Through the first six events of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, we have had a few surprises, and some things you may have expected.
I’d like to take advantage of this off-week and go back to the beginning of the season to revisit some of these moments.
Daytona -- I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain, and the rain was the big story on the first Sunday. For the first time since the dawn of our sport, the Daytona 500 was not run on a Sunday. Not only that, we had a Daytona 500 night race as well.
While this may have looked like it would be a television viewing calamity, it turned out to be just the opposite, and showed how popular a prime time Monday night race could be. Then came the fire. During the actual race on Monday night, we witnessed one of the most freak incidents ever.
Juan Montoya’s car turned inexplicably and unexpectedly toward the wall, and a piece of track-cleaning equipment.
Montoya’s No. 42 Chevrolet spun sideways at the most inopportune time and plowed into the jet dryer which was pulled by a truck, igniting his own car, the dryer, eventually the truck, as well as the track itself and the wall.
The folks at Daytona did a great job with getting the track cleaned, and very early Tuesday morning, we saw Matt Kenseth crowned the Daytona 500 Champion for the second time.
Stewart Haas Domination -- We all know that Tony Stewart, in a commanding performance in the Chase races last year, won five of the last ten for a 50% winning percentage over that span of races. With Stewart winning twice and his teammate Ryan Newman winning the most recent race at Martinsville, that percentage has continued. Dating back to the beginning of the Chase last year, Stewart Hass Racing has won eight of the last sixteen races.
This is not a record, of course, as we all know Richard Petty once went ten-for-ten en route to a 27-win season in 1967, however in today’s NASCAR, those statistics are quite impressive.
Threes for Biffle -- Greg Biffle, in the Daytona 500 and the following weeks at Phoenix and Las Vegas, scored a third place finish in each race. These results catapulted him into the top of the point standings.
Biffle, however, has only managed one top ten finish since then, and his margin over second place has dwindled to only six points. With the mile-and-a-half season coming up on the schedule, Biffle and his Roush-Fenway prepared Ford Fusion should do well to keep the pressure on the rest of the field.
Speaking of Pressure -- Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is under it. While he sits nicely in second place in Championship points due to three top five finishes and one top ten, the question that is on most Earnhardt fans lips is “when will our hero win?”
This is a good question.
Since June of 2008, the win column has contained one number for Earnhardt, and that number is zero, yet he remains the most popular driver in NASCAR. A few oh-so-close finishes at Charlotte and Martinsville last year led many fans to believe that the wins were right around the corner.
The season continued on though, and the number remained zero, as it still stands today. Take heart, though, Junior Nation, as Dale continues to run in the top five and top ten on a weekly basis, the win will come, and it will be followed by more wins, as long as the consistency is there.
“Real” Race Fans? -- Bruton Smith, in an effort to please the fans and drivers alike, has committed to making changes to the racings surface as well as the track configuration at Bristol. This decision comes from a recent history of his long-sold out venue having some empty seats in the fast few races there. Bruton listened to the complaints and determined that the fans want the “old” Bristol back.
But which fans were talking?
When you go to a restaurant and the meal, service and pricing are all to your liking, how often do you call or write to the establishment to tell them that they did a good job? I’m going to make a guess and say probably not every time. However, when our fast-paced service-demanding society is wronged by hairy soup or a sour server, the first this we do is write a nasty gram. So, is the Bristol Complaint Department handling a balanced customer base, or, just like many other aspects of life, are they only fielding calls from the disgruntled?
This also begs the question of what do the fans really want to see? To me, a “race” is a competition in which the goal is to get to the predetermined finishing point faster than anyone else. Because there are fans that wanted the “old single lane nudge the guy in front of you out of the way to pass and cause yet another caution which brings the race close to the five hour mark” Bristol back in lieu of the “new multi lane pass on the inside or the outside without making contact or causing a caution which allows the race to finish in less than four hours” Bristol, I have to feel like these are the fans that watch racing for the wrecking instead of the competition.
I am sorry. I would rather see the driver win because he can wield his machine around the track better than everyone else that day instead of the driver that happened to be in seventh place as the first six cars took each other out.
What can we expect to see in the next segment of the Sprint Cup season? I hope a lot more of the same. In the first six races, we have had five different winners. We have seen some by the old guard, such as Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, and Ryan Newman, while series underclassman Brad Keselowski picked up where he left off last year. We’re also seeing the emergence of some new driver/team combinations, such as Clint Bowyer, A.J. Almendinger, and even Brian Vickers in his limited role.
Texas -- One of my favorite tracks because there is some room to race and it is fast, fast, fast.
Pocono and Michigan -- The repaving of these tracks will certainly change the complexion of the races there. You may see faster speeds, you may see more side by side racing, and, all things being equal, you may see pure bedlam.
All-Star Race -- The new concept here is four 20 lap heat races, with the winner of each getting a preferential placement before the beginning of the final ten lap shootout. I am looking forward to seeing what impact this has on the racing during this event, especially as each segment comes to a close.
In years passed we have seen a driver content to finish second or third in a segment because he or she would begin the next segment in the same spot, depending on which segment and the results of any pit stops. With the addition of this new winner’s bonus, I am anxious to see if the drivers will push harder for a win.
First Time Winner -- We may have run the table with all of the first time winners we had last year, and it would be hard for me to believe that we would have another this year, save for one A.J. Almendinger. Almendinger is in what could be considered top equipment, most recently vacated by Kurt Busch. Busch drove the car to two victories last year prior to his departure in the off-season, and with Almendinger’s talent, you would have to believe that A.J. and his new team could pull off a win, perhaps more. He is currently my pick to win the Sprint Showdown at the All-Star Race, provided NASCAR does not change the eligibility rules and put the winning cars from the previous 50-ish events in as automatic entries as well.
It has been a short season so far, but we have seen a lot already, and the possibility for another exciting year is always on tap. You never know what will happen until the checkered flag falls!
That will be all for me for now. Next week, we will look at the happenings at Texas!
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.
