THE STORY LINES:
1. RAIN FOR 10TH TIME CANCELS QUALIFYING:
2. EDWARDS WINS @ ATLANTA:
3. LOGANO MAKES ANOTHER CUP ATTEMPT @ TEXAS:
4. MARTIN IN HMS #5 CHEVY SOONER? (ESPN)
5. WOOD BROS. AND HALL OF FAME RACING MERGE? (winston salem journal)
6. KYLE PETTY OUT OF PETTY RACING? (daly planet) (ESPN)
7. LATEST ON GM-CHRYSLER MERGER: (winston salem journal)
8. RED BULL REPRIMANDS SOME-FIRES OTHERS: (ESPN)
9. MAX PAPIS AND GERMAIN RACING ’09 CUP SEASON: (serius speedway)(jayski#13 team pic)
10. TESTING RULES TO CHANGE IN ’09: (winston salem journal)
11. EXCELLENT STATISTICS PAGE: (racing-reference.com)
12. NASCAR NIXES GEM’S MOVE TO TOYOTA: (winston salem journal)
13. DW ON RAIN AND QUALIFYING, NEW IDEA!: (allwaltrip.com)
14. MAYFIELD TO BUY INTO BILLY BALLEW TRUCK TEAM: (serius radio interview)
Rain cancels qualifying for the 10th time this season. For the third week in a row, Jimmie Johnson lined up on the pole. The rain outs gives the #48 Lowes Chevy a couple of important advantages. The first advantage is obvious, he sits on the pole for the race. The second advantage, and possibly even more importantly, is he gets to pick first in the pit selections!!! That is a big plus when it comes to getting into your pit box!!
The race was a typical Atlanta race, high speed and action all day long. But a late yellow flag gives Carl Edwards the opportunity to pass the leader, Denny Hammlin on the restart. Carl Edwards wins for the seventh time this season, and the 14th in his short career. Unfortunately, the #48 Lowes Chevy pits to get “Four Fresh Goodyears” and slices his way through the field to finish second, “truly raining on Edward’s parade”!!! Edwards only gained slightly in the points column on Jimmie Johnson, however he did move into second place in the Chase!
COMMENTARY:
I know once again you are wondering how can this reporter tie in a horse drinking out of a watering hole at Cental Park in NYC and a NASCAR race in Atlanta???? Get ready ’cause I am gettin’ ready to ‘splain!!!
If you look again at the picture, you will see this is a one horse operation. He is “in the pits” replenishing himself getting ready to go back out and make some money for it’s owner. Unfortunately, he his having to resupply his “consumables” ( think fuel and tires) all by himself!! He is losing valueable time (think track position) not having a team (think pit crew) helping him!!! If there were a few more people to put the horse back into a revenue position, he would make more money for his owner (think win the race/Chase)!!!
So again how does this fit into the NASCAR picture?? Well, Sunday in Atlanta we saw the #48 Lowes team get penalized for speeding on pit row. That put Johnson a lap down to the field, but that didn’t get the team down. The team stayed focused and worked hard as a team unit. When the yellow flags fell in the very last part of the race, the team made a couple of bold decisions that put them back in the “hunt”! With bold decisions and fortitude the Lowes #48 team put themselves in a position to finish second place! That voided the chance for Carl Edwards to make large gains on them in the Chase points.
This reporter can only echo what Brad Daughtery (ABC/ESPN) said two weeks ago after Johnson’s win at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Brad then stated so boldly, “print the hats and the T-shirts ’cause Jimmie Johnson will be the THREE-TIME WORLD CHAMPION“!!! There is something about this race team that comes to life in final 10 races of the season. It is like the Vince Lombardi days with the Packers. Everyone knew that Bart Starr was going to give the ball to Taylor and Hornug and you just had to try to stop them!! You also knew that it would take eveything you had plus some to do that !!!!!!
So what we are about to witness hasn’t not happened in NASCAR since 1976-78. In those three years a very brash young man from Timmonsville, South Carolina, named William Caleb (Cale) Yarborough drove for “a good ol boy” from Wilkes County, N.C. That “good ol boy” from N.C. was none other than Robert Glen Johnson, Jr., better known to the racing world as Junior Johnson, a legend in his own right as a driver!!! For those three years that duo of driver and owner was the most dominate force NASCAR!
Fast forward 32 years and we have a team equally as dominating now!!! Print the T-shirts, print the hats, and raise the flag it is a done deal!!!
ONCE AGAIN, I LOOKED IT UP SO THAT YOU DON’T HAVE TO!!!!