HAMLIN FINALLY PUTS A NEW FACE IN VICTORY LANE

Martinsville didn’t really have the beating and banging we hoped for…but the good—no—the EXCELLENT news is that someone without the first name of Jimmie and the last name of Johnson was able to win. The bad news…Johnson increased his points lead by 28 points over Mark Martin. The points leader finished 2nd after getting passed by Hamlin with 139 laps to go.



Hamlin won the race because his car was incredibly strong on long runs. There was a short run with 12 laps to go, a run which the ABC announcers pointed out would be a concern for Hamlin since it took him a number of laps for his car to “come in.” Fortunately, a picture perfect restart by Hamlin helped him get out front…then another caution with 2 laps to go forced Hamlin to get another great restart…and it worked.

It was another race that proved that the drivers in the chase belonged there. Juan Montoya picked up his second 3rd place finish in 2 weeks, a point of emphasis for the AB crew. Dr. Jerry Punch was impressed with how well Montoya has been able to adapt to a track when he had been so awful at the same track earlier in the season. Juan Montoya was the worst Martinsville driver, always burning his breaks and flatspotting his tires. Montoya showed tremendous guts and made the race fun.

ABC gets a 9 out of 10 this week. The producers made many attempts to try and find ways to limit the conversation about Jimmie Johnson. Naturally, this race got more viewers and a higher rating than any of the other chase races. The announcers continued to talk about how dominant Jimmie Johnson would be for the final four races of the chase, but nowhere near the extent that would drive viewers away.

Talk about a change of scenery, the NASCAR guys will take a trip to Talladega, Alabama—from the smallest track on the circuit to the LARGEST and FASTEST track. To be honest, I have no idea where to even start for a prediction. All of the cars will be equal for this race, and it is truly the wild card, as ESPN’s Rusty Wallace pointed out during the Martinsville broadcast. Hang on for some blazing speed next weekend!