OK after finally getting my obligations and other things taken care of I have some time now. The title is the shooutout & qualifying but I'm going to start with qualifying. I purposely waited to see if anyone failed post qualifying inspection. As of this writing I hadn't seem anything so congratulations to Michael Waltrip for his front row starting spot and to Jimmie Johnson for the pole. I know it was a long year for MWR last season and one of the drivers I like to follow made the race as well so congrats to David Reutimann also.
I posted on the auotboard about Dael Earnhardt Jr.'s win on the "Thank Gordon" thread ( I think that's what it was titled) and will say the same here. Yes it was a good win for the 88 team but if you think Jeff Gordon is going to do the same thing in the 500 if the situation is the same I think you will be in for a surprise. This was a NON POINT race so if he won or lost it wasn't as big a deal. I can guarentee you that the 24 will not move over because he wasn't behind a teammate and losse that many spots in the 500. It just won't happen. I have read comments about the team and all those things and I will say that Hendrick does have a great team but if you think it isn't everyman for themselves the last few laps at a plate track you haven't watched NASCAR.
It does appear the racing will be more exciting, at least this week anyway, so that's a good sign. I will also ask another thing. If Gordon was so content on being the good team player and helping Jr. win, why didn't he stay in line earlier? He wanted to win the race and when he realized he couldn't AND was lined up behind Tony Stewart he chose to go to the middle and fall back. Again if you think he will do the same thing in the 500, if the situation is the same, I have some ocean front property in Kansas I would like to sell you. Have a great day...bluejay