Casey Mears won his first Nextel Cup race at the Coca-Cola 600 when he stayed out while the leaders came in for a quick splash of fuel. It's no secret Mears didn't have the best car that night, but his team managed the fuel situation better than the others. The question is, should winners be determined because they have nothing to lose and can gamble on fuel?
I don't know about the rest of you, but after five-plus hours of racing in Charlotte, I was actually standing in front of my TV for the final laps of the Coca-Cola 600. Aside from the Daytona 500, I don't think we've had a better finish to a race then what we saw this weekend, and yes that includes Martinsville.
Complaints are at an all-time high about NASCAR staging races, throwing phantom debris cautions to benefit guys like Jeff Gordon and Johnson. Well for once we didn't have that. It was great to see the final 50 laps run under green, not interfered with by the dreaded yellow flag.
Take absolutely nothing away from Casey Mears in Sunday night's Coca-Cola 600. He drove his butt off, the team made some great decisions on pit road and he deserves a trip to Victory Lane more than nearly anyone in Nextel Cup. There's something right about a Mears winning a race on the Memorial Day weekend. Plus, who would have expected names like Yeley, Petty, Sorenson and Vickers to pop up in the top five? All five of those cars ran well all night and deserved to be on the lead lap. But top-five finishes? Get real.
Do you really want to see cars coasting around the track well off race pace, trying to conserve an extra gallon of fuel? Remember Phoenix, when nobody would get out of line because they were so worried about not having enough fuel to make it to the end? I wouldn't call that exciting racing.
I'm with Bill. I love the possibility of gas mileage coming into play. It is a part of motorsport. It is a very big part of racing in other sanctions such as F1 where the whole field is very seldom bunched up by a full course caution. It gives young guns their furst shot and old dogs with good long run set ups another shot at glory.
The question is not who is fastest? If you like that go drag racing. The question is who can cover a set distance in the least amount of time with pit stops, tire wear and gas mileage included?
Jeff Gordon has a lifetime contract and Du Pont is signed through 2008. He is not going anywhere and I don't think Du Pont is either. Du Pont and Gordon go together just like Richard Petty and STP.
Jimmie Johnson and Lowes are signed through 2010. There will be no movement here either. I know, I know, nobody expects Gordon or Johnson to move. Bur bear with me. I am just sitting the table here.
Kyle Busch is signed through 2008 as are Car Quest and Kellogg's. Again, no movement here.
Casey Mears is signed through 2008 as well. However, the National Guard is not signed beyond this season. So Hendrick needs a sponsor here. Is Budweiser and Dale Jr. the answer? I honestly hope not. I would hate to see Casey Mears get done this way. Hendrick has a pretty good reputation. I don't think he wants to sully it.
Of course, I never thought Jr. would leave Dale Earnhardt Incorporated (DEI) this season either. Shows how much I know.
In his first start at Talladega Superspeedway, Rookie of the Year contender, Kyle Krisiloff scored his career best Busch Series finish. He started the Haas-Carter Motorsports #14 Clabber Girl Ford 23rd in the lineup and finished the Aaron's 312 in 5th place. This was his best finish in 13 Busch Series starts since his 16th in the March 2007 Mexico City race. Former NASCAR Cup team owner Travis Carter is back in racing as the team manager for rookie Krisiloff's Busch Series team after a three-year layoff. Krisiloff is 20th in the series standings.
Carter still has his sense of humor intact, describing his role as "general manager, chief flunky and all that." Still, Carter seems to be enjoying his return to NASCAR. Carter last appeared in the sport in 2003, running the National Guard program with driver Todd Bodine. He went Hooters Pro Cup racing with his son for a while and says that he wouldn't mind doing that for a living. "If I had the money and didn't need to work, that's what I'd do is just race and have fun."
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