- Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson for getting his second Cup win of 2009. He clearly had the best car and just dominated all race long. Johnson jeopardized his chances of winning, though, on the final pit stop when Chad Knaus made the call to get four tires instead of two. I thought that decision would be suicide for him, but it paid off as he managed to race his way to the front in less than 30 laps. Jimmie just impresses me race after race from the comeback he made last fall at Atlanta to the one here at Dover. He is on track to win his fourth straight championship, but I think winning this one will be much harder than the others if he manages to pull it off.
- That was some great racing at the end between Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, and Greg Biffle, the type of racing NASCAR fans are looking for when they come to the races each week. This finish reminded me very much of the one last fall between Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, and Carl Edwards. I agree with the announcers when they said that Dover is a track where the cars spread out for the main part of the race but bunch back up at the end. Both Stewart and Biffle took just two right side tires, but they could not hold their ground in the closing laps to the mighty Johnson. In scenarios like that, a car is either strong on the inside groove or on the outside one. On the other hand, Jimmie Johnson's car was good on both which made it virtually impossible for the other two to keep him in the rear view mirror.
- You know how that must have felt to Tony Stewart to watch Jimmie Johnson fly by him on the outside groove. He was so close to that points win as an owner for Stewart-Haas. When I analyze Tony's whole racing crew, I have noticed this season that they have gained the ability to do something that only Jimmie's team has been able to do in the past: the ability to adjust on his race car throughout the race. This means, for example, at Dover he was able to get a second place finish even though he did not have a second place car. That skill will come in handy down the road and is a mark of a true championship team. Tony Stewart is the number one threat to Jimmie Johnson in winning his fourth straight Cup title. Tony hasn't been this good since his last championship in 2002. He has already won the FOX Cup...
- I enjoyed all of the action at the beginning of the race. By setting up the competition caution on lap 30, NASCAR gave the drivers an excuse to run like speed demons right from the start in order to check for tire wear. The battle between Reed Sorenson and David Reutimann was exciting to watch. Greg Biffle was even concerned that he might have been running too hard so early in the race. For once, I have to applaud NASCAR for the competition caution...
- I was really surprised that the Roush-Fenway Racing teams weren't much of a threat to win the race. Dover is one of those tracks where they usually dominate all day long. Greg Biffle did finish third and Matt Kenseth in fourth, but I guess I was just expecting a little more from them. Aside from Kenseth's two wins opening the season, they have been nothing other than terrible so far in 2009. I don't know what has happened to the whole organization, but they better get it figured out before it is too late...
- Even though Dale Earnhardt, Jr. ended up with a 12th place finish, it probably felt like a victory to him. The crew chief change on his team from Tony Eury, Jr. to Lance McGrew has been the talk of the week. All of the top workers for Hendrick Motorsports devoted their time to the number 88 team for the whole weekend making any changes needed for the car to run better and faster. The outcome of the arduous labor and new crew chief was that Junior just looked like a different race car driver with renewed energy on Sunday. I really think that McGrew is the type of guy that NASCAR's most popular driver needs. He came on the radio and encouraged him throughout the race. Dale was even running in the top five for a big portion of the event. Junior is a talented race car driver; he just needs the perfect recipe of equipment and crew in order to succeed in the long run...
- It is sad to see NASCAR on FOX say good-bye for the rest of the season. I know many people other than me are also not too happy about it, especially the ones without cable television. We may not enjoy Digger popping up every couple of minutes or perhaps get annoyed by having to listen to Darrell Waltrip. When you look at the big picture though, FOX is the best racing network for many reasons including the fact that they have the shortest pre-race show, the whole crew has the best chemistry and provides the most humor, they explains things in the easiest way, etc. They try to make themselves one notch above TNT and ESPN/ABC. As they put it, though, it is only eight months until the Daytona 500...
The Mistake of the Week award for Dover is for all of my fellow bloggers to vote on! I really couldn't come up with one on my own...
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