September 24, 2008
By Chuck Abrams
If Greg Biffle wins the title this year, he can point to Dover as the race that won it for him. Winning at Loudon was one thing but backing that up with an aggressive win at Dover could be the race that defines his 2008 season.
With 100 laps to go, the guys up front decided it was time to get jiggy with it. Biffle drove his car into the lead but gave it up just as quickly since he over drove his car to get there and used up his tires.
Lesson learned.
The next time, Biffle was more patient -- watching Kenseth and Edwards go at each other before choosing just the right moment to go three wide and take the lead himself.
Now that is what racing is all about.
The rest of the Dover race was pretty good with action all over the track and drama in nearly every turn. Kyle Busch had an early mechanical failure, cementing him over 200 points out of the lead, prompting Shrub to claim it is all over. Nice team support there, guy. Denny Hamlin had issues and has fallen nearly 200 points behind. Earnhardt had a good car at first and quickly dropped through the field eventually hitting the wall with a blown right rear tire. There are some serious communication problems on that team. They better get their act together by Talladega which may be Earnhardt’s best chance to win in the Chase. No title this year for the Earnhardt Nation.
The rest of the Chasers had a fair to good day at Dover and missed most of the excitement that Dover can bring. Enter Jamie Mac and Kurt Busch. With the field just getting up to speed, David Gilliland ran out of talent and then ran into Kurt Busch relegating Busch to a 34th place finish after a great qualifying run. Jamie Mac looked like he had a great car in the early going only to find himself running near Robbie Gordon as Gordon ran out of track and talent. McMurray finished a disappointing 36th.
Mark Martin had a great day running up front and gave the Roush cars all he could. Dave Blaney had another great Dover run and Michael Waltrip finished the day with a tremendous run after starting 40th. Had Reutimann not had pit issues, two of the MWR cars could have been near the top 10.
Hidden amongst all the race news Monday was more of the fallout from the Mauricia Grant discrimination lawsuit. According to published reports, NASCAR fired two officials named in her lawsuit. Tim Knox and Bud Moore are accused of exposing themselves to Grant and making graphic and lewd jokes. Knox and Moore had been on paid administrative leave since June as NASCAR investigated the allegations.
Another official, Dean Duckett, has filed a complaint against NASCAR as well alleging racial discrimination. Duckett said the discrimination lasted from May 2001 until he was fired on November 14, 2007. Duckett was also named in the Grant lawsuit for dumping water on a female official to simulate a wet T-shirt contest., an allegation Duckett denies.
Duckett was allegedly fired after a November 10, 2007 altercation where he got into a heated argument with another official after the Phoenix race. He threatened “I ought to cut you” to the official and claims that he later apologized and thought he incident was over.
Grant’s lawsuit also identifies Duckett as another black employee who faced racial discrimination and was fired for using “aggressive language towards a white co-worker.”
So, are we to assume Duckett would not have lost his job had he threatened another black co-worker?
Let’s face it, Knox, Moore and Duckett were all named as participants in the Grant lawsuit and they all got the axe. That is two white and one black official. Perhaps Duckett was the victim of racial discrimination, but he also allegedly participated in sexual harassment and he admits threatening another co-worker.
But Duckett is willing to drop his lawsuit if NASCAR will give him his job back.
So let me ask you all this – if you were the victim of discrimination for 6 years and it was so bad you feel the need to file a lawsuit, why would you want to go back to that job? A little “forgive and forget”? Maybe he should use the same logic for the sexual harassment charge against him, you know, forgive and forget – right?
Drive fast, turn left and keep the shiny side up.
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