If he did it, he did it

Did Robbie Gordon throw some roll bar padding out of his car, in order to cause a caution? Nascar says they are not sure either way. But I feel that just by Nascar taking a good, long look at this, had they had video proof that Gordon intentionally did this, I honestly think that Gordon would not be racing this weekend at TMS. In defense of Gordon though, while I have never rolled my driver's side window down going 190+ MPH on I-35, just knowing the wind/turbulence that can be kicked up by doing this at 75 MPH, it is not beyond reasonable possibility that Gordon had nothing to do with this caution.

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It was nice to see a race yesterday that for once forced teams/drivers to actually pass other cars on the track, and not in the pits with two tire stops. We have seen it all too many times with a handful of drivers who qualify poorly, and do this in order to make some claim of having a 'top ten car'. At least ATL is a track that promotes on-track passing and tire management in the process.

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Maybe the driver of the 29 car should have spent his Saturday tweaking his Cup car instead of Whacking the Busch Race. Him being a nonfactor all day Sunday took what little Chase hopes the 29 team had. It is no wonder the G.M. Goodwrench is considering leaving as a sponsor. On the other hand, missing Satuday's practice didn't seem to bother the 11 car much.

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With 3 races to go, the Chase appears to now morphed into a two and half horse race. I say a 'half', because even though he may need some help, stand out Rookie Denny Hamlin refuses to go away. While of the three, he would not be my first choice, it is hard not to cheer this kid on. JGR and Fedex have found a diamond in the rough with this kid. Who says that this crop of rookies need more seasoning and time in the 'lower' series.

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Speaking of 'rookies' and more seasoning before making the jump to Cup. Scanning the "Southern Gentleman's" Fan Club Forum early this Monday morning, I noticed some pretty critical comments concerning this year's crop of 'uber rookies'. (an interesting term in itself) It is really too bad that the people making these critical claims don't take a look back into time when their driver was getting the same critisism less than 10 years ago. I was there, and can tell you the first 15 races of the "Southern Gentleman's" career was not pretty at all. Only finishing on the lead lap one time in those first 15 races. In that one time, I can remember jesting to friends before the race that the team's motto for that TMS race should be, 'just finish Elliott, just finish'. It was not long after those 15 races, that even the 'Southern Gentleman' himself along with his owner had made the claim that because of all the sheet metal that had been torn up over the first half of the '99 season, there was a critical shortage of 'race ready' cars in the 21 stable. How soon some fans forget, but then again, they probably never knew in the first place.

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On to some College Football

Another great Saturday over-all in terms of good games. Still lots of question marks for some of those top tier BCS teams. Is WVU for real? Was Texas 'penalized' too much for losing to tOSU? Will the 'real' BCS champ game be played in November between tOSU and Mich? Could an SEC team make the BCS Champ game without playing in the SEC Conference Champ game? (irony alert) And lasty, did a 'review mistake', cost the Sooners a BCS Bowl game birth worth millions to the University? Some of these questions will be answered this upcoming weekend and speaking of, the OU/Texas A&M is on ABC (and even 'gameday' will be there) Saturday night in College Station. No TMS race conflicts! Woohoooo!