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The
NASCAR Sprint Cup race
at Kansas showed us a
couple of things on
Sunday. One thing it
showed us is how
important pits stops
are. Had Jimmie Johnson
not got good out of the
pits ahead of Carl
Edwards at Lap 220, he
probably would have been
a footnote to this race.
The second is that Carl
Edwards is serious about
winning the Sprint Cup.
Sunday’s race took me
back to a time when
drivers actually went
for the win. In this day
of the points race and
the championship being
so much in the forefront
of everyone’s mind,
winning seems to be an
afterthought. Every race
until the Chase begins
is just jockeying to get
into the top 12, making
sure you don’t make the
mistake of actually
trying to win because
you might not get a good
finish and miss the
championship run. After
the Chase field is
determined, the emphasis
is on not having a bad
finish. Carl Edwards
proved that he was a
different breed of
driver on Sunday.
I’m
old. Most of you
probably know that, but
I still can remember
when winning was
important. Cale
Yarborough and David
Pearson ran abbreviated
schedules for the Wood
Brothers because it just
wasn’t worth the effort
to run all the races.
They went for the win.
No better example was
the 1976 Daytona 500
(and so many other
races) when Pearson and
Richard Petty battled
for the win, wrecked
each other and everyone
was amazed at the
finish. That’s long
gone. We now have a
playoff system whereby
you are junk if you
don’t win the big
trophy. Sure, it’s
important, but what of
winning the race. Isn’t
that the supreme goal?
Telling was Jimmie
Johnson’s comment in
victory lane that he
thought he had
everything “under
control.” Yep, like a
machine. And that is the
root of the problem. The
drill goes like this.
Win when you can, take
your best position, and
live with it because the
championship is the
supreme reward. What
about winning a race?
It’s secondary to the
new breed of drivers.
Sponsors and
manufacturers want that
championship.
So,
Carl Edwards took a
chance to win. And the
pundits will make fun of
him for being so stupid
on the last lap. How
dare he value a win so
much? He could have lost
the car and finished far
below where he finished.
It’s not smart. And yet,
generations of fans
valued the race win so
much that they cheered
Edwards, as few as they
may be these days. I
applaud him and will
continue to do that at
Homestead when Jimmie
Johnson takes his third
straight championship.
Why? Because for the
first time in a long
time, I saw a guy take a
chance to win a race.
Yes, many will point out
other incidents where
drivers went all out for
a win, but not among the
elite. The prudent thing
was to follow the leader
across the finish line
to secure the second
place finish. Edwards
wanted to win. I find
that refreshing.
One
last thing to mention on
this day was the
breaking news, provided
by Mrs. Kyle Petty, that
Petty Enterprises and
its new owners from
Boston no longer want
Kyle to drive a racecar
with the name of his
family on the building
(wherever it is these
days). No comments have
been heard from the King
or Kyle himself, but if
true, this is a shocking
revelation. Yes, Kyle is
not doing well and yes,
it may be time for Kyle
to hang it up, but like
this? You have to wonder
what the family thinks
and if they are
regretting selling their
soul to “investors.”
Stay tuned.
You can
contact Ron at
ron.fleshman@verizon.net
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