What Could Have Been…..
Such pieces are inevitable – "What
could have been?" From time to time such pieces appear, be they about
NASCAR or anything else. Indeed, within writing circles a mini-industry has
arisen pertaining to the ultimate "What could have been" scenario –
the alternate history.
It is a good question. What could have
been?
Here’s one that could have been in NASCAR
–
TITLE CHASE APPROPRIATE CAP TO WILD SEASON
ONTARIO, CA – Now it’s down to one race.
And eight drivers – Tim Richmond, Davey
Allison, Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, Alan Kulwicki, Mark Martin, Bill
Elliott, and Ernie Irvan – representing all four brands are within sixty-eight
points of the Winston Cup title, with another seven drivers within one hundred
fourteen of the top ten – a scenario that is considered impressive, albeit
tempered by the rather stunning frequency of such intense point battles over the
years.
Tim Richmond knows what intense point
battles are like. With four wins – Riverside, Pocono, Martinsville, and
Charlotte – this year the lead driver for Felix Sabates and Tony Glover is
looking for his third title in his last eleven seasons. "It used to be I
didn’t race for points because I didn’t really believe in that," he says.
"The way the point battle has developed, though, we all have to race even
harder than we normally do. It’s also pretty funny that (teammate) Sterling is
having to race us to stay high in points. Felix told us, ‘Just don’t take each
other out,’ and we haven’t been put in that position quite yet."
Driving for one of the sport’s three
three-car teams – his former Hendrick Motorsports team being one of two others –
Richmond has found to be different this time around. "When Geoff (Bodine)
and I were with Rick (Hendrick), there was some friction. Here, though, Tony
(Glover) has kept things on a good level. Sterling, Bobby (Hamilton), and I are
on the same page with Tony. It’s been that way since the McClures owned the 4
team; Tony was kind of concerned when Felix purchased the team from them,
because Tony and I had hit it off well when it was the McClures’ car, and
switched everything to Dodge, but Felix learned before to let his guys do their
job."
It represents quite a turn for the
normally fiery team owner. "Yeah, he used to be pretty crazy even when Kyle
won races for him," Richmond adds. "I guess it’s a pretty big change
when you think about it. But Bobby won a couple, Sterling won a couple, we’ve
won four, and we’re the point leader, so we’ve done things right."
Other Contenders
But Davey Allison also knows what tight
point battles are like – the difference is that Davey has suffered the sting of
having never won a point battle despite finishing in the top three in five of
the last nine seasons. "Boy, how do you find ways to lose the
championship?" Davey asks. "We’ve been trying for so long it’s
unbelievable. We’ve had a great season with three wins, and I guess nowadays
when you win that many, you’ve had a really good year."
Allison’s Robert Yates team has two cars,
and the arrangement has worked well, according to Davey. "Jeff (Gordon) is
a great talent," Davey says. "I’m puzzled that he’s only won fifteen
races in the years he’s been with us. We’ve clicked really well. Even though
he’s not in the hunt for the title this year, he’s had a great season."
Allison is also proud of his father’s
Winston Cup team – "Whenever we’re racing Jimmy Spencer, I know he’s
driving as hard as Bobby did all those years, and I’ll never forget when Jimmy
beat us at Richmond in September."
Alan Kulwicki continues to carry the
Hoosier banner toward a possible second title. "I can’t thank Bob (Newton)
enough," the defiant owner-driver says. "Even when I won the title the
first time we weren’t nearly this strong. When we won The Winston I knew that we
were going for that title."
Kulwicki may be the closest thing to a
dominator, other than Richmond, the parity-mad NASCAR season has – three wins,
1,500 laps led, enough top-fives to put him within earshot of the championship.
"I’m still kind of ticked at the races we didn’t win, like Pocono (lost to
John Andretti by six feet), New Hampshire (lost to Rusty Wallace on the last
lap), Indy (late crash), North Wilkesboro (tap from Earnhardt). Dover in
September was the real one, we had everybody but Kyle (Petty) beaten, cut a tire
in One, had to make up a lap, finished fifth while Kyle won. Those are the ones
that always stick with you. The title, though, that’s what we’re all
chasing."
Kulwicki’s loss to Rusty Wallace at New
Hampshire was one of three wins for the Blue Max Pontiac driver, the others
being Rockingham in March and Phoenix. "If you’d told me eight guys would
be this close with one race to go, I’d have said, ‘You’re (kidding) me.’ I
figured most of us would be tired out after thirty-nine races, but we’ve managed
to keep running hard, and that’s how it is with the title – it’s still so
intense. Twenty-two winners, that’s a record, who’d have ever thought that would
happen? And it seems every year the point race gets tighter and tighter. We’ve
won a championship by a squeaker, we won two back to back ones by winning a ton
of races, and we’ve been by far the strongest I’ve ever seen us. But it’s awful
competitive."
The E Rivalry
Elliott and Earnhardt are the E boys of
NASCAR, the Pearson-Petty rivalry of this age. Elliott, in Tim Brewer’s Ford,
has two wins to Earnhardt’s three. "When we had that string of bad breaks
in the late summer (three crashes in six races) that took out our
momentum," Elliott says, "but we won Darlington and that turned it all
around for us. It’s like everybody else has said, if you win just two races,
you’ve had a great year. We’re going for the championship, if we get it it will
be my third but the first for Tim as a team owner, and that’s what I’d really
like – for him to win the title again.
But Brewer takes things in stride.
"I’ve been at this so long you learn not to get too excited. I won
championships with Cale and with Darrell, I won with Bill as a crew chief, but
yeah, as an owner it would be pretty special."
There’s a third member of NASCAR’s E team,
and for Ernie Irvan, he has come closer to a title than either he or team owner
Rick Hendrick have ever seen before. "I knew when I joined this (#5) team
we could win a championship. The first win of the year didn’t come until July
(Daytona), but all year we’ve pecked away, so we’ve got a shot. We’ve all worked
awful hard all year, and everybody on every team has, but with a title chase
this close, it’s made everybody pick up the pace all the more."
Irvan’s Hendrick teammates Ken Schrader
(Richmond) and Terry Labonte (North Wilkesboro) each have a win, and wish to add
another as they are largely out of the top ten title chase.
Mister Intensity
Mark Martin has two wins for Jack Roush
and thrives on intensity.
"We’ve come a long way after
October," Martin notes. Caught in one of numerous big crashes at Talladega,
Mark "thought the title was gone right then, but we bounced back the next
few races, and we can win it all. Jeff (Burton) helped us with a test session
after that, and it really turned things around. But we know we have to race
seven others for that championship, so we have to stay focused like never
before."
The top eight have thus left the remainder
of the top ten for myriad others. Among those to watch in that scramble as
Nashville winner Geoff Bodine in Andy Petree’s #33, Jeremy Mayfield, the winner
at Atlanta a few weeks ago, in Cale Yarborough’s #98, and Rockingham winner
Bobby Hamilton in the #42 SABCO Dodge. Bodine and Mayfield had a controversial
to say the least encounter at Phoenix, ending with both cars’ noses flattened
and the two crews needing to be separated. Hamilton’s Rock win came after
surviving one of several encounters he has had this season with Earnhardt, who
still argues that Hamilton was at fault in the crash that cost him the point
lead.
Joe Gibbs Racing also is in the hunt for
the final top ten spot with #18 Dale Jarrett’s Pontiac – winner here at Ontario
in March – becoming stouter late in the season, while #81 Bobby Labonte has a
home state win at Texas Motor Speedway as highlight of a strong year.
Ricky Rudd’s spring Dover win set off a
top-ten binge that can reward the owner-driver in terms of performance bonuses
for next year. "It’s like two totally different seasons," he says.
"Up to then we didn’t feel competitive, then we won and everything changed,
and we can salvage the top ten in points."
Tricky Track
They’ll all have to tackle Ontario’s
layout. "Richard (Petty) only won here once, when he was with Mike
Curb," Daytona 500 and Pocono winner John Andretti says. "He was
telling me the other day about how this place has driven different every lap
since it opened. We ran super here in March but the track suddenly changed. It’s
shaped like Indy but it’s different."
Kyle Petty adds, "This place is more
like Pocono than you may think at first. You haven’t really appreciated this
place. John and I ran together a lot in March, and neither one of us could
really run the same line. They had ten yellows here in March, and that’s how
tricky this place is. They were rumored to tear it down two decades ago, but
somehow they saved it, and here we are."
The full armada of pomp and circumstance
awaits the finale of Winston Cup’s wildest season.
What could have been.