Hello Angels, Bosley, Mr. X and the UnNamed One.  

Let me first start off by saying I’ll miss the Labor Day weekend tradition at Darlington, and today’s final race there during the long-weekend didn’t disappoint. 

Crashes obviously marred the race, but what race at Darlington isn’t full of wrecks. I think it is appropriate that the track known to be too “tough to tame” showed everyone today that the lady in black is still alive and kicking, and that she’ll kick any driver’s butt that doesn’t respect her.  Just ask Michael Waltrip, Dale Jarrett, Rusty Wallace and three other drivers who were taken out of the race on the sixth lap.  Then ask Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon Sterling Marlin and Matt Kenseth about restarting at Darlington.  Watching today’s race I was reminded of Bristol from last week, but this week without the controversy.  Like last week though, the many wrecks wreaked havoc on our teams average finishes…but I’ll get to that a little later. 

I first want to congratulate Terry Labonte on his first win since 1999.  I’ve been following Labonte for the past two seasons, and I’ve noticed quite an improvement in his qualifying and finishing spots.  Over the past several years, Labonte couldn’t catch a break…well today he did just that.  Greg Biffle was leading when a caution came out and Biffle lost his clutch.  Labonte was in the right place at the right time, and took a commanding lead over the pack on the restart with 30 or so laps left.  He never looked back and had a decisive victory over second place finisher Kevin Harvick, whom I must also say is having a much-improved year.   Anyway, congratulations to Labonte on his much deserved win today.

I think the break of the day would go to two drivers today.  The first is Ryan Newman who while leading the race accidentally hit the kill switch on the steering wheel.  By the time it was figured out Newman fell from first to 26th, eight-laps down. He was able to finish three spots higher in 23rd.  The other break goes to Biffle and his clutch problems.  He was in first with a little over 30 laps to go when the final caution of the day came out.  Biffle radioed immediately and said he had a problem.  Luckily for him, he was able to shift on the fly and only fell to 10th place, which is where he finished.  I hope they both have better luck next week.

Ok, so where did we all line-up after the carnage formally known as the Mountain Dew Southern 500 leave us in the standings, well, Bosley for you it is not a good picture. 

In fact Bosley, every one of your drivers were involved in some sort of ruckus of some sort.  Ken Schrader took the hardest hit in the middle of the race when he was involved in a 6-car wreck that took out several drivers…He finished 38th.  Wallace was involved in the first six-car wreck on lap 6 and for the second week in a row was involved in the same wreck as Waltrip early in a race.  You have both of them, with Waltrip finishing 37th and Waltrip right in front of him in 36th.  Newman was poised to help you quite a bit, but his kill-switch problems and 23rd finishing spot definitely didn’t help. Kurt Busch had his own problems with a flat left front tire.  He was able to mount a comeback though and finished 13th.  When the last Labor Day race was finished Bosley, your average finish was a devastatingly low 29.4…and enough to earn you the GOLDEN CABOOSE award for this first race of Segment Three.   I think all of us Angels wish you much better luck next week.

Kris, you didn’t do too much better unfortunately.  Your woes happened when Mark Martin crashed into the back of Gordon on the restart on lap 10.  Martin finished 33rd after spending a bunch of time in the garage area getting fixed.  Gordon went on to about mid-way through the race when Casey Mears was passing Gordon.  Mears at the time was one-lap down, while Gordon was racing on the lead lap.  Mears’ spotter didn’t tell him that Gordon was there and Mears ran right into Gordon sending him spinning and taking out five other drivers with him.  Gordon spent a lot of time in the garage also, but was able to come out 50-plus laps down.  He went on to finish 32nd.  Mike Skinner was running well until he had a tire go down and he crashed into the wall. He finished several laps down in 29th.  Dale Earnhardt Junior had his drive train break and he fell several laps down and finished 25th.  Your only bright spot was Busch’s finish at 13th.  Your average finish is a disappointing 26.4.  Much better luck next week.

 Jill, you may be the Segment Two winner, but Segment Three doesn’t care how you finished in Segment Two and isn’t showing you any respect.  Jarrett is you worst driver today after his wreck on lap 6.  He was only able to manage a 34th place finish.  Gordon is next in 32nd.   Kenny Wallace did a good job of missing a lot of the wrecks but one caught up to him in the end and he finished 24th.  Newman’s misstep and 23rd place finish didn’t help you either.  Your only bright spot was Jimmie Johnson’s 3rd place finish.  Your average finish today is a disappointing 23.2.  Better luck next week.

The crashes definitely didn’t help my cause this week either.  Gordon’s lack of luck these past couple of months are definitely taking its toll on my standings, but I’m of the firm belief that his luck will change here in the near future.  Skinner’s problems definitely didn’t help me either.  Joe Nemachek was involved in the first 6-car crash on lap 6, and he was involved again later in the race with another one.  He was able to comeback though and finish 21st.  Matt Kenseth was involved in the incident on the restart on lap 10 with Gordon and Martin, but was able to remain in the top-10 for most of the day.  In fact he was running first when he left a brushed the wall and left a Darlington stripe on his No. 17 Smirnoff Ford.  Unfortunately his car didn’t run as well after the tap against the wall and he fell back to 14th spot when the race was over.    My best driver today is Johnson and his third place finish.  My average finish is an even 20. 

UnNamed One your worst driver is Jarrett and his early crash woes.  He eventually went on to finish 34th.  Other than Jarrett’s crash your drivers did ok.  Ricky Rudd fought radiator problems and still managed a 16th place finish.  I’ve already mentioned Kenseth’s stripe…he finished 14th.  Busch didn’t do too badly considering and finished 13th.  Your best driver is Biffle and his clutch problems...but again, he was still able to finish 10th though. Your average finish is 17.4.  Better luck next week.

Tiffany, your worst driver is Earnhardt and his broken drive train.  He definitely didn’t help you with his 25th-place finish overall.   Jeff Green didn't help you or hurt you by finishing in the middle of the pack in 25th.  The labor day race isn't the only one for Darlington, it is for Green as well.  Starting next week, he'll be replaced by John Andretti.  Don't forget to update your driver.  Nemachek didn’t hurt you too badly, but saving you from total catastrophic meltdown is Bobby Labonte and Harvick finishing 7th and 2nd overall.  Your average finish is a nice 14.6.  Still better luck next week.

Mr. X, Jarrett really hurt your standings today considering how close you were to the Top Angel Award.  He finished 34th.  Kenseth didn’t hurt you nearly as bad as he could have with his 14th place finish.  The same can be said of Biffle’s 10th place finish.  Helping you the most though is Jamie McMurray’s 4th place finish and having Terry Labonte on your team.  Your average finish is a nice 12.6.  I’ll still wish you better luck next week though.

Well, Kelly, you go from Golden Caboose Award recipient last week to this week’s TOP ANGEL AWARD winner this week.  You did this by having three drivers in the top-10, four in the top-15, and Mark Martin crash early and finish 33rd.  He obviously didn’t hurt you too badly, because your remaining drivers definitely backed him up.  Tony Stewart finished 12th but really was never a factor in the race today.  The same definitely cannot be said about Ricky Craven who was a threat to win the entire day.  He ended the day though in 8th spot.  Bobby Labonte started great, but faded in the middle of the race.  He did mount a comeback and managed a 7th place finishing spot.  Helping you the most though was having Terry Labonte on your team.  His win today showed the rest of NASCAR that he definitely still has the winning heart and spirit inside of him.  Congratulations to you Kelly on your worst to best performance this week, and TOP ANGEL AWARD winning average of 12.2.

Even with the horrible average finishes today, our combined average finish is still a nice 15.84.  Let’s see if we can lower that average finish next week.

Speaking of next week, it’s another Saturday night-race.  This time it’s the Chevy Rock and Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway in Virginia.  Don’t forget to update your drivers by 11:59 p.m. Pacific time on Wednesday.

Good luck Angels,

Charlie