Johnson's Rising

Please forgive the lateness of this post, as I was spending my evening Liveblogging at Blogs4Bauer last night. For the record, last night’s episode of 24 may have been the most boring ever. What was not boring, however, was yesterday’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. At times the drivers were racing five-wide across the track, and there were lead changes aplenty.

Of course, the four and five-wide racing eventually led to “The Big One,” the multi-car wreck that swallowed about ten competitors. Thankfully, there were no injuries, but many drivers succumbed to the attrition. One of those drivers was Dale Earnhardt, Jr, who blew and engine late in the contest. Alas, The New Man in Black would not find Victory Lane in Alabama; that position was reserved for Jimmie Johnson.

Hendrick Motorsports again showed themselves the kings of the restrictor plates. Jeff Gordon dominated much of the race (although he finished far behind the leaders), Brian Vickers scored his first top five finish of the year, and Jimmie Johnson pulled off a brilliant pass late in the race to finish ahead of Tony “Rat Bastard” Stewart.

Johnson and Gordon (who compose my fantasy team with Louie the Lock) still reside in the top ten in the overall standings. My other team of Junior and Ryan Newman? Not so much.