Thinking Outside the Box
By Walt Newcomb
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Why the 600 was a Wonderful World
Two weeks ago all of the recognized “experts” had already buried the Memorial Day classic at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Gloom and doom came from every corner of the media. The Car of Today or the New Car or what I call the NASCar (NASCAR Adopted Safety Car) was judged to put on unbearably poor racing at mile and a half tracks. Note to the racing authorities; Rewrite.
NASCAR's original cookie-cutter track hosted the Sprint All-Star Race a little over a week ago. The fans voted Kasey Kahne into the finale and a gutsy call by Team Director, Kenny Francis, sealed the rest of the competitor's fates. Francis plopped Kahne in Victory Lane with a call for a fuel-only stop at the end of the event that seemed as easy for him as one of his forty-yard chip shots on the links. Yeah, Kenny the quiet guy can silence people on the golf course too.
The win and the manner in which it had been attained created several incredible dynamics through the Sprint Cup community. First off, the Gillett-Evernham Motorsports teams started walking a little taller and confidence seemed to beam from every member. The most important dynamic however was that which was created by Francis' courageous call to take no tires in lieu of track position.
Allow me to explain. The new car seems to have an incredible advantage when it runs in clean air. Goodyear, the company which had been maligned by Tony Stewart and others after their tires had such little grip at Atlanta, brought a fantastic tire to Charlotte. Kahne, Francis and the GEM #9 team demonstrated that those tires didn't fall off through the course of fifty laps when their car assumed the lead at the beginning of the final segment of the All-Star event.
Fast forward to last weekend and the media seemed to press each of the crew chiefs on Pit Road to what they were planning for their strategies. Who would take two tires? Who would take none? How's your fuel mileage? Will you race the Coca-Cola 600 backwards like a road race?
I believe it was all of those varying strategies combined with the transition from afternoon into evening that created such a great race Sunday night. Were all of the teams to simply take on four tires and fuel each time the cars came down Pit Road, the 600 would likely have been equally as entertaining as the last Cup race in Texas. What we saw was something special.
Because some teams were taking four tires one time, two another and fuel only on others, many of the cars on the track performed at different levels based on the condition of their tires through the field. Track position still ruled but it seemed that although the car out front had a distinct advantage, it also appeared to be the place where the other shoe was about to drop. Leader after leader fell by the wayside.
Greg Zipadelli chose to run Tony Stewart's right-side tires for a hundred laps to gain track position near the end of the race. It almost worked. Kenny Francis coolly calculated that Kahne would come home second after what appeared to be an extended fuel only stop. Francis had elected to put right-side tires on the #9 on the previous stop. Two laps from the finish, Stewart's Toyota limped to Pit Road with a right-side flat and Kahne cruised to victory with same ease of the previous week. Our congratulations go out to Kahne, Francis and the entire GEM team.
The Coca-Cola World 600 was a far better race than advertised. I bet the entertainment level even surprised outgoing Lowe's Motor Speedway President, H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler. Our thanks go out to Humpy for everything he has done for all of auto racing.
Our kudos goes to Donny Lia and the TRG Motorsports team on their first Craftsman Truck Series victory at Mansfield, Ohio. Visit Donny's RC website; it's a really cool place. Thumbs up go out to Chuck Hossfeld for putting Lia's former championship Modified into Victory Lane at Stafford for owner Bob Garbarino at Friday night's Whelen Modified Tour event.
This week all three of NASCAR's top series head to Dover, Delaware, the city that means well (thanks George Carlin). It's the long-awaited debut of our friend from the Bodine Bobsled Challenge, Joey Logano. Say hello to Miles if you're going.
That's how I see it.
Opinions vary.
What's yours?
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