The Race at Charlotte: Sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug.
There’s an old saying that goes like this: “Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.” If that’s true, and it is borne out in the world of sports over and over again, then the Dupont Chevrolet team at Hendrick Motor Sports featuring driver Jeff Gordon and Crew Chief Steve Letarte are the best prepared team in NASCAR these days.
Though Gordon qualified third, he fell back and generally ran mid-pack most of the race. Once again, we see shades of Gordon’s performance at Talladega. In each of these last two races, I’ve found myself thinking that Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch or Tony Stewart had the car to beat. Heck, Bobby Labonte and Junior looked outstanding at times. But wouldn’t you know it? Bad luck starts picking off drivers.
Stewart gets caught in pit traffic with Mark Martin and Kasey Kahne. In this same mishap, Labonte (who is running second at the time) gets caught in his pit box with Stewart in his way. The #8 car looked strong at times, but Junior just had all kinds of problems at the end. Jimmie Johnson looked DOMINANT throughout much of the race, and it looked like another win for the #48 on his sponsor’s home track. But then Johnson runs into trouble and it costs him track position. It’s a testament to the strength of his car that he still pulled out a respectable finish. Speaking of bad luck, I forgot Matt Kenseth. He took his turns looking like a winner, but it was one problem after another. “17″ gets credit just bouncing back time after time. You could tell he felt terrible for his sponsors and fans for the premature end to his night. Then there’s Ryan Newman. If qualfying were all it took for racing greatness, then Newman’s the man. His pole for this race makes 42 for his career, though his win total just barely scrapes past double digits. He had nothing to lose and really looked fast at times, but he went for broke after that re-start at the end of the race, apparently slid on the track cleaning materials and smacked himself out.
If Newman, Kenseth are the “bugs” of NASCAR, then Gordon’s the windshield. He was precariously close to running out of gas, but hung on at the end to win it, and boy did he drive it like he had stolen it on the green-white-checkered. In comaring the top drivers of today with the greats of yesterday, you often hear Tony Stewart compared to Dale Earnhardt for his aggressiveness and passion for racing anytime, anywhere. If that’s the case, then I make the case that Jeff Gordon is a latter day David Pearson. I never really got to see him at a time when I understood the sport, but I always hear how he treated his equipment with great care and his cars looked clean at the end of the race. Pearson got many of his 105 Cup wins laying in the weeds and striking at the end, thus the monicker, “The Silver Fox.” He was slick.
Jeff Gordon’s looking a lot like Pearson these last couple of races.
