Martinsville: Goody’s Cool Orange 500

March 30, 2008 · 1 Comment

pic from NASCAR.com

Going into this weekend at Martinsville there was some contention about a sway bar that went missing and then turned up at a Toyota team’s garage after last year’s Dover race. Hmmmm…suspicious.

What is a sway bar?

Sway Bar: Sometimes called an “antiroll bar.” Bar used to resist or counteract the rolling force of the car body through the turns. according to Nascar 101

For the most part, this whole situation is being made light of. Jeff Gordon sarcastically suggesting that NASCAR bring in the FBI and Michael Waltrip (ahem, aka, culprit) had this to say comparing the sway bar to a pen, “They come in different sizes and shapes,” he said. “Some of them are expensive and some of them are not so expensive, but they all do the same thing and that’s write. It’s not the pen that makes it write, it’s the person pushing it.” From this ESPN article from David Newton.

In fact the only 2 people that think this is anything is Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jack Roush. So that is that about the cotton picking sway bar, now onto something more important - the race!

This track is tough on cars and a strain on driver’s tempers. Here is the story of Matt & Dave;

Lap 328 — YELLOW FLAG NO. 15: Matt Kenseth spins in Turn 1. He has major damage to the front after being clipped by David Gilliland and making contact with the wall.Lap 330 — Matt Kenseth is on pit road as his crew tries to repair some of the nose damage.Lap 361 — YELLOW FLAG NO. 16: Matt Kenseth hits David Gilliland heading into Turn 1, spinning Gilliland into the wall.

Lap 363 — Matt Kenseth is held on pit road for aggressive driving.

See, patience is a virtue, he waited 30 laps.

To the wire: Fuel & tire strategy

With under 40 laps, pit strategy becomes key to success. Should you wait for the next caution? Come on in for four and fuel? The Carl Edwards team is reporting that they may be 8 laps short on fuel. There may be a caution if they’re lucky. We may even have a race called on rain (since we are over half over midway with 17 to go).

David Reutimann #44 is smoking on the sideline I guess he was the one leaving gear oil on the track.

3 to go looks like Hamlin #11 has it if Jeff Gordon doesn’t get him.

White flag! Hamlin wins. Carl Edwards runs out of gas on the last lap and has to settle for 9th. Here are your unofficial results.

pic from NASCAR.com

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1 response so far ↓

revinjim // April 7, 2008 at 12:54 pm

RevJim here, just a different identity because I’m signed into my WP account. I like the short track races much better than the ones on intermediate tracks, especially with this new car. I think the intermediate track racing might get better with time, as the teams learn more about the car, but, for now the races like AMS and TMS have been a snooze, IMO.
Great job with the “live” post of Martinsville. That is fun to write, and fun to read.
Check the blog @ http://www.nbftdigest.wordpress.com . It is a work in progress, but we are trying to figure out a way to get more exposure for NASCAR bloggers. You might be interested in joining us. Most of the information you need right now would be on the “About” pages. Thanks.

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