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2007 Nascar Nextel Cup Series - Crown Royal Presents The Jim Stewart 400 Review

-New Week, Same Song: Hendrick's Jimmie Johnson Wins
Hendrick Motorsports is a juggernaut right now. Like them or hate them, they are THE team to beat, aside from Mears and the 25 team. The latter is safe (for this week) from the dreaded "36th in points and back" curse, but they need to do something, anything, in the next few weeks, or there needs to be serious changes over there.

-Don't Beat Yourself
Between Kevin Harvick's crew chief and spotter, they have to figure out what they did today and never do it again. You don't win championships by running into people on pit road and tearing up a top-5 racecar.

-Speaking of winning championships...
Dale Earnhardt Jr, for all his hype, still isn't doing anything in the "W" column. It has now been over a year since he's won, and despite a few good finishes, he's been pretty lackluster this season, even though the series has visited three of his best tracks (Talladega, Phoenix and Richmond) in consecutive weeks.

-Who Cares About De Hoya vs Mayweather?
When is the Newman/Montoya rivalry going to come to blows? Personally, I'll bet on the guy who looks like he could pass for the Dover trophy over Montoya.

-Haas is Here...Sort of.
The two Haas CNC cars again ran well in a COT race, as long as you can forget about Jeff Green's pair of nose-sliding incidents. They'll have a big test ahead at Darlington, however.

-Final Grade for Richmond: B
Some drama, a lot of good racing, but again, the lap down line of cars causes problems for contenders and slows the pace of the race. The COT still won't turn, which I suspect will be even more evident next week at Darlington.

Learn more about this author, Ian Essling.
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