It had been almost three months since Martin Truex Jr. last raised a trophy, and while others may have wondered about his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team’s playoff potential, its members never wavered in confidence or pursuit.
And sure enough, they were the ones celebrating in Victory Lane at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after Sunday night’s South Point 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs opener.
“Welcome back,’’ an ecstatic Truex screamed to his team on the radio after taking the checkered flag an impressive 4.173-seconds ahead of a fellow playoff competitor, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick.
It was Truex’s fifth victory of the year – best in the field – and an automatic ticket to the next round of the playoffs.
“We took a gamble, qualified 24th,’’ said Truex, who led 32 laps. “For a while, it wasn’t looking too smart with the 4 (Harvick) out front. Got the right adjustments in the end. Had a great car all day long.
“Hell of a way to make a championship run. Get some good bonus points, move on to the next round, see what we can do there.’’
THE FRATERNAL ORDER OF THE GO FAST
Two ladies share this award for the race at Vegas, Amber The Extremely Lucky Cheddar Head and Snoopy Dawn. Both players, one who having a birthday shortly, were locked and loaded with their pick of “Mr. Mile And A Half”, Martin Truex, Jr. Each racked up a very cool 53 points to go with their 3rd segment totals!
THE MOVERS AND THE SHAKERS
Following Snoopy and The Cheddar Head in scoring this week was the sole player staking her claim to Freaky Fast Kevin Harvick, Linda R. The Lemonade Lefty. The Lemonade Lefty must have been reading some tea leaves prior to sending her segment race selections in a few weeks ago because she is suddenly rocketing up through the scoreboard, scoring 51 points!
Having another really good week at the race track is our our current point leader, Edie The Las Vegas Super Star. The Vegas Super Star jumped onto the William Clyde Elliott, Jr’s bandwagon at LVMS. Sunday was a good day to do the ride along with ol Chase because the Dawsonville, GA, native ran up front all race long, delivering 39 points to our weekly leader!
Meanwhile there was a freaky foursome that racked up a nifty 34 points Sunday in Vegas from Blazingly Bad Brad Keselowski. That fearsome foursome includes, Dan The Numbers Cruncher, Carlton The Doorman, Jeremy The Coach, and Leon (who is finally back home) Your Most Humble Sheriff. This unlikely foursome banded together to slingshot themselves up a few positions this week on the scoring totem pole!
Rounding out the top five scorers this week threesome who scored a modest 26 points from two different drivers. That trio consists of Lonna The Quilt Angel, Linda B. The Cookie Mom, and Bobby Blue Crush. The Cookie Mom and Blue Crush were doing a ride along with The Delivernator, Denny Hamlin, while the Quilt Angel was steadfastly supporting Mr. Seven-Time, Jimmie Johnson, at Vegas.
Once again there was widespread movement on the scoring totem pole. Two thirds of the population swapped zip codes this week! The biggest movers this week were Linda R. The Lemonade Lefty and Snoopy Dawn. Both ladies rocketed up the leaderboard five (5) places to rest this week in 9th and 10th, respectively.
Two players moved four (4) spots this week when the dust settles in The Redneck Fantasy League. Amber the Extremely Lucky Cheddar Head stepped her game and moved up four places to sit in the number two position this week, while Kathy The Church Forecloser plummeted four spots to rest in 15th place, and is making an earnest run on The Outhouse!
After the checkered flag flew at Vegas there are four players who moved two doors down from their previous week’s abode. All four of those players, Bernie The Bay Area Bandit, David The Mudslinging Throttle Jockey, Jim, aka Chiefy, and Lonna The Quilt Angel stumbled and fell two (2) spots residing this week in 6th, 11th, 12th, and 14th, respectively.
Lastly, Leon Your Most Humble Sheriff and Carlton The Doorman each slipped one position to sit in 3rd and 4th places this week.
STRAIGHT FROM THE CRAPPER
Once again I had to dig deep for The Crappiest Pick of The Week Award! Normally, this award goes to the player who scores a single digit in their quest to show their total incompetence for selecting a winner that week. However this week we have a record number of players who will be sharing this award! There are five players, that is nearly one third of this fantasy league who will be co-winners! Never before in the history of the fantasy league has there been five players sharing this award!
Those five players who will be writing about this week in the diaries are Jim, aka Chiefy, Carole, aka Rudy, Kathy The Church Forecloser, David The Mudslinging Throttle Jockey, as well as Bernie The Bay Area Bandit. On a normal race weekend these five players, with their 18 points scored, would have been mid pack in their scoring, however, this week these five are scoping the bottom of the barrel!
This week salute these five marginal players for their showing of mediocrity!
For the second week in a row Carole, aka Rudy, will be inhabiting The Outhouse! Her Vegas performance, being part of a fivesome that was awarded The Crappiest Pick of The Week, did not help her escape The Outhouse this week. I believe she will be there when maintenance workers show up to dig another hole and reposition The Outhouse on the property, the present hole is full of crap!
TIL NEXT TIME, PULL THOSE BELTS TIGHT, AND LET’S GO RACIN’!