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Scott Speed, who was driving the machine posted the 22nd fastest lap in final practice, but came up a quarter of a second short on the stop watch to make the event during qualifying.
Just before Speed went out to qualify, a car dropped oil on the track and although it was cleaned up, Speed had to be a shade more cautious to keep the No.52 CrusaderStaffing.com machine out of the wall. The result sent them packing home a day earlier than they wanted to on Saturday.
As for the race itself on Sunday, a crazy ending is exactly what we got.
Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson had battled for the lead in the final laps with Gordon finally gaining possession again at the Martinsville Speedway. However, David Reutimann stopped on track and caused a caution flag which bunched the field back up for a two-lap shootout. It set up a recipe for disaster.
Everybody on the lead lap pitted except Gordon and Johnson, which new tires usually prevail in Martinsville.
So, on the restart Clint Bowyer goes inside of Gordon and Johnson, but with a shove by Ryan Newman has Bowyer losing control. As a result, it wipes out Johnson and Bowyer, while Gordon runs out of gas two laps later. As a result, Ryan Newman swept by the chaos and took the checkered flag in a upset of sorts.
No doubt Gordon or Johnson should have won Sunday.
The race was somewhat reminiscent of the 1987 fall event at Martinsville. Terry Labonte had stalked Dale Earnhardt nearly all afternoon, but a final restart with two laps left gave Labonte one last chance.
However, the two drivers battled so intensely with each other, they forgot all about Darrell Waltrip who shoved Labonte, who then shoved Earnhardt into turn three on the last lap. Both Labonte and Eanhardt went for a spin and Waltrip went underneath the both of them to take the victory.
In this case that’s racing folks! The incident on Sunday turns out to be the same deal, no matter whether you like it or not. Reutimann should have pulled into the pits before that since he was extremely slow in the three laps previous to the 497 yellow flag.
East Rutherford stepped up in a big way among conference baseball teams, by beating Freedom and then downing Shelby, 10-3 last week. With the wins, they move to second in conference and hold the No.1 playoff seed among the 2A SMAC contingents at the moment.
Despite five errors against Freedom, Ridge Beheler destroyed a pitch in left field for a homer in that victory. Brock Helton’s three-run triple in a five-run first inning lift the Cavs over the Golden Lions.
Chase softball continues to roll staying undefeated overall and 5-0 in conference play. Avery Wilson had four RBI against Shelby in the first win of the week, while Dakota Reid gave up just four hits in that win for Chase. Later in the week, they beat Freedom on the road 3-0. Alyssa Macopson allowed just four hits on the mound in that win.
East Rutherford’s softball team made a statement as well by blanking Patton and Burns last week. Lady Cavs pitcher, Jaclyn Boever has been unconscious on the mound, by throwing a one-hitter against Patton and then hit a home run as the offense they needed in the same game.
R-S Central softball is making a charge as well. They are now 5-1 in conference after whipping Shelby and Burns. They are now on the inside track of the No.1 SMAC 3A playoff seed.
It’s no surprise that the Thomas Jefferson girls soccer has also made some noise this season. They are 9-1 with their only loss to conference 1A foe, Hendersonville. Since that March 5th loss, the Lady Gryphons have allowed just two goals and averaged nearly six goals during that time.
And Kentucky won the NCAA basketball tourney on Monday night. Freshman, Anthony Davis was the key. Davis had 16 rebounds, 6 blocks and came up with the defensive play of the game. An attempted block on a late three-point shot forced a Kansas double dribble, which would have cut the lead to one possession had the basket counted. Nobody is surprised though, Kentucky has been the team to beat all year long.
