Sofa Sideline – At the Brickyard 400

One has to take advantage of the
invitation from the folks at Indy to "come on up" to the Brickyard
400, which is one of the more prestigious events for Winston Cup drivers.
Congratulations to Jeff Gordon for a great win. After starting from a not so hot
position, he showed great perseverance in moving toward the front, running
progressively better as the day went on, and then making the right call for two
tires at the last pit stop. When the race restarted on lap 136, Gordon got the
jump on Marlin, and it was all over from there. Whether you love him or
"hate" him, you gotta admit he can drive a race car. Unless something
major happens, it appears he is well on his way to another championship.

Steve Park had one of the strongest cars
all day, led the most laps, and it was easy to understand his frustration when
the caution was thrown late in the race and wreaked havoc with his chance to
win. I too was questioning why the yellow was thrown, but apparently there was a
piece of metal on the track that created a dangerous situation. When the racing
is as fast as it is at Indy, on a flat track where you have an increased risk of
driving straight into the wall from a blowout, NASCAR has to make sure the track
is clear. It was the right call – it just didn’t seem so at the moment.

Also looking good was Johnny Benson, who
was hard-charging at the end. It looked like he was picking up on the leaders,
but once you get all strung out at this track, it’s hard to catch up.

Kurt Busch – way to go! Nice racing, nice
finish – keep it up.

Bobby ??? – you ran out of gas??? However,
congratulations are definitely in order for winning the IROC race and
championship. You and Tony gave us a great last few laps to watch on Saturday. I
think your competitive spirit was showing just a tad.

As Tony Stewart says he’s just a race
driver, and as for me, I like to say I’m just a fan who loves to watch races.
Being privy this weekend to the "other side of the fence" some things
I saw were:

While waiting to qualify, Johnny Benson
standing among the crowd, in the blazing sun, signing autographs with a smile on
his face, trying to give the fans his time and attention.

After his qualifying lap, Bobby Labonte
following the wall all the way down to the garage turnoff, and signing
everything and anything that was put in front of him.

An obviously very busy, but nonetheless
gracious Ray Evernham saying "sure" and stopping to pose for a picture
when asked.

This has got to be a pain in the butt at
times, but if the drivers and team members don’t already know, this is what
keeps us fans coming back.

I watched the race from the balcony of the
media center with some newspaper people from Missouri and a couple of guys from
a radio station in Oregon. We all felt the thrill of the Brickyard, as the cars
whizzed by us at top speed, and have heard the drivers say they love being
there, but have to say it – I would just like to be able to see a little more of
the race itself. I was able to see about half of the front stretch and a little
bit on the second turn (very little) and a little bit on the back stretch. For
me personally, it’s not enough. But at least now I can say I’ve had the
experience. Oh by the way, I waited two hours to leave, got right out, traffic
took us downtown, but once you hit the Interstate, it was a piece of cake. It
was probably the easiest track to get out of – amazing!

So on to the Glen – we’ll see if Gordon
continues to dominate, or maybe its time for Steve Park to repeat last year’s
race.

That’s it.