NASCAR 2012

[Lavabe]

8 laps to go:
JJ, JG(running short of fuel), Jr (running short of fuel), Bowyer, Kes, Newman, Kenseth, Dinger, Hamlin, Almirola, Truex, Biff
JMac 17 (-2 lap)
Vickers 19 (-2 lap)
Burton 21 (-3 laps)
JPM 22 (-3 laps)
Logano 23 (-2 laps)
Schrader 32 (-12 laps)

[Lavabe]

3 laps to GO: CAUTION: Reutimann stops
JG JUST takes the lead
Here's the rub... who has gas?
Green-White Checker finish
JG has enough gas.
Jr comes in for gas.
ONLY JJ and JG stayed out!!
OH MY!!
Bowyer and Newman take 3rd and 4th. Jr is 6th. Hamlin drops to 12th.

[Lavabe]

OMG!!!
On the restart, JJ and JG go spinning as Bowyer dive bombed them. Bowyer spun. And JG is out of fuel.
Newman snuck through, with Dinger and Truex.
CAUTION AGAIN!!!
Jr got sandwiched, but survived!!
WOW!!
On the restart, it'll be Newman, Dinger, Truex, Jr.

[Lavabe]

Newman WINS!!

[Lavabe]

Order of finish:
Newman, Dinger, Jr, Kenseth, Truex, Hamlin, Smoke, Almirola, Kes, Bowyer
JJ 12
Biff 13
Vickers 18
JMac 20
JPM 21
Burton 22
Logano 23
Schrader 32

[Lavabe]

Reutimann may get penalized, IMHO. He was racing with a broken swaybar for 10 laps, and had EVERY opportunity to come into the pits. We otherwise would not have had green-white-checker. It would have been JG/JJ battling for the lead.

As for the melee, JJ and JG suffered for not coming into the pits. They had worn tires that just failed them. All the others had grip, and wanted to pass them. Bowyer dive bombed them, had to slow down to avoid tagging them, got tagged by Newman, and all hell broke loose. I still can't believe how Jr survived the melee. SANDWICHED, broken swaybar, he charged very well, but fell short and wound up third.

Dinger's best finish.

[Lavabe]

Well that race tightened up the fantasy league.
I won with 345 pts, followed by Miles & JGo, and then Ymo. That would be four folks who had 300 plus points.

Ymo still retains his overall lead, but now he leads me by 28 pts. I am only 3 pts over Iowa. Colchar is some 80+ pts behind Iowa, but he now has a 47 pt lead over Tilly. Tilly leads JGo by a mere 11 pts. Lawgrad is 79 pts further behind, but MILES now trails LG by just THREE POINTS!! Knights is 23 pts further behind.

No racing next week. The next race is Texas, on the 14th!
I'll be flying back from a conference that day.

[colchar]

No racing next week.

Easter or not, this is simply not acceptable.

[YmoBeThere]

No race this weekend. Apparently, they take Easter off.

[colchar]

They're back this week folks so get your picks in!!!

[colchar]

I completely forgot that the race was tonight and therefore didn't get the chance to choose which drivers I wanted as starters. I would have swapped 'Dinger or Menard in for Burton on the B-List and Mears in for Labonte on the C-List. I hope my forgetfulness doesn't bite me in the ass in the final results!

[Lavabe]

I was flying back from a conference in Portland, OR... just finished watching the DVR recording.

Biffle & JJ dominated, Biffle won. Really, a boring race during primetime.
Very few cautions... very little chance to see any pit strategies. Stiff wind blowing affected a LOT of drivers and handling.

Looks like colchar made wise moves.

Unbelievable... I wound up winning this week's fantasy race competition, even though I kept Biff on the bench. Miles and lawgrad were close. Overall, I took the lead, and am now in the 96th percentile.

So, I now lead Ymo by 40 points, who leads Iowa by a mere 7 pts. It's then a 107 pt lead over colchar, who leads Tilly by 41 pts. Tilly is in a tight race with JGo, leading him by 18 pts. JGo leads lawgrad by a slim 21 points, who leads Miles by 23 points. Knights is 115 pts further back.

Kansas City is next... and a return to Sunday racing.

[IowaDevil]

Congrats to Lavabe!

[YmoBeThere]

Congrats, Lavabe!

(and on my performance, ugh!)

[Lavabe]

Remember to get your picks in by tomorrow 5AM Eastern time. Qualifying takes place tomorrow. Racing takes place on SUNDAY!!

[Lavabe]

On the pole at Kansas City is Dinger, followed by Harvick, Hamlin MM, Truex, Jr, Bowyer, KK, and Hornish.

[YmoBeThere]

I did not do a good job of picking potential starters. I'm definitely off my game.

[IowaDevil]

I did not do a good job of picking potential starters. I'm definitely off my game.

You aren't alone for sure! Someone from the back better win this race!

[Lavabe]

Clarification: Although Logano will start in the back of the grid, he had the third fastest qualifying time. When it comes to earning qualifying points in fantasy league, only the qualifying time counts. That means Mark Martin, although he starts 4th, doesn't earn any qualifying points for those of us who picked him.

Boogity, boogity, boogity! Let's go racing, boys!

[Lavabe]

Lap 50 of 267... CAUTION
Bowyer lost a cylinder and spun. Back to the garage for him. He lasted 10 laps in the garage.

Dinger led through the first round of pit stops (laps 40-45), but it's been Truex since.
Edwards led a lap during the pit stops.

So far, in lap 85 of 267 it's:
Truex, Harvick, KK, JJ, Hamlin, Jr, Kenseth, Kes, JPM, KuBu
JG 11, Biff 12, MM 13
Edwards 15, Newman 16, Hornish 18
Burton 20, Labonte 21, Almirola 22
Menard 24, Logano 26, Dinger 27
Mears 31, Sorenson 33, Bowyer 39