If it’s Atlanta, it must mean tire issues. Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 became a day-long procession to pit row for tire changes, which caused the majority of 10 cautions at 50-year-old Atlanta Motor Speedway Sunday. And as usual, there were track incidents aplenty.
For the second year in a row, Penske’s Kurt Busch stormed Atlanta like Sherman, enduring NASCAR’s race-end gauntlet of two green-white-checkered attempts to win the 325-lap affair that stretched to 341 laps in “overtime” around the 1.5-mile tri-oval.
Most troubled by the constant tire erosion on the abrasive surface were the Hendrick Motorsports cars. Of the HMS fleet, Jimmie Johnson finished highest at 12th, with Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, and Mark Martin faring worse with their respective 15th-, 18th-, and 33rd-place finishes. Besides the strong-running Busch, Juan Pablo Montoya and Kasey Kahne also ran consistently at the front.
The race’s ending deteriorated with a spectacular crash with just two laps to go, when Carl Edwards chose to pay back Brad Keselowski for an earlier-race incident, in which Keselowski punted Edwards into Joey Logano on the outside lane on a restart. Both Edwards and Logano had to exit the track for lengthy repairs. Edwards, known to take no quarter, at the time of his wrecking of Keselowski was 152 laps down. Unfortunately, that incident brought to an end a terrific 25-lap stretch of green-flag racing that had fans on the edges of their seats, with Montoya reeling in Busch to within a half second in what was building to a nail-biter.
ROADSIDE RANTS AND RAVES: Only four races into the 2010 season and Goodyear just couldn’t stay out of the headlines. Of course, whenever you see Goodyear’s name in context with a NASCAR race it’s usually with a negative connotation for its product failure on the track the previous day. The tire giant even tested specifically at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the off-season, but yesterday you could almost see the old track laughing as it chewed up Goodyear’s best offering and spat it out like so much indigestible rubber…FOX’s Darrell Waltrip made a clairvoyant, you-gotta-be-kidding-me projection an instant before it happened Sunday, when he cautioned that David Ragan had better watch out for a cut tire after he had bumped the wall two laps before. A split-second later, almost on cue, Ragan cut a tire and barreled up the track into the wall…This week a news story circulated that Jimmie Johnson’s constant winning was becoming bad for the sport. Industry types surmised that possibly JJ’s winning ways were turning off droves of NASCAR fans. It was refreshing to hear one lone voice—Kyle Petty’s—say phooey to that. Petty believes dominance, if anything, spawns far more interest in racing. “Parity stinks,” he said with conviction. And I for one completely agree. NASCAR admits it has done everything in its power to level the playing field for all cars, yet huge gaps still exist between powerhouses and also-rans. It reminds me of the 1946-49 Cleveland Browns of the All-America Football Conference before that team became a member of the NFL. The Brownies dominated the AAFC all four years of its existence. Detractors screamed that Cleveland was killing the AAFC. In fact, maybe they did. The AAFC closed its doors at the end of the ’49 season, and the Browns took their show over to the big-league NFL in 1950—where they dominated that league for the next six years too!
Dynasties. The ’40s Browns, the ’90s Bulls. Now, JJ and the 48—the New York Yankees of NASCAR.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Wrong pit call costs Gordon Vegas win
If he’d had Chad Knaus as his crew chief Sunday, Jeff Gordon would have had an all-time 15th career victory at a 1.5-mile track and likely would’ve popped some champagne corks in the City That Never Sleeps.
Reality for Gordon, sadly, is that Steve Letarte is his crew chief. The pit boss of the 24 car, ripping defeat from the jaws of victory, made the wrong call at the crucial point in the race, and the Shelby American, as the Sprint Cup race in Las Vegas was known this year, slipped through Gordon’s grasp, leaving opportunistic teammate Jimmie Johnson to register his second consecutive win of 2010. Ironically, it was Johnson who laid claim to the 15th career victory on a mile-and-a-half track; he had been previously tied with Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, and Richard Petty for that honor.
Gordon dominated the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, leading 218 of the 267-lap total, but the wrong call by Letarte, who opted for two tires instead of four during a green-flag pit stop with 37 laps to go, lost Gordon the chance for his first appearance in Victory Lane since the Texas race in May of last year. Pitting at the same time as Gordon, the 48 car went with a four-tire change, the only one of the five lead cars on pit row to do so. In the end it proved to be the winning edge. Gordon maintained a steady half-second lead on Johnson for more than half the remaining distance to the checkered flag, until with just 16 laps left, the difference in the four- vs. two-tire strategy played out for Johnson and Knaus. Gordon then lost second place to Kevin Harvick, the 2010 point standings leader, with four laps to go.
For the second race in a row, Harvick finished second to Johnson. The Richard Childress Racing stable has capably put up a serious challenge to the 48 car in the early going: All three RCR cars currently run in the Top Seven in the standings, with Harvick and Clint Bowyer running Nos. 1 and 2. Johnson stands fifth.
ROADSIDE RANT: Twice during the Shelby American at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday, malfunctioning electronic caution lights around the track created unnecessary cautions. The first time, on the restart following the second caution, on Lap 52, yellow lights continued to remain lit after the green flag was waved. Then on Lap 107, out of nowhere, the yellow lights tripped for no apparent reason 14 laps into what would have been a magnificent 135-lap stretch of green-flag racing. That’s two out of the first three races this season that have been halted for track malfunctions, the first being the infamous pothole incident at Daytona during NASCAR’s season opener and the series’ premier race of the year. With all its attendant problems that are contributing to flagging attendance both at the track and on television, NASCAR can ill afford elementary failures in its event production. Torn-up track surfaces and broken lighting circuits only sabotage its program further. When these incidents actually halt races, it sends a message that NASCAR isn’t properly maintaining its facilities, not spending the necessary money to make the track circuits first rate. It all factors into the big picture of why disgruntlement has begun to seep through some discernible cracks in the sport.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
Reality for Gordon, sadly, is that Steve Letarte is his crew chief. The pit boss of the 24 car, ripping defeat from the jaws of victory, made the wrong call at the crucial point in the race, and the Shelby American, as the Sprint Cup race in Las Vegas was known this year, slipped through Gordon’s grasp, leaving opportunistic teammate Jimmie Johnson to register his second consecutive win of 2010. Ironically, it was Johnson who laid claim to the 15th career victory on a mile-and-a-half track; he had been previously tied with Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, and Richard Petty for that honor.
Gordon dominated the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, leading 218 of the 267-lap total, but the wrong call by Letarte, who opted for two tires instead of four during a green-flag pit stop with 37 laps to go, lost Gordon the chance for his first appearance in Victory Lane since the Texas race in May of last year. Pitting at the same time as Gordon, the 48 car went with a four-tire change, the only one of the five lead cars on pit row to do so. In the end it proved to be the winning edge. Gordon maintained a steady half-second lead on Johnson for more than half the remaining distance to the checkered flag, until with just 16 laps left, the difference in the four- vs. two-tire strategy played out for Johnson and Knaus. Gordon then lost second place to Kevin Harvick, the 2010 point standings leader, with four laps to go.
For the second race in a row, Harvick finished second to Johnson. The Richard Childress Racing stable has capably put up a serious challenge to the 48 car in the early going: All three RCR cars currently run in the Top Seven in the standings, with Harvick and Clint Bowyer running Nos. 1 and 2. Johnson stands fifth.
ROADSIDE RANT: Twice during the Shelby American at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday, malfunctioning electronic caution lights around the track created unnecessary cautions. The first time, on the restart following the second caution, on Lap 52, yellow lights continued to remain lit after the green flag was waved. Then on Lap 107, out of nowhere, the yellow lights tripped for no apparent reason 14 laps into what would have been a magnificent 135-lap stretch of green-flag racing. That’s two out of the first three races this season that have been halted for track malfunctions, the first being the infamous pothole incident at Daytona during NASCAR’s season opener and the series’ premier race of the year. With all its attendant problems that are contributing to flagging attendance both at the track and on television, NASCAR can ill afford elementary failures in its event production. Torn-up track surfaces and broken lighting circuits only sabotage its program further. When these incidents actually halt races, it sends a message that NASCAR isn’t properly maintaining its facilities, not spending the necessary money to make the track circuits first rate. It all factors into the big picture of why disgruntlement has begun to seep through some discernible cracks in the sport.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
Johnson holds off Harvick for first 2010 win
With drama building on and off the track—black skies west of Auto Club Speedway threatened to halt the race through the last 100 miles—Jimmie Johnson held off a challenge and did what he does best when he smells the finish line: just win, baby.
Rain seemed to claw at the edges of the two-mile speedway in Fontana, Calif., but the elements had the decency not to interfere with a thrilling on-track battle between race leader Johnson and a fast-closing Kevin Harvick, who actually caught the defending four-time Sprint Cup champion with three laps to go. But in the blink of an eye the 29 car, coming off the troublesome Turn 4 exit, waffled slightly, kissing the outer wall just behind Johnson. While not damaged, the error took the stability from Harvick’s car, and he failed to regain the lost ground in the few laps remaining of the Auto Club 500.
NASCAR recorded a decent ending to a race that wasn’t the inevitable two-lap green-white-checkered dash that has come to characterize so many Sprint Cup finishes. While some fans think the two-lap shootouts constitute excitement, I’m of the belief there’s nothing like green-flag racing, and that’s what Auto Club 500 viewers got Sunday, with only six race interruptions from the yellow flag, two of those coming as a result of blown engines.
Johnson, showing that Lady Luck has not abandoned her favorite driver now officially launched toward his fifth straight driver’s title, caught the benefit of a major break late in the race. Just as the 48 car pulled onto pit road under green for its final stop, with 26 laps left, Brad Keselowski spun out in Turn 4, bringing out the yellow. Everybody else would have to pit under caution, which put Johnson into the lead when he reentered the track ahead of then-race leader Jeff Burton.
From that point on, it was a refreshing three-man race between Johnson, Harvick, and Burton…and no rain.
ROADSIDE RAVES: The most exciting action in Sunday’s Auto Club 500 took place in the pits, where Jamie McMurray’s right-rear tire-changer had to pull off a Rudolf Nureyev-like balletic move to avoid being flattened by Kevin Harvick exiting from his pit box immediately behind McMurray. The tire-changer appeared to reverse pivot from his station to try and grab an errant wheel heading Harvick’s way. Spotting the oncoming 29 car, the man leaped high in the air, landing indelicately on Harvick’s hood before bounding off it and back down to the track. Penalties for the incident were assessed to both McMurray as well as Harvick, the latter tagged unfairly.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
Rain seemed to claw at the edges of the two-mile speedway in Fontana, Calif., but the elements had the decency not to interfere with a thrilling on-track battle between race leader Johnson and a fast-closing Kevin Harvick, who actually caught the defending four-time Sprint Cup champion with three laps to go. But in the blink of an eye the 29 car, coming off the troublesome Turn 4 exit, waffled slightly, kissing the outer wall just behind Johnson. While not damaged, the error took the stability from Harvick’s car, and he failed to regain the lost ground in the few laps remaining of the Auto Club 500.
NASCAR recorded a decent ending to a race that wasn’t the inevitable two-lap green-white-checkered dash that has come to characterize so many Sprint Cup finishes. While some fans think the two-lap shootouts constitute excitement, I’m of the belief there’s nothing like green-flag racing, and that’s what Auto Club 500 viewers got Sunday, with only six race interruptions from the yellow flag, two of those coming as a result of blown engines.
Johnson, showing that Lady Luck has not abandoned her favorite driver now officially launched toward his fifth straight driver’s title, caught the benefit of a major break late in the race. Just as the 48 car pulled onto pit road under green for its final stop, with 26 laps left, Brad Keselowski spun out in Turn 4, bringing out the yellow. Everybody else would have to pit under caution, which put Johnson into the lead when he reentered the track ahead of then-race leader Jeff Burton.
From that point on, it was a refreshing three-man race between Johnson, Harvick, and Burton…and no rain.
ROADSIDE RAVES: The most exciting action in Sunday’s Auto Club 500 took place in the pits, where Jamie McMurray’s right-rear tire-changer had to pull off a Rudolf Nureyev-like balletic move to avoid being flattened by Kevin Harvick exiting from his pit box immediately behind McMurray. The tire-changer appeared to reverse pivot from his station to try and grab an errant wheel heading Harvick’s way. Spotting the oncoming 29 car, the man leaped high in the air, landing indelicately on Harvick’s hood before bounding off it and back down to the track. Penalties for the incident were assessed to both McMurray as well as Harvick, the latter tagged unfairly.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
Track repairs mar Daytona 500
Delays totaling two hours and 26 minutes killed the appetite of a nation full of race watchers Sunday. The Daytona 500 self-destructed in two separate red-flag stints in the last 78 laps of the storied American stock car race, when a section of pavement roughly 18 inches long and 8 inches wide came up in an area prior to Turn Two at famed Daytona International Speedway.
As almost an afterthought to the patience-testing stoppage, Jamie McMurray took the checkered flag. Of course, it required the Sprint Cuppers taking three shots at it to get the final two laps right, in an anti-climactic white-green-checkered ending which saw McMurray hold off crowd favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr., for his first Daytona 500 victory. Not far removed was the irony that Earnhardt Jr. lost to his former team, Dale Earnhardt Inc. (now operating under the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing banner), co-run by his stepmother. Still, his second-place finish was huge, the best showing for the 88 since Little E’s last victory, in 2008 at Michigan.
With 78 laps to go, the race was red-flagged for the first time to repair the troublesome pothole that appeared to chunk up from recent rains. With the delay, commentators announced an astonishing revelation: the track surface at Daytona had last been paved in 1978, 31 years ago! Now, I’m aware that racing surfaces take some time to settle satisfactorily, but 31 years is absurd. Can you imagine Yankee Stadium or Green Bay’s Lambeau Field going 31 years without a surface makeover? I don’t think Derek Jeter would be able to tell a bounding baseball coming at him from the pile of rocks that would invariably surround him under those circumstances.
Another element that uncomfortably arises around such incidents as Sunday’s l-o-o-o-n-g red flag stops is viewer anguish. Many observers, I’m sure, felt gratified that the Olympics were airing simultaneously over on NBC. With the race nearing the three-quarters point, people suddenly and involuntarily were subjected to an hour and 40-minute break in the action—this after being assured by NASCAR officials that the track repair was a sure 12-minute done deal at most. Yet another reason to never believe what NASCAR tells us. And then, 39 laps later, it happens again; this time for 46 minutes! It was an unfortunate development. The race had been full of excitement, with 18 different leaders up to the first red flag. That delicious nail-biting tension, which presents itself at approximately that point in every race, was just beginning to build.
ROADSIDE RANTS: NASCAR makes annual efforts to attempt to improve its sport, like the recent restrictor-plate adjustment and the withdrawal of race official interference with bump drafting that were instituted for 2010—both good improvements. But then it continually shoots itself in the foot, by slipping up on something like not repaving its No. 1 track in more than 30 years! For all the weightless boasts from within the sport crowing about the quality of NASCAR racing, events like the infamous chunk of missing pavement at Daytona provide significant and understandable fodder for critics. And right now, that’s a sin tax NASCAR can’t afford.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
As almost an afterthought to the patience-testing stoppage, Jamie McMurray took the checkered flag. Of course, it required the Sprint Cuppers taking three shots at it to get the final two laps right, in an anti-climactic white-green-checkered ending which saw McMurray hold off crowd favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr., for his first Daytona 500 victory. Not far removed was the irony that Earnhardt Jr. lost to his former team, Dale Earnhardt Inc. (now operating under the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing banner), co-run by his stepmother. Still, his second-place finish was huge, the best showing for the 88 since Little E’s last victory, in 2008 at Michigan.
With 78 laps to go, the race was red-flagged for the first time to repair the troublesome pothole that appeared to chunk up from recent rains. With the delay, commentators announced an astonishing revelation: the track surface at Daytona had last been paved in 1978, 31 years ago! Now, I’m aware that racing surfaces take some time to settle satisfactorily, but 31 years is absurd. Can you imagine Yankee Stadium or Green Bay’s Lambeau Field going 31 years without a surface makeover? I don’t think Derek Jeter would be able to tell a bounding baseball coming at him from the pile of rocks that would invariably surround him under those circumstances.
Another element that uncomfortably arises around such incidents as Sunday’s l-o-o-o-n-g red flag stops is viewer anguish. Many observers, I’m sure, felt gratified that the Olympics were airing simultaneously over on NBC. With the race nearing the three-quarters point, people suddenly and involuntarily were subjected to an hour and 40-minute break in the action—this after being assured by NASCAR officials that the track repair was a sure 12-minute done deal at most. Yet another reason to never believe what NASCAR tells us. And then, 39 laps later, it happens again; this time for 46 minutes! It was an unfortunate development. The race had been full of excitement, with 18 different leaders up to the first red flag. That delicious nail-biting tension, which presents itself at approximately that point in every race, was just beginning to build.
ROADSIDE RANTS: NASCAR makes annual efforts to attempt to improve its sport, like the recent restrictor-plate adjustment and the withdrawal of race official interference with bump drafting that were instituted for 2010—both good improvements. But then it continually shoots itself in the foot, by slipping up on something like not repaving its No. 1 track in more than 30 years! For all the weightless boasts from within the sport crowing about the quality of NASCAR racing, events like the infamous chunk of missing pavement at Daytona provide significant and understandable fodder for critics. And right now, that’s a sin tax NASCAR can’t afford.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
Possible 5th for JJ tops 2010 talk
With now several months to digest the enormity of Jimmie Johnson’s fourth straight Cup championship, an achievement of growing magnitude that threatens to enlarge, NASCAR and its Sprint Cup competition head toward The Great American Race this Sunday, a.k.a. the Daytona 500, NASCAR’s version of the Super Bowl. Ironically, the 2010 season opener falls one week following the true Super Bowl, which played out in another little coastal Florida hamlet not far south from the racing capital.
Over the off-season, little earth-shattering news occurred relative to changes in the sport, though an announcement was made to jettison the current rear wing assembly for a slightly less offensive spoiler on the back. With a test session scheduled for late March, the switch will come sometime during the regular season. Officials negatively cited the cosmetic look of the wing, an original component of the CoT, which seems odd since the wing actually made the stocks looks racier. Secondarily, NASCAR then cited a legitimately beneficial reason for making the change: to eliminate visual problems for drivers.
The best off-season deregulation by NASCAR is the elimination of bump-drafting restrictions at the two big tracks Daytona and Talladega, which hopefully will make two exciting races even better.
ROADSIDE RANTS AND RAVES: Some reader feedback over the winter indicates many of you are unhappy with the points system. NASCAR conducts its scoring like it is courting a nation of astrophysicists. Whoever heard of awarding something as fractional as 185 points to the winner, then divvying up the remainder in tiny downward increments so that the last-place finisher winds up earning 34 points! Only a fringe kindergarten dropout could devise such a system. And why would you award any points to a last-place finisher anyway! For a sane solution, NASCAR need look no further than to F1. Though they’re adjusting their point system for 2010, the previous F1 scoring system was the model of simplicity: 10 points to the winner, 8 points for the runner-up, 6 points for third place, followed by 5-4-3-2-1 for fourth through eighth place. No points for anyone finishing ninth or lower. Since NASCAR sets out more than twice the normal F1 field, with 43 cars challenging weekly, let the top 16 cars earn points via the same formula, starting with 25 points for the winner, 20 points for second, 15 for third, 13 for fourth place, then 12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 for fifth place through 16th. And with its Chase format, NASCAR really gets creative, starting off everyone in the 12-man field with 5,000 points. Five-thousand points! What in the heck does that mean? Why not go completely over the top and say everyone in the Chase field starts with a million points each. Oooh, that ought to impress everybody. NASCAR, start with simple math. Scoring shouldn’t require the use of a calculator…Saturday night’s Bud Shootout was fun to watch. As previously mentioned here, the sprints—with smaller fields—are action-packed from start to finish. NASCAR would do well to consider scheduling one or two sprints as points races to balance the endless string of 400- and 500-milers…Though tentative when drafting, Danica Patrick looked strong and sharp in her ARCA debut at Daytona, finishing sixth.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
Over the off-season, little earth-shattering news occurred relative to changes in the sport, though an announcement was made to jettison the current rear wing assembly for a slightly less offensive spoiler on the back. With a test session scheduled for late March, the switch will come sometime during the regular season. Officials negatively cited the cosmetic look of the wing, an original component of the CoT, which seems odd since the wing actually made the stocks looks racier. Secondarily, NASCAR then cited a legitimately beneficial reason for making the change: to eliminate visual problems for drivers.
The best off-season deregulation by NASCAR is the elimination of bump-drafting restrictions at the two big tracks Daytona and Talladega, which hopefully will make two exciting races even better.
ROADSIDE RANTS AND RAVES: Some reader feedback over the winter indicates many of you are unhappy with the points system. NASCAR conducts its scoring like it is courting a nation of astrophysicists. Whoever heard of awarding something as fractional as 185 points to the winner, then divvying up the remainder in tiny downward increments so that the last-place finisher winds up earning 34 points! Only a fringe kindergarten dropout could devise such a system. And why would you award any points to a last-place finisher anyway! For a sane solution, NASCAR need look no further than to F1. Though they’re adjusting their point system for 2010, the previous F1 scoring system was the model of simplicity: 10 points to the winner, 8 points for the runner-up, 6 points for third place, followed by 5-4-3-2-1 for fourth through eighth place. No points for anyone finishing ninth or lower. Since NASCAR sets out more than twice the normal F1 field, with 43 cars challenging weekly, let the top 16 cars earn points via the same formula, starting with 25 points for the winner, 20 points for second, 15 for third, 13 for fourth place, then 12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 for fifth place through 16th. And with its Chase format, NASCAR really gets creative, starting off everyone in the 12-man field with 5,000 points. Five-thousand points! What in the heck does that mean? Why not go completely over the top and say everyone in the Chase field starts with a million points each. Oooh, that ought to impress everybody. NASCAR, start with simple math. Scoring shouldn’t require the use of a calculator…Saturday night’s Bud Shootout was fun to watch. As previously mentioned here, the sprints—with smaller fields—are action-packed from start to finish. NASCAR would do well to consider scheduling one or two sprints as points races to balance the endless string of 400- and 500-milers…Though tentative when drafting, Danica Patrick looked strong and sharp in her ARCA debut at Daytona, finishing sixth.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
Monday, November 23, 2009
The zen of El Cool JJ
History is his. With a secure fifth-place finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Jimmie Johnson took his place among the sport’s legendary greats as the only driver in NASCAR Cup history to claim four straight championships. Grabbing almost as much attention was the power finish of the formidable Hendrick Motorsports trifecta of Johnson, series runner-up Mark Martin, and Jeff Gordon, who swept the top three spots in the season standings. Nearly lost in the wave of applause for Johnson and HMS was Denny Hamlin’s victory in the Ford 400, the 36th and final race of the 2009 season, capping an up and down year for the Joe Gibbs Racing 11 car, which garnered four victories but logged three paralyzing DNFs in the final 10 races to douse the team’s title hopes.
When one speaks of Johnson, one might be referring to a gearhead mystic. Johnson’s real triumph could well be a matter of mind over matter. Virtually unflappable regarding events that turn on a dime out on the racetrack, Johnson appears to have the wisdom of the elders, possessing a knack to be totally in the moment, riveted on the now. If that sounds too New Agey for the likes of a racecar driver, consider that JJ loses no sleep to worry, the bane of all who look over their shoulder. The pilot of the Lowe’s 48 Chevy knows there is a script to be played out but doesn’t pine over its many possibilities. Much has been made of Johnson’s bland personality in the press, but more than likely, he is far ahead of his emotion-spewing racing brethren trying to keep up on the track. Johnson rarely shows irritation or dismay at an outcome that doesn’t wind up in Victory Lane, an infrequent occurrence at that. A key reason Johnson is a champion not once but four times over is his natural ability to focus on what is before him, not on what just transpired behind him or what lies ahead. Just as there is little wasted motion in Johnson’s crack track performances, so too, little is expended on senseless concern over matters that will eventually resolve one way or the other.
Take the downturn at Texas just two races ago. Media and fans alike jabbered about the shocking 100-point loss in that one race to teammate Martin that renewed the possibility of a dogfight for the championship heading into the last two races of the Chase. But when interviewed after his un-Johnson-like 38th-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway, El Cool JJ deferred to calm and reflection, noting that from his perspective, things couldn’t look better: He was, after all, still 84 points ahead. The big win in Phoenix the following Sunday proved his point.
ROADSIDE RAVES: NASCAR put on a good race for its finale, a showcase that went green the final 46 laps, with only seven cautions…Richard Childress Racing showed strength at the Ford 400, with Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick crossing the finish line in second and third place, all of which bodes well for 2010…Tony Stewart, the regular-season champion, missed out on a Top Five season finish when tempers flared between him and Juan Pablo Montoya. Sprint Cup’s bad-boy brigade took turns inflicting ruin on the other. The contretemps succeeded in knocking both out of race contention with an exchange of body-damaging paybacks. The standings drop was lethal for Stewart, whose shop lost a Top Five season-ending bonus.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com© Sportland 2009
(PLEASE NOTE: This concludes my 2009 posting for “The Cool Down Lap.” Coverage of NASCAR's 2010 season will begin the week of Feb. 7. In the interim, check out my NFL blog “Over the Ball,” which runs through the Super Bowl, at wmalanross.blogspot.com.)
When one speaks of Johnson, one might be referring to a gearhead mystic. Johnson’s real triumph could well be a matter of mind over matter. Virtually unflappable regarding events that turn on a dime out on the racetrack, Johnson appears to have the wisdom of the elders, possessing a knack to be totally in the moment, riveted on the now. If that sounds too New Agey for the likes of a racecar driver, consider that JJ loses no sleep to worry, the bane of all who look over their shoulder. The pilot of the Lowe’s 48 Chevy knows there is a script to be played out but doesn’t pine over its many possibilities. Much has been made of Johnson’s bland personality in the press, but more than likely, he is far ahead of his emotion-spewing racing brethren trying to keep up on the track. Johnson rarely shows irritation or dismay at an outcome that doesn’t wind up in Victory Lane, an infrequent occurrence at that. A key reason Johnson is a champion not once but four times over is his natural ability to focus on what is before him, not on what just transpired behind him or what lies ahead. Just as there is little wasted motion in Johnson’s crack track performances, so too, little is expended on senseless concern over matters that will eventually resolve one way or the other.
Take the downturn at Texas just two races ago. Media and fans alike jabbered about the shocking 100-point loss in that one race to teammate Martin that renewed the possibility of a dogfight for the championship heading into the last two races of the Chase. But when interviewed after his un-Johnson-like 38th-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway, El Cool JJ deferred to calm and reflection, noting that from his perspective, things couldn’t look better: He was, after all, still 84 points ahead. The big win in Phoenix the following Sunday proved his point.
ROADSIDE RAVES: NASCAR put on a good race for its finale, a showcase that went green the final 46 laps, with only seven cautions…Richard Childress Racing showed strength at the Ford 400, with Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick crossing the finish line in second and third place, all of which bodes well for 2010…Tony Stewart, the regular-season champion, missed out on a Top Five season finish when tempers flared between him and Juan Pablo Montoya. Sprint Cup’s bad-boy brigade took turns inflicting ruin on the other. The contretemps succeeded in knocking both out of race contention with an exchange of body-damaging paybacks. The standings drop was lethal for Stewart, whose shop lost a Top Five season-ending bonus.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com© Sportland 2009
(PLEASE NOTE: This concludes my 2009 posting for “The Cool Down Lap.” Coverage of NASCAR's 2010 season will begin the week of Feb. 7. In the interim, check out my NFL blog “Over the Ball,” which runs through the Super Bowl, at wmalanross.blogspot.com.)
Friday, October 23, 2009
Johnson chasing no one after Charlotte
He struggled and for a brief spell looked even human among the pack at the Banking 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway Saturday night. But in the end, winning by more than three seconds over second-place non-Chaser Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson gave clear evidence that the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship is his to lose with five races left.
Giving Johnson a mild chase were teammate Jeff Gordon and Kenseth, both of whom made crucial two-tire strategy decisions early on in the 334-lap race that greatly improved their track positions, with both managing to hold them the remainder of the race. Gordon finished fourth.
Third-place finisher Kasey Kahne took the race lead two-thirds of the way through but forfeited it to Johnson in the race off pit row following the seventh caution, on Lap 292. A smooth green-flag finish was marred by three cautions within a 13-lap span with just 35 laps remaining. But even with only 17 clean laps to the checkered flag, Johnson pulled away from the field, symbolically mirroring the way he has left behind all other pretenders in the points standings.
ROADSIDE RANTS AND RAVES: Twenty laps past the halfway point of Saturday night’s race in Charlotte, Chaser Juan Pablo Montoya, having trouble all night, shed a previously damaged right-rear quarter panel that had been poorly remounted in the pits after an earlier brush on the track. The incident could have created havoc, the big chunk of sheet metal displaying his team’s primary sponsor coming to rest on the apron just inside the racing line in one of the turns. NASCAR needs more vigilant monitoring from its pit officials who too quickly allow cars under repair back on the track. All the cars hurry when in a pressure-packed fix-it mode if more than tires and fuel are needed, but a car like Montoya’s was a potential mine field of disaster with regard to track safety—an issue which NASCAR often belabors with its yellow flags for minor debris…NASCAR must be less than happy with the presence of so many out-of-the-Chase racers in the Banking 500’s final Top 10. Six of the 10 spots were filled by non-Chasers, with only Johnson, Kahne, Gordon, and Kurt Busch making the list from those in the hunt…The Formula One world driver’s championship was settled at Sao Paulo in the Brazilian Grand Prix, as Brawn GP’s Jenson Button grabbed a fifth-place finish after starting 14th on the grid to claim his first world title in the prestigious series. The UK’s Button, in his 10th year in F1, had been the young driver of promise upon his debut in 2000, but a string of failures, misfortunes, and associations with poor-performing teams appeared to relegate him to the scrap heap of drivers doomed to never hoist the world championship trophy. The F1 season closes at the new Abu Dhabi layout in the United Arab Emirates in two weeks.
Giving Johnson a mild chase were teammate Jeff Gordon and Kenseth, both of whom made crucial two-tire strategy decisions early on in the 334-lap race that greatly improved their track positions, with both managing to hold them the remainder of the race. Gordon finished fourth.
Third-place finisher Kasey Kahne took the race lead two-thirds of the way through but forfeited it to Johnson in the race off pit row following the seventh caution, on Lap 292. A smooth green-flag finish was marred by three cautions within a 13-lap span with just 35 laps remaining. But even with only 17 clean laps to the checkered flag, Johnson pulled away from the field, symbolically mirroring the way he has left behind all other pretenders in the points standings.
ROADSIDE RANTS AND RAVES: Twenty laps past the halfway point of Saturday night’s race in Charlotte, Chaser Juan Pablo Montoya, having trouble all night, shed a previously damaged right-rear quarter panel that had been poorly remounted in the pits after an earlier brush on the track. The incident could have created havoc, the big chunk of sheet metal displaying his team’s primary sponsor coming to rest on the apron just inside the racing line in one of the turns. NASCAR needs more vigilant monitoring from its pit officials who too quickly allow cars under repair back on the track. All the cars hurry when in a pressure-packed fix-it mode if more than tires and fuel are needed, but a car like Montoya’s was a potential mine field of disaster with regard to track safety—an issue which NASCAR often belabors with its yellow flags for minor debris…NASCAR must be less than happy with the presence of so many out-of-the-Chase racers in the Banking 500’s final Top 10. Six of the 10 spots were filled by non-Chasers, with only Johnson, Kahne, Gordon, and Kurt Busch making the list from those in the hunt…The Formula One world driver’s championship was settled at Sao Paulo in the Brazilian Grand Prix, as Brawn GP’s Jenson Button grabbed a fifth-place finish after starting 14th on the grid to claim his first world title in the prestigious series. The UK’s Button, in his 10th year in F1, had been the young driver of promise upon his debut in 2000, but a string of failures, misfortunes, and associations with poor-performing teams appeared to relegate him to the scrap heap of drivers doomed to never hoist the world championship trophy. The F1 season closes at the new Abu Dhabi layout in the United Arab Emirates in two weeks.
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