If this were an audio file, I’d put the hit song from the 80s of the same title underneath this post as a music bed. As I think ahead to Phoenix, I am torn as to who to prognosticate as tomorrow’s winner.
My head says Jimmie Johnson. We’ve seen this movie before: Johnson was fastest in Friday practice and won the pole. When he’s that good off the track, the script usually has Johnson on the stand in Victory Lane at race’s end. This team’s idea of a bad race is what he ran in Texas last week, a perfectly respectable top 20 finish. Ol’ “48″ just doesn’t run two “bad” races in a row.
If Johnson doesn’t do it, the head says go with Carl Edwards. Edwards is to NASCAR what QBs like John Elway or Colt Mc Coy are to football. They will their ways to wins. Now that doesn’t mean a stupid game-costing mistake won’t take ‘em out, but their teams and fans will walk away knowing they gave it all they had.
Of course, the head also says Kevin Harvick will do well here. he almost won the Nationwide race today. The head also says Jeff Gordon has two more chances to keep his streak of consecutive seasons with at least one win alive, and either here or Homestead will make it happen. Let us also not forget that Kurt Busch has been good at Phoenix and we saw signs of life out of the Blue Deuce last week.
My post is aptly titled, and a look at previous fearless forecasts tells you I am not really the guy you want with you in Vegas on stuff like this. I have my ways of justifying my logic, but at the end of the day, desire can only carry you so far.
My heart is with Jamie Mc Murray at Phoenix. Jamie Mac is to the second half of the season what Dale Earnhardt Jr. was to the first- so close and yet so far. At the same time, you know I’m not really stretching out. Mc Murray races for Jack Roush, proprietor of one of the top organizations in the business. The Missourian also has the luxury of comparing notes with the prodigious likes of Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth in the garage. Mc Murray also has Larry Carter making the pit calls. Carter is one of the smarter guys on the box in the business.
I’d dare say Jamie Mc Murray has by and large been his worst enemy. There’ll be some false move that will tangle him up with another car, a speeding penalty on pit road or just some dumb luck that will run him out. Yet lately- the former Chip Ganassi driver has been running smarter races and getting smarter finishes. To add fuel to my argument is Jamie’s placement on the outside pole.
Everything in my head says our top two in the points will finish the race tomorrow- either setting up a dramatic finishing race at Homestead or we’ll be crowning one of racing’s historic achievements with a Johnson victory.
But because the heart rules the mind…….
