February 24, 2010
By Chuck Abrams
I am with Kevin Harvick.
Jimmie Johnson has a golden horseshoe hidden somewhere on his person.
In a race that appeared to be an Richard Childress Racing love-fest, Johnson got about as lucky as a driver can get. While sitting in the pits, a caution flag came out -- catching several teams a lap down. But Johnson was fortunate enough to beat the leader past the end of pit road to stay on the lead lap and eventually take the lead away from Jeff Burton when Burton pitted.
But RCR did place all three cars in the top 10 at Fontana after nearly doing the same at Daytona. So while last week many were asking “Is Junior back?” perhaps the real question should be, “Is RCR back?”
But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s remember, this is only the second race. And yes, I have already heard drivers start talking about “points” and making the Chase. Good golly, already?
I guess so.
But this can be a very fun part of the season where the drivers can yo-yo for about five races. Look at Johnson – he moved up 23 spots this week! On the other hand, Dale Jr. and Juan Pablo Montoya dropped 14 points.
After about five weeks, things will pretty much settle down and we will see fewer and fewer big moves. NASCAR has still not made enough of a difference in awarding points for winning (almost everyone agrees with that) and drivers still get the same number of points for leading a single lap as they do for leading 20 laps. If you take that away, you will also see less of the team drivers letting another pass them for those five bonus points. If I were Brian France for a day, I would award points for leading the most laps and that is it. No more of this one lap crap.
Anyway, I digress.
Jamie Mac sat on the pole and faded to 17th place. How long will he remain the top 12? A Cinderella season so far, but Matt Kenseth knows how that story can wind up.
David Reutimann is back in the top 10, but how long can he back that up? Last year he was a surprise fixture in the early going of the season only to fade later on. Joey Logano jumped up 11 spots but will undoubtedly fade out of the top 12 –- in my opinion.
But the rest of the top 12 is made up of serious contenders and someone will have to have bad luck to allow Dale Jr., Kyle Busch, Brian Vickers, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Montoya, Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin (The Anointed One) back in.
Typically, by race ten at Richmond, the guys you see in the Chase are pretty much the guys in the Chase. Sure there is some jostling for the final couple of spots, but there is a lot less movement in and out of the top 12 by then.
In addition to seeing the usual Johnson win at Fontana, we were also a witness to another annual rite of spring: empty seats at Fontana.
Either someone forgot to tell the locals there was a race on or Olympic ice dancing is a much bigger draw than I ever knew. And NASCAR sends two Cup races a year out there?
There is talk of Kansas City getting a race and NASCAR had better not take it from the southeast or from one of NASCAR’s more time-honored tracks like Dover. California has proven to be a fickle market and is nowhere near a sell out and hasn’t been for years. Plus, the racing is not all that good -- no matter what Michael Waltrip says.
Who cares if Angie Harmon comes out to the track? Unless she buys 20,000 seats she can stay home. According to Jayski, this race has lost another 6% share over last year’s lower ratings and is the lowest rated since 2003. That is pretty bad.
And why follow up the Daytona 500 with a weak Fontana race? Go right to Las Vegas I say. The racing is better and Las Vegas has a better story line.
And finally, something we are not used to seeing from our favorite NASCAR drivers. You gotta hand it to Danica Patrick for shaking things up a bit. She tweeted this photo of her feet the other day. Ya' just gotta smile.
Let me know your thoughts.
Drive fast, turn left and keep the shiny side up.
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
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