There’s an old saying that goes like this: “There are three kinds of
people- those who make things happen, those who watch things happen,
and those who wonder what happened.” In a sport dominated by events
beyond their control, you have to be impressed by those who can
devise a race plan and execute.
We saw two of the best make it happen today.
Carl Edwards set out today to lead the most laps and win the race at
Atlanta Motor Speedway. A couple of what my British co-worker would
describe as “duff” performance have taken Edwards from “serious
threat” status to “hanging on by a thread.” Flipper was aggressive
from the start and determine to kick booty and take names. Edwards
highly competitive nature was shown when he got mad at Jimmie Johnson
for “jumping the gun.” Edwards opened up the throttle like Junior
Johnson on a moonshine run and pulled the lead from from the Johnson
known as Jimmie.
Those hoping that ABC/ESPN talking head Brad Daugherty would have to
eat his words for declaring this season’s chase over caught a glimmer
of hope when Johnson was penalized for speeding on pit road.
Suddenly, NASCAR’s points goes from the penthouse to the outhouse, re-
joining the festivities in 30th place.
For much of the races’ remainder- we watched Edwards, Matt Kenseth
and Denny Hamlin take turns out front. Jeff Gordon hung tough in the
top 10, Dale Earnhardt Jr. at MOMENTS looked like he could make
things interesting and a guy we all used to love to hate- Kurt Busch.
In spite of this and unusually good runs from Michael Waltrip and
Juan Pablo Montoya it was still the Edwards and Johnson show- and
I’ll tell you why:
Even when Jimmie was in 30th, I was thinking unless somebody wrecks
him, he’s not going away. Not-so-slowly and surely Team Johnson cut
into their deficit. First he gets the “lucky dog”, break the top 15,
then runs towards the top 10.
Then things get really interesting down the stretch.
About the same time Edwards overtakes Denny Hamlin to reclaim the
lead, Johnson begins a run that conjures up comeback wins by Dale
Earnhardt. In another demonstration of the ability to make the right
call, Johnson gets new tires and picks off 6th, then 5th, then 4th,
3rd before overtaking Hamlin for second place.
Edwards did what he set out to do, but due to the defending
champion’s come-from-behind performance was unable to achieve the
goal that he hoped his performance would achieve- and that’s cut into
Johnson’s lead.
Did you see Edwards’ reaction when he found out that Johnson got
second? You would have thought somebody told him he was dq’ed of his
win due to a violation. That had to hurt.
It was also nice to see Goodyear not be as much of an issue today.
Yes- there were tire problems, but they had to do more with the
surface than they did any manufacturer defect. One driver said
Atlanta is becoming “the New Darlington” with its aging, and
therefore challenging surface.
This race was reasonably eventful and was not especially marred by
cautions and collisions. All that, and at the end of the day, this
race was about two racers who executed a game plan. One to win the
race, and the other to rally from behind using a fast car and clever
strategy to hold their ground.
As we head down the homestretch- things could get interesting as
Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards head to their “wheel house” tracks at
Texas, Phoenix, and Homestead.
