Sofa Sideline – Jeff Gordon, Kansas City; Here I Come!
Jeff Gordon picked up his third win of the season in the Protection 400 at
Kansas Speedway; which gives him the distinction of being the only Winston Cup
driver to win at this speedway. It was Gordon’s 61st win in the Cup series;
fairly remarkable in itself.
Ryan Newman finished in second, third place went to his teammate, Rusty
Wallace. One good thing that came out of this race was that Joe Nemechek finally
had a decent run in the number 25; finishing in the fourth position.
It was pretty much survival of the fittest out there today. It didn’t appear
there was much room to pass, and basically we saw quite a few drivers just plain
lose it. Bobby Labonte had a lousy weekend; crashing early in final practice,
and then just seven laps into the race gets caught up in the "mess"
when Casey Atwood and Ward Burton tangled. Labonte was six laps down, but still
finished 22nd – indicative of the number of cars out of the race as a result of
cautions and engine problems.
Sterling Marlin took another hit in the points when he checked up and got a
tap in the rear end from Jeff Burton causing him to go careening into the wall;
a hard hit but no major injuries were sustained. Marlin dropped to fifth place
in the point standings.
Mark Martin lost his point lead when during his last pit stop, the car just
basically quit; they couldn’t get it restarted, no real explanation about what
happened. Teammates Kurt Busch and Jeff Burton both retired early with engine
problems, Martin finished 25th as a result.
Okay have to say this; a debris call on lap 248; it was there, plain as day,
yet it took quite a while for the yellow to be thrown. Why was that? And why is
it other times, the caution is thrown and you can’t seem to figure out where the
debris actually is? One has to wonder about the rationale sometimes.
The race was red-flagged with five laps to go as a result of an accident
where Johnny Benson lost it, got into Spencer and they both hit the wall;
collecting Ricky Rudd and Jeremy Mayfield in the process. The race was restarted
with three laps to go, but Gordon pulled away just enough to keep Newman at bay
– no real threat to take the lead away.
Jimmie Johnson, who finished one lap down in tenth place, comes up the winner
this week in the point race. This year’s championship run has not been the norm
where consistency is generally the factor that propels you to the top. All of
the drivers in the lead pack have had their share of troubles this year, so it
will all boil down to who can be the most consistent through the remaining
races.
Other Notes:
Burton picked up the win in Saturday’s BGN race, but I’ve got to say that we
were really cheering for Kerry Earnhardt to take the checkered flag. Kerry
finished second, ran a good race, and hopefully, he’ll put one in the win column
soon.
This week the ARCA RE/MAX and Winston Cup teams take to the Superspeedway in
Talladega. I’ve been questioning the thought process behind the 13 gallon gas
tank and how that will help, and haven’t been hearing any substantive arguments
that will change my thinking, particularly since the championship race is so
close. I still think that once one guy pits, they are all going to pit; the one
that stays out will be afraid they won’t be able to catch up when the time
comes. This will happen until the last one or two stops, and then we’ll see some
maneuvering for position. In the meantime, they’ll stay all bunched up as they
always do; a few more than usual will get spread out, but the race to stay in
the top group, will be even more critical; they won’t want to lose that draft.
So we, the fans, will sit there with our stomachs in our throats, once again,
waiting for the big one…maybe it won’t happen. I still will argue that this
isn’t great racing; when it only matters where you are that last two or three
laps. The only consolation is that I had a driver recently tell me that it
doesn’t feel as bad when you are on the track as it looks to us watching. I
guess that makes it a little better; not much, but just a tad.
Hopefully, I’ll be wrong here, and we’ll see a good race without a lot of
equipment being torn up. Time will tell.
Reminder:
The ARCA Race Community is hosting a "Silent Auction to benefit Focus
Motorsports Ministries; a newly created ministry formed by ARCA Chaplain Bill
Krick and his wife, Dianna. In June of this year they lost their sponsor, but
made the decision to stay with this race community they have been serving for
the past seven years.
The Auction will be held on Friday, October 11th from Noon until 5:00 p.m. at
Andy Hillenburg’s Fast Track High Performance Driving School. Please be sure to
stop by and show your support!
That’s it for now.