The Martinsville High School Brass Ensemble did they usual great job with the National Anthem. I hope the Beach Boy Bubbas were paying attention to them. There were very few drivers and crewmembers paying the flag and National Anthem the proper respects.
We didn’t even get to the dropping of the green flag when the Hollyweird Motel and Jabber Jaws already managed to ruin the race with their inane babbling. They were already vocalizing their lust of Kyle Busch and Toyota before the command to start engines were given.
Chrissy Wallace, daughter of Mike Wallace, made the race. I don’t know if this was the best place on the circuit to start a racing career, but as she has done quite well at Hickory, being the first female to win there in the history of that legendary track, she would definitely have a trial by fire. During her pre-race interview she seemed to be pretty good in that she wasn’t giving the typical clone speech we’re so use to hearing.
Jack Sprague was on the pole with Denny Hamlin sitting outside him. Ron Hornaday was sporting some new colors in 3rd. He was running the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) as his sponsor. As is typical of any Martinsville race, we heard the normal yada yada yada about how important pit strategy and track position were. During the parade laps, Jabber Jaws was poking fun at Hornaday for only having led 4 laps at Martinsville.
When the green flag dropped, Sprague and Hornaday pulled away from the rest of the pack with Sprague leading the first lap. On Lap 5, we saw the team strategy for getting 5 points for leading play out when Sprague let Hornaday pass him to lead a lap. On the next lap, Hornaday pulled over and let Sprague have the lead back. This opened the door for Jabber Jaws to once again poke fun at Hornaday for only having led 5 laps at Martinsville.
Since both Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin were driving for Billy Ballew, both the #15 and #51 trucks were Toyotas and both were running the same sponsor. On Lap 13, they went to their normal commercial programming. When they came back on Lap 23, Sprague was starting to lap traffic. The trucks were running 2-3 wide in some places and as is typical of the Network Nitwits, we had the new graphic for that already worn out Gophercam shoved down our throats.
On Lap 32, Hamlin and Hornaday were running side by side going back and forth for the lead. Hornaday went high into the corner and Hamlin got by him to take the lead. Then it was a return to the normal commercial programming on Lap 36. They interrupted their commercial programming on Lap 41 when the 1st caution came out. Travis Kvapil has pushed the #22 truck out of his way causing him to get lose and spin. The regular Truck Series announcers mentioned a crew member on Hornaday’s crew by the name of Todd Dodson (sp) and how he had served in the military and how he felt right at home with the VFW as the truck sponsor for the weekend.
They restarted on Lap 46 and wouldn’t get very far before Caution #2 came out on Lap 50. For some unknown reason, the #85 truck had slowed down on the track, so since we had a few laps of racing, it was back to the regular commercial programming. They came back from commercial on the tail end of Lap 55 just in time to catch the green flag on Lap 56. Hamlin and Hornaday once again pulled away from the pack on the restart. You could see a piece of something hanging off the back end of the #33 of Hornaday. Apparently, somebody had gotten into the back of him when he was slowing down for the #85 truck.
We’d get in another 7 laps of racing when on Lap 63, Scott Speed hit the curb and slid into the #85 causing him to spin. This wouldn’t be the last incident for the #85. You’d think he had a bull’s eye painted on him by the end of the day. Once again it was off to commercial. They returned just in time on Lap 68 to show the restart and it was a replay of earlier. Hamlin and Hornaday once again pulled away from the rest of the field. On Lap 72, in an almost identical spin of the #85 truck, the #9 truck spun but no caution came out. We got to see Colin Braun battling with The Onion for position trying to move each other out of the way. But as age and experience will overcome youth and skill every time, Braun ended up getting moved out of the way by The Onion and lost several positions.
One thing had already become very apparent since the drop of the green flag. We’d hear all about Hamlin’s Toyota, Bodine’s Toyota, Busch’s Toyota, but we didn’t hear about Hornaday’s Chevy or Jon Wood’s Ford or Dennis Setzer‘s Dodge. We heard about the #33 truck, #21 truck, and the #18 truck. Apparently the return to the old days of “mention money” had returned, so anyone not driving a Toyota wouldn’t have the brand of their truck mentioned.
Caution #4 came out when Andy Lally moved down the track on Ted Musgrave going through the corner and Lally spun and hit Kvapil causing him to spin. On the pit stops, Jack Sprague had trouble getting into his pit stall and ended up losing a lot of positions. We got the Hollyweird Motel giving the same speech we’d gotten earlier about track position being important, what happened to Jack Sprague, and second guessing from Hollyweird Hambone on whether teams were taking 2 or 4 tires or gas only. Then it was a return to commercials. They returned briefly on Lap 86 and then went back to commercial once again on Lap 87.
They didn’t have the Lap Counter up, so it was hard to tell when they returned, but the green flag was dropped once again on Lap 92. Last season, teams had the option on running the splitter on tracks less than 1.5 miles. This year, it appears all the trucks were running them. But no mention of this was made. On Lap 93, Hamlin was leading with Busch on his tail and Hamlin pulled over to allow Busch to lead and get 5 points for leading. On the next lap, Busch pulled over and let Hamlin have the lead back. On Lap 96, Hamlin and Busch actually started racing each other. Musgrave had moved up to 14th, The Onion was in 17th, and Sprague was up to 21st after his disastrous pit stop.
About Lap 103, Caution #5 came out when the #22 truck tried getting on the inside of Chad Chaffin and the #22 spun. Somehow, the bumper bar on the #22 had come loose and was laying on the track. On the next lap, the 17, 52, 2, 30, and 71 pitted. Schrader in the #52 was making his first race in a Toyota and Jabber Jaws had to mention it. The Onion had gotten into the back of somebody because the front end of his truck was a massive piece of bear bond.
When they restarted on Lap 109, Busch was leading with Setzer in 2nd, Gaughan in 3rd, and Benson in 4th. Musgrave had moved up to 10th but wasn’t mentioned by the Booth Buffoon. Then it was off to commercial on Lap 113. When they returned on Lap 124, Busch had pulled away from Setzer, but the gap would last long when on Lap 127, Caution #6 came out. In his typical impatient and immature style, Busch pushed the #85 truck out of the way. No rough driving call was made. But that’s normal when it comes to Kyle. But it ended up costing Kyle a bunch of positions as the #85 slid up the track and blocked him.
There weren’t many takers on pit stops. Matt Crafton, Ron Hornaday, and Kyle Busch pitted. Apparently Hornaday had gotten into the back of somebody as his team had cut an opening in his grill and a piece of the plastic nose was flapping in the breeze. On Lap 131, Myers the Shill was blabbering from the Hollyweird Motel shilling for the Gophercam shirt and putting in plugs for the shows on Speed. When they restarted on Lap 134, Dennis Setzer was leading with Gaughan in 2nd, Johnny Benson in 3rd, and Jon Wood was in 8th.
Caution #7 came out on Lap 136 when the #47 cane down on Jon Wood causing them to spin and collected the #2 & #4 in the process. They went off to commercial on Lap 137 and returned about Lap 140. Chrissy Wallace had moved up to 11th. Then it was off to commercial on Lap 143. When they interrupted their commercials, the race had been red flagged. Since they had to kill some time, they decided to mention Nicole Addison, the rear tire changer on Gaughan’s truck. Once things went back to yellow, we got even more Master of the Obvious statements from Hollyweird Hambone and his side-kick the T-Shirt Shill who kids because he’s an idiot.
When they restarted on Lap 148, the much over-used Gophercam showed a lug nut on the track. On Lap 149, Hamlin spun, but no caution came out. Kyle Busch had already worked his way back up to 8th and you could hear old Jabber Jaws breathing hard and heavy because of it. On Lap 160, Setzer put Hamlin a lap down. Then on Lap 162, Caution #8 came out. Once again, the #22 spun blocking Setzer and allowing Gaughan to get the lead then it was back to commercial. They returned on about Lap 166. Sometime while they were at commercial, Setzer had gotten the lead, Gaughan was back to 2nd, and Johnny Benson was in 3rd. Busch had moved up to 6th. Jabber Jaws was flapping his gums about one of the sponsors, Duck Head. Ken Schrader was running in 13th, Musgrave was in 14th, and Scott Speed (no relation to Lake Speed) was in 20th.
Caution #9 came out on Lap 176 when Chaffin got pushed into Bodine and Bodine got hit in the back by Sprague and Bodine spun. Then it was back to commercials yet again on Lap 177. They returned on Lap 182 and didn’t get very far when on the next lap Caution #10 came out when Brian Scott moved down on Colin Braun and collected both of them causing them to spin. Then it was back to the Hollyweird Motel on Lap 186 and the restart on Lap 190.
Busch got inside David Starr forcing him up the track with Starr making a great save. Musgrave had moved up to 13th and despite all the repairs on his truck, Hornaday was up to 15th. This was when the regular Truck Series announcers started to make some observations on some radio traffic between Brendan Gaughan and his crew chief. Gaughan wasn’t going to be able to make it to the end on fuel. Then Jabber Jaws had to add his comments that being a driver he’d go for it and not worry about running out of fuel.
Caution #11 came out on Lap 203 when Colin Braun got spun by Ron Hornaday. Then it was off to commercial on Lap 205 and they returned on Lap 207. No position changes took place in the first 6 positions. Darnell in the #99 had moved up to 7th and Schrader had moved up to 10th. On Lap 215, Jabber Jaws finally mentioned that Schrader was in a Toyota. I think he was the only Toyota driver that DW hadn’t made mention of up to this point in the race.
Then it was back to commercials once again on Lap 216. When they finally returned on Lap 231, Caution #12 had come out sometime during the commercial programming. They mentioned that Musgrave had gotten turned around but didn’t bother showing a replay of it. Brendan Gaughan made a tough decision and pitted for fuel as he was about to run out. Needless to say, Jabber Jaws had to 2nd guess the decision and the regular Truck Series broadcasters thought it was a smart move otherwise Brendan could have lost a lot more laps and positions if he ran out of fuel under green flag racing.
It didn’t take long for them to go back under caution when they restarted on Lap 231, they immediately went back under caution when Chrissy Wallace hit the curb and got into Scott Lagasse. When they restarted again on Lap 235, Dennis Setzer got a great restart and pulled away. But as cautions breed cautions, Caution #14 came out on Lap 239 when Jack Sprague got turned around and he collected Shelby Howard. Once again, the race was under a red flag for clean up. While the track was being cleaned up, Jabber Jaws and the Hollyweird Motel added their 6 cents worth. When they finally restarted, it was on Lap 242.
Kyle Busch went wide to get around Mike Skinner and although Chad Chaffin spun, no caution came out. Skinner managed to stay ahead of Busch and on Lap 247, Busch spun Skinner to get by him bringing out Caution #15. Apparently Skinner had gone down low to get into the pits because he ran out of gas, but the every impatient Kyle couldn’t wait.
This would lead to a GWC finish. Old Jabber Jaws, forever the Toyota shill, said “that Toyota in 2nd behind Setzer in 1st place”. No mention by Jabber Jaws that Setzer was in a Dodge. When they restarted, Setzer got a good restart. Kyle Busch couldn’t be bothered to wait a few hundred feet to pass Johnny Benson and got into Benson spinning both himself and Benson out of contention. This brought out Caution #16.
After all the cheerleading Jabber Jaws has been doing for Kyle Busch, he finally said “That’s just wrong. That was uncalled for, unnecessary“. Wow, talking about changing his tune. Dennis Setzer got the win, Matt Crafton got a career high 2nd, Rick Crawford who didn’t get but maybe one mention during the whole race finished 3rd, Ken Schrader finished 4th, Scott Speed finished 10th, Brendan Gaughan finished 12th, Chrissy Wallace came in 17th and thanks to Kyle’s dumb act, Johnny Benson finished 25th and Busch 26th.
During the Victory Lane celebration, Dennis
Setzer mentioned the fact that the chassis he
was using in his truck was one that had been
designed by Bobby Hamilton. When they
interviewed Chrissy Wallace, she was quite
happy and you could see her dad and also her
mentor Tony Stewart in the background. She
doesn’t quite have the sponsor speech down
and thank God for that. It makes for a nice
change.
Just before they closed out, they did a
remembrance of Hazel Parsons, which was
decent considering Phil Parsons was attempting
to do the Truck Race broadcast but being drowned out, cut off, or interrupted by Jabber Jaws during the entire race.
In the past. They use to mention the unit and type of aircraft doing the flyover but apparently this has gone to the wayside. So to whichever unit it was that did the flyover, my thanks to you all.
Motherhood, Apple Pie, & John Wayne
Mad Mikie
Curmudgeon at Large
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