August 15, 2007
By Chuck Abrams

Chuck Abrams

What race fan out there, can honestly say that road races are boring after the last 2 weeks? First, we had Robby Gordon and his shenanigans in Montreal and then Juan Pablo and Harvick go at it at Watkins Glen. And that was just the beginning of all the fun.

So road races are boring because….?

Let me just start by saying that folks who called me a NASCAR apologist because I said Robby was out of line at Montreal really did not bother to read closely or have never read my musings before. I am certainly not a NASCAR apologist. Everyone is welcome to their opinions and I am not going to give Robby major points on this just for “standing up to NASCAR”.

Robby Gordon got off lightly for what he did when you compare what other competitors have been suspended for.

But Robby Gordon did his deal and came back to finish in the top 10 at Watkins Glen, after starting deep in the field. That was one heck of a drive by him after qualifying was rained out at the Glen. But that left Marcos Ambrose out in the cold and not able to take Robby up on his gesture to drive a car for him this past weekend.

So Sunday comes along and we are lined up by points, putting Jeff Gordon at the lead. Many good drivers are deeper in the field including Robby Gordon, Ron Fellows, Boris Said, Kurt Busch, Montoya and Patrick Carpentier.

All those drivers did well and Montoya gave us one of the best shows all year. Montoya was not happy with his gear choice on restarts and on lap 74, that turned into a major disaster. Heading into Turn 1 and blocking Truex like mad, JPM found himself trying to dive in hard under Kevin Harvick and got a nudge from Truex at the same time. That nudge sent JPM into Harvick -- spinning out both cars. Jeff Burton came through and plowed into Montoya’s car, thus dropping Burton out of the contest. Harvick got his car restarted and parked it in front of JPM sealing off any escape. The two drivers then started an obviously heated conversation. Montoya grabbed Harvick’s helmet and then shoving ensued until officials came between them.

Now THAT was fun!

I hear a lot of people who snicker at NASCAR and the drivers when they get into one of those shoving matches, calling them a bunch of rednecks, etc. You see that kind of event every day in the NBA, MLB, NFL and even soccer. So what is the difference when drivers do it?

In this day and age of vanilla racing all across the world, I like a few drivers to mix it up once in a while.

And how much more drama can you ask for in a race? Hamlin cutting corners in the loop, bouncing through the grass and over the curbs as he tries to maintain opposition? Stewart wheel-hopping his car, spun out, and drove back into the fight for the lead? Pit strategy putting Carpentier in the lead? Cars spinning out and a caution NOT being thrown over the entire track?

And the finish – the last laps were some of the most dramatic of the year. In a 10 lap sprint to the end, Gordon was leading Stewart, Hamlin and Edwards, who all had fast cars. All Jeff Gordon had to do was not make a mistake but he too he wheel-hopped it in Turn 1 with 2 laps to go, giving the lead to Stewart, who then had to hold off a hard charging Carl Edwards. Edwards looked like he would give Stewart as hard a time as Smoke was giving Gordon -- when Edwards drives off into the gravel on the final lap! What a finish!

In a week full of Silly Season talk, this was a nice race to have. Now you can watch Michigan this Sunday and tell me which was the better race.

And speaking of Silly Season, Andretti signs on with BAM for the rest of the season (what happened to Schrader?), Petty has a broken hand and may need a driver, Kyle Busch is headed to Gibbs Racing, leaving Yeley looking for a ride for 2008.

And to top it all off, there is talk of Gibbs moving to Toyota next year. Now THAT is some silly news! Toyota needed to make a major move in 2008 to start making races and contend for wins. If true, this will be a huge factor for Toyota competitiveness in 2008 and all eyes will be on Gibbs Racing to see just how well the teams make the transition. I personally find it hard to imagine Smoke in a Toyota, but stranger things have happened.

Let me know your thoughts on this or any other racing topic.

Drive fast, turn left and keep the shiny side up.

Feel free to send Chuck your thoughts on this and other race topics at Turn Left Racing. The blog at www.turnleftracing.com is down now due to spammers. We will have that back up as soon as we can.

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.