38th Place Finish at Texas

The #48 finished in 38th place in the Dickies 500 today after being wrecked when my absolute favorite driver, Sam Hornish, Jr., was tapped by David Reutimann and got into Jimmie on lap 3. Well, at least that gave them plenty of time to work on the car, and they did a damn good job of it, too. Hats off to Chad and the 48 crew, as well as the guys from the 24 and 88 teams who came over to help out. As much as I hated to see that crash, I have to say, it was really interesting to see them work on the car...I wondered how mangled it would still look when they got done, but heck, all it needed was some decals and a little paint, and you almost wouldn't have known the difference! Here's a video from today's broadcast showing Chad and the boys going to work on the car.

Mark Martin finished 4th, which tightened up the points race considerably. Mark was 184 points behind Jimmie after Talladega, and now he is down to 73 points behind. Actually, I kind of like this. I'm sure Chad would disagree, hehe, but I think this makes it a lot more exciting. He still has enough of a points lead so I don't have to start freaking out, but now it's close enough that it'll be that much cooler when he gets the 4-peat because it'll be hard-earned. Jeez, I'm so excited for Phoenix and Homestead!

Ya know, that reminds me... I completely understand why they didn't race very hard at Homestead last year, and I wouldn't criticize that decision at all, but I have to say, I'm glad they're going to have to get up on the wheel a little more this year (unless Phoenix goes absolutely amazingly for them and horribly for Mark and Jeff). As much as I am in awe of Chad's genius strategies, sometimes my inner Rusty Wallace gets the better of me and makes me want to see Jimmie go out there and HAUL BUTT!!!  And due to the circumstances, I think we're going to get to see that this year!  Here's to a Homestead win and a 4-peat, woohoo!!

News Round-Up:

• In garage area, a different kind of championship effort (NASCAR.com)
• Johnson wills his team to finish (ESPN)
  
• Texas: Jimmie Johnson NASCAR Sprint Cup Quotes (PaddockTalk)
• JJ's delayed coronation, IndyCar gets new duds, more Texas notes (Sports Illustrated)