Certainly this week’s race didn’t have much competition for comparison with last week’s. (Tellingly, there was no Fan Council poll sent out for the Coca-Cola 600.) If you consider the Nationwide Series a warm up for the Cup, then things got off to a good start. The ESPN crew was full of enthusiasm, and the race delivered a great finish. Congrats to Brad Keselowski for opportunistically finding Victory Lane again this year, as Logano and Kyle Busch took each other out of the lead in the final laps. Kyle was uncharacteristically mum after the race.
He had no trouble earlier in the week finding a camera and a microphone to discuss Junior’s crew chief change. Fox was quick to capitalize on NASCAR’s lead story with their opening montage playing Kyle’s comments and recapping events. It’s regrettable that Kyle and Junior’s rivalry hasn’t been more of the on-track variety. My own take is that I wish Hendrick had paired up Junior with an experienced, winning crew chief. The way this was done, it just looks like a panic move.
Junior looked slightly more upbeat at the beginning of the race. His Nationwide team winning on Saturday probably helped. Meanwhile when asked, DW and Hammy both openly doubted Junior’s ability to win a championship at this point in his career. Heresy? Reverse psychology? Trying to cushion the blow for his legion of fans? It’s gut check time for Junior and Junior Nation.
The rest of the pre-race flowed well. There was another Digger cartoon, but it was again a rerun. I’m telling you, the varmint is on his way out. Expect TNT and ESPN to give Fox some ribbing over their mascot at some point during their coverage. Jeff Gordon looked totally down and hurting. That interview was painful to watch.
There was a profile piece on Billy Bad Butt. I missed the incident last week that lead to the creation of NASCAR’s newest freaky crewmember nickname. For God’s sakes, there was 10 hours of rain delay. I couldn’t watch it all. In the same vein, ESPN’s piece the day before on Clint Bowyer, Richard Childress, and Bowyer’s spotter was pretty funny. The networks may need to spend some more quality time with guys on the team other than the driver and crew chief.
The season in review segment went by quick. Of course, it could have been shorter. Just show Edwards’ Talledega wreck. Highlights over. Oh, and then there was a shot of Ingrid. I’ve given up on getting a roundtable discussion of her hair. I’ll miss her and Miss Sprint Cup.
The race itself started off well. It was close, contested, and drivers were fighting for the lead. Unfortunately, this may have either been the team’s testing the limits of the tires for the rest of the race, or NASCAR ordered them to be entertaining at the beginning of the race.
Umm… Then I turned over to the Indycar race at the Milwaukee Mile. I’m not sure if I missed much action at Dover, other than Jimmie dominating. I know that if I’d missed the Indycar race, I really wouldn’t have missed much action there either. Dixon won, but his wife Emma wasn’t there, so I didn’t care. (I recall Ashley Judd wasn’t there the last time Franchitti won. Well, it’s not exactly a destination spot, unless you’re looking for brauts.) I’d read a story that they were offering all you could drink and eat beer and barbecue at the track as a promotion. I thought it was gag, but the stands were full. Sorry I wasn’t in Milwaukee.
http://pressdog.typepad.com/dogblog/2009/05/most-likely-still-time-to-get-to-milwaukee-this-weekend-for-the-most-excellent-mile-and-the-best-value-in-racingi-super-hig.html#more
Back to NASCAR (one look at the stands and you could tell they weren’t running any promotions), I missed the final, fateful pit stop, that put Jimmie back in ninth, but with more fresh tires than the drivers in front of him. The final laps featured some of the best racing of the year. This was actually enhanced by Fox losing their ticker. You could see more of the track, as the 48’s charge to the front commanded the announcers’ attention. With more screen real estate, the drama seemed bigger and added to the tension. This arrangement wouldn’t have worked out well in blow out win, but here it did. Fox might want to file this technique away for future use. (Not to mention, it forced them to show all the top cars finishing.)
Good call by Knaus and a great drive by Jimmie to make that call look good. Tony Stewart, second in the race, can console himself with his Fox Cup, as he’s now number one in the championship standings. Who’d of thunk that last year after his move to his new team. This was a definite high note for Fox to end their coverage on.
NASCAR breathes a sigh of relief. The hardcore fans that are left got a good race. Junior looked about as happy as he was going to allow himself to be with a top 15 finish. Finally, there was a heartfelt goodbye from the booth crew. Pity that Fox sports broadcasting isn’t as big a fans as their announcers are. I was surprised Digger didn’t make an appearance, or that there wasn’t some forced product placement, or a Fox show promo during their closing comments. Were it not for the fans in the booth, I think Fox’s NASCAR coverage would end up being horrific.
Well, this may be it for the NASCAR race blogging. I don’t have cable. After the digital switchover, I may not be able to watch the Chase when racing returns to over-the-air TV. As for next year, frankly, at times writing this has been a labor. Too many races have either been boring or controversial, rather than entertaining. Sometimes, the hard part has been watching the race itself to comment on it. In the meantime, I’ve got one more column in process about the sport overall.
J.
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