after the longest race of the year, over 4 hours... 600 miles, and the strangest final 3 laps, Kasey Kahne wins at Charlotte in the Coke 600. Couldnt believe the stuff going on in the final few laps, stewart leading and cutting a tire and brushing the wall, hamlin into the wall, guys running out of gas, the starter dropping the white flag... just a strange final few laps. Congrats to Kasey though! hopefully they have turned things around there http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news;_ylt=AnfnODYfoLzkzyPmVhvyQVBfbwM6?slug=ap-nascar-coca-cola600&prov=ap&type=lgns
That was a fun race to watch. Stewart cutting down a tire was unreal; that guy just cannot BUY a win at the Coke 600 or Daytona. Loved seeing my boy Jeff Gordon pull out a 4th place finish by gambling on fuel when he had, at best, a 15th place car.
I think Jeff was at best in the 20's. They were miserable last night just like all year. But yes, what a great call to leave him out there and climb up to 4th. That will go a long ways in keeping him in the top 12.
I disagree. It seemed clear to me that they had set that car up intending to run well in the final stage of the race, and just hoping to keep their head above water for the first 300 laps or so. Remember that the Coke 600 is so long that the track changes a LOT during the race, and cars that look great at the start are often crap at the end, and vice versa. When Gordon was racing to get his lap back, he was keeping pace with the leaders, and had gotten as high as 7th near the end. Instead of holding that spot, they opted to take four tires and top off the tank, so he was gambling on a long green run at the end, and was racing to conserve fuel...at which he succeeded. By racing to conserve fuel, he wasn't racing aggressively, just trying to keep pace, hence his floating along in the teens and low 20s for most of the last run. It wasn't a 4th place car, by any stretch, but it was better than junk, and they raced a letter-perfect race given what they had.
Big Gordon fan, he had a top 15 car, and it was very ungordon like to play the gas game, but it paid off big time. Loved seeing Stewart get a flat, can't stand that guy.
