So it all came down to this: On a sunny Sunday afternoon at NASCAR’s biggest track with NASCAR’s fastest cars and best drivers, fans waited in anticipation for another thrilling race. With 10 laps to go, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was just sitting patiently in second place. Jr. was perfectly content to pick just the right opportunity to pass race leader and eventual winner, Jamie McMurray. Fifteen of the fastest cars on the face of the earth all lined up perfectly in a single file formation which would make a synchronized swimming coach proud.
Thousands of fans were on the edge of their seats. Television viewers making one last pit stop to the bathroom and refrigerator so as not to miss what surely was setting up to be an electrifying finish. And then we waited. 9 laps to go. Still single file. 6 laps to go. It’s going to start anytime now. 4 laps to go. OK, it will surely start now. 2 laps to go. Huh, what the heck is going on? 1 lap to go, wreck, race over. My mouth was wide open in utter amazement at what I just saw.
Jimmie Johnson after the race said, “I’m really shocked nobody wanted to go racing.”
Matt Kenseth echoed Johnson’s sentiments, “I’m actually dumbfounded why everyone just rode.”
In a display of racing that surely would make Dale Earnhardt, Sr. roll over in his grave, these so called greatest drivers in the world, chose not to race at one of NASCAR’s biggest events.
NASCAR continues to invest millions in dollars in their cars to make the racing more appealing to the fans. Clearly the fault on Sunday does not lie on the car but in the hands of the race drivers. Mister’s Stenhouse Jr., Menard, Kyle Busch, Regan, Gilliland, Truex, Newman, Biffle and Bowyer should offer some explanation to the spectators who spent their hard earned dollars to attend Sunday’s race.
I’ve been a NASCAR fan for many years. I’ve seen some of the greatest drivers in racing history. There were none of those out there Sunday. A more shameful display of competition I’ve never seen. It was just plain pathetic and embarrassing.
Perhaps Matt Kenseth said it best after the race: “I thought we’d get enough to try to make another run to the front and mix it up and race for the win. I thought that’s what we were here to do.”
So did I Matt. So did I.
Next week we move to Martinsville. My picks:
1) Jeff Gordon
2) Kevin Harvick
3) Jimmie Johnson
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