2009 Heluva Good at the Glen Review
by Virginia Vroom of Predictem.com
This Monday’s road course battle was a pretty awesome race if you were able to catch it. Granted it was rain-delayed, the drivers certainly made it a good showing for the fans that were able to stay. Jeff Gordon and Sam Hornish had an incredibly horrific wreck while Smoke cruised to victory lane once again.
I never doubted that Stewart would be able to pull it off. He’s been consistently awesome this year and Watkins Glen was just icing on the cake. He’s dominated here year after year and this time was no exception. Towards the closing laps, Marcos Ambrose was fading away slowly, although he gave it a heck of a battle. Ambrose proved that he’s still a force to be reckoned with, but he still has a lot of work to do on the ovals.
For Tony Stewart, this makes win number 5 a the Glen and win number 7 in terms of road course wins. According to Tony, the pivotal point came under caution on lap 19 when his guys made some big changes to the car. Stewart proceeded to out-brake Kyle Busch into Turn 1 and pass him, leading the last 24 laps of the race.
Ambrose did an excellent job, although conserving fuel was imperative or else he would’ve never finished at all. Stewart conserved and knew he needed all the cautions he could get in order to finish. He maintained his lines and did exceptionally well at not spinning tires on restarts, making swift pits stops, and also on throttle control, which is key to conserving fuel.
Lap 63 brought out the red flag as Kasey Kahne and Same Hornish got together causing Hornish to violently crash, t-bone Jeff Gordon, and plow into the tires but not before completing an almost complete 360 on the air. The wreck ended both drivers’ days and only added to the pain in Gordon’s ailing back.
Here are your top 10 finishers from Monday’s race:
1. Tony Stewart
2. Marcos Ambrose
3. Carl Edwards
4. Kyle Busch
5. Greg Biffle
6. Juan Montoya
7. Kurt Busch
8. Max Papis
9. Clint Bowyer
10. Denny Hamlin
We saw road-course great Max Papis have a respectable top 10 while Kyle Busch finished with a much needed top 5 although he remains out of the Chase at this stage.
Here are your current top 12 in the points:
1. Tony Stewart
2. Jimmie Johnson
3. Jeff Gordon
4. Kurt Busch
5. Denny Hamlin
6. Carl Edwards
7. Juan Montoya
8. Kasey Kahne
9. Ryan Newman
10. Greg Biffle
11. Mark Martin
12. Matt Kenseth
This races coming up are critical for the guys on the bubble of making the Chase. Kyle Busch remains 13th as he tries to close in on Matt Kenseth for that last spot in the Chase. Biffle gained 2 spots this weekend, which is great as we are heading to Michigan. Michigan is an awesome track for the Ford drivers, particularly the Roush guys. Stay tuned for this weekend’s race to see if Ford can bring it to the front.