Too much happened in Vegas for it to stay there
Let's start with Carl Edwards. What an awesome West Coast tour he had — two very dominating wins, strong cars, great driving from Carl, crew chief Bob Osborne making the right calls ... that's just what they needed to start the year off with.
I think after his first full campaign in the Sprint Cup Series in 2005, all of us thought Edwards would become the next big star in the sport. And I think this year he is getting that chance. He and Bob have gotten their act together and they are really starting to take off.
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Race Trax:
News:
- Don't expect return of Southern 500
- Roush driver wins ARCA race
- Stewart wins wreck-filled N'wide race
- Biffle sets record, wins pole
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I said it during the pre-race show on Sunday: If I had to pick a guy to start a team with, it'd be Carl. I like his attitude, excitement, enthusiasm ... honestly, I like everything about him. He's a real team player and when it comes time to get it done, he can get it done. I like that.
But as you all know by now, his win Sunday didn't come without some issues. The No. 99 Office Depot crew was penalized early in the running of the 400-mile race because a tire rolled out of his pit box. That sent him to the tail end of the longest line, which put him behind some 30-something cars at the restart.
Still, he was able to methodically work his way back up through the field with the help of some good pit work and a good race car to put himself back up at the front just in the nick of time.
But then came the issue of another tire rolling out of his pit box, but this time it was because a NASCAR Images cameraman disrupted the team. If you want to determine where the cameraman was, watch a replay and look at the pole. Carl's pit is right at an opening and there's a pole at the end of the wall right at the opening — that is the end of the No. 99's pit box.
The cameraman was on the inside of that pole, which tells you he is inside the 99's pit area, which he should not have been. That's why the tire rolled away from the crewmember who was supposed to retrieve it.
I applaud NASCAR for making the call not to penalize Edwards. It was no fault of the team's — everyone did their job right. There was just somebody in the way that shouldn't have been. If NASCAR would have penalized Carl, he probably wouldn't have won Sunday's race.
After the race, there were more issues for that crew as the cover from their oil tank was missing. To help put that in perspective, when that cover comes off the oil tank, it lets a lot of air and heat inside the race car. It's not a comfortable situation for the driver. I've actually had mine come off at Daytona and some of those places in hot July or August. I couldn't stand it and had to come in and get it put back on.
NASCAR is on a hunt with these oil-lid covers. Somebody has determined that there is an advantage — real or perceived — to having those covers off the car. You saw all the Nationwide teams that got nabbed at Daytona, and now you see this issue here as the No. 99 team was penalized 100 driver/owner points, docked their 10 bonus points in the Chase for the Sprint Cup for winning a race, and crew chief Bob Osborne was fined $100,000 and suspended for six races.
That's kind of how it goes. When NASCAR gets on to something, it really stays on it in an effort to nip it in the bud.
But just so you know, it's easy for that cover to slide off. We actually slide it into a slot and put one bolt in it to hold it on because quite honestly, there's times when you might need to get in there for some odd reason, like to add oil to the car. You don't make it so it's really hard to be opened.
But there's some advantage apparently and NASCAR has to take the car to the windtunnel, take the lid off and see if there's an advantage by not letting the lid come off. Sometimes these things are perceived to be more of an advantage than they actually are.
I'm sure, sooner or later, that NASCAR will get to the bottom of it all. And maybe the officials need to review the rules so that maybe the lid is latched on so it can't come off at all — that'd be my suggestion.
During the preseason, there were a lot of people that said the Fords were at a disadvantage because they didn't have the teams, the numbers, etc. Jack Roush even said in the middle of last year that his teams were behind with the new car, but if you look at Edwards, Matt Kenseth and even Greg Biffle's performances at the end of last year and so far this year, it looks like Roush and Ford have figured out how this car works.
Roush Fenway Racing is also working on a new engine. Roush has been complaining that Ford hasn't had a new engine in a long time. I know they have had a few new cylinder-head upgrades, but basically that 351 engine has been the same power plant they've had as far as I know. In order to keep up with their rivals, Ford probably does need a new engine.
Once it gets a new engine and combines that with how its teams have been running, look out for the Ford bunch.
Jack Roush should really be proud of what his five-car outfit has been able to accomplish so far. Knowing the powerhouse that Hendrick Motorsports was last year and the way they dominated, it's pretty impressive how the Roushkateers have responded.
That takes care of Carl and his great adventure, but there's a lot more to talk about from Las Vegas. Going into the weekend, most of the talk centered around Jimmie Johnson and his quest for four straight victories at Las Vegas. But on race day ... I still have no idea what happened to that race car. The No. 48 crew struggled with the car from the time the team got there to the time it left.
Normally, when you are one of the Hendrick cars that is struggling, the teams get together and figure out what everybody's got, so they can throw stuff at the one that is weaker. I remember in Martinsville last season, Johnson was struggling before Jeff Gordon and crew chief Steve Letarte got together to help him with his setup. Johnson ended up beating Gordon that weekend to take the checkered flag.
But this weekend something was really wrong, because that just never happened. It must have been something the team couldn't fix at the racetrack. I've never seen that car run that badly all day.
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On the flip side, Gordon had a car that could win the race, and so did their teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. It really makes you wonder what was amiss with the No. 48 car. But of course, Gordon didn't win because he had that vicious accident in Turn 2 with just a few laps left. That accident was actually set up by the poor restart by Dale Jr., who just wasn't able to clean his tires before the restart and spun his tires.
That accident was a situation I'd have to say that maybe Jeff should've lifted off the gas a little bit, but instead he just nipped Matt Kenseth and sent him spinning. Gordon ended up on the bad end of that deal, though, as Kenseth hit him after he lost control and the No. 24 ended up hitting the inside wall. That new car, wow, that baby flew apart when it hit that inside wall.
Automatically, the conversation turned into why there weren't any soft wall on the inside portion of the track. I think NASCAR, the tracks and everybody in general has done an incredible job of finding and fixing weak links in the safety chain. It reminds me of a couple of years ago in Kentucky, when a car went into the same opening in the back straightaway like Gordon did at Las Vegas. Now they have a SAFER Barrier there in Kentucky. Maybe a lesson should have been learned from that.
One solution is that you could stagger the wall to where that wall comes down and the other wall goes inside of it so that the safety truck can use it.
Safety is a moving target. I've said it all along that even though we have moved forward with things like the HANS device, SAFER Barriers and everything we have, we should never get too comfortable with where we are. You put a car on the racetrack going 180 mph, and it can find things and do things that you never thought possible. You have to anticipate for the worst. You can't just look at best-case scenario. You have to look at worst-case scenario, and if you say there's no way something can happen, that's usually what happens.
No fault to the racetrack, no fault to NASCAR. We just have to learn from it, fix it and move on.
That also reminds me of poor old Tony Stewart, who had a terrible weekend in Las Vegas. He crashed on Saturday, he crashed on Sunday, he was all banged up ... yet he was able to test at Phoenix on Monday and Tuesday. Maybe getting back up on the horse and riding it was the best medicine for him.
Stewart has had to be subbed out before — remember after crashes at Lowe's Motor Speedway in 2006, he got Ricky Rudd to fill in for him — so apparently it wasn't as bad as those injuries. Hopefully he'll be good by this weekend because Atlanta Motor Speedway is one of Joe Gibbs Racing's best racetracks. Stewart can recover nicely with a good run this weekend.
With the way the JGR operation is running, I'd put a little bit of money on those guys this weekend. Just look at how Denny Hamlin was able to come back from a lap down to get a good finish last weekend. And, oh yeah, his teammate Kyle Busch got another decent finish and is on top of the points after Carl Edwards' penalty.
If it hadn't have been for the blown tire, Stewart probably would've joined his teammates and scored a good finish as well.
So far I've been pretty pleased with the new car. Before the year started, we all worried how the car would performed, but after the first three races, I think it has done very well. It comes down to this, though: You stop comparing this car to the old car, which I knew would happen. Now it's all about your car being better than the other guys' car.
That's what racing's supposed to be about. It's not about aerodynamics or horsepower — although those are the determining factors. It's supposed to be about your car being better than everybody else's. It's not how bad it is to you, it's how good is it compared to everybody else.
That's where we are right now, and that's all that matters.
As we go forward with this car, more and more teams will get it better, and I think NASCAR is still taking a hard look at maybe tweaking it if needed. But overall, to start the season off with the kind of races we have had is pretty good.
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Program of the week
Saturday, 5/10 on FOX 7 p.m. ET: Dodge Challenger 500 This week on SPEED Saturday, 5/10 3:30 p.m. ET: Tradin' Paint 4 p.m. ET: NASCAR Performance 4:30 p.m. ET: NASCAR in a hurry 5 p.m. ET: NASCAR Raceday Sunday, 5/11 8 p.m. ET: NASCAR Victory Lane | ||
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One group that isn't doing well so far is the rookies. None of them have separated from the rest of the pack. I figured the open wheelers might struggle a little bit the first time around, but I'm surprised the way Regan Smith has struggled. I thought he could distance himself from the pack.
But so far, there are no rookies in the top 35. Sam impressed at Daytona with his top 15 finish, but nobody has done much after that.
It's going to be hard for any of those guys to get back in the top 35 in owner points if they fall out. And we are not going to easy racetracks the next few weeks, so the rookies have their work cut out for them.
Oh, by the way
Remember before the season how I was telling you that because of all the storylines going into the season that if you didn't get excited about this year, that you'd never get excited? And how I thought this year could be one of the most exciting we've had in a real long time?
Well, we got off to a great start with the 50th running of the Daytona 500. Now I admit, leaving Daytona with the momentum and then getting to California and struggling with the weather and the track and being forced to race on Monday was disappointing. But nonetheless, it didn't knock us down and take the wind out of our sails.
We went right into Vegas and we had an incredible rating for our pre-race show and the race itself. Our TV ratings are up across the board, racing is good, drivers are excited — it's the best feeling I've had about our sport in a long, long time.
I know there's pundits out there that always say, "Oh, you drink the Kool-Aid or you wear the glasses." But trust me, I'm a realist. I'm an optimistic, but I'm a realist. I know good from good, bad from bad, ugly from ugly. And I'm pretty excited about where we are heading with this sport, this year particularly.
It's the best start to a year we've had in a real long time.
If we can just keep it up and have good competition on the track, spread the wins around obviously ... it's all good right now, so let's enjoy it and applaud what is going on.
We've seen how it can be, and I like it this way.
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