Sofa Sideline – Nemechek – Winner at “The Rock”
Joe Nemechek was the winner of the Pop Secret 400 at North
Carolina Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina this past weekend. Nemechek led
for a total of 196 laps and was the dominant car throughout much of the race.
This was only his second win in 250 starts, and comes on the heels of the
announcement that he would be leaving as the driver of the number 33 Chevrolet
owned by Andy Petree. Nemechek will be moving to the number 26 car owned by Haas-Carter
Motorsports, and the 33 is currently looking for both a driver and sponsor for
the 2002 season. Oakwood Homes will not be returning as the primary sponsor.
Regardless, spirits were high as Nemechek managed to almost completely
disintegrate his tires while doing burnouts and donuts after the win.
Congratulations to all members of that team.
Kenny Wallace, too, had cause for celebration. After winning
the Busch race on Saturday and starting from the pole position on Sunday, Kenny
brought the number 1 car home in second place. Kenny became the 23rd
driver to become eligible for the Bud Shoot Out at the Daytona race in February
2002 and DEI has agreed to provide a car for Wallace to run.
Johnny Benson started 39th but as the day
progressed, the car just got better and better, and he wound up finishing third.
Another driver who also just sort of snuck up on the pack was Dale Jarrett.
Jarrett started in 31st position and worked his way up to the 4th
position. It was shades of Richmond – started up looking pretty bad, just kept
working on the car, and suddenly he’s up front. Rounding out the top ten were
Jerry Nadeau 5th, Ward Burton 6th, Tony Stewart 7th,
Ricky Rudd 8th, Bobby Labonte 9th and Matt Kenseth
finishing in 10th place.
A mid race caution resulting from Carl Long’s trouble
caught many top cars almost a lap down and from that point on the race became a
lot less competitive, as many of the drivers where merely trying to catch up and
not lose a lap. Bobby Labonte led for several laps and looked like he was in a
position to possibly compete for the win, but on the restart had some trouble
with the tires, lost a lap, and was not able to make up the loss until the very
end of the race. After such a great start, this was a somewhat disappointing
finish. Not bad, but just not good enough.
One driver who truly had a crummy day from start to finish,
was the current points leader, Jeff Gordon. Gordon finished a dismal 25th
and the car just plain looked bad during the entire race. The thought might
cross your mind that at this point he is merely sandbagging to just finish the
races intact and secure the championship, but the car was handling so poorly it
was almost an embarrassment and could not possibly have been the case. Hopefully
the number 24 will be more competitive this week in Miami.
Kurt Busch, after having a great run for most of the day, and
in contention for, at the very least a top five, ended his day in frustration as
he lost the engine late in the race and finished 39th. But, not too
worry. From all appearances, his day is coming.
Other notes:
As we all know, it has been a dismal and frustrating season
for Kyle Petty, and I for one, hope that next season will be better for this
entire team. But, I have to challenge Kyle’s comments regarding the first lap
crash and Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s involvement. Petty’s disappointment is
understandable, but in my opinion, the remarks made implying Junior caused the
resulting damage were not warranted. From what I saw, Kyle started losing
control, and just came down the track, and Junior just had no place to go.
Congratulations go to Kevin Harvick for clinching the Busch
Series Championship this weekend. A nice payoff for the hectic schedule Harvick
had while running as a regular in both the Busch and Winston Cup Series.
Last Thursday a meeting was held between NASCAR officials,
drivers, owners and crew members to discuss potential changes to the cars prior
to next season’s restrictor plate races at Daytona and Talladega. As a result
of the meeting NASCAR agreed to remove the thin metal strip across the roof,
alter the angle of the rear spoiler and remove the upright bend from the top of
the spoilers. This is an attempt to solve problem of the cars being all jammed
up and the ever present "big one" just waiting to happen.
I don’t know what the answer is, or if any of this will
solve the problem. I’ve read articles depicting the pros and cons of whether
to change or not, and I am still a proponent of the idea that something needs to
be different. As a fan, I hate this, and I know more and more people are
realizing that this has been a dangerous situation. The majority of fans get no
thrill from this and just have an almost "sick to the stomach" feeling
throughout the race until it’s over, hoping that nobody gets hurt. I’m glad
the meeting took place, and hopefully, positive changes resulting in
"real" and not perceived competitive racing will occur.
One disheartening comment came from Mike Helton when he said
that this meeting would not have taken place if it had not been for the 16 car
wreck on the last lap in Dega. This situation has been going on for quite
awhile, and for Helton to make such a comment just seems like its one of those
instances when one should "think before you speak." This has been an
ongoing problem, and we shouldn’t have to keep having the "big one"
for the issue to be addressed.
This week the Winston Cup teams move on to Homestead – yawn…..
That’s it for now.