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Dale Earnhardt Jr. came into the race at the Brickyard outside of the Top 10 with 6 races to go and he needed a big boost after two straight 43rd place finishes. Before those two races he was sitting 3rd in points and comfortably in the Top 5, but disaster struct and in 2 short races he fell 8 spots down to 11th in points.

Things weren’t looking very good for Dale Jr. all race, the team just couldn’t get handling of the car right and he was mired back between 22nd and 37th most of the race. It was looking really bad for Dale Jr. and I am sure frustration was setting in for crew chief Tony Uury Jr. and and Dale Jr.

The laps were counting down and it was going to take a miracle for Dale Jr. to salvage a good finish. The miracle came in the form of a late caution flag and just about all of the lead lap cars came in for fresh tires and Tony Eury Jr. made the call of the season, he told Dale Jr. to stay out. They were going to roll the dice and hope for the best. A few other teams made the same call including Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman and they restarted the race with less than 20 laps to go.

I was actually just hoping that Dale Earnhardt Jr. would be able to hold on and finish in the Top 10. As I said in the beginning of this entry Jimmie Johnson was able to over take Dale Jr with 10 laps to go. Fortunately for Dale Jr. the story didn’t end there and he only passed by four other cars and he finished in 6th place.

With the 6th place finish he was able get back into the Top 10 (10th place) just behind Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon. Jeff Gordon reached deep into his bag of tricks (not meant to be derrogatory) and he recovered from a near disasterous start to finish 16th. Gordon fell 3 or 4 laps down due to a mechanical failure (broken bolt on the front sway bar) and with a couple of quick cautions he was able to get the laps back, but he still found himself one lap down for a very long stretch and I am sure he had to be wondering when his luck was going to change.

He finally got the break he needed and got back onto the lead lap and he clawed back and finished in the Top 20 (16th) and was able move up one spot in the points to 8th position just barely in front of the resurgant Tony Stewart.

Top 10 Finishers

1. # 48  Jimmie Johnson

2. # 17  Matt Kenseth

3. # 29  Kevin Harvick

4. # 07  Clint Bowyer

5. #  6   Mark Martin

6. #  8   Dale Earnhardt Jr.

7. #  5   Kyle Busch

8. #  20  Tony Stewart

9. #  99   Carl Edwards

10. #11   Denny Hamlin

The Frence lab that completed the testing on urine sample A of Floyd Landis after he was declared the winner of the Tour de France a couple of weeks ago, has determined that Landis’s sample B also contains high levels of synthetic testosterone.

Landis still denies that he has done anything wrong and his defense team has offered a couple of explanations, from dehydration to cortosone shots that he takes for pain (he has a very bad hip) and also thyroid medication.

The final decision on the punishment will come from the UCI and then he will be able to appeal what ever punishment is handed down, the expected punishment would be a 2 year ban from the sport. Unfortunately, the biggest disappointment will come when the Tour de France victory is taken away. The Tour de France officials wasted no time, in taking steps to declare the second place finisher the winner of race.

The race director Christian Prudhomme said runner-up Oscar Pereiro, would be declared the winner and he was contacted by Tour de France officials.

Landis’s racing team Swiss-based Phonak reacted very abruptly by firing Landis, who was the team captain only 45 minutes after learning of the results from the sample B testing. Despite the fact that they stood behind another former team member, Tyler Hamilton for two years while he fought allegations of doping.

If Landis ultimately loses all of his appeals he will become the first person to be stripped of his Tour de France victory for doping in races 103 year history.