard finished 22nd and Montoya finished 23rd. Your average finish is 19.4.

This week’s combined teams’ average finish is 14.27.

One housekeeping note – last week I mentioned that the Richmond race was starting a slew of Saturday night races…well, I forgot that there is one daytime race in May – next week’s Fed Ex 400 benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover International Raceway.

Don’t forget to go to the ESPN Stock Car Challenge website to see where you stack up against the other Angels after Saturday night’s Showtime Southern 500 race at Darlington.

Happy Mother’s Day Angels,

Charlie