Race 11: Another Great Week on the Track and on This Page

On this page:

Race Summary

1. Dale Jarrett

2. Mark Martin

3. Bobby Labonte

4. Bobby Hamilton

5. Rusty Wallace

Saturday night’s race at Richmond proved one thing: no one is safe. Skinner, Gordon, Burton, Andretti, and Kenny Irwin are just a few of the guys who had engine trouble or wrecking trouble. Ironically, King Wreck himself, Joe Nemechek, turned in a surprising sixth place finish. But even a pattern of irony wasn’t established at Richmond, because Irvan made up for Joe’s performance by wrecking twice, both times managing to involve other cars. Names that we’ve been hearing all year, like Stewart, Mayfield, T. Labonte, and Dallenbach were barely mentioned in the broadcast because of their crapulent performances. Guys you never hear about, like Bobby Hamilton and Rich Bickle, were all over the top ten (Hamilton in fourth and Bickle in tenth).

What caused all this craziness? Well, for one thing, there was an unexpected and unexplainable problem with right-front tires. They kept blistering long before they should have, and they got plenty of drivers in trouble. Most of the problems didn’t result in huge wrecks (although Irvan did his best), and most of the troubled guys were able to get back on the track, but none of them remained a threat after their problems. Gordon pitted about 50 times during the race, as did Burton (who’d been having yet another great run) and Mike Skinner. The guys who stayed in the top five did so through perseverance and a whole lot of luck. Texas Thunder Bobby Labonte kept his amazing streak of leading 10 of the 11 races held thusfar. In fact, his third-place finish was the best he’s ever done at Richmond. Could he be becoming a competent short-track driver?

Another Great Week of Picks

Once again y’all turned in some classy picks. As usual, though, many of you tried to stick to convention and playing the odds. By doing so you returned poor performances. Our weekly points average is around 38, but more than half of you fell far, far short of that average. I was the only person to get the surprise points. Most of you went with Mayfield and Earnhardt, guys you think are better than their current ranking shows. C’mon, people. The whole point of a surprise is that it’s someone no one expects to do well, but who you have a hunch about. That’s how I reign surpreme in the surprise picks: I make the picks that no one else has the vision to make.

While I’m on that most important of subjects, namely me, I am sorely disappointed that no one commented on my great "Top 5 Reasons Joe Nemechek Will Give for Crashing" list. I could’ve sold that to Letterman if I’d wanted to. I’d like to see y’all do any better. In fact, I’m going to add this challenge to your comments box for next race. Just you wait and see.

William "Prove it in a court of law" P. won our points race for the week, pulling in a remarkable 55 points. His pick of Kenny Irwin to DNF really put him over the top. Duncan and I were right behind him with 45. My surprise pick boosted my points, and Duncan got this week’s five bonus points for the following comment, regarding my Star Wars question:

That WNBA thing kills me. In other weekly points news, Nathan fell ten points shorter than Sean. It’s a minor detail when you look just at this week’s points, but I think Nathan’s really going to wish he’d made one more correct pick. Sean has now taken a ten-point lead in our overall points race over Nathan. I’m still in third, but Kevin "How’d I end up in this ditch" K. has pulled even with Chris G at 400 points. Chris must’ve gotten loose or something, because he’s been off the pace for a few races now. Right at their heels is Tim, with 395 points. And just five points behind Tim is Sharon. Next time we have a race, there could be some serious shifting for positions four through seven.

Car Wars and Star Wars

The comments were a little bit more restrained this week than they usually are. I guess the week off before the race helped cool temperatures. That’s fine, because folks need to get focused for the next string of races. Most of you chose to discuss the coming release of the new Star Wars movie, called "The Phantom Menace." I asked you to say how much you thought it would make in its first weekend. Between $60 and $80 million was the big winner, with 6 of this week’s 12 players choosing it. Over $100 million got two votes, as did between $40 and $60 million. Between $80 and $100 million got a single vote. Once the big weekend happens, I’ll let you know the names of the correct predictors.

Tim did an admirable job of combining comments on Star Wars with attacks on Nathan:

By "Rusty" I don’t know if Tim means the driver, some character in Star Wars, or the little girl Tim extraneously mentions. Tim, aim high. Date adults.

Neil also gets a random sex reference in his Star Wars comments:

Alright, Neil, let me solve your dilemma. Since your fiance hasn’t seen the first three movies, she doesn’t know what to expect. So what you do is, tell her the tickets you have are for a special Tuesday showing of the movie. Then you take her to see "The Matrix." Make sure that she’s not with you when you buy the tickets, and make sure you get there fifteen minutes late (so she’ll miss the title screen). Wisk her right into the theater, not allowing her to see the "now playing" posters. Problem solved.

 Will provides us with a lurid insider’s look of the movie:

Wow, that’s a bad way to go. Great comments, though. My dad wins the "Dale Earnhardt Low Blow of the Week" award with the following heretical comments:

Let me state for the record that the Leia figure is not, repeat NOT, my favorite one. She had a silly cape and lame gun, not to mention that she’s a girl. Eewww. This Jerry Springer-esque attack by my dad is clearly an attempt to shake me from my incredible picking streak. I don’t think it’s going to happen, oh ye who has more MacDonald’s items inside his car than Bill Elliott does on the outside of his.

When you talk Star Wars, you have to talk Nathan. He’s never been one to restrain himself when it comes to commenting, and there’s nothing he likes to talk more about than Star Wars. If you've never seen Nathan in person, think about the people they showed camping out for tickets for the movie. Nathan looks exactly like them. He’s the local authority, so we should take seriously his comments. We should also be serious about taking him to a hospital for some help:

I’m not sure if Nathan is talking to us, himself, or some fantasy friend of his. The only part that makes sense is the drinking line at the end, but I think by "Mos Eisley" Nathan means "musty basement."

Finally, it wouldn’t be right if we didn’t check in on old Ryan. Ryan’s been quite a trooper this year, because he’s living on some island in the Carribbean – his internet connection is terrible. But he makes his picks, week in and week out. And as usual, his comments this week are as cryptic and threatening as ever: 

Once again, Ryan has showed us how the world is too much with us. Yes, Ryan, night racing IS fun. And if I were you Sean "Frenchy" F., I’d be afraid. I’d be very afraid.

The Points

 The totals were low for this week, but you have to give Will credit for his outstanding performance. Don’t forget to scroll down to see the cumulative points board.

Sean has recaptured the points lead by a single correct pick. Every pick is important, people. Check out the action for positions four through seven. Any one of those people could make a big move next time out.