Once again, Jimmie Johnson and the #48 team dominated the race. There were a few other contenders. Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch and Mark Martin all maintained spots in the top five for much of the race, but there was no drama in this one. Anytime somebody seemed to be making up time on the leader, the lead would suddenly stabilize and things would continue as usual. Also, everybody thought short races were the next great thing to generate excitement, but I think last week would have been better had it been a 400 or 500 mile race. Shortening the length of races opens the door for more races like this one.
There were some positives on Sunday, but NASCAR once again touched that mean little button because, well, we don’t really know why they push the caution button every once in a while. The green flag racing was nice, but the race could have gone all 312 laps under green. However, NASCAR threw the caution flag for debris twice, and both times it caused wrecks soon after the following restart. Like I have said a million times here, more cars are damaged because of the debris cautions than there would be if the supposed “debris” was just left alone. Sure Dale Jr. may have still had an oil leak, but he would have caused an 11 car pileup if that incident had happened on the previous green flag run.
So, next week I will be back to gripe about the debris cautions for the final time, but in the meantime, there will likely be plenty of championship build up as the week goes on. It will be devastating if Johnson does not bring it home, but that does not look likely. As for Homestead itself, there have been good races at the track in the past; it’s just unfortunate that the race always gets overshadowed by the Championship. Just a quick note for all the Chase haters out there, under the old points format Jimmie Johnson would lead Tony Stewart by only 13 points heading into the final race next week. But hey, that system never produced any exciting finishes. I’m just saying. Have a good Championship week everybody.
2 stars at BEST! My gawd that race was awful and made me glad I didnt go...although if Kurt would have won I would have been devastated! LOL
ReplyDeleteOnly excitement left for me is to see if Kurt can catch and pass Gordon to break up the HMS 1-2-3 finish...
JJ wins either format - the dude is on fire.
I love the note about the old points format. Did I sense some sarcasm? Count me in as a chase hater. Good read and the french guy Jacque Debris strikes again.
ReplyDeleteOne star, at best! LOL
ReplyDeleteWhat if under the old points format, Chad and JJ decided to race hard for the first 26 races? The 48 team might be 1000 points ahead right now. We don't know how many points they would have, because everyone's strategy would be different by having to 'race' for 36 races instead of just 10.
klvalus - It would be very nice for someone to jump up in the top three other than the Hendrick boys, they have all been forgotten the last few weeks.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
socal24fan - Just a tad. lol. Debris is the most influential man in NASCAR, unfortunately.
Thanks!
Gene - True, there are many factors that go into how the points shake out, and if Johnson hadn't wrecked at Texas, the old system wouldn't be that close. Unfortunately, NASCAR got on a run of changes this decade as the sport became more popular. As more people became fans, the more things changed. I didn't hear anything about NASCAR asking the fans back then.
Thanks!
Good point Gene. But is it easier to be just good enough to be in the top 12 for 26 weeks, and then focus for 10 races. Seems to me the stress is different for the 48 team. I give Chad props for knowing what it takes and keeping ALL team members on point for the season. But I don't happen to like the format. I think the polar opposite happenned with the 83 team. They struggled to get in the chase and that seemed to take it's toll and now look what happened to them. A fair argument can be made for both formats.
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