Feature

Jimmie Johnson won the fuel race at Pheonix by pure luck if you ask me.  It was a great call by Chad Knaus to leave Jimmie out on the track.  Mark Martin who had been on the track with the lead during much of the tail end of the race should have been the hands down winner if you ask me…

This win gives Hendricks Motorsports their first win of the year after everyone was wondering when they were going to regain the fire they had last season.

Driver News

I was watching the tail end of the Pheonix Race and was extremely frustrated to see Mark Martin not win!  Mark deserved the win big time!  He is really wanting to win a race this year in the #8 DEI car.  It was some fuel concerns that caused Martin not to get the win.  Here’s a link to the story on NASCAR.com.

NASCAR.COM - On brink of victory, Martin finds only more heartbreak - Apr 13, 2008

Team News

It’s hard for me to imagine how an organization as large and as funded as Dale Earnhardt Incorporated is can consistently keep blowing engines during races… 

Flying Helmets

Rookie Driver Michael McDowell, who is now driving the #00 car for Michael Waltrip Racing after David Reutiman took over the UPS ride vacated by the retiring Dale Jarrett a few weeks ago, managed to incur the wrath of the normally cool-headed Jeff Burton this past week at Martinsville.

Jeff Burton was working his way back through the pack toward the front when he fell in behind some of the lapped traffic.  Most of the veteran drivers who were a lap down knew NASCAR’s unspoken ettiquette rule of moving up the track to let the lead lap cars go by but with McDowell being new he probably was unaware of this unspoken rule.

After the race when Jeff Burton was being interviewed he made the comment that McDowell had better learn some respect or he would be taught some respect by the other drivers.  During the actual race at Martinsville once Burton and some other drivers got past McDowell eventually Carl Edwards would boot him up the track by getting into the back of him. 

I don’t think that Jeff Burton is the type of driver to hold a grudge but the situation could be worthy of watching the next few weeks.