July 25, 2007
By Chuck Abrams

Chuck Abrams

Well I missed only my second ever Brickyard 400. And it appears that I missed a doozy. But what I did not miss was the heat of Indianapolis in late July. But enough of that.

Tony Stewart wins his second Brickyard race and puts everyone on notice that he and the Home Depot team are ready for another title run. After running well most of the year with nothing to show for it, Smoke puts the 20 car in Victory Lane for two in a row. While he certainly won’t overtake Jeff Gordon before the Chase begins, he certainly could pass Jeff Burton and put pressure on Matt Kenseth.

But he will have to step it up a bit to do that with Bristol, California and Richmond coming up where he is just average. But he has Pocono, Watkins Glen and Michigan also coming up where he runs rather well.

Kenseth has The Glen and Pocono that are weak tracks for him and Hamlin, well, he seems to love Pocono. Good for him because the 500 is this weekend. As if the Brickyard 400 was not enough, NASCAR gives us the 500 at Pocono. Good golly that may be an even longer race than the Brickyard was this year.

Jimmie Johnson fans have to be wringing their hands. The fiery wreck at Indy sent him tumbling once again in the points. But if Johnson and Knaus can just stabilize their ship, they should be fine for the Chase. The only pressure he may feel will be from Clint Bowyer and Truex. Earnhardt, Newman and Kurt Busch are too far back to be much of a threat.

Speaking of Earnhardt, the 8 team had a great day going, qualifying well, leading laps and staying up front until his engine blew due to a faulty pulley. That put him out of the race and put Kurt Busch at his heels. Kurt has to be kicking himself for running into Stewart on pit road earlier this year. Those extra 100 points would have him in 12th right now and put Earnhardt on the outside looking in.

The big question now is will Earnhardt make the Chase? He will need to put together several good runs at tracks that he does not traditionally run well at. He will also need to at least come close to winning a race to stay in front of Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman. At least Team Penske seems to be moving forward even though they still are having issues closing the deal. But Earnhardt seems to be going backwards. There was nothing he could do about the mechanical issue, but it sure appears that he is not getting the support that Truex is getting right now. You would think DEI would rather have two cars in the Chase than just one.

Also looking back in the rear view mirror – Dave Blaney with a top 10 and Ward Burton finishing 14th. David Ragan brought his machine home in 16th. Paul Menard finished in 20th with his newfound owners points. And new DEI teammate Mark Martin once again had a strong run at the Brickyard with a top 10.

In the rear view mirror looking at what is coming up: Five races left until the Chase begins. Pocono proves to be a long day that is hard on equipment before we get our last road course. These are both strong tracks for Stewart and Joe Gibbs Racing so it would not surprise me to see him in Victory Lane once again.

Michelle Theriault Update

After starting in 13th at the Adirondack International Speedway in The Edge Hotel 150, Michelle struggled to find the right groove and came home with a top 20 run that at least saw her bring her equipment home in one piece. The wild finish at the end left fans booing when officials did not throw a late caution flag with the white flag lap allowing Logano to take the lead away from Bryon Chew on the final lap.

Next up, Michelle enters a busy month with an ARCA race at Nashville on Aug. 11 and she returns to Connecticut on Aug. 18th to a 1.53-mile road course before two more races at Mansfield (Busch East) on Aug. 25th and Gateway (ARCA) on Aug. 31.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.