The GLEN!!

[gttouring]

no matter what racing you like this is a good one, and seeing the cars zoom around bouncing off kerbs is cool.
70.8 seconds is the Pole time for Greg biffle so far.
and the Hired gun road racers (Pruett, J.Miller, Fellows, Pj Jones) are behind him!
what is this race gonna be like , so far its a cracker.

[gttouring]

well Jeff Gordon made Pole so far. and boris said wound up 8th
so much for the hired help.

[Fish_Flake]

Chicanes are terrible for open-wheeled cars, but man, it's great when the stocks and the tourers bounce over the curbs at the Inner Loop. Did you see Robby Gordon through there? His left side was on the curb, and his right side was two feet in the air! Great stuff.

[gttouring]

OKAY- second part to this
Gordon was 3rd last corner last lap and ran out of gas,
duh
Harvick hits him once shame on gordon for running outof gas, but he hits him again, and spins him - I saw it a million times on the replay and it is so clear he could have gotten around Jeff to get 3rd and let jeff coast to 10th or whatever, not wrecking him 150 yards from the line.
It is a **** call for NASCAR to just ask Harvick about this, he was totally deliberate and foul- what a drive for Gordon though... at least biffle let up as gordon caught him, knowing he acted a little poorly on lap one.

[Crash Test]

Not a bad effort by Scott Pruett to get two former open wheel drivers up into the top two.

I don't know how many people could have avoided hitting Gordon. Putting the power down out of the last corner and the car in front of you simply stops, it would be near on impossible to simply keep turning and miss him. Full marks to Gordon, he deserved better than that, but shyte happens.

[Roselady3]

Originally posted by gttouring
OKAY- second part to this
Gordon was 3rd last corner last lap and ran out of gas,
duh
Harvick hits him once shame on gordon for running outof gas, but he hits him again, and spins him - I saw it a million times on the replay and it is so clear he could have gotten around Jeff to get 3rd and let jeff coast to 10th or whatever, not wrecking him 150 yards from the line.
It is a **** call for NASCAR to just ask Harvick about this, he was totally deliberate and foul- what a drive for Gordon though... at least biffle let up as gordon caught him, knowing he acted a little poorly on lap one.

As a general rule- when a car runs out of gas or has ANY problem that keeps him from running full speed- you get out of the racing groove. Did Jeff do that? Nope. Kevin came around the corner & found Jeffie running at half speed. Opps. He expected him to excellerate after the first bump. He was in the racing groove- therefore- he showed signes as being competitive. But he slowed down further. Boom again.

Lesson to be learned?
1) if ya run out of gas- get the heck out of the way.
2) Don't expect the cars behind you to know you have a problem if you are IN the racing groove.
3) Don't expect everybody to just coast in after your slow ***ed car.

Poor pit planning lost him that race.

[gttouring]

the racing groove as all the oval racers call it-which was the first time i had heard it used in a road course, was plenty wide at that point and harvick was plenty fast and had room to get right, he just lost power there and no one checked up? harvick was hoping he'd hit gordon.
and how slow was he? he carried the entry speed into the corner and Kevin accelerated into him not allowing one to move off the line, Jeff would have glided over to the finish line some 400 feet away easy and he could have moved off the line had no one gassed it into his rear, I race myself and I have seen a guy coming out of a corner freeze a bearing and talk about slowing down, I got outta the way and he was in the "groove" -harvick had no real interest not to NASCAR is good with the bumping and shoving but that was ramming and not acceptable

[Lee Janotta]

Looked to me like Harvick hit Gordon three times, actually. First time was when Gordon's engine expired, midway through the turn. Then Harvick bumps him again and nudges him to the right. Gordon then decides he's going to block for Jimmy Johnson, and swerves back right onto the racing line in front of Harvick!

Now, what Harvick did was damn dangerous, and I would never, ever sanction a move like that...

But Gordon had it coming for blocking for his teammate when his car was out of gas, and his race was over. Johnson went by as Harvick was getting blocked. It's one of the most underhanded things I've ever seen in racing... And in NASCAR, putting the guy in the wall, be it immediatly, or two races later, or whenever... Is the only recourse you have when you're slapped in the face like that.

Maybe it'd be better if we gave them boxing gloves, or pistols at twenty paces... But as things stand, I can't say Harvick wasn't totally justified in ramming Gordon out of the way. He should be read the riot act, fined somewhere into 4 figures, and put on probation for a month or two. But Jeff Gordon needs to know that sh*t like that just doesn't fly.

[Roselady3]

His car was out of gas when Jr passed him. Even Jeff says so- because he claimed to have a hard time steering (power steering gone) Harvick was behind Jr. So how can that be?

Jr said that he bumped Jeff- as Jeff was blocking. It was the only way he could get around him. He really was expecting everybody just to coast in behind him.

Jeff just didn't want to loose any positions. PLUS he had the INTENDED effect of holding up Kevin so his buddy Jimmy could get by.

He was 50 MPH slower. He was in the racing groove, blocking for his driver.

[Roselady3]

Quote from Dale Jr gives light to the situation:

"Yea, he was out of gas. I ran into the back of him because he ran in front of me. I knew I was catching him a lot, probably 50 mph faster than he was going. Wherever I went, he went, and I knew that he was going to try and block me, and I couldn't lift because the 29 was coming. I guess the 29 ran over him too.
Not very smart on his part. I would've just taken the spots I lost because I ran out of gas. You're not going to block me all the way around the last two corners of the racetrack. I don't care who you are, you don't need to block anybody on the last two laps. He ended up in the wall and lost a bunch of spots, so you tell me who made the bad decision."

[Emfa]

Kind of interesting that nobody has mentioned the bump-pass that Gordon did on Harvick a few laps prior to running out of gas. I'm sure that would have still been fresh on Harvick's mind.

[gttouring]

I thought i did, maybe on another thread- the revenge aspect seems to me a little immature, considering the tape on Inside WC, shows everyone darting over to avoid harvick and gordon- so Harvick was looking for so payback- it seems he was looking for change as well

[24thunder]

Originally posted by Roselady3
As a general rule- when a car runs out of gas or has ANY problem that keeps him from running full speed- you get out of the racing groove. Did Jeff do that? Nope. Kevin came around the corner & found Jeffie running at half speed. Opps. He expected him to excellerate after the first bump. He was in the racing groove- therefore- he showed signes as being competitive. But he slowed down further. Boom again.

Lesson to be learned?
1) if ya run out of gas- get the heck out of the way.
2) Don't expect the cars behind you to know you have a problem if you are IN the racing groove.
3) Don't expect everybody to just coast in after your slow ***ed car.

Poor pit planning lost him that race.

Maybe Kevin ought to get a new spotter also?It appears that His current spotter wasn't doing His job,or Kevin would have been forewarned about the slowing #24 car!

[Emfa]

Good point, although spotting at Watkins Glen is not as easy as a lot of other places.