The weather at Richmond International Raceway is simply phenomenal the day after Tropical Storm Hanna breezed through, and after a day off, the stars of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series are ready to roll in the Chevy Rock & Roll 400.
Kyle Busch leads the field to the green just after 1pm/ET and FanHouse has you covered the whole way. Can David Ragan or Kasey Kahne make the Chase? Will Jeff Gordon get booted out?
Jump in below to the conversation as we get a heavy dose of NASCAR live bloggin' -- just in time to set the field for the 12-driver Chase to the Championship!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-07-2008 @ 6:08PM
V. Scott said...
I am a Kasey Kahne Fan, but am very disappointed. I thought this was the year Kasey would come back. He was doing so well being consistent. But now has started the last few races to go backwards. How can Ragan wreck and have a crappy car and be 20 positions in front of Kasey? What is wrong? Has Kasey lost his nerve his mojo? He may lose his sponsor. All he had to do was finish in the top above bowyer and ragan. Kasey what gives is it a crappy car or is it you. Drive the hell out of your car like Busch. What have you got to lose now. Maybe he can win now the chase is set. Does anyone have any answers?
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9-07-2008 @ 4:35PM
bloofintoona said...
I cant stand it! How can a driver win races and not make the Chase? How can a driver not win 1 race and make the Chase?
How do they put those little ships in the bottles?
Hmmmmm?
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9-07-2008 @ 4:56PM
Bonnie Smith said...
Great race Jimmy he is my guy......... But what is up with Tony Stewart sore sport he can't always be first and acts the fool when he is not........ Come on Tony play fair......Show your worthy to even be in the Nascar Racing??????
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9-07-2008 @ 6:29PM
Mike LeVan said...
What a great race. The last laps were fantastic side to side racing for several laps. For some reason Tony Stewart was upset at then and I wish I knew why because it was great racing.
MBL
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9-07-2008 @ 8:48PM
Kim said...
I missed the race due to my son's football game. I was sorry I missed the race since my son's team lost their first game in four games and I believe it might be because I am bad luck and was there. :-(
I hear it was a great race and am THRILLED that my Jimmie won again! I predicted it as he won Cali and Richmond last year, too. He's coming on strong. Busch & Edwards better watch their backs. Jimmie's lurking for three championships in a row! Go JJ!
Kim
P.S. Since I missed the race....please to those above me, do tell....what did Tony Stewart have to say and what was the problem this time?
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9-07-2008 @ 10:47PM
Susan #1 Tony Fan said...
Tony was mad because he hates to lose. He was ok during the interview after the race. He's just passionate.
I would give the edge to Carl or Jimmie to win the chase.
Kim-You did miss a great race. Those kid football games always made me nervous. My son was the smallest kid on the field.
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9-07-2008 @ 10:56PM
Jack Hall said...
Chad knaus does it again. Unbelievable crewchief.
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9-08-2008 @ 6:49AM
Kim said...
Hey Susan!
Thank you for the info.
And I am with you on the football thing. That's why this was the first game I have attended. My son only weighs 68 pounds in a league that goes up to 120 pounds. He plays defense, too. He's a tough little guy, but he is little. Each week after a game, he is battered and bruised. I love football, but this little league thing is killing me! I'm better off continuing to let hubby take him while I stay home and just call in every quarter to find out how the game is going. Yesterday, I kept waiting for something awful to happen. Kids were dropping like flies on his team as the team they played was so much bigger than them. Luckily my boy never did go down, but I was waiting for him to. Isn't that terrible? :-)
Kim
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9-08-2008 @ 7:17AM
Snarky said...
I am sorry I missed the interview with Tony Stewart. I thought the interviews were over and turned off the TV. So much was being said about Tony being upset and blaming his crew for the loss I wanted to hear it from Tony himself.
It was certainly an exciting finish with JJ and TS going side by side for several laps. I am sorry you missed it Kim, there was plenty of good racing and a standing ovation when Dale Jr locked up the tires and slid into Baby Busch spinning him out and sending him a lap down.
Yep, you missed a good one.
MBL
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9-08-2008 @ 8:07AM
Kim said...
Hey Mike!
So Jr. wrecked Baby Busch? I am sorry to have missed that one! How mad was the boy wonder? Doesn't sound like Jr. was having a good race either, but I don't think he has done well at Richmond in the past, has he? Jr. tends not to do well on the short tracks. He is much better with restrictor plate racing.
Perhaps someone will rerun the race sometime this week and I can watch it? Does anyone know if that might happen?
Kim
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9-08-2008 @ 8:33AM
Snarky said...
Actually Jr had the best race he has had in 10 weeks or so. He led a good portion of the race and stayed in the top five most of the time. He finished 4th which was higher than I had expected. There was just one time when all the leaders pitted and 14 guys on the lead lap did not that caused the top 12 or so to have to claw their way back to the front. Yep, it was good racing yesterday babe.
Oh yeah, while Baby Busch was in the back of the pack he was spun out a second time too. Despite all that he got the lucky dog and managed to finish about 12th.
MBL
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9-08-2008 @ 9:00AM
Kim said...
I was just watching CNN's Sunday Sports recap and they played the in-car communications between Tony Stewart and Greg Zipadelli after Tony crossed the finish line. Bad attitude, indeed.
Tony said: "Nice job guys. We gave yet another one away."
Zippy said: "Great attitude, Smoke. Remember we win or lose as a team so enough of that crap."
Wow, gotta give it to Zippy for putting a guy in his place! It looked to me while watching the recap that Tony's team did nothing wrong. Tony simply was out-driven by JJ. Give credit where credit is due, Tony. I try so hard to like Tony Stewart, but that kind of attitude is just childish, imo.
Kim
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9-08-2008 @ 12:00PM
Bernie said...
It looked to me like Jr locked up his brakes just before making contact with Kyle Busch. Busch also came down the track before the contact. If anything Kyle's spotter may have had a chance to tell Kyle Junior was right there on the inside. Doesn't matter much anyway the real racing starts next week now that the field in set.
Congrats to JJ he's pouring it on at the right time. Kyle and Carl have something to be worried about now, Jimmy is making it interesting. What can I say, GO KYLE GO!!! Had it not been for Jr and Kyle getting together the outcome of the race may have been different. Still think Kyle has something for Jimmy and Carl in this thing. JMO
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9-08-2008 @ 1:09PM
Snarky said...
Yes, Bernie, the smoke coming off his tires and the fact that Jr came on the radio concerned he may have flat spotted the tires is a good indication that is exactly what happened. I really do not think Jr has it in his personality to drive like his daddy did all those years. While I may dole more than a fair share of ribbing to Jr's fans, I do believe he likes to race clean and expects others to race him that way too.
That is one thing that was very impressive about the race at the end between TS and JJ. They both ran clean.
MBL
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9-08-2008 @ 3:11PM
Bernie said...
Did you see what was going on between Hamlin and Jr? I was in and out of the race. I had a few folks over and they kept wanting to peek at the football games going on during race commercials. Missed a few important details getting back to ESPN to see how that started. Denny, Tony and Kyle had pretty good cars but **it happens.
On another note Hanna didn't real do much in these parts Mike I'm guessing by the time she reached your neck of the woods it was just heavy rain and low winds. My daughter had to wait it out just north of Quantico.Talk to you soon,
9-08-2008 @ 7:03PM
Kim said...
I agree "Snarky" (that just cracks me up)!
Jr. is too nice a person and too well respected by the other drivers. If he was a "dirty driver," he wouldn't be so well liked by fellow drivers. That's one thing I hate when people compare Jr. to Sr. They are two completely different personalities as are most fathers and sons. Jr. was wooed by most of the major teams before signing with Hendrick. All those teams wouldn't have wanted him unless he was liked. I don't recall Kyle Busch being wooed by anyone other than Gibbs (sorry, Bernie!:-).
And like you've said before.....Jr. is a marketing dream, not to mention has the largest fan base in all of racing. The kid's got a lot going for him. I still think his crew chief could be better (sorry guys, JMHO).
It's going to be very intersting now that the Chase will officially start next week. Frankly, it's a four man show in my opinion between Busch, Edwards, Johnson, and Jr. I of course am pulling for the Hendrick boys, but I like Edwards okay, too. He's a good driver and deserves a championship, too. I would throw some support Kyle's way if it wern't for that pesky crappy attitude. His talent however, can't be ignored.
Kim
9-08-2008 @ 3:01PM
BOB said...
tony stewart has no respect for his team. he proved that by what he said to them after the race..what a classless jerk! im sure he will not be missed at JGR.
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9-08-2008 @ 9:08PM
Mike LeVan said...
Well the last six weeks stats would favor Edwards or JJ or Kyle Busch. While Baby Busch is ranked 5th over the last 6 weeks that 80 points he has gives him a well deserved lead. Harvick was very impressive, the big zero he and Tony Stewart have in the points column is going to hurt them. Jr, ranked 10th over the last 6 weeks? Sorry but unless this week was an indication of good things to come, it is not going to happen.
I think the chase is going to be exciting this year even if my fave is not going to be a factor.
Snarky
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