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closeCHARLOTTE REWIND | The Elevator and Observations
DAVID POOLE / The Charlotte Observer
Tuesday, May. 29, 2007
ELEVATOR
NASCAR VARIETY: If you had the 25, 18 and 45 in your fantasy league, you're either lucky or a genius. UP
JEREMY MAYFIELD'S LUCK: Ran much stronger than the 25th-place finish he got after his engine gave way. DOWN
TEAM RED BULL: It could have turned out better, but Brian Vickers' strong run has to give his Toyota team a spring in its step. UP
RICKY RUDD: Good strategy and a good race car both contributed to his seventh-place finish. UP
OBSERVATIONS | DAVID POOLE
• This 600 had the feel of a mystery novel. You kept thinking you knew how it would end, but every turn of the page took the plot in a different direction. Can you imagine the reaction of fans who went to bed with 100 laps to go when they found out the top three were Casey Mears, J.J. Yeley and Kyle Petty?
• Mears is the eighth driver who got his first Cup victory here, and it's not a bad club to be in. The others are Buddy Baker, Charlie Glotzbach, David Pearson, Bobby Labonte, Jeff Gordon, Jamie McMurray and Matt Kenseth.
• It's amazing how things seem to work out in sports. It's 90 feet from home to first base in baseball, and it always seems plays there come down to one step. By the same token, caution flags and pit stops just seem to fall when somebody is within a lap or two of making it on fuel.
• Say what you want to about the prerace show, but that son of a gun in the "Silver Surfer" outfit who did the parachute jump and kicked that surfboard off his feet just before landing is a bad dude.
NEXT RACE
AUTISM SPEAKS 400
WHERE: Dover (Del.) International Speedway
WHEN: 1 p.m. Sunday
TV: Fox (WCCB, Ch. 18)
RADIO: Motor Racing Network (WSOC-FM, 103.7)
LAST YEAR'S WINNER: Matt Kenseth
