Meandering Amongst the Marbles!

There were some surprises coming out of the NASCAR All-Star event at Lowes Motor Speedway, but the few surprises were buried in a heap of boredom.

• Congrats to AJ Allmendinger and Sam Hornish, Jr. Both former open-wheel stars raced to the top 2 spots in the Sprint Showdown, thereby transferring to the All-Star Race. Both started from the rear of the field. While AJ finished 17th in the All-star, Hornish was able to push his way to 7th.
  

• Additional congratulations go to Kasey Kahne, the winner of the Fan Vote and then the All-Star race. As much as I hate the All-Star voting, this time it worked well! I did note, though, that Elliott Sadler finished 3rd in the voting, so evidently even the JR Nation could not make Sadler any closer to winning the popularity contest.

• Let us not forget Matt Crafton finally finding his way to Victory Lane in the Craftsman Truck series. During his interview on Sirius this week, he claimed that he and his crew chief felt they were on the verge of grabbing the checkers. They were right!
  

• Kasey will not have to worry about the whole 'Vote thing' for the next ten years, due to his win. So, will Jr endorse Sadler again next year? I wonder how Chevy felt about JR throwing support to a driver of a competing manufacturer! Hmmmm! Enquiring minds want to know!

• How ironic that the first two cautions in the Showdown were caused by two of the three GEM cars. The 10 and the 19 were out early. I am most thankful that we will not be subjected to Carpentier running nude down the front strecth. The vision of the double-tracking gaited driver wrapped in a checkered flag diaper is forever seared into my mind.
  

• Internet buzz still is of the opinion that Sadler was out of line when he was slamming AJ Allmendinger, post wreck. It will be interesting to see if Elliott actually shows up for his weekly appearance on Sirius Speedway. And if he does show, what will he say? Sadly, there is no way to retract ugly-talk. I can't help but remember the interview with Miss Bell Sadler, as she discussed that Elliott was a bit spoiled. Perhaps he has never out-grown that attitude.
  

• The latest Tony Stewart rumor has him buying into JR Motorsports. Many wonder how well he and Jr. would do as business partners, but many forget they are already partners with each other in the VLP club.
  

• There are quite a few cars that will have to go back to the drawing board, if NASCAR has their way. Ironically, some of the cars at issue include the 77 of Sam Hornish, Jr. Carl Edwards claims that his car never had any problem getting on the scales, in spite of being called out by Jeff Gordon.
  

• The two Yates Racing entries had a good showing in the Sprint Showdown. David Gilliland finished 7th in his FreeCreditReport.com Ford Fusion, followed by team mate Travis Kvapil in the unsponsored 28 Ford.
  

• Engine problems seemed to plague the Gibbs teams this weekend. Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin both had to retire early due to power plant failure. And Tony Stewart started from the back due to changing an engine prior to the race. This little blurb on Jayski.com sums up the issue.
  

Joe Gibbs Racing used its engines in the all-star race as opposed to the engines it receives from Toyota Racing Development. The team plans to go back to TRD motors for the Coca-Cola 600. Since the all-star race is a non-points race, it provides teams a chance to test equipment without fear that a failure will hurt them in the points.(Roanoke Times), #20-Stewart had to change engines before the race, #11-Hamlin and #18-Busch both lost engines during the All-Star race, all three had rocker-arm problems.(5-19-2008)

• Speaking again of the Fan Vote, there are many internet boards that claim "something is wrong with the vote process." Apparently some fans used 'voting macros' or 'voting bots' to try and sway the votes in the favor of their own driver. One wonders if ALL of the fans were using the voting bots, thereby canceling each other out.

The next few days may include some interesting revelations! There are rumors that there may be some more sponsorship for one or both of the Yates cars. Awesome!