Sofa Sideline – New Hampshire – The End
Well, we all made it to the end of the
season – and I have a big "I told you so" hanging over the heads of
several people. The weather was beautiful in New Hampshire, and over 91,000
diehard fans were in attendance. It was too bad that the win by Robby Gordon had
to come at the expense of the 2001 Winston Cup Champion. Robby’s massive ego
has always worked to his detriment, but my personal opinion is that it also
makes him dangerous on the track as evidenced by his sorry performance earlier
this season and prior history in Winston Cup racing. I am, therefore, not going
to champion the win in any way, shape or form.
Jeff Gordon’s words were aptly put when
he said Robby should be "embarrassed for the win." Jeff Gordon led a
total of 257 laps out of 300 and was clearly the dominant car in the field, but
after a late race caution, Robby Gordon wound up in second place and the battle
began. With obviously better tires, Robby was in hot pursuit, and we all thought
that we (the fans) would see a good "racing" battle between the two
Gordon’s. However, when Mike Wallace started to slide, Jeff let up and Robby
just ran into the back of Jeff, causing slight contact with Wallace, and
spinning him into hit the wall (where he might have saved it) While under
caution, Jeff retaliated and drove into the back of Robby’s car, and was
subsequently black flagged and held a lap in the pits by NASCAR. As a result,
Jeff wound up with a 13th place finish. Did anyone happen to notice
Robby drive into the back of Jeff during the previous caution…..we heard Jeff
on the radio wanting to know who drove into him? Pure speculation, but I suspect
Mr. Robby Gordon was trying to let Jeff know he was coming to get him….too
bad, he couldn’t succeed by just racing clean.
I’ve never been a big supporter of Jeff
Gordon, but I do acknowledge the fact that he can drive a race car, and his
reaction time and skill level is above average. But I thought his words at the
end of the race were great: "Everybody thought you couldn’t make me mad
– I was mad. I wish I’d have taken his tire down, so he didn’t win the
race!" (Jeff – so do a lot of us folks.)
Rounding out the top ten were Sterling
Marlin 2nd, Bobby Labonte 3rd, Matt Kenseth 4th,
Tony Stewart 5th, Jerry Nadeau 6th, Robert Pressley 7th,
Brett Bodine 8th, Mark Martin 9th and Dale Jarrett 10th.
Other Notes:
For most of the drivers, the race proved a
nightmare with regard to tire wear. Goodyear brought a tire to the track that
was designed for use under much colder conditions and as a result, there were
numerous problems with the tires "chunking" and concern for blow outs
on the right front. Robby Gordon was one of the few drivers not having a problem
as his tires were "leftover" tires from the Martinsville race, and
held up under the warmer conditions. Goodyear’s excuse was that they thought
it was going to be colder and couldn’t change the tire at the last minutes as
it takes three days to mount them. That doesn’t seem good enough as the
Weather Channel and Intellicast 10-day forecasts had been saying all along that
the weather was expected to be in the mid-40’s to near 50, which proved to be
the case. Once again, Goodyear might have done a better job.
We got a chance to see the "fun"
Tony Stewart at the end of the race, when we saw him playfully
"harassing" Matt Yocum. When asked about finishing second in the
points race, and the difference in the money, Stewart let it slip when he said
"it goes into my retirement fund to get out of this series." As we all
know, Stewart’s temper flaring up has gotten him into more predicaments with
the NASCAR officials, but it would be a shame to see one of the more talented
drivers in the division leave as a result of being "singled out" by
the higher-ups in the organization. In all fairness, why didn’t Jeff Gordon
also get fined $10,000 for hitting Robby Gordon? What was the difference between
that and what happened at Bristol? Someone please enlighten me.
Tony – don’t go, just go get ‘em
next year!!
Final note – It’s been a long
drawn-out season, marred by the tragic event of the first race where we lost an
icon and true race car driver. At the same time, we’ve seen a rapid growth in
the sport and watched many things change as racing moved into the "big
time." Next season will be upon us in no time, and if the needed
non-partisan rules and governing is not put in place by then, then individuals
in charge should be asked to resign. Racing is a great sport, and should never
be in a position to be called an "entertainment venue" and not truly
competitive. Let’s get down to business and have a great season in 2002!
That’s it for now.