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This past weekend was one of my favorites in the entire year as the Memorial Holiday Sunday races that are the Indy 500 and the Coke 600.
In the 97th running of the Indy 500, it was somewhat like Dale Earnhardt in trying to win the Daytona 500 back in 1998. It took Earnhardt 20 years of trying in Daytona, but on Sunday Tony Kanaan finally got his chance to capture the Indy 500. On the final restart, Kanaan drove by two cars down the frontstrech and held the lead moments later when the final caution flag waved with two laps left. For Kanaan, it took 12-years as the 38-year old rendered speechless in victory lane.
Still, you have to feel bad for A.J. Allmendinger and Andretti Autosport. While in the lead, Allmendinger’s seat belt came unfastened, which he had to make an unscheduled pit stop before finishing seventh.
Andrettti Autosport finishes second, third and fourth as Marco was fourth. An Andretti has yet to see etch a name on the Borg Warner trophy in 44 years.
As for the 600, NASCAR did something they normally don’t let anybody do… let crews work on their cars under the red flag. After FOX Sports had a cable break and fall from their overhead moving camera onto the race causing damage to a few cars, they red flagged the race for 15 minutes to let the teams look over and repair their cars. Kyle Busch’s car received the most damage and they were able to fix it and not lose a spot. For Busch, it wouldn’t matter as his motor expired while running in the top five. I really can’t believe NASCAR allowed this to happen, but I guess there are extenuating circumstances in NASCAR afterall. Well, the other exception is the 2001 All-Star race, but even NASCAR broke the rulebook that night too.
Overall, an very interesting 600. Look at this list of people who had trouble. Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Aric Almirola, Danica Patrick, Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle all had an early endings with motor problems or crashing.
However, at the conclusion, Kasey Kahne had the car to beat all night, but a miscalculation on the final caution flag of the evening landed Kevin Harvick in victory lane for the second time in the 600. Harvick, who was in second before the caution pitted for tires and so did everyone else. Kahne, who stayed out, paid the price as Harvick got by and drove away on the restart. Kahne’s Crew chief Kenny Francis will be sick about this one for a little while, but that’s racing!
Now that high school baseball and softball are complete for 2013, here is my list of All-Rutherford County picks in both sports.
All-Rutherford County baseball
R-S Central: Connor Dailey, Lance Greene, Dustin McEntire, Tyler Morgan
East Rutherford: Brock Helton, Logan Hawkins, Will Randall, Jordan Strickland, Tripp Hamrick, Brandon Wellmon and Trent Self.
TJCA: Caleb Bishop, Cole Bennett and Tyler Mitchell
Chase: Josh Epley, Caleb Lancaster and Kyle Bingham
Rutherford County softball
East Rutherford: Emily Dotson, Klinnin Carson, Raven Gray, Savannah Davis, Kenedi Hamrick, Jenna Carter.
Chase: Ashley Hardin, Dakota Reid, Ashley Brown, Kaitlyn Smart, Miranda Loving and Devyn Gowan
R-S Central: Shelby Smith, Brandy Whitener, Makayla Crain, Makayla Crawford, Katie McEntire, Khadedra Hines.
And just when you thought we were done talking about the diamond game, two more things are on the agenda. Post 423 (1-1) opened Legion play last week and split games by losing to Hendersonville and recovered to defeat Asheville.
Lastly, Forest City will be hooting again for the Owls as they hosted Thomasville Tuesday (5/28) and welcome in Florence on Friday (5/31).
For those who look for some entertainment on Friday the 31st, R-S Central is hosting East Rutherford in an alumni football game at 7:30. Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the gate.
Also, I meant to talk about this last week, but congrats to our neighbors just south of the border as Chesnee (26-6) High School won the 2A state baseball title. Bobby Foos triple cleared the bases for three RBI in a decisive game three against Bishop England as head coach Scott Wease picked up his first state title and helped capture Chesnee’s fifth in school history.
