When people go visit the Hoover Dam which is part of the Nevada-Arizona border, there's two statues of winged creatures just outside the viewing area on the roadway.
Legend has it that if one rubs the toes of both creatures, good luck will come to those while visiting Las Vegas.
If you ever see the statues, they are gold but covered in soot and grime, yet the toes shine as if they were a fresh piece of jewelry.
It seems that some of the favorites in Sunday's race should have made the trip to get some luck.
Many of the drivers expected to run up front and win had all kinds of issues at Vegas. Kyle Busch hit the wall, but started to battle back, at least until his engine decided to be like a bomb and blow up with fire coming out the exhaust. He came home in 38th.
Last week's winner, Jeff Gordon, was making moves to the front despite having handling issues. It was all going well, but then the right-front tire blew in turn four and sent him into the wall.
The damage knocked him out of the race, out of the top-12 in points, and left him leaving in 36th.
The driver that stole the headlines this weekend was Carl Edwards. We all knew heading into the season that Ford was getting set to make a huge run in 2011, and already that is very evident. A victory at Daytona and some great runs at Phoenix proved that Ford was ready for a run.
Now, "Cousin Carl" can say he can join in that celebration, as he continues his great run to start 2011. The momentum he gained at the end of last season, winning the last two races, showed he's ready to go for a possible title run.
With the win, Ford has won four of the last five races. The blue oval team is not messing around, and don't expect that to change anytime soon.
Unfortunately, no one picked Edwards to win this week. In fact, no writer had a particularly good race. Only one writer finished in the top-10, and it meant a jump from 12th to fifth in the standings.
There was also a change at the top, as we now have a new leader, but not by much. Here's a look at how the standings shake out following the Kobalt Tools 400:
Sal Sigala Jr. (93) Jimmie Johnson finished 16th (0)
Kelly Crandall (91) Jeff Gordon finished 36th (0)
Misan Ayuka (81) Jeff Gordon finished 36th (0)
Ryan O'Hara (74) Jeff Gordon finished 36th (1)
James Broomhead (73) Kurt Busch finished ninth (0)
Kara Martin (66) Jimmie Johnson finished 16th (0)
Rob Tiongson (66) Jimmie Johnson finished 16th (0)
Billy Fellin (63) Kyle Busch finished 38th (0)
Dustin Parks (57) Kyle Busch finished 36th (0)
Michael Hirshbein (52) Kyle Busch finished 36th (0)
Christopher Leone (52) Jeff Gordon finished 36th (0)
Summer Dreyer (50) Jeff Gordon finished 36th (0)
NEXT RACE: The only question on everyone's mind right now is how exactly can NASCAR be set for an off-weekend? There have been three sold-out races to start the year, two incredible stories of victory, and no shortage of intense action on the track.
Now, everyone must take a break. But, with that comes more time to strategize and make decisions. The top-five in the pool are separated by just 20 points, and only 43 separate first and 12th.
Seems very appropriate that in two weeks, NASCAR goes to it's own version of a coliseum. Only a half-mile in length, concrete surface, and 170,000 people surrounding the track.
Like the saying goes, "There's racing...and then there's Bristol." The tempers will be just as short as the track two weeks from today.
Writers, you get a little break as picks for the Jeff Byrd 500 Presented by Food City won't be due until Thursday, March 17, at 9 p.m. ET.
Written by:
