May 31, 2011
By Kim Roberson
Kim Roberson
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Memorial Day weekend is annually one of the best racing weekends by far. You wake up in the morning to the F1 Grand Prix of Monaco, followed by the IRL cars racing the Indianapolis 500, and you close your day with the Sprint Cup guys racing from day into night in the Coca Cola 600 in Charlotte.
Rarely, however, do you have back to back heartbreak and excitement like we did this weekend.
Ironically, on this, Memorial Day weekend, it was a car sponsored by the military that brought the most drama.
Not once but twice the National Guard saw their car leading on the last turn of the last lap. And not once but twice they saw that car finish behind someone else at the checkers.
And in both cases, the man behind the wheel is known by the initials “JR”, and in both cases, the result was caused by gas mileage.
J.R. Hildebrand was leading the Indy 500 as the white flag flew. He knew he was close on fuel, and was trying to conserve as he came to take the checkered flag. The No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing car drifted up the track exiting Turn 4 and hit the outside wall, breaking the right front tire from its mounting. The driver refused to give up, driving his car to the finish line, but not before he had been passed by Dan Wheldon in the No. 98 William Rast-CURB/Big Machine car for Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb/Agajanian just before the yellow flag came out.
The post-race press conference moderator in Indianapolis seemed to share the disappointment felt by many. “I don’t know where to start,” was his comment upon introducing JR to the press.
“I don’t either” was Hildebrand’s simple reply. When asked what happened, he said he was trying to get around a lapped car, but instead “I got up in the marbles and that was it.”
“I felt like I made a mistake and I cost our (servicemen and women a victory)," he added.
This was the fourth year that a Panther car had finished second in the 500, an irony not lost on Wheldon, who was the one driving that Panther car the last two years. “I've been runner-up two years before this, but I never gave up. It's an incredible feeling (to win)," he said after the race.
Fast forward six hours to the end of the Coca Cola 600.
"I was going around (Turns) 1 and 2, and T.J. (Majors) was saying, 'Seven car lengths (ahead of the car behind him). Eight car lengths,'" explained Dale Earnhardt, Junior, post-race about his spotter’s guidance on the last lap. "I'm thinking, 'This is a real good feeling.' I knew we could run out of gas; I already had my mind geared for that in case that happened so I wouldn't be too upset.”
The driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet had suffered much the same fate as his fellow race driver had just hours before in Indy, without the crash. He watched victory slide from his grasp within sight of the checkered flag.
"We had to try," explained Junior. "Think about it, man -- winning the 600! That'd be awesome. I had to try, you know? Had to try."
"We come to get trophies," added Junior’s crew chief Steve Letarte. "That's two races this year -- Martinsville and here -- that we had a shot to win in the last 25 laps."
And in both situations, it was Kevin Harvick and the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet that went on to take the checkered flag.
“I feel like complete crap, to tell you the truth,” was winner Kevin Harvick’s answer when asked about taking the wins from Junior. “Man, when I saw that thing (the No. 88 car) slowing down, I was like ‘I really want to win the race, but why can’t it be on a day when we’re running bad or have something going wrong?” It was Harvick’s third win of the season, and in those three wins, he has led only nine total laps.
“I think everybody sitting up here would say we want the 88 to win and they’re so close to winning and both times they had a chance to win -- but I feel so stinking bad for him and I know how bad he wants it.”
One of the biggest debates during that last leg of the race was the lack of a caution flag on the last re-start. As the green flag flew, Kasey Kahne and the No. 4 Red Bull Camry ran out of gas, leading to a bunching up of cars and the spinning of the No. 31 car of Jeff Burton into the grass. Despite the chaos, no yellow was thrown, and the race continued.
There were protests from fans on both sides of the fence: some claiming that NASCAR didn’t throw the yellow because it was Junior leading, and others claiming that if they had thrown the yellow, Junior would have had enough gas to win.
“One thing I have learned over the last two or three weeks -- is there has to be a judge,” commented Harvick when asked about the caution flags, or lack thereof, during the race. “There has to be somebody making those decisions, and there has to be someone who is going to say ‘Yep, there’s debris on the track I see it and there it is.’ And if this car is illegal or that car is illegal, here’s the penalty, here’s that – There has to be somebody making the calls, and I’m glad I don’t have to make them.”
“There wasn’t any other cars in danger at the time when Jeff got -- I think he got hit from behind. But I watched to see if he got going, and I was hoping he would get going because we didn’t need a green-white-checkered,” added team owner Richard Childress. “Like Kevin said, somebody has to be the judge, and they let it go.“
“I’m disappointed we didn’t win, but if we would have won, it would have been a gift,” added Junior honestly. “We ran good tonight. I’m proud. We’ll be around for a long time.“
After 162 miles of racing in Monaco and 1103 miles of racing in the United States, the big stories of the day came down to two JR’s, one sponsor, two surprise winners, and two heartbreaking losses.
Truly the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat.
Follow Kim on Twitter: @ksrgatorfn
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