The Truth

Now that the Chase is upon us, NASCAR tells us we are supposed to be excited. This is NASCAR’s playoff situation and everybody cranks it up a notch to go for the trophy. The guys out of the Chase can stop thinking about points and start thinking about wins, so the drivers will be aggressive and we will see racing akin to the 30 lap features at your local dirt track. What they do not tell you is that all teams wait until after Talladega to put NASCAR’s dream into effect. Teams right now are pussyfooting it around the track trying to stay out of trouble just in case “The Big One” collects them at Talladega. Even knowing that the risk of wrecking at Talladega is much less that the chance of being just fine, teams will take a tenth instead of risking a spin out and going hard for the win. Well, all excepting the #29, #20, and #24 teams.

Kevin Harvick won his fourth race of the season and his third in the last six by dominating this race and sending a message to the rest of the Chasers that he is the man to beat for the Nextel Cup. He led 196 of 300 laps in meeting his goal for the weekend—winning the race while leading the most laps. Denny Hamlin found out first hand that when the big prize is on the line, you better lead or get out of the way of those who can. No more free rides for the guys with the yellow stripes on their rear bumpers! While it was nice for the #29 team to give Reese’s, a long time Cup and Busch sponsor for them, a trip to victory lane, I cannot help but wish the GM Goodwrench colors were on the car for last Sunday’s race. Watching it go toe-to-toe lap after lap with the Dupont car and watching it force its way between two slower cars would have brought back fond memories of days unfortunately too far past in a lot of fans’ minds.

Tony Stewart brought a car that looked bad all weekend home in the second spot. Four fresh tires late in the race let him drive easily past every other car except for Harvick’s. While Tony said he took it easier on those cars in the Chase, he did not sit back and let those drivers have higher finishing positions, which I am sure upset more than one. I for one am glad Stewart pulled out the stops and went for the win, because in doing so he illustrated that the Chase is not only about ten guys points-battling for ten races, it is also about 43 drivers battling for wins for ten races. After the race, he said that the Chase drivers should drive their own ten-car race so they can battle it out individually, but I could not disagree more. These guys have raced the non-Chasers all year long, so they can do it ten more times. As an aside, if Stewart had made the Chase over Kasey Kahne, he would currently be 5^th in the point standings with 5175, 55 points off the lead. Makes you wonder how great it was that Kahne raced his way in and now sits 110 points off in 8^th.

Jeff Gordon had the second-best car out there all day and finished third, losing second to Stewart only because of tires. He had a great car, and again it would have been wonderful to see the Dupont colors traded with Goodwrench colors. For some reason, though, Gordon felt Brian Vickers had no business racing him for position, and even Hendrick team orders told Vickers to stand down. I for one think Vickers did the exact right thing in racing Gordon for all he was worth and, in effect, told Gordon and Hendrick to stick it up their asses. Vickers is leaving the team, so does he really care if Gordon and the rest of the Hendrick mafia are mad at him for nine more races? Hell no! Here is a guy who could easily phone it in and walk away in November, but instead he goes out and tries to stick a car and a team in victory lane that he will be competing against next year. Come on, Rick! This is your original team, and boosting their confidence can only make your four teams better next year. It is bushleague to make one of your teams to lie down for the benefit of another.

Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch put themselves squarely behind the eight ball with poor finishes at New Hampshire. Jeff Green got into the left rear of Busch on lap 3, causing Busch to smack the wall and threw off his alignment. Does Green have a problem with the Hendrick boys or is it just coincidence that he has had several run-ins with them in the last two races? Later in the race, Busch was outside Clint Bowyer on a restart and was sent spinning into the wall when Bowyer got loose. Busch now sits in 10^th, 146 points off of the lead. Jimmie Johnson ran into problems early on and ended up on seven cylinders. This landed him back in the pack and spelled doom for the #48 team. Going into turn one, Clint Bowyer got loose under Dale Jarrett, causing Greg Biffle to check up and Sterling Marlin to slide up into Johnson, sending him straight into the wall. For some reason, Johnson took it three wide through one and was outside both Jamie McMurray and Sterling Marlin when it happened. Sure, it was bad luck, but it probably is not a wreck if he does not go three wide. This marks the third time in two races Johnson wrecked, but only the first time he hit the wall. Guess luck does run out sometimes, and Jimmie now sits in 9^th 139 points behind Harvick. Also, since Bowyer was involved in both, I wonder why there are no RCR conspiracy talks? You can bet if Vickers was involved in wrecks with Harvick and Burton the SCC board would be on fire with Hendrick conspiracy charges.

Speaking of Hendrick conspiracies, a false report was broadcast by SPEED TV reporter Bob Dillner after the race stating that the RCR cars were manipulating their rims to release air pressure from the tire, in effect acting like bleeder valves, which are expressly prohibited by NASCAR. The report claimed that no rules were violated, but that NASCAR warned the teams to not do it again. On Monday, both NASCAR and RCR released statements that said this never happened and that the story had to have come from a different source, leading to accusations by Harvick in particular that another team was trying to start shit. Meanwhile, SPEED TV stands behind the story and says it is true, even with the inspecting and inspected bodies saying it is false. We will probably never know the story as it actually happened, but it sounds like some shady Hendrick shit to me. I bet you thought I would blame the #8 team here, but this is too smart for these simpletons. Sugar in the gas tank is about the most they could be given credit for.

So now it is off to Dover, another one-mile track where it is hard to pass. Do not expect any excitement, as teams just want to finish well yet again. You will get an exciting race in four weeks, so you can mark your calendars. Can’t handle it? Tough shit, it’s THE TRUTH!!!!

The Fan