The two big races of the weekend were won by drivers needing only the final 500 feet to capture the big prizes on the day. Rookie J.R. Hildebrand appeared to have the checkered flag in hand while leading the final four turns in the Indy 500, only to crash off the fourth turn, handing Dan Wheldon the big trophy (See more under Open Wheel News.).
If that wasn’t enough of a crushing blow, after not winning a race in NASCAR Sprint Cup competition for more than 100 races, fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr led the final few laps of the big Coca-Cola 600, only to run out of the go-juice off the final turn at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, handing the unexpected win to Kevin Harvick.
Two big surprises in one weekend….who’d a thunk it?
The Cup race started around 6 p.m. with Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth the class of the field. The Roush-Fenway drivers ran very strong, but numerous caution flags and late race pit stops for a splash and go, coupled with a bunched up green-white-checker restart, scrambled the final results with Harvick winning, David Regan runner-up and Joey Logano, Kurt Busch and A.J. Allmendinger all surprise top five finishers.
Other surprises among the top 10 included Marcos Ambrose, Dale Jr., Ragan Smith, David Reutimann and an out of gas Denny Hamlin.
Notables would have to include Ricky Stenhouse Jr. filling in for Trevor Bayne in 11th , late race leader Greg Biffle 13th and points leader Edwards dropping to 16th after getting tangled in the late race mess.
Speaking of the late race mess, when the field took the green for the final restart, a tangle between Brad Keselowski and Jeff Burton, among others, saw torn up cars along with spun out cars….but no caution! What’s up with that? Many readers out there will say there was no caution because of Dale Jr being out front, which would have negated that.
What do you think? Drop us a line.
Nationwide
- This race at Charlotte on Saturday afternoon looked like an exercise in Ford drivers spanking the rest of the field in performance, as the Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth cars were the class of the field.
Just as it appeared to have Edwards back in victory lane, Kenseth zipped on by with a few laps to go for his first Nationwide win of the season, subbing for Trevor Bayne in the No. 16. Rounding out the top five included Edwards, Kyle Busch, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and Reed Sorenson.
Points leader Elliott Sadler managed a 10th place finish and maintains the top spot but only by one point over Stenhouse.
Ex-F-1 racer Kimi Raikkenen started 22nd and finished laps down in 27th after a fairly rough night of light smacks to the fence and a speeding ticket on pit lane.
Open Wheel News
- The Monte Carlo F-1 race turned out to be a barn burner, with Sebastian Vettel barely hanging on to win his fifth race of the year. Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button wrapped up the top three. Had there not been a red flag with six laps to go, it appeared Alonso or Button would have won. F-1’s strange rules allow work to be done on the cars during the red, allowing Vettel to replace totally shot Pirelli’s.
Closer to home, the open wheel action watched from around the world was the 100th anniversary of the Indy 500. Scott Dixon and teammate Dario Franchitti led a lot of laps, as did Graham Rahal, and it appeared that J R Hildebrand was about to rewrite the record books with a rookie win when he suddenly crashed off the final turn of the final lap, allowing Dan Wheldon an open track to grab his second Indy 500 win.
Hildebrand was obviously crushed despite finishing second with half a car, as it scraped along the front stretch wall with Rahal, Tony Kanaan and Dixon capping the top five finishers.
Danica Patrick managed a 10th place finish with the other three ladies deep in the pack.
Franchitti once again had fuel issues, having to pit on the final lap for a quick splash dropped him from the top three to a crushing 12th.
Hildebrand will surely be going over his slight and very expensive error many times before, if ever, being in that position again.
From Rumorville
- Lots of talk concerning Danica Patrick leaving Indy Cars after this season and concentrating on Nationwide action for a full-season in 2012. Nothing etched in bronze at this point, but the rumor grumblings are getting louder.
There would probably be a deal to just do the one Indy Car race a year, that being the Indy 500.
--- Other driver rumors include Raikkenen competing in the upcoming Sprint Cup race at Infineon. While the road course is Kimi’s cup of tea, jumping into a Cup car for the first time and competing with seasoned veterans is going to be a very tall order expecting any kind of decent results.
That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review the results from the Kansas Speedway, where the Cup and Truck series will compete, while the Nationwide concerns head to Chicago, along with more racing news from around the globe.
Read more NASCAR news on BleacherReport.com
Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/716864-two-big-race-winners-lead-the-final-500-feet
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