One word that described last Saturday night's Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway would be "surprised". I was surprised with the racing. I know it ended in a fuel economy race, but it was a decent race especially for for a 1.5 mile cookie cutter track to watch that had some good racing at times.
I was surprised to see Brad Keselowski stumble with fuel strategy and run out of gas. But they recovered to minimize the damage with an 11th place finish. I know he #2 team is still the ones to beat in the chase.
I was really surprised to see Denny Hamlin on the right side of fuel economy this time with a second place finish on the night. And I was surprised to see Regan Smith running pretty well in the #88 before engines issues that were no fault of his own forced him out of the race.
But I wasn't surprised to see Jimmie Johnson sip his way to a third place finish, nor to see Clint Bowyer sip his way to victory in the Bank of America 500 and climb his way back into this championship hunt. Both Bowyer and Johnson know how to same fuel and make fuel economy work for them despite what they really may think.
Now after race #5 in the chase and four winners (Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth and Clint Bowyer), we have a four-man battle for the title with just five races to go between leader Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer. Look MWR is still in the hunt for a title.
Next up is Kansas, but what I really want to see is Martinsville in two weeks and hopefully the return of Dale Earnhardt Jr. healthy and ready to race.
I was surprised to see Brad Keselowski stumble with fuel strategy and run out of gas. But they recovered to minimize the damage with an 11th place finish. I know he #2 team is still the ones to beat in the chase.
I was really surprised to see Denny Hamlin on the right side of fuel economy this time with a second place finish on the night. And I was surprised to see Regan Smith running pretty well in the #88 before engines issues that were no fault of his own forced him out of the race.
But I wasn't surprised to see Jimmie Johnson sip his way to a third place finish, nor to see Clint Bowyer sip his way to victory in the Bank of America 500 and climb his way back into this championship hunt. Both Bowyer and Johnson know how to same fuel and make fuel economy work for them despite what they really may think.
Now after race #5 in the chase and four winners (Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth and Clint Bowyer), we have a four-man battle for the title with just five races to go between leader Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer. Look MWR is still in the hunt for a title.
Next up is Kansas, but what I really want to see is Martinsville in two weeks and hopefully the return of Dale Earnhardt Jr. healthy and ready to race.
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| Photo Credit: Tyler Barrick/Getty Images for NASCAR |
