The Chase Is On: Round One - New Hampshire

In quick point form notes here are my thoughts on each Chasers’ race at New Hampshire.

Mark Martin: Whoa! Didn’t see that coming, I was expecting a top 10 out of him.

Denny Hamlin: Likes flat tracks so his finish didn’t surprise me too much, but his agressive driving did.

Juan Montoya: Ran well as predictied by yours truly, but still can’t close the door and win one of these round track races.

Jimmie Johnson: No surprise here either, well, actually I did think he’d finish a little better but he is still in Championship form.

Kurt Busch: This finish surprised me because his crew chief isn’t allowed to be at the shop during the week to help with the car. I mean really how can you win a Chase without your Crew Chief’s active participation at the shop? But then again if Kurt keeps running like this then maybe other teams will start doing the same thing.
Ryan Newman: Another flat track lover and finished ahead of his boss. Good job. I was impressed by this as I was expecting a near 20th place finish.

The Biff: Another surprise really. Biffle is a good driver and should be running in the top 10 all of the time but for whatever reason hasn’t been able to get that Roush Ford there so I wasn’t expecting much.

Brian Vickers: Good finish despite his qualifying effort. A few more finishes like this and he’ll be turning a lot of heads including Jimmie Johnson.
Tony Stewart: Another surprise, but not because he finished so low, but because he finished so high. After that axle problem I thought he’d be sitting in 30th or worse but he recovered to finish 14th. Good Championship run.

Jeff Gordon: Started strong but finish was lack-lustre. I wonder if that contact with Jimmie earlier effected the car more than they said.

Carl Edwards: Started strong but finish was lack-lustre. I wonder ... wait this isn’t Gordon, but I guess the same can be said about his run, except the Jimmie part. Not a bad finish, but not a Championship one either.

Kasey Kahne: Holy smokes, I was just playing Devil’s Advocate when I was wondering if Dodge was going to pull its tech support of RPM now that they are going to Ford next year! All kidding aside, that race shop is in turmoil over there and I don’t see it improving much in these next 9 races.

O.k. there you have it - agree or disagree?