Down south for some heated battles on this very fast speedway. We almost didn't get to race tonight as Tunngle was inoperable. But, I'm pleased to say that we were able to make Evolve work for us and that all humans (barely) survived to the end.

While the first attempt went poorly, our second attempt was good at least until the second lap. As you can see, three humans on the qualy podium with Chad not far behind.

As I was saying, lap 2. Sandy was slipping back a tad as he was getting his car up to speed and temperature when he came down on Jimmie.

Barely a tap but he got himself in bad trouble. How he drove away from this with a fairly strong car, I will never know. Maybe it's karma from the times his engine gave out from the slightest gusts of wind?

We hardly got going again when Josh Wise barely nicked the wall enough to slow him up and get tossed inside.

As Jr. pulled away from that wreck, he caught Chad and started another one. Good for Chad for keeping himself from getting damaged worse from the onrushing field.

We actually went many green laps right up to our fuel window when Scot sailed it in hot through one and ran afoul the Landon Cassill.

Scot nearly hit every human on his way back down the track and did get slammed fiercely by Ambrose and others. Darrel smacked him coming through the apron while Scot struggled with some flat tires.

As I was saying, pit window. While the rest of the field had already staggered a stop or two from earlier cautions, I barely made to this one. Darrel (top) had stopped just one lap prior, putting him a lap down. Dreadful luck...

On the restart, there were lots of broken lappers mixed with broken and non-broken leaders. As I was battling McDowell for 2nd through turn two, he slowed up so much I nearly turned him down the track. As he recovered he swung out wide and bounced the wall enough to put him into Kenseth.

Kyle Busch slowed only slightly and Darrel had a strong run off the corner.

Darrel almost saved it but had too much momentum shift and tossed into Keselowski.

While I was only pinched against the wall from Busch, Darrel got smacked around a bit more, collecting others. His race went from misfortune to catastrophe quickly.

While resuming racing again, more issues with the turn 2 wall resulted. Mostly unaided by humans.

As we were under 10 to go, Scot was coming through the tri-oval when his line intersected with Patrick's.

She saved it only to turn back into the 029.

Who then did a neat trick.

On the last few laps of green flag, Sandy found himself battling ferociously for position while avoiding moving hazards like Blaney.

The very next lap, Kyle Busch and Gilliland got tangled off of turn 2. Sandy wasn't having any of it and just ran over the 38...

Sending him into McClure to deal with. Sandy did go on to beat out McMurray who eventually was slowed up by good old Trevor Bayne. He's finally good for something.

In a similar instance, Darrel served as a pic for Kenseth, allowing me to take the win, unmolested.

He was rewarded for his efforts with a spin by Johnson.

Off we go to the penultimate race of the season: Pheonix. This was the only track Darrel scored a last place finish and the rest of us didn't fare much better. I'll try and get an update out to everyone before I head out to South Dakota. I'll let you know if I won't be back for the next one. We will use Evolve again.

Results

Session: Practice

P	#	DRIVER	TIME
1	061	D Hamilton	28.103
2	013	T Nadz	28.238
3	029	M Max	28.886
4	055	C Ferguson	28.975
5	16	G Biffle	29.010
6	48	J Johnson	29.016
7	99	C Edwards	29.038
8	88	D Earnhardt Jr	29.122
9	4	K Harvick	29.187
10	14	T Stewart	29.221
11	15	C Bowyer	29.236
12	20	M Kenseth	29.261
13	5	K Kahne	29.277
14	11	D Hamlin	29.284
15	2	B Keselowski	29.287
16	22	J Logano	29.305
17	1	J McMurray	29.320
18	24	J Gordon	29.329
19	78	M Truex Jr	29.350
20	47	A Allmendinger	29.448
21	41	K Busch2	29.467
22	31	R Newman	29.530
23	52	B Labonte	29.550
24	35	E McClure	29.557
25	34	D Ragan	29.568
26	40	L Cassill	29.608
27	55	B Vickers	29.611
28	77	D Blaney	29.624
29	95	M McDowell	29.630
30	27	P Menard	29.787
31	32	T Kvapil	29.791
32	17	R Stenhouse Jr	29.794
33	38	D Gilliland	29.797
34	10	D Patrick	29.804
35	66	J Burton	29.819
36	21	T Bayne	29.839
37	43	A Almirola	29.842
38	18	K Busch	29.944
39	9	M Ambrose	30.283
40	021	T Bear	30.906
41	13	C Mears	41.541
42	98	J Wise	42.028

Weather: Cloudy, 70 °F, Southeast 12 mph

Session: Qualifying

P	#	DRIVER	TIME
1	013	T Nadz	27.784
2	061	D Hamilton	28.064
3	021	T Bear	28.321
4	31	R Newman	28.674
5	27	P Menard	28.777
6	20	M Kenseth	28.823
7	5	K Kahne	28.832
8	48	J Johnson	28.866
9	055	C Ferguson	28.886
10	2	B Keselowski	28.896
11	18	K Busch	28.955
12	66	J Burton	28.958
13	4	K Harvick	28.967
14	78	M Truex Jr	29.015
15	11	D Hamlin	29.047
16	14	T Stewart	29.056
17	88	D Earnhardt Jr	29.071
18	35	E McClure	29.074
19	15	C Bowyer	29.106
20	34	D Ragan	29.111
21	16	G Biffle	29.165
22	52	B Labonte	29.174
23	13	C Mears	29.227
24	9	M Ambrose	29.235
25	41	K Busch2	29.298
26	95	M McDowell	29.430
27	32	T Kvapil	29.441
28	55	B Vickers	29.485
29	40	L Cassill	29.546
30	77	D Blaney	29.555
31	24	J Gordon	29.572
32	99	C Edwards	29.598
33	17	R Stenhouse Jr	29.617
34	43	A Almirola	29.712
35	22	J Logano	29.776
36	30	D Stremme	29.785
37	21	T Bayne	29.809
38	1	J McMurray	29.818
39	38	D Gilliland	29.889
40	98	J Wise	29.930
41	47	A Allmendinger	30.125
42	10	D Patrick	30.578
43	029	M Max	38.236

Weather: Cloudy, 70 °F, East 9 mph

Session: Happy Hour

P	#	DRIVER	TIME
1	013	T Nadz	28.918
2	061	D Hamilton	29.016
3	029	M Max	29.030
4	021	T Bear	29.143
5	4	K Harvick	29.388
6	14	T Stewart	29.514
7	41	K Busch2	29.515
8	055	C Ferguson	29.525
9	99	C Edwards	29.552
10	78	M Truex Jr	29.582
11	27	P Menard	29.621
12	1	J McMurray	29.633
13	24	J Gordon	29.640
14	22	J Logano	29.659
15	11	D Hamlin	29.659
16	47	A Allmendinger	29.667
17	34	D Ragan	29.726
18	66	J Burton	29.730
19	18	K Busch	29.737
20	48	J Johnson	29.740
21	16	G Biffle	29.768
22	9	M Ambrose	29.778
23	88	D Earnhardt Jr	29.820
24	15	C Bowyer	29.853
25	38	D Gilliland	29.883
26	13	C Mears	29.940
27	35	E McClure	29.964
28	20	M Kenseth	29.977
29	77	D Blaney	30.002
30	32	T Kvapil	30.026
31	52	B Labonte	30.055
32	95	M McDowell	30.080
33	40	L Cassill	30.085
34	31	R Newman	30.089
35	2	B Keselowski	30.165
36	55	B Vickers	30.165
37	43	A Almirola	30.263
38	17	R Stenhouse Jr	30.367
39	98	J Wise	30.466
40	10	D Patrick	30.481
41	21	T Bayne	30.561
42	30	D Stremme	31.248
43	5	K Kahne	2:23.790

Weather: Clear, 81 °F, Northeast 2 mph

Session: Race

OFFICIAL STANDINGS

F	S	#	DRIVER	INTERVAL	LAPS	LED	POINTS	STATUS
1	1	013	T Nadz	120.447	51	46*	185	Running
2	6	20	M Kenseth	-1.69	51	0	170	Running
3	21	16	G Biffle	-1.71	51	1	170	Running
4	12	66	J Burton	-1.83	51	1	165	Running
5	32	99	C Edwards	-2.03	51	0	155	Running
6	8	48	J Johnson	-2.07	51	3	155	Running
7	17	88	D Earnhardt Jr	-2.81	51	0	146	Running
8	15	11	D Hamlin	-3.80	51	0	142	Running
9	25	41	K Busch2	-4.38	51	0	138	Running
10	5	27	P Menard	-4.51	51	0	134	Running
11	23	13	C Mears	-4.72	51	0	130	Running
12	31	24	J Gordon	-4.86	51	0	127	Running
13	13	4	K Harvick	-5.28	51	0	124	Running
14	41	47	A Allmendinger	-5.65	51	0	121	Running
15	16	14	T Stewart	-5.90	51	0	118	Running
16	28	55	B Vickers	-6.00	51	0	115	Running
17	7	5	K Kahne	-6.27	51	0	112	Running
18	10	2	B Keselowski	-6.50	51	0	109	Running
19	3	021	T Bear	-7.96	51	0	106	Running
20	38	1	J McMurray	-8.25	51	0	103	Running
21	37	21	T Bayne	-8.28	51	0	100	Running
22	11	18	K Busch	-8.49	51	0	97	Running
23	39	38	D Gilliland	-8.84	51	0	94	Running
24	34	43	A Almirola	-9.71	51	0	91	Running
25	9	055	C Ferguson	-9.98	51	0	88	Running
26	42	10	D Patrick	-10.58	51	0	85	Running
27	26	95	M McDowell	-1L	50	0	82	Running
28	18	35	E McClure	-2L	49	0	79	Running
29	30	77	D Blaney	-2L	49	0	76	Running
30	43	029	M Max	-2L	49	0	73	Running
31	40	98	J Wise	-4L	47	0	70	Running
32	2	061	D Hamilton	-5L	46	0	67	Running
33	19	15	C Bowyer	-19L	32	0	64	Retired
34	4	31	R Newman	-24L	27	0	61	Retired
35	24	9	M Ambrose	-25L	26	0	58	Retired
36	29	40	L Cassill	-26L	25	0	55	Accident
37	33	17	R Stenhouse Jr	-26L	25	0	52	Accident
38	36	30	D Stremme	-26L	25	0	49	Accident
39	35	22	J Logano	-44L	7	0	46	Retired
40	20	34	D Ragan	-48L	3	0	43	Retired
41	22	52	B Labonte	-49L	2	0	40	Retired
42	14	78	M Truex Jr	-49L	2	0	37	Accident
43	27	32	T Kvapil	-50L	1	0	34	Accident

Caution Flags: 7 (24 laps)

Lead Changes: 4 (4 drivers)

Weather: Clear, 79 °F, Northwest 7 mph

Pitstop Frequency: 3x

AI Strength: 97%

PENALTIES

LAP	#	INFRACTION	PENALTY
4	021	Dropping Debris	Pit for repairs
8	055	Entering closed pits	Go to end of longest line
32	061	Smoking Engine	Pit for repairs
32	061	Entering closed pits	Go to end of longest line
34	029	Speeding in pits	Go to end of longest line
32	061	Unsafe pit entrance	Go to end of longest line
32	061	Unsafe pit entrance	Go to end of longest line
33	061	Unsafe pit exit	Go to end of longest line
33	061	Speeding in pits	Drive through pit lane
43	029	Entering closed pits	Go to end of longest line
44	029	Failure to pit	Go to end of longest line

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Nascar Sprint Cup Championship 2014 - 34 Texas