The 500

[Touchette]

That was a disappointing end...I hate rain shortened races. It takes some of the fun out of the race. I really would have liked to have seen the final 30 laps. There were some strong players that weren't near the front when the rain came, but probably would have been at the end.

[SecaSage]

What a drive by 'Dinger! Where did he get so much maturity in one year? The King and Kyle must be rubbing off on him.

[DanicaFan]

Yeah, I hate to see a rain shortened race. Congrats to Kenseth none the less.

As for AJ Allmendinger, he was looking good the last several races last year. I was hoping for a full-time ride this year for him. He is showing some good talent.

[IndyAndy]

Originally Posted by SecaSage

What a drive by 'Dinger! Where did he get so much maturity in one year? The King and Kyle must be rubbing off on him.

Actucally, the Pettys have little or nothing to do with the team that now bears their name: In fact, Kyle said earlier last week that he wasn't even going to watch the race.

Yeah, a rain-shortened race isn't ideal, but kudos to NASCAR for not dragging it out all night, hoping for a dry spell & asking the TV audience to hang in there.

Once again, however, we see that there is one set of rules for Jr., & another set for everyone else!

[Touchette]

One of the nice things to come out of the shortened race was that some of the guys who don't get as much attention had good finishes and I'm glad they get a moment in the spotlight. It'll be interesting to see if some of the tier-two guys who finished near the front are going to be able to keep up the pace.

As for:

Originally Posted by IndyAndy

Once again, however, we see that there is one set of rules for Jr., & another set for everyone else!

Blame for what happened can be placed on both Jr.'s and Vickers' shoulders. With that many laps remaining Vickers did not need to block as hard as he did, he didn't just move down a lane, he moved down half the track and he moved down hard. The way the cars hit the first time could have sent Jr. spinning and everyone would be placing the blame entirely on Vickers' shoulders. However, they didn't hit just right and Jr. just got bumped down to the flats; he did however have limited control when he hit the flat part of the track. In the same breadth Jr. should have been more careful in moving back up into traffic. The other day Leffler was penalized for aggressive driving, this was an accident. So, both guys made a mistake, Vickers ended up finishing the worse of the two, and Jr. ended up the bad guy.

[armin]

I tip my hat to Matt, a great drive from a smart driver and to AJ, show us some more of this during the year