A Salute to a Couple of First Time Winners

Much of Sunday was spent enjoying 1,100 miles of racing, and my congratulations go to a couple of first time winners. Mr. Ashley Judd won the rain-shortened Indy 500 (Dario Franchitti). As I watched Ms. Judd celebrate in Victory Lane, I couldn't help but think back to an autobiography of the Judds that I read about 12 years ago (I think it's called Love Will Build a Bridge). After reading that story, the idea that Ashley would one day be standing in Victory Lane at Indianapolis as the wife of the 500 winner is nearly unbelievable.


This is not Franchitti's first IndyCar win. I saw him win in a controversial finish at California Speedway in 2005. You can read that story here.

In the second race of the day, Hendrick Motorsports once again showed its domination of the 2007 Nextel Cup season as the only car in the Hendrick stable without a win this season won with a little more fuel mileage than the other guys. Casey Mears (nephew of four-time Indy 500 winner Rick Mears) got his first Nextel Cup win, and the first win for the 25 car in several years. Casey's win is the 9th win for Hendrick in 12 Cup races (4 for Jimmy Johnson, 3 for Jeff Gordon, and 1 for Kyle Busch). The rest of the field needs to be very, very worried.