Johnson’s car? McMurray intentionally brought out a caution, which by NA$CAR’s own selectively enforced rules meant that he should’ve received at least a minimum of a lap penalty. Remember what happened to Jr. when he intentionally brought out a caution several years ago? No action was taken against McMurray for intentionally bringing out that caution in any way, shape, or form. Nothing against Jamie but if he’s going to do that then he needs to pay the price for it. Both are examples once again of NA$CAR’s selective rule enforcement and the secrecy that pervades the racer-tainment business.
During the pre-race and early race blabbering, Hamlin and Johnson were more of a story than Mr. Happy was. And would somebody please tell Marty Reid there are 12 contenders in the Chase for the Chumps? Please? Granted, only 3 have a shot at winning it right now (it should be only 2) but there are 12 contenders and that’s according to NA$CAR’s own hype machine. Once again, the script doesn’t match reality.
On average, there were 6 commercials during each break taking 6-7 laps worth of time each. The lead-in plugs normally average 1 per break with 4 being the highest number for two of the breaks. We got to see about 6 laps of racing in between each commercial programming segment.
Cousin/Crazy Carl won the pole and once the green flag dropped, we barely made it to Lap #2 before a caution came out for a blown tire on the 71 car. Immediately Andy Petree offered up the excuse that the front sway bar was rubbing the tire before the tire blew. Since Jr. isn’t a play-off contender, BSPN made sure he was mentioned because of the color scheme on his car. When they restarted on Lap 7, the Blue Goose got the lead. It seems Cousin/Crazy Carl’s car was slow to get up to speed on restarts. On lap 9, Petree and DJ were talking about aero problems. Remember folks, this vehicle was supposed to eliminate aero problems. Lap 16 brought out the Championship Tracker graphic. Lap 18 was the Biggest Mover graphic, then commercial programming on Lap 19.
After the commercial programming, Busch the Elder was still leading and it took until Lap 28 for Cousin/Crazy Carl to pass him for the lead. It sure seemed strange when watching Hamlin that every car from the same manufacturer as his car seemed to move out of his way. Was he really that fast or had TRD once again issued team orders like they did in Texas regarding the debris on the front of Hamlin’s car? Lap 35 showed the 48 & 14 racing for 11th before going to another break for commercial programming. After they came back on Lap 42, the next Lap saw the Proglide Profile, and come Lap 45 we were offered excuses from the 48 pit. By Lap 47, Edwards had a 1.3 second lead. Lap 49 saw another break for commercial programming. After they returned on Lap 55, we made it to Lap 59 when Bad Brad’s #12 car blew a right front tire and hit the wall. Then it was some pit stops and back to commercial programming.
Jumping ahead to Lap 101, Caution #3 came out for a water bottle. We got to see the replay of where it came from and the water splashing the roof came of Johnson. The it was pit stops and another round of commercial programming. They showed the fast 5 on Lap 106, which was also the restart, and on Laps 109-113 they showed first the 16 & 29 racing then the 29 & 99 racing before going to another round of commercial programming.
By this time, BSPN had done an amazing job of not showing any empty seats in the grandstands and would do so throughout the race. I’ll have to wait for Terry’s input on that as he’s our man in the stands at Phoenix. After they ran another batch of commercials, we got the race run down with a lot of 1-2 car shots, which pervaded the entire race. Lap 154 was the first of six “If the Race Ended Now” graphics. If the ace ended then, a lot of fans would’ve been able to enjoy the NFL games that were on other channels. On Lap 166, the first batch of green flag pit stops started. Hamlin had a 3.3 second lead at this point. We also got to see Kasey Kahne leave the pits with a fuel can hanging on the spoiler. Lap 175 was the Fastest Pit Crew plug and Lap 176 went back to commercial programming.
When the commercial programming was interrupted on Lap 181Hamlin was still leading followed by Shrubbery, and Cousin/Crazy Carl. Lap 184 was the Fast Five once again and a plug for Chevy on Lap 191 before going back to commercial programming. After they interrupted the commercials on Lap 198, we got to see Mr happy pass Johnson for 4th on Lap 199 followed by the 2nd “If the Race Ended Now” graphic. Lap 206 saw the 14 & 48 racing for 5th then back to commercials. After they returned on Lap 216, we got to Lap 221 when Robby Gordon spun and brought out caution #4. Robby didn’t hit anything so he was able to continue. Meanwhile, we’d been getting various plugs for the upcoming movie remake of an old radio and TV show, The Green Hornet. The TV version is what made actor Bruce Lee famous before his martial arts movies started taking off here. Yet another modern example of Hollywood lacking imagination and decent scriptwriters nowadays. Lots of talk up to this point about Mark Martin, a non-chase contender in what seemed to be filling the niche of Hendrick man-love by the booth announcers.
Caution #5 came out on Lap 235 when Travis Kvapil spun by himself. More pit stop shots of 3 cars then more commercials, then the “Up to Speed” with a comment about “If the Race Ended Now”. More two car shots of Hamlin and Edwards, Newman and Johnson, then another “If the Race Ended Now” graphic on Lap 276. 3 laps later, DJ was going on about “If the Caution Doesn’t Come Out” and the first hints that this could be a fuel mileage race. On Lap 281, it was revealed that Hamlin was 12 laps short on fuel from making it to the end. Lap 287 showed a graphic of the fuel window for the Top 3 play-off contenders. Lap 289 was yet another “If the Race Ended Now” and some fuel mileage talk about Mr happy, Newman, and JPM. On Lap 296 Johnson was told to save fuel. Lap 298, Hamlin pitted for fuel and 2 tires. Lap 299, still another “If The Race Ended Now” graphics. Lap 312, we were treated to more talk of “If the Caution Comes
Out” and pit strategy and second guessing from
the Booth Buffoons. Mr Happy had been written
off as having any chance of winning after he had
to pit which would later be contradicted by the
same commentators saying it was a smart
move.
On Lap 303, Cousin/Crazy Carl had a 6 second
lead built up over JPM and Mr Happy had moved
up to 8th. Lap 305 had the final “If the Race
Ended Now” graphic showing how the points had
shifted and you’d have thought the Booth
Buffoons had all had multiple orgasms they way
they were carrying on about it. Lap 308, Biffle
went by Johnson easily showing that Johnson
was in fuel conservation mode. Lap 309, Bow
Wow Bowyer had to pit because he ran out of
fuel. By Lap 311, Edwards’ lead had dropped to
4 seconds, showing he was conserving fuel. On
the last lap, JPM ran out of fuel pretty much ruining his finish and allowing Edwards to win uncontested. We got to see Edwards go up into the stands to celebrate but never got to see his burnout as the commercial programming took priority. Hamlin’s points lead was reduced to 15 over Johnson and 46 over Harvick.
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