Now that the Amp Energy 500 is over we figured it was time to do a little breakdown of the event.
Biggest relief: Aside from the frightening roll and nose spin of AJ Allmendiger the race was mostly without accident. Only a handful of cars were damaged and none of the accidents altered the Chase.
Even better was that Hamlin didn’t lose much ground to Johnson and “Happy” Kevin Harvick inched closer himself leaving the chase outcome to three drivers.
With Jimmie Johnson not in complete control of the points standings it should help NASCAR from loseing even more of it’s ratings to the NFL.
Biggest Surprise: Clint Bowyer may have cracked out list of drivers to watch but I think most will agree that if you were picking a Chevrolet or even a RCR car then you were likely going with either of his teammates in Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton.
Biggest Dissapointment: Jeff Burton and Matt Kenseth looked great teaming up early on so you could pick either for this. The Crown Royal Ford bounced back from a pit road speeding penatly under green flag stops but the fall from 5th to 16th on the final restart is what really ruined his day. As bad as that was for Kenseth, Burton’s accident that knocked him out of the race had to be our choice. Burton was turned around by Dale Earnhardt Jr knocking him from the race. Burton had a car to win at all four restrictor plate races this season but found himself broken and watching the finish again today.
It was nice to see: Multiple Green flag pit stops. Wow. After the trouble that took place in the Truck Series race in regards to getting onto pit road it was nice to see no yellows occur during a pit cycle.
It was nice to see (Driver): While Jeff Burton may have had all sorts of trouble this year at Talladega and Daytona, Ryan Newman has been dealing with these problems since he won the Daytona 500 in 2008. Newman lost a lap early and never showed much once he rejoined the lead lap but we’re pretty sure the driver of the #39 Chevy is happy to make it to the checkered flag in this one.
Most overblown coverage: The will or when will Denny Hamlin get back on the lead lap story seemed to last for hours. Hamlin lost the draft, the announcers wondered if anyone would drop back to help him, he got lapped, didn’t get the luck dog. There was a wave around and after another caution he rejoined the lead lap. While the announcers are paid to report what is going on with the race and the Championship this was simply overblown. Anyone who has watched NASCAR before had to know that Hamlin would eventually get back on the lead lap. After all it’s not like they were lapping new cars every time around.
