The major story of Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola – Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s final run at his beloved Daytona International Speedway in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – turned out to be a footnote to Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s masterful victory in a war of attrition that produced a race-record 14 cautions.
The driver of the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, who got his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory in his 158th career start two months ago at Talladega, established himself as a restrictor-plate wizard with his second straight superspeedway win, this one after three laps of overtime.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. sidestepped a handful of multi-car wrecks, roaring to a stirring victory in overtime Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.
Stenhouse’s Roush Fenway Racing No. 17 Ford led 17 of 163 laps in the Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola. He bypassed David Ragan with a lap and a half remaining and held on to the checkered flag.
His second victory of the season was his first at the 2.5-mile track and second of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career. His other win in NASCAR’s premier series came in May at Talladega Superspeedway.
The Movers And Shakers
Not a single player had Stenhouse as their Daytona selection this week and therefore this coveted award goes back to the “water closet” til this weekend at Kentucky!
The restrictor plate tracks, Daytona and Talladega, always throw a huge monkey wrench into the standings. Those two tracks either make our players a hero or a zero! Saturday night there was a very mixed bag of results. Most of the players did not have a race that would warrant writing home to Mom about! It was like “riders on the storm”!
The highest scorer this week happens to be Doug The Ageless Sprint Car Racer. The Gandy Candy Man grabbed a very cool 42 points from Clint Bowyer’s second consecutive second pace finish!
Bernie The Bay Area Bandit skated cleanly and avoided any major damage by adding 33 points to her totals via Jimmie Jonhson’s 12th place finish.
Likewise, both Snoopy Dawn, not to be confused with Snoop Dogg, and Edie The Las Vegas Super Star emerged fairly well for a restrictor plate, each adding 22 points. Snoopy received her score from Denny Hamlin and The Las Vegas Super Star was hanging with Matt Kenseth.
Bobby Blue Crush and ol Skid-Marc escaped total restrictor plate racing ruin by scoring 19 points when Kurt Busch rallied to finish 28th Saturday night.
Rounding out the top five scorers this week is none other than Jerry The Buschwacker, who scraped together 17 points from his man, Kyle Busch, who finished 20th at Daytona.
As always, the plate tracks play havoc with our leaderboard. Because of the turmoil that usually goes hand and hand with restrictor plate racing at Talledega and Daytona, the standings following these races always appears to be the results of putting all of the players into a blender and hitting the on switch, or like all the drivers are swept up in a tornado, tossed about, and dumped out on the race track!
The largest mover this week is our new leader, Doug the Ageless Sprint Car Driver, who also happens to be our new leader this week! The Gandy Candy Man rocketed up six (6) spots to take over as our new leader!
Our other resident racer, David The Mudslinging Throttle Jockey, was the second largest mover of the race. However, The Mudslinger plummeted down four (4) places landing just 27 points from the front door of “The Outhouse” in 20th position.
There were two players who moved three (3) positions this week, Carlton The Doorman and Bernie The Bay Area Bandit. The Bay Area Bandit is mounting a charge to distance herself from “The Outhouse” and moved up three spots to sit in 17th place this week. Unfortunately The Doorman slipped three spots to now rest in 8th place.
Both Kathy The Church Forecloser and Carole, aka Rudy climbed up two (2) places to sit comfortably in 13th and 16th, respectively this week.
Rounding out the top five movers this this week are five players, Lonna The Quilt Angel, Jim, aka Chiefy, Bobby Blue Crush, Linda The Cookie Mom, Zee, aka Sissy, as well as A&M Aggie Sue, who just slipped up or down one spot this week each. Bobby Blue Crush is the only player of this group who had a positive movement. Blue Crush sits neatly in 7th place this week. The Quilt Angel, Chiefy, The Cookie Mom, Sissy and Aggie Sue all slipped one place resting in 2nd, 3rd, 14th, 15th and 18th, respectively.
Straight From The Crapper
David The Mudslinging Throttle Jockey single handedly wins “The Crappiest Pick of The Week” award, scoring just 1 point this week!
I wished that I had some Earth shaking news about “The Outhouse Award” this week, but I don’t! It appears that Jeremy The Coach loves the place and has found true solace in “The Outhouse”, because he has been firmly entranced at that location for all five races this segment!
The stop for NASCAR is Kentucky Speedway for another Saturday nigh race this week.
Good luck to all!
Like always, the restrictor plate racing with all its twists, turns, and sheet metal carnage is like a bunch of “riders on the storm”!
TIL NEXT TIME, PULL YOUR GLOVES UP, FLIP YOR VISOR DOWN, AND LET’S GO RACING’!