Chicago Remarks

Boy was I wrong in my Chicago picks...almost none of those guys I had picked to challenge for the win ran up front. Jimmie was running strong early, leading 92 laps, but missed pit road, and eventually spun midway through the race and finished a lap down. Jeff Gordon ran pretty strong late in the race, but was passed by Reutimann and wasn't able to catch back up after the final round of pit stops. By the way, great to see David win! He can finally stop apologizing for the Charlotte win.

Lots of guys got good finishes that needed them, like Carl Edwards (2nd), Clint Bowyer (4th), Jamie McMurray (5th), and Paul Menard (10th). Bowyer thought he should have won last week at Daytona, and this top-five finish will help vindicate that. McMurray is definitely capable of making the Chase and winning races, but he is very inconsistent. One week, he is finishing in the top-five, the next he is a couple laps off the pace.

It sure was good to see the race play out, with no "debris" cautions at the end. I actually thought the finish wasn't bad. Carl was more than three seconds behind David after the pit stops, but started gaining on him with 20 to go. He cut the margin down to under a second, but ran out of laps.

One more thing, that was awesome to see Austin Dillon win the Truck race today in Iowa driving the black #3 truck. He may not be a threat to win the title, but Richard Childress sure looked proud.