June 18, 2008
By Chuck Abrams
Thank goodness attention has been turned away from the back rooms of NASCAR and onto the track where all eyes belong.
Junior Nation has been vindicated with a 'driving on fumes win' by the 88 team. The Kyle Busch – Junior team reorganization at the beginning of the year is in full swing with this important victory.
First of all, let me get the grumbles out of the way.
Matt Kenseth, Brian Vickers and others questioned Dale Jr's right to pull in front of the pace car and then coast back in line. This was obviously a move designed to take advantage of the rules (that they are) and get the 88 to a place where it could coast behind the pace car and save fuel.
Brilliant move, if you ask me, because it freaking worked. All the other guys are jealous because they wish they would have thought of it. Tony Eury, Jr. gambled. He knew, and is on record with this folks, saying if they pitted, they would have to give up track position and finish 25th. If they went for it and ran out of gas, they would finish 25th. Same deal here. If NASCAR had sent them to the tail end of the longest line (for passing the pace car), they would have finished 25th. So why not take the chance?
Get over your hate of anything Earnhardt and admit that if Kenseth was in the same position you would have all cheered for him. Now, Matt has a point about being held by the official on pit lane because he took two tires instead of four. Bad move on the official’s part and I feel bad for the 17 crew. They could have won this race.
And Vickers saw the 88 car in a different position than was allowed by NASCAR as well. He had a shot at it as well.
But as Lady Luck has it, the win went to the 88 instead.
Earnhardt has been in the top five and top ten all year long as indicated by the point standings. Remember Kenseth’s title run? Not one win all year long. He made everyone pay by being the most consistent team during the year. Now how hard is THAT to do? Extremely. Win all you want, but if you have as many DNFs as you do wins, chances are you won’t win the title (Ryan Newman).
OK, back to the Busch-Earnhardt debate.
Kyle has been on a tear, no doubt about it. And while Earnhardt has been the shining star for Hendrick this year (go figure), Busch has done the same for Gibbs (go figure again), although Hamlin also has a win. And who would have guessed how many victories Toyota would have this year?
I called it at the beginning of the year, to watch out for Gibbs Racing and Toyota. I suspected they would be a more dominant player this year. But Kyle Busch – well, who saw that coming?
I am excited to see an Earnhardt win – I am hoping this is a breakthrough for that team so someone can push Busch to the max. Jeff Burton is right there with him but again because of his consistency. He could win it all by top-fiving them to death. Now that the monkey is off the back of the 88 team and now that the 18 driver has seen himself have two rather bad weeks of back-to-back-to-back racing – perhaps he is not as invincible as he is in his own mind. Not going to run the entire NationWide series now are you?
Duh.
Drive fast, turn left and keep the shiny side up.
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