The Speeding Bullets: LifeLock 400

• Congratulations to Mark Martin on his third win of the season. He managed to climb from 32nd starting position all the way to victory lane, his lowest starting position ever when winning a race. Gaining five positions in points as a result of this win could possibly "lock" him into the Chase. His wisdom and knowledge was the reason that he won this race. Instead of racing hard at the end, Martin chose to conserve fuel and just hope that the victory would fall into his hands, which it did. That whole final lap just seemed totally out of the ordinary of any finish I have ever seen before. For once, guys actually ran out of gas on a fuel mileage finish. How can Tony Stewart manage to save three laps of fuel at Pocono and then these guys cannot even save one or two at Michigan??? Maybe we should listen to Hanahan's take and say that the race was rigged... lol.

• I never thought I would ever do this, but I am going to give the Mistake of the Week award for Michigan to Jimmie Johnson, the three-time champion. He dominated all afternoon by leading 146 laps of the 200 laps. I think what cost him was when he chose to challenge Greg Biffle for the win instead of just trying to finish the race. I'm glad that he didn't take the easy way out, and I have to give him credit for racing like a real man. Have you noticed that some of the most exciting moments in the sport are when Jimmie Johnson makes some mistake???
  

• Even though Greg Biffle's fuel tank also hit empty, he still managed to salvage a fifth place finish. I do think that Johnson racing him harder may have caused him not to reach the start/finish line on the final lap. His plan was to win the race exactly as Tony did last week. I really thought that he was going to get his first victory of the season. Biffle is closing in on it each race...
  

• I know something has changed about Carl Edwards when he said in his post-race interview that "a fourth place finish was a gift". Last season, Carl used to be the guy who won race after race and did whatever it took to get to victory lane. This season, he has turned more into a Jeff Burton or Mark Martin type who just plays the points game and lets a win fall into his hands. For now, I am going to call this Edwards' alter ego. This alter ego may be the reason that he is winless so far in 2009. It is almost as if he and Jimmie have traded places; Jimmie's the competitive one and Carl the conservative (not as in politics.. lol). I hope by the time the Chase starts that it will go away and that the old style Carl will return to the sport...

• Week after week, I get tired of NASCAR trying to throw some caution in order to tighten up the field for the next pit stop. I think that debris caution 60 laps into the race was probably a total hoax. Since there was no excuse for a competition caution, they chose to have a debris one instead. Anytime a driver comments on an unwanted truth about the sport, NASCAR makes sure to quiet him...
  

• Kudos to Juan Pablo Montoya for getting his second top ten finish in a row. Maybe he is finally starting to get NASCAR figured out after a little over two years racing. With Infineon the next track around the turn, don't be surprised if we find him in victory lane on Sunday...

• TNT kind of irritated me this week with their discussion relating to the start and parkers. They talked as if they could care less that there are cars in the field not planning to run the entire race, as if they actually thought what those guys are doing is a respectable thing. If there aren't 43 teams out there who have the funds to finish a race, then I don't think that we should have 43 starting spots in the Sprint Cup field. I know the number 43 is all about tradition, but sometimes tradition isn't always the best thing down the road...