Eliminated

While Jeff Gordon drove to victory lane in an incredibly dull race at Dover, four drivers were officially eliminated from the 2014 Chase for the Sprint Cup.  Here's a rundown:

An advertising slogan for this
weekend's race was "The Monster
Eliminates".  Ew.

AJ Allmendinger: The little driver that could couldn't "do the worm" into the next round, running in the back most of the day.  "Yeah, we sucked all day today", Dinger said upon exiting his car.  While it was an obviously disappointing experience, it wasn't all bad, as the 47 at least finished "the best of the rest", essentially making them winners of Nascar's Playoff Bowl.

Kurt Busch: Kurt ran a silver-colored car to celebrate his 500th Cup start (and, apparently, attempt to blend into the track surface).  However, he was unable to sneak his way into the next round, fading late after contending for a Chase spot most of the day.  Well, at least this means we don't have to deal with Kurt humble-bragging about his continued career recovery.

Greg Biffle: The Biff got stiffed, failing to advance into the upcoming Challenger Round.  So, if you're keeping track at home, Roush-Fenway Racing has one of three drivers still in the Chase, and he's leaving at the end of the year.  While it doesn't make sense from a management standpoint, it does explain why the Red Sox suck.

Aric Almirola:  The hallowed number of John Andretti will not move on, as Aric Almirola and the RPM team were unable to get the miracle they needed to advance.  In his post-race interview, Almirola described his feeling as "sad", which is a pretty accurate description of how most people feel after spending time in Dover, Delaware.

"Dialed-In with Claire B. Lang": Dover Edition

Last night I had the privilege of attending SiriusXM's live broadcast of "Dialed-In with Claire B. Lang" as an audience member at Dover Downs.  Here's some pics, observations, and strained puns...

The show's set-up:  Claire & guest on a stage at the Rollins Center (a small general performing arts venue at the casino), made to look like one of FDR's fireside chats for some reason.

Kyle Larson.  Seemed like a good guy, and he humored me when I asked my question, "Got any good Felix Sabates stories?"  (NOTE: That's not a joke, I actually asked that.)

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who (after a few perfunctory questions about this weekend's race) then was subjected to Claire B. asking him constantly about Danica.

Telling answer to an innocuous question: When asked how he was approaching this weekend's race, he noted that he had to be careful around Chasers trying to get into the second round, mentioning, "one of my teammates is IN the Chase"...guess Carl Edwards is already out the door at Roush!

Aric Almirola.  Seemed like a nice guy, though he seemed to be in a slight hurry.  On Sunday morning, Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs (owned by Smithfield) will be hosting a Hot Dog Eating Contest qualifying event at the track--the winner gets entry into the famous July 4th event at Coney Island.

"Chase Elliott!  Tearin' up the track in the Napa 9 car!"

Chase also seemed like a good guy, though his answers were slightly "too polished" for my taste.  BTW, Chase inexplicably came dressed like me.

AJ Allmendinger, easily the funniest guy there.  He started things off by joking around with his spotter (who was in the audience, as well as a big fan, a PR flak, and one of the hottest women I have ever seen in person).  They traded some light barbs with each other about fantasy football.

Check out the beginning of this article to see Dinger doin' The Worm!

Special thanks goes out to my dad for coming up with the idea to go to this, as well as SiriusXM (and Claire B.) for putting it on.  Also, thanks to everyone who didn't steal my wallet when it fell out of my pocket.

Dover "News" and Notes: Early Edition

--A slight change in the usual schedule this week, as I will be a guest at Claire B. Lang's "Dialed In" SiriusXM radio show tomorrow at 7pm--I'll be in the highly-selective position of "Audience Member #73".

--Kurt Busch is celebrating his 500th career Cup start this Sunday.  Everybody on the planet, however, could care less.

--Didja hear that Timmy Hill's hometown wanted to sponsor him, but they had to pull out?  Yep, Nascar still outlaws (Port) Tobacco sponsorships.

--Dover has the ability to completely change the Chase layout, with first eliminations coming after the race.  Don't scoff--this is the same track that crumbled in the spring, which track officials fixed by having an old guy in an Earl Weaver t-shirt stare at it for an hour.

--The Truck Series runs at Las Vegas Saturday night, despite there being no support races around it (nor any other bigger races the next day).  Furthermore, the race will air beginning at 10pm EST.  No help, no exposure, late start times…heck, the Truck Series is becoming IndyCar!