Cross' Words: Talladega (cont'd)

Random ruminations after Talladega ...

• Casey Mears' year can't get any worse. He had a great run going Sunday and then gets wiped-out trying to get to pit road by teammate Jimmie Johnson.

• Kyle Busch couldn't wait to put 'Dega in the rearview -- and can't get to Richmond fast enough: four top-fives in as many starts.

• Nine races, six past-champion's provisional starts for Dale Jarrett. ... David Reutimann's top-10 run? Fuggettaboutit. ... Eight consecutive races sans Michael Waltrip.

• Denny Hamlin may have had the field covered sans the late caution, but I wanted to see how Kurt Busch handled the green-white-checkers. He was strong and would have put Jimmie Johnson, cruising between teammate Jeff Gordon and Busch, between a rock and a hard place.

• Good news, David Gilliland -- another top-10 finish (fourth, a career best in 24 starts; both his career top-10s have come in this year's plate races).

• Bad news, David Gilliland -- there are eight races until Daytona.

• Johnny Sauter was this close to, perhaps, his second top-10 in the past three races. Instead he finished 30th, a result of the GWC crash.

• Part-time Busch Series driver Adrian Fernandez and wife Catalina welcomed their first child -- a daughter, Valentina -- at 5:17 p.m. ET Sunday.

Say what?

"I've been working on my fan base for years, and I probably won't have any after this comment, but it's very disappointing to see race fans throw Miller Lite beer cans all over the racetrack. It's very unfortunate."
-- Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge. ... Throwing Budweiser beer cans, presumably, is OK.

Figuratively speaking

.159 -- Career winning percentage for Jeff Gordon (77 victories in 482 races), which ranks seventh all time.

Gordon, who made his debut on Nov. 15, 1992, at Atlanta, has averaged five wins per season. If Gordon, 35, competes at the same rate for five more years, he'll total more than 100 victories.

He's already said he won't be racing at age 45, but does anyone else think that there will be the public uproar over Gordon passing Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip or Bobby Allison on the all-time wins list, like there was with Jeff surpassing Dale Earnhardt?

If anything, ol' D.W. is likely to suit up again in an attempt to fend-off Gordon ...

Up Next

Crown Royal 400 | Richmond | 7 p.m. ET Saturday, FOX
Race No. 10 of 36 | Get your tickets | Book your travel

• Defending race winner: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
• Most victories at the track: 3 -- Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart
• Best average finish (minimum five starts): Dale Earnhardt Jr. (9.9 in seven starts)
Active drivers only (Continued)