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Jimmie wins at Johnsonville
Around the track
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Now I don't know if you have heard or not, but Martinsville Speedway has decided to change their name. After the dominance that the No. 48 team has there, the decision has been made to rename it Johnsonville Speedway. I mean come on, after Jimmie's sixth win there, it only made sense.
We are in an era where the No. 48 team is just so dominant. The driver/crew chief relationship is like nothing I have seen in a long time. I have to tell you, Sunday when the race started, I would have said there was no way that Johnson and Co. were going to win. While he never was that far back, Johnson started pretty mediocre and the car didn't look all that great. But every time he went into the pits, his team would work on it and before you knew it that car became the best one on the track.
But boy, you have to tip your hat to Denny Hamlin. That move he put on Jimmie late in the race on that restart might be one of the best timed, best executed restarts at Martinsville that I have ever seen. He timed the thing just right, he got the run on Jimmie and he drove that thing down underneath Jimmie and they didn't make any contact. He took the lead away from Jimmie and it had to have surprised Jimmie more than anything.
Johnson came back and put his own calculated move on Denny to retake the lead and then eventually drive away with the win. Quite frankly I thought Jimmie's move there in Turn 3 on Denny was going to wreck them both. Both are great drivers and both had great handling cars that they were able to hang onto them. Tony Stewart was in third at the time and I really thought he would come out as the leader of the race after Jimmie and Denny got together. I know that Johnson was expecting some retaliation from the No. 11 car. In fact, Jimmie's spotter warned him to watch his back.
Man, I was also surprised and shocked after the race. Denny drove into the pits, got out of his car and said basically it was "no harm, no foul — that's short-track racing." Normally when you are on a short track, you have short tempers. I am not sure whether Denny has become accustomed to something happening late in the race like at Bristol or Richmond when he had such a dominate car.
I hate it for the No. 11 car and for Denny because he is a good guy. It wouldn't have surprised me if he hadn't gone up and had a few choice words with Jimmie after the race. I am disappointed that he didn't though. I just think that type of emotion is one of the foundations of our sport. I hate that the drivers today feel so restrained that they can't do that anymore. I hate it that they think they are going to get fined, points taken away or the sponsors going to be upset.
I just hate that and I wish we would have never gotten to the point we are today. We're there now, but I don't know if we will ever be able to turn back. I don't know if Harvick, Stewart, Montoya or the Busch brothers will be able to continue to show that emotion. I have always been a big proponent of not using your race car to settle an argument, but I do believe they should get in each others face when it warrants it.
Back in the day, you got into Richard Petty and he was in your face before you got your window net down. If you got into Dale Earnhardt, he usually was over having a discussion with you about it. None of us back then were fans of the bump-and-run. Heck, back then, we weren't fans of bumping anybody. When it happened back then, it normally was intentional and you needed to do something about it.
OK, I am climbing off my soap box. I just would like to see these guys get in each other's face after a race and show some passion to what happened on the racetrack instead of this "it's just racing." I am sick to death of "it's just racing." I don't like "just wrecking" and I don't like "just racing." I do like to see a great race and a great race. I also like to see guys upset and showing emotion when they don't win.
Around the field
Just looking a little further back in the field Sunday, there were a lot of guys going into Martinsville that needed a great run and a great finish and they got them.
Jimmie Johnson needed to get to Victory Lane and did. Denny Hamlin had another solid week and came home second. I continued to be amazed at how Tony Stewart has put the right people in position and there he sat in third after the race was over Sunday.
Jeff Gordon needs a win. He certainly had the car to beat for a long time Sunday but in the end it didn't work out. Clint Bowyer continues to make the critics look foolish. It was another solid finish for that No. 33 team and they find themselves sitting second in the points. Trust me, they aren't going anywhere. He's going to be there when the Chase starts.
I think you are really starting to see the benefit of crew chief Tony Gibson being able to give Ryan Newman what he likes in a race car. They struggled and had bad luck early in the season but they are now coming on strong. They had a great top-10 finish Sunday. When the car doesn't break, Mark Martin puts solid runs together.
Dale Jr. and his bunch had a big team meeting last week. He didn't win Sunday but he ran well and got a top-10 result out of the deal. They needed that. A.J. Allmendinger has turned into a real hot shot on the race track. That young man is getting the job done in unsponsored cars. Good for him.
The only Ford in the whole crowd that had a decent day was Jamie McMurray but I am not surprised. Donnie Wingo is back as his crew chief this year and Donnie's cars have always been pretty good at the short tracks. The only positive for the Roush Fenway camp is the first set of short track races are behind them and we head to Texas this weekend and that's where they always shine.
I know some of you folks like to complain that I talk about my brother too much, but guess what? I am going to talk about him because he's earned it. He came back from a disastrous start Sunday. He worked hard, fought hard, got the lucky dog which put him on the lead lap and got himself a 13th-place finish. That's a heck of a job at Martinsville. You have to give the man credit from where that team was two years ago. Back then they couldn't finish in the top 10, top 20 and some weekends the top 43 when they weren't even making the races. So what an incredible turnaround of diligence, patience and fortitude to hang in there and not get laughed out and run out of the business. I am proud of him and have told him so. I've let him know that he is a better man than I because I probably would have folded my tent and moved on long ago.
Look what those three teams are doing now. You've got Marcos Ambrose running his first full year of Cup and he's had two great weekends back to back. He is showing he deserves to be here. Reutimann's the third piece of the puzzle and he's staying right there in the top 12 in points. Even despite a late race spin Sunday, he was able to salvage a top 20 finish.
As mentioned, other than McMurray the Roush camp finished pretty far back. That No. 20 car with Joey Logano is still struggling. It wasn't the greatest day for him. Paul Menard moved into the top 35 going to Texas while the No. 71 got knocked out.
There are a lot of things going on at the front of the field while at the same time there is a lot of interesting stuff happening at the back. It's going to be fun watching everybody come together at the high speed, high banks of Texas Motor Speedway. It's one of the best races we will have all year. Track president Eddie Gossage and his gang know how to put on a show. When you go to Texas it feels big. So if it feels big and looks big, well guess what — you must be in Texas.
Oh by the way
One of the ongoing stories Sunday was the melting of the beads on the tires.
Folks, that's not the tires fault. When you see the size of the brakes they run there inside these 15-inch wheels these days and then they are generating 1,200 degrees F of heat when they go into a corner and that heat gets into a steel wheel, well the tire just can't take it. That's not anything unusual for Martinsville. The brake package has become pretty good at Martinsville and I think Ambrose was the only one to have any kind of brake issues. But once again, it's one of those "cause and effect" scenarios — better brakes = more heat = look out tire.
One final 'Oh by the way'
Now maybe Jimmie Johnson will finally get rid of that scruffy looking beard that he has grown this year.
I am like his Grandmother and his crew chief — he doesn't look nearly as intimidating with the beard as he does without it. Now he has proven he can win with or without a beard, so shave that thing off. He needs to get back to the clean-cut smooth operator that we know he is.
Lose the beard because to me it's weird.
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