NASCAR’s Texas weekend was a little tough on potential historic racing moments. Jimmie Johnson’s campaign for a history making fourth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup title took a surprise hit. We also found out that he’s actually not Superman.
Kyle Busch was also trying to create some NASCAR history by winning three different races at the same track on the same weekend. That effort also took a hit due to a lack of “motion lotion”. That would be Sunoco racing fuel
But the other Busch brother closed the deal with some good driving and a good job by a crew chief that will soon be leaving the team.
With that in mind let’s begin this week with:
WAZZUP with drivers David Reutimann and Sam Hornish Jr racing that hard so early in the race and creating an incident that took out points leader Jimmie Johnson on the third lap?
That leads to the first HOORAH of the week which goes to the Chad Knaus led #48 Lowes team who repaired the massive damage to Johnson’s car in one hour and eight minutes and got their driver back on the track. Oh, pardon me, these guys didn’t repair damage they practically rebuilt the entire car. Johnson took that car to a 38th place finish a move that softened the blow to his points lead. This is the type of organization and calm demeanor that creates championships and likely sitll will again for the fourth consecutive time.
The team also lived up to their primary sponsor’s advertising logo: “Lowes, let’s build something together.”
But you can’t help but wonder what the reaction was among NASCAR officials watching this scene from their command post high above the Texas Motor Speedway. It’s guaranteed that they were naturally concerned about the health and safety of a driver who took such a hard hit into the wall.
But how funny would it be if, strictly hypothetically, NASCAR President Mike Helton locked himself in the executive wash room while singing the following little song:
“Ding dong the Chase is back, the Chase is back, the Chase is back
Ding dong the Sprint Cup Chase is b-a-c-k”
It’s been speculated over the years that many executives often observe unusual behavior while behind the private doors of a luxury washroom. I, of course, wouldn’t know anything about that.
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HOORAH for Mark Martin and crew chief Alan Gustaffason for taking advantage of the Johnson situation with a strong fourth place finish. A deficit that began at 184 at the beginning of the race was whittled down to 78 points by the time the race was over. Martin’s car wasn’t exactly a strong presence in this race but it did have enough fuel to make it to the finish which is more than can be said for many of the other teams.
WAZZUP with Juan Pablo Montoya failing to take the opprortunity to cash in and gain some points on Johnson. Instead JPM triggered an accident that saw him hit the wall. That incident also sent fellow Chase contender Carl Edwards into the wall and sent yet another Chase contender, Jeff Gordon, into a wild spin on the back stretch.
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