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Burton Truimphs at The Texas Tornado


So much to talk about so little time. I'll do it in point form.

1) Jeff Burton. The winner. The first two-time winner at Texas. Driving the 31 car in the 13 Cup race at Texas on the Friday the 13th weekend, at a race that had Qualifying rained out like what happened the first time a race was held there in which he won. This whole 3 thing is freaky!

The best part of all, and I know NEXTEL is doing a happy dance about this, is the fact that Jeff was not driving the Cingular car this race, he was driving the Prilosec car. It looks like "Cingular - The New AT&T" had a majorly important 'dropped call' at this race.

2) I like it, Tony Stewart is starting to get peed-off. When he's like that he wins Championships! For now on everyone who goes to a race boo the snot out of him! Even you Tony fans! Guaranteed he wins the Championship if that happens.

3) Juan, Juan, Juan. At least he stated he was going to look at the tape, because when he does he'll see that Tony didn't pinch him down - he came up. Right now, at least as far as I'm concerned, Tony is one of your only allies out there and I think you might have lost him - at least for a while. Pick and choose your battles buddy, or you'll have no buddies!

4) Speaking of a driver who is going to have no friends in the near future - actually I think he has no friends as of right now - what was David Ragan thinking? Especially that early in the race. I guess he has those yellow stripes on the back of his car for a reason, but that doesn't help all the others that were collected in his mistake.

David's driving of late reminds me of a young Ernie Irvan, I just hope that David doesn't do to anyone what Ernie did to Niel Bonnet.

5) And the winner of the Doorknob Award is .... drum roll please ... oh, you already know!? Kyle Busch? Yep, you guessed it. OK, he doesn't get the Doorknob Award for driving into the back of Dale Jr, although, when they showed the computer playback with the telemetry, he didn't lift. What was he thinking? "He look there is smoke, if I drive towards it without lifting I'll miss it - oh poo, that only happens in Tom Cruise movies! I've got to stop watching 'Days of Thunder' before every race!"

The real reason he gets the Doorknob Award is leaving while his car is being fixed and then not being there when its done, leaving NASCAR's most popular driver with an expired contract to drive your car. D'oh!

Now granted, if he was injured or suffering from some sort of illness, I will promptly strip him of this award and give it to David Ragan for his first lap crash - at least he is a rookie. But if there is no real reason for Kyle to not be there to drive that car other than a severe temper tantrum then he deserves this award.

What kind of message does that send to his team? Those guys at the track, not to mention back at the race shop, give their all to let him take all of the credit on the track and get the big money for their efforts. The unsung heroes of the organization who take pride in their work now really know how their driver feels about them - his true colours are showing.

Hey Rick why don't you add a '3' to the 5 car and get Driver 8 behind the seat? I'm sure there are a lot of people who have put Bud in their Frosted Flakes at one point in time, why not now?

6) Jeff Burton was heard saying at the end of Victory Lane, "If anyone tells you they aren't keeping track of the points, or that they don't care, they're lying". Jeff is looking at the big picture here - he wants that Championship. Let's just hope that this whole Cingular/AT&T vs NEXTEL lawsuit doesn't distract his team from the object at hand - To Win The Championship.

You know, the whole legal action thing may be a blessing in disguise. The media and fans are more focused on the legal action than the team, this might shield them from the media for a while and allow them to work without many distractions - for the short term at least.


If you are interested in reading about what I have to say about Jimmy Spencer and his verbal attack of Kelley Earnhardt Elledge visit my post at MVN.


Photo Credits:
Jeff Burton - Reuters/Robert LeSieur (United States)
Kyle Busch/Dale Jr Crash - AP Photo/LM Otero
Earnhardt in 5 Car - Getty Images/Ronald Martinez