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| Earnhardt rolled the dice Sunday... |
Dale
Earnhardt, Jr., rolled the dice and lost Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas, but the
fans came away a big winner.
Prior
to the start of the 2014 campaign, NASCAR announced revisions to its Chase for
the NASCAR Sprint Cup format that essentially guaranteed regular-season race
winners a spot in the championship playoffs. The intent of the change was to
motivate drivers to race for the win at virtually all costs, ending the more
conservative “points racing” that fans overwhelmingly say they dislike.
With
three races complete on the season, the sanctioning body’s new “Win and You’re
In” system appears to be paying big dividends.
Following
a third-place finish in last month’s season-opening Daytona 500, former series
champion Brad Keselowski reacted immediately to the suggestion by reporters
that he had enjoyed a good points day.
“There is no good points day, as far as I’m concerned,”
said Keselowski. “Points days don’t mean anything anymore. What matters is a
win.”
That
from a man who had just driven from 33rd on the starting grid to a
podium finish, and who – just a few short months ago – would almost certainly have
been overjoyed with his success.
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| ...sending Keselowski to Victory Lane |
Sunday
at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Earnhardt once proved again how much things have
changed in just a few short weeks. Leading in the final laps of the Kobalt
Tools 400 but lacking sufficient fuel to go the distance, Earnhardt and crew
chief Steve Letarte faced a critical strategic decision. In years past, the championship
leader would almost certainly have surrendered the top spot in the running
order to duck onto pit road for the splash of fuel necessary to secure a nice,
safe sixth- to 10th-place finish, keeping himself solidly in the
championship picture for at least another week.
Sunday,
however, nobody cared about safe and secure.
In
a town that knows a good bit about bucking the odds, Earnhardt let it ride
Sunday. In an effort to secure his second victory of the season, NASCAR’s
perennial Most Popular Driver pushed all-in, remaining on the race track, hoping
for a miracle and doing everything he could to keep a fast-closing Keselowski
in his rear-view mirror. It was a gutsy, surprising ploy, a testosterone-rich
maneuver that brought the fans to their feet and provided the most spellbinding
finish of the 2014 season to date.
Earnhardt’s
Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet sputtered dry on the backstretch of the final lap, rolling
the NASCAR equivalent of snake eyes and handing the victory to Keselowski. But
despite his heartbreaking loss, Earnhardt’s “damn the torpedoes” strategy was
indicative of the sea change that has taken place in the mentality of NASCAR
Sprint Cup Series racing.
Under
NASCAR’s new point system, a good point day has gone from raison-d’etre to not nearly
good enough. In this new era of Sprint Cup Series racing, champs go for the
checkered flag while chumps play it safe. There’s no more running half-throttle
to save a pint of fuel, no more tip-toeing through the final 20 laps in search
of a halfhearted, lukewarm finish.
Fans
want to see drivers take chances, spinning the roulette wheel in search of the
only thing that really matters in racing; the checkered flag. They got
all that – and more – Sunday in Las Vegas.
Let’s
hope it continues.
Spot on, Moody, but "raison-d’etre?"
ReplyDeleteAgain Mr Moody, you have nailed it!
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that I would like to challenge is that IMO, Jr didn't lose. He didn't get the checkered flag, so in the literal sense he did not win, but in the spirit of competition, and in your words" damn the torpedoes" he won it all!
Ditto for the move Logano tried to make on Harvick on the last restart in Phoenix. That was a "go for the win" attempt to get under Harvick that he may not have made in the old system to set the Chase field.
ReplyDeleteKevin F
Earnhardt's gamble and other takes from Vegas.
ReplyDeleteA couple years ago JR ran out of gas on the last lap a Charlotte while leading. Let's hold off on the hyperbole surrounding changes to the points, from where I sit the racing is pretty much the same and frankly I didn't expect very much to change on the track.
ReplyDeleteBrian France still needs to realize he is running a racing series and not a professional ball sport.
Indeed. What I need to see is a sharp increase in lead changes to proclaim these changes successful.
DeleteWait a minute folks. Even in the chase we have had quite a few fuel mileage races. In fact Jr. won at Michigan in what 2012 on fuel mileage and lost a race to Kesolowski I believe in Kansas a year or two ago. True, we may have a few more try it with the new format of the chase but I wouldn't think it would be that many more. And, how many races have come down to fuel mileage during a season anyway? Maybe some body has the stats.
ReplyDelete