Lap 347 @ Dover and 19 cars are out of the race.
06/07/2004
Mark Martin gets his first win in 2 years, Robby ends up 14th in a horrid car, Dale Jarrett ends the day in eleventh and Scott Riggs the rookie ends up 5th. This was not how the day was expected to end. How did it happen?
Ryan Newman slid getting into pit row; he took the tire barrier out and started the caution laps at 321. Ryan’s team just couldn’t get the pit stops correct after that and he got penalized a lap. I think the actual penalty came from not stopping at the exit of pit row when the stop sign was out. As I mentioned, the pit crew had mistake after mistake during that caution set, oh, he also ran out of fuel. Matt Borland, his crew chief was arguing that Ryan was on a lap of his own and should have started at the tail end of the lead lap cars. Mark Martin ended up with the lucky dog lap, at the tail end of the lead lap when the order was sorted out. The pack restarted all screwed up, lapped cars were out front, the leaders were in mid pack and then all hell broke loose on the restart at lap 346.
I have played the video tape over and over and I think Michael Waltrip had a lot to do with this mess. It was Dave Blaney and Michael making contact that triggered the 19 car pile up. Looked to me like Michael Waltrip ran into Dave and spun him out. This seems to be a recurring theme carrying over from last year. Michael gets aggressive, takes cars out and skates through the wrecks. I hope he does loose his ride with DEI, I am sick and tired of him wrecking other drivers. Maybe they should just put Michael Waltrip and Tony Stewart on a track together and they can wreck each other!
I think the worst part of this was for Dave Blaney. He is running a partial schedule this year due to sponsor issues. He had a strong car, he was running in the front of the pack, he was doing so well on the track and on pit stops and he got wrecked by Waltrip. 19 more torn up race cars, thanks Michael.
Other News:
I was down at Thunder Hill Raceway for the Saturday nigh races. Had a good time, the All Star trucks and the legends were out. I Worked on Sunday for a few hours, I am heading to TMS this weekend for the NASCAR Trucks and IRL races.
I ordered a new scanner, it is compact: http://www.raceceiver.com/store/ it should arrive today. Can’t wait to try it out! Oh, I did order the scanner for two, I am ever the optimist!
