On Racing Into the Chase, The Favorite Son & The Curious Case of Mr. Mayfield
Ah, Independence Day- America’s birthday, not the movie. Nothing says celebrate quite like a parade, a pool party, a few fireworks and a little racing at the “Birthplace of Speed.”
You can always count on restrictor plate racing to produce another wild card result in what has already been a season rife with more twists and turns than Infineon. Any discussion of draft buddies and speed merchants usually follows with the mention of NASCAR nobility: the Earnhardts.
The Draft Domin88er
All you critics can say what you want, but when it comes to the draft and restrictor plate racing, there’s no one more confident on these configurations than Dale Earnhardt Jr. If you you can’t concede his prowess on the superspeedways, you surely must know that no one in NASCAR has made more of a point to study the draft and how to take advantage of it than Earnhardt, who apprenticed under the tutelage of the master, his dad, the 7-time champion.
Unless there’s a comeback greater than Lazarus, Junior’s chances of contending for a championship are pretty well done. Nothing would do more to salvage an otherwise lost season than to redeem himself at the track where all his 2009 misery began.
All Earnhardt really needs to do is keep himself in a position to make a run on the last lap. Until then, he’ll be arguably one of the most attractive drafting partners because he’s got nothing to lose, a premier set of teammates to join forces with and no less than at least a begrudging respect for his “track presence” here.
For all that’s gone wrong for Junior Nation this season, there’s every reason to believe the “88″ team could pull off a win under the summer skies of Florida.
If he’s not THE favorite, Dale Jr. is at least A favorite among names like Stewart, Gordon and the Busch Brothers.
The Boys On The Bubble
While it can be argued Junior has nothing to lose, it’s quite a different story for a pack of drivers ranging from 8th to about 16th in the points. The closeness resembles a draft pack here or at Talladega.
There’s no question Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne, Juan Pablo Montoya and Mark Martin will have the horses to ride among those with the most at stake presently. Martin’s experience will serve him well and Busch’s success last summer here will also be plusses. Don’t underestimate JPM, who’s been awfully doggone sporty at the plate tracks.
Nothing about Reutimann’s record jumps out at me, but the story of this season for Beak has been establishing new benchmarks for performance all throughout this sesaon. Let us also not forget that all of his bosses’ points wins came on plate tracks.
There’s also no reason to think that 2009 Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth won’t once again fare well as well as RFR teammates. For whatever reason, this team doesn’t seem to have all the wins you’d think they’d have at Daytona, but there’s no question the skill is there.
The way things have gone for RCR, I’d figuring out ways to make friends come race day if I were Clint Bowyer or Jeff Burton. A good draft partner may help overcome an absence of speed.
In a season full of improbability, it could get real interesting in terms of how this race may shape the chase.
The Curious Case Of Mr. Mayfield
As a judge has ruled that NASCAR must lift its suspension of Jeremy Mayfield, several have speculated this raises strongly the probability of Mayfield’s innocence. Although I am reserving judgment on either side, I’m not ready to go out on that limb.
My read of it is this: the judge is saying NASCAR needs to allow the man a chance to make a living doing what he knows how to do until the courts can weed the legal wranglings. NASCAR can lessen its fears of his cleanness by testing him ’til the cows come home. Mayfield knows he’d better test clean, or he won’t even be able to land a ride in the Siberian Super Scooter Series.
In a twisted sort of way, it’s a “no lose” scenario. If Mayfield’s clean, then there should be no problem letting him race providing he can demonstrate viz a viz a passed pee test. If he’s a junkie, the truth could reveal itself in pretty short order.
This may be proving to be a teachable moment for NASCAR. If you’ve read the story from the Orlando Sentinel then you know of Kasey Kahne’s account of how NASCAR seems to have come up with a much more detailed procedure than what they had at the outset of the season. It’s about time. If you’re going to have a policy, you’d better do it right. While I’m not necessarily suggesting NASCAR got a “false positive” with Mayfield, I would suggest an ongoing track record for flying by the seat of the pants when it comes to anything new, and perhaps this may offer a lesson learned that in this day and age, the outside world will hold the brass a little more accountable than it did when “Big Bill” France offered diplomacy down the barrel of a gun.
That’s another story for another time from our own John Chapman coming up soon on Bump Drafts.
I find it a bit amusing that everyone has suddenly become a lawyer or a chemist. All I will offer is this- as one who spends his time on the job observing the making and the enforcing of laws on the job: what is not said is often as important as what IS being said.
Until the lawsuit is decided upon I echo the words of Darrell Waltrip: “This gets more curioser and curioser.”
