Category: The Final Word

Thornton’s final word

  • The Final Word on the Return of NASCAR for 2020…take 2

    The Final Word on the Return of NASCAR for 2020…take 2

    Finally. The world is slowly inching back to normal.

    I am not happy that those who were to protect and detect failed miserably. I am not comforted that no projection model has even yet proved to be reliable. Fifty years ago, they dealt with something very similar by having 400,000 attend a rock concert near Woodstock and launching five Apollo missions during that time, including the day man first walked upon the moon. Today, we viewed empty grandstands from our television screens beamed to us from South Carolina. Those hippies and astronauts both apparently were made of the right stuff.

    It was a different time, a different country. It had a population of just 65% of the size it has today. Immediately prior to the outbreak of the Hong Kong flu, the United States was rocked by two political assassinations of historic proportions. 500 American servicemen were dying monthly in Vietnam. In February 1969, we lost Don MacTavish in what is now the Xfinity Series at Daytona. Maybe we were just more familiar with death on those days. Too familiar.

    Yet, the impact of those memories, if some can remember at all, is fleeting. A three month hibernation is not what most of us experienced. People died and not just directly from the virus, but they were lost just the same due to actions and non-actions taken in response to the pandemic. Lives were affected, some ruined, in so many ways. Those who had the responsibility to look after us and guide us in times of peril let us down. Those who we thought were in the know were not, and still do not. Sadly, in many areas that continues to this day. Lest we forget…but we will. Just ask any war veteran. How long it will take for such memories to fade is another question.

    Today, we do remember. Today we celebrate the return, in some sense at least, normalcy. Once again, though the grandstands remain silent, the sounds of the engines rumbling like thunder upon the asphalt surface have returned to us through the speakers of our televisions. Yes, absence does make the heart grow fonder. Hell, we even got to see Ryan Newman return behind the wheel. We got to have an escape from scare tactics and fear mongering. We got to sense what hope is. What dreams consist of. What a day under the sun feels like again, even if we must keep socially distanced from our fellow enthusiasts.

    Feeling normal. Normal feels real good about now. It damn near makes me happy.

    Happy. It reminds me that some boy from California won at Darlington on Sunday. Now we have to wait three whole days before we get to see if he can do it again…at Darlington.

    I guess that is what they mean when they talk about a “new normal.”

  • The Final Word…thankfully of just a single race

    The Final Word…thankfully of just a single race

    No!

    I am not a very expressive guy when it comes to watching sporting events. I have long come to realize there are more important things in life than a winning result. Then, there are times when something takes place that is truly important. Something that brings forth emotion.

    No!

    19 years ago was one of those moments. My wife had convinced me to forsake the Daytona 500 finish to go out shopping. It was a race that made me laugh as Dale Earnhardt gave a one-finger salute to a rookie by the name of Kurt Busch. The Intimidator was taking no guff from the cocky kid. As we pulled back into the driveway, we heard the news on the car radio.

    No!

    My enthusiasm for covering NASCAR may have diminished over recent years, but there have been no more shopping sprees to interrupt the Great American Race since. My PVR had caught up to the live action and I was glued to the tube as Ryan Newman made his bid to claim the prize. He came close, then came a bump and a hard right into the wall.

    No!

    While Denny Hamlin was edging out Ryan Blaney at the line, we watched Newman’s upside down flaming wreckage slide down the track. It did not look good. Then they showed the replay.

    No!

    Newman was upside down. Vulnerable. A sitting duck. Corey Lajoie had no place to go to avoid what came next. His car hit Newman’s right on the driver’s side. Hard. You could see where he hit and the damage it caused.

    No!

    My wife and I went out to join some fellow runners for a trek out into a cold winter night. It was therapeutic. As my spikes hit the ice with each step I managed to forget for a moment those fears, that emotion. Then it was over and those emotions returned.

    No!

    NASCAR news was coming to us over Sirius radio in the car as we headed back home. An update. Serious condition, but not life-threatening injuries.

    Yes!

    As I write this, I do not know exactly what that means. I prefer to think it means good news. I prefer to believe it means a guy out of his car seat for a while, a man slowly mending at home, a big burly impatient ornery bear driving his wife crazy as he dreams of a return to the track.

    Yes!

    That is what I choose to believe. That is my hope. It is not who won the race that is important, but the news I have as I finish the day. That brings me some comfort. Some things are more important than who won, but who survived.

  • The Final Word – If only all races were like Talladega

    The Final Word – If only all races were like Talladega

    For the third time this season, NASCAR presented a race worth watching. I am not talking about those good ole boys and girls who have the sport in their blood, who love it, cannot live without it no matter what it looks like. I am talking about those who demand an entertaining three-hour experience if they are going to spend the time to take it all in. Talladega delivered.

    This is what drew people to NASCAR in the first place. They did not know a Fonty Flock from a Smokey Yunick, but they knew what they liked. Tons of action, lots of speed, disaster possibly just around the corner, watching guys doing things we could never pull off on our best day, or even contemplate on our drunkest. On Sunday, Talladega delivered.

    Back in the day, we talked about boys who went by the names of Petty, Roberts, Yarborough, Allison, Earnhardt, Gordon, and Stewart, to name a select few. Today, we once again talk about an Elliott, as the son of Bill from Dawsonville took the prize in the end. Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, and Ryan Preece led three Chevrolets across the line as, for once, the manufacturers made it known they wanted to win. They wanted their representatives to work together to make that happen. Limit what you do for the Ford and Toyota guys. Win one for the Camaro. In the end, thanks to some fine wheelmen and good fortune, Talladega delivered.

    It was a day when sometimes they got too close to the line, and what you would expect would happen at 200 mph at close quarters did happen. Kevin Harvick lasted just 10 laps. Denny Hamlin survived 80. Jimmie Johnson and Clint Bowyer were running at the end, but their odds of winning were about the same as your own. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was front and center most of the day but wrecked by the end. If you were looking for fireworks, Talladega delivered.

    Were the FOX announcers great, keeping you informed and entertained? They did not have to be. The race, the actual event, kept us watching all on its own. Sure, we could talk once more about what changes FOX should make, and what NBC did last season, but we’ve flogged that horse past the point of what the SPCA or even Rodrigo Duterte could tolerate. You wanted a race, you got a race. Talladega delivered.

    Daytona. Bristol. Talladega. Ten races, but only three that kept the viewing public glued to their seats, even if they were nowhere to be seen at that track in Tennessee a few weeks back. To be honest, I was so focused on the race, I could not tell you how many empty seats there might have been in the wilds of Alabama. If they could not or would not make the effort to take this one in, that would have been a shame. Talladega delivered.

    Next week, they are in Dover. The Monster Mile they call it. It has been around for 50 years. Miles the Monster, holding a full sized Cup car up in the air, has been there since 2008. The last time the Cup boys visited there was last October. The winner, the youngest ever to do so at the venue, was one Chase Elliott. Will Dover bring us the same kind of experience as we enjoyed this past weekend? Hell no. Few tracks deliver like Talladega can.

  • The Final Word – Bristol, we have a problem

    The Final Word – Bristol, we have a problem

    Bristol is not Las Vegas, Phoenix, Fort Worth or Charlotte. There are reasons to go to the Virginia-Tennessee border. The country is beautiful. On Sunday, it appears a lot of people were taking in the scenery. They sure in hell were not at the race track.

    NASCAR is in serious trouble. Sure, we have commented on the dropping ratings and crowds for years. The pretty people who once made it the thing to be part of have all disappeared and even the sponsors rarely do anything special in their commercials as they did a decade or more ago. We knew things were not great. Then we saw the grandstands at Bristol on Sunday.

    They were “optimizing the stadium configuration for the spring race only” the track folks announced, taking “a more frontstretch and backstretch approach.” That was their way of explaining why not a single soul was sitting in the large stretches at either end of the facility. Not a soul. No doubt the buses arrived to take the sight seers out on their tour and off they went. Not a candy wrapper to be found.

    “To create a more energetic atmosphere” was what was to be enjoyed by the token few left behind. I can smell the bovine excrement from here. In a stadium that is built for 146,000 fans, only an estimated 38,000 bothered to show up for the prizes and to be revved up during the cautions and stage breaks. When one of your most iconic tracks, one that can be counted on to serve up some great action, looks as abandoned as North Wilkesboro, you have a problem. An Apollo 13 kind of problem.

    Sometimes a race can be highly entertaining. Daytona was. Bristol was. Everything in between was not. They actually sucked. I wager that the “action” presented in Atlanta, Las Vegas, Phoenix, California, Martinsville, and Texas earned the sport not one single new fan. Not one. Instead, they probably sent a few more former fans packing. When they quit turning out at a track like Bristol, disaster looms on the horizon.

    Want a quick easy fix? How about announcers who entertain you in a fashion the race is not. NBC finally got it, with the style of broadcasting delivered by Dale Earnhardt Jr, Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte, Rick Allen and company keeping us tuned in just to hear what those boys and girls might say. On FOX, their style depends on the race being worth to watch, as their commentary does not provide a diversion for when it is not. Thus far, six of the eight have not.

    Now, take that NBC-style commentary with his broadcasters who might tell you what is happening, who might make you think, who certainly will make you laugh, and pipe it through as a channel on the scanners worn by those in the crowd. I am sure it would add to the experience a whole lot more than massive sections of empty seats and a few prizes. If they can not fix the racing, at least fix the experience.

    After 15 years of watching the sport closely, of commenting on it weekly, it simply became a chore for me. I am not the only one. Next year, NASCAR once again attacks its own tradition. For 11 seasons (2004-2014) they moved the Southern 500 out of its usual Labor Day spot. They even dropped the Southern 500 moniker for a time. When they finally returned to tradition, we thought they might have learned something. They did not. Next season, the former Firecracker 400 July race at Daytona moves to the fall, to be replaced by the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. The track at Indy is iconic, the NASCAR racing there is always horrid. Almost unwatchable,

    They keep saying the current schedule is stagnant. Who in hell are “they?” Are “they” people who actually go to the races, who are continuing family traditions with an annual trek to Daytona in the summer on their own dime? I sincerely doubt it. The tracks are not stagnant. The dates are not stagnant. The damn racing experience and the television commentary are what is stagnant. If you want to do something, fix that.

    Next week it is Richmond. Not bad. Two weeks after that, it is Talladega. Always great. After the shock we got at Bristol, I just hope they have enough fans left to fill at least half of the seats. I am taking nothing for granted.

  • The Final Word – Is it a big swing and a miss as NASCAR makes big changes for 2020?

    The Final Word – Is it a big swing and a miss as NASCAR makes big changes for 2020?

    In answer to Sheryl Crow’s question of more than a decade ago, “I don’t.” Other than for Daytona, which usually is a visually thrilling spectacle on its own, this has not been a banner season for the televised version of NASCAR. Sadly, that has been the case for at least 10 years now. Unless you are a stats freak, know who is where in the standings, are a gear head who just loves cars, there is nothing much to see or hear to keep you glued to the tube each week. So, now they plan to shake things up for next season. A lot.

    As a traditionalist, I do not like it at first glance. However, what is, well, no longer seems to be working. In fact, just 13 dates from this season will be the same for next. The Daytona 500 still opens the season in mid-February. Then the changes begin.

    Las Vegas replaces Atlanta the next week as they, along with California, play musical chairs. The biggest change has Homestead moving from 36th to sixth on the schedule as fans of Martinsville will have a big change coming to their lives.

    Martinsville does not appear until nearly two months later, with dates in May and a playoff run in early November. They will have not one but three short track courses to help determine a champion. Richmond and Bristol still have their April dates and, while Richmond retains its September run, they will move Bristol’s second date from August to early November.

    Three iconic events are also on the move. The Southern 500 in Darlington is on the move…again. It drops back a week to take over the Indianapolis playoff spot. The Brickyard 400 will now welcome the fireworks in early July. The former Firecracker 400 will become the final regular season event, as Daytona takes the Darlington date in late August.

    While some dates for other tracks will be moved slightly out of order compared to this season’s schedule, it at least is somewhat recognizable. Even the season conclusion in Phoenix will be on the same date, concluding the year a week earlier and at a different venue.

    There is one more exception. It will no longer be your daddy’s Pocono experience. Instead of visits in early June and then in late July, now it will be two visits in late June on two successive days. A Saturday-Sunday doubleheader. Tell me, how bad have you got it?

    Some of the changes are interesting. Moving the season ending event matters not, as Homestead has never become an iconic event in most minds anyway. Adding a third short track is good. Keeping the roval in Charlotte as part of the mix is fine. Adding some tradition with the Southern 500 becoming even more meaningful actually comes across as a fine idea.

    Moving the summer Daytona date is an eye opener. Maybe it will work out. A doubleheader at Pocono? What would cause fans, who care less and less about the sport, to love the thought of spending a lovely full weekend in Pennsylvania for a double hit of what they do not watch now?

    Pack racing is visually stimulating. Events where the competitors are strung out all over the track are not. It is a simple fact. How to change that perception is something they have yet to find an answer for. For those contests, if the announcers are not entertaining in their own right, only the die-hard fans remain. The rest are gone. Maybe with NBC’s return later in the season with their new approach to covering the action, entertaining us along with describing the action, they can help save the day.

    Since Daytona, the races at Atlanta, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Fontana, and Martinsville have been just painful to watch. I only hope the live experience, at the track, is a much more enjoyable experience. God, I sure hope so.

    How bad have I got it? You know the answer. I miss those days when I did.

  • The Final Final Word – A new season brings new hope

    The Final Final Word – A new season brings new hope

    A new season. A new group of people and combinations. A new rules package. A new reason to hope for more entertaining action.

    We can only hope that this time they will succeed.

    Now, before we get all gooey talking about the good ole days when they raced door to door to the line every time, that is a false memory. Unless you were a fan of Ned Jarrett, his 14 lap win over Buck Baker in the 1965 Southern 500 had to have been as exciting as watching Tom Brady leading the Patriots against the Ardrossan High School Bisons. I hope it was a very nice day to sit in the sun to view something like that. The next best cars were a further five laps behind.

    More than a decade has passed since everyone and their celebrity pet hound had it bad for NASCAR. To be honest, that might have been a very lovely blip on the sport radar. It was a time when those in the south, and a few elsewhere, those who had followed the action for thirty years met up with the celebrities who had been hooked for all of 30 minutes. Big television contracts, big sponsors, big hype and exposure, and even big expenditures were to follow. For a while. The huge television deals still have five years to run, but the sponsors are dwindling along with the fans, the ratings and the exposure. Now, they have to be concerned with those expenditures. What they need to do is capture white lightening in a bottle once more. Can it be done?

    Reduced engine horsepower and aero ducts to promote tighter racing is one plan. That is the aim on most of the tracks over a mile long, with the Daytona 500 an exception. Expect a taller spoiler, a larger front splitter with a bit of an overhang as they seek added downforce and more stable handling. The guy who celebrates on Victory Lane might not be the same name as the guy in the history books. With the top two cars, and a random third, taken for inspection at the track post-race, a major transgression will mean disqualification. That means instead of a win a team could be relegated to 40th place, and it might take up to two hours before the final positions are made official. That won’t delay the post-race celebrations, but how will fans react to seeing the shaking bubbly and the tearful interview, only to discover the son-of-a-gun had no business celebrating? If that happens too many times, a lot of people won’t be very happy. While some would love for it to happen, when Tom Brady got the Super Bowl Trophy no one was going to take it away.

    Teams come and go. Drivers come and go. Crew chiefs come and go, or simply move on. The big story, though, are the fans. They also come and go but will some who left come back? Will new fans be enticed to check it out so the tracks will finally stop tearing down grandstands? Will the racing be such that you wish to capture each and every moment of the experience, with no desire to fast forward to the end?

    Some of those answers could start coming our way this Sunday at the Daytona 500. Here is hoping all our hopes come true.

  • The Final Word – Logano wins at Homestead as my television suddenly went black

    The Final Word – Logano wins at Homestead as my television suddenly went black

    As a journalist, I can say this. Joey Logano is a very talented driver, an aggressive driver who knows what he has to do and has the desire and the ability to pull it off. He is a very deserving Cup champion. I say that as a journalist.

    However, in these days of “fake news”, I should mention that I write this as a columnist. A true journalist, of whom there are very few these days, observe and chronicle events impartially and objectively, without bias or partisanship, giving you information based on only what they see and not on how they feel.

    I am a fan who writes a column, complete with my observations, my opinions and even my emotions on the subject. So, as a journalist, I applaud and recognize the talents of our new champion. As a fan, I must say I am just a bit disappointed. I mean, Joey Logano? You got to be freaking’ kidding me. Him?

    I did not see the post-race interviews or celebration. They did not interest me. I did not feel satisfied with the outcome of the race. Martin Truex Jr.? I only wish. Kevin Harvick? He is my man. Kyle Busch? The man is a top-drawer talent, a sure Hall of Famer one day. Logano? One day I may come to embrace him, to love him as a fan, to celebrate his deeds. Sadly, that day has not yet arrived.

    Every one of our four championship contenders was right there in the mix until the last half dozen laps or so. Busch started on the front row, but it was Harvick the top dog after the opening stage. In the second, Harvick was again the man, even though Kyle Larson managed to beat him at the line to claim the stage. When they came back on the track after pit stops, Logano was up front, followed by Harvick, Busch, and Truex in that order. The best was going up against the best. They survived, they thrived, as the four contenders led the way ahead of the 35 pretenders.

    With 48 laps to declare a champion, Truex had gotten by Logano. Green flag stops saw Harvick the best of those who stopped, but Busch had not and led his closest rival by 22 seconds, with Logano right behind Harvick running fifth. Daniel Suarez got sent for a skid and after more pit action it was Busch still ahead. With 17 laps to run, Busch had the lead exiting the pits but Truex took off as the action returned to green. He looked gone, but looks can be deceiving. Just four laps later, with the Jaws-theme playing in our heads, Logano tracked the defending champion down. He made the pass, and it was he who disappeared into the sunset to claim the 2018 Cup championship. He had the talent and the horses to seal the deal.

    Truex was second. Harvick finished third. Busch concluded his season in fourth. However, it was the 28-year-old from Middletown, Connecticut making up for his 2016 runner-up season. It was his third win of the year and the 21st of his Cup career. It was freaking Joey Logano.

    Like it or not, it was a well-deserved victory. It matters not that I did not like it. An objective observer would wish to celebrate. However, few fans are that objective. Me included.

  • The Final Word – The championship hopes of four were unable to rise from the ashes at Phoenix

    The Final Word – The championship hopes of four were unable to rise from the ashes at Phoenix

    LEADERSHIP…sucks. Usually, when you lead a race, when you are the guy kicking ass and taking names, it is a good thing. Not at Phoenix. It turned out to be steering the leading car was very similar to being the moral compass on the Walking Dead. You just wind up being some zombie’s souffle. Just when a boy became the golden child, the man out front, the driver all alone leading the parade, fate kicked him in the teeth.

    Kevin Harvick was the man to start. He had the pole, he took the lead, he beat back all challenges from Chase Elliott. Then, with a couple of laps to go in the opening stage, a tire went down, his lead went out the window, and he was forced to pit. Elliott grabbed the points. Harvick wound up with a bucket of something less tasteful than honey.

    Off to the second stage. Elliott lost the front to Kurt Busch. He dominated. He was the man. Joey Logano already had his pass to Homestead, so when his left rear let go and wrecked out, no big deal. However, with about 20 laps left, Clint Bowyer’s own left rear departed to end his day as well as his championship hopes.

    It was time to pit, to get some fresh rubber. Harvick stayed out after the caution had put him back on the lead lap. A win by Busch would have made that fact meaningless, but he decided to gas it coming to the pits and that pushed him past the pace car. A lap penalty was his reward. Once again, Harvick was back in the top four in the battle to advance, along with Logano, Martin Truex Jr. as well as Kyle Busch, who went on to win the stage.

    So, when it came down to the final push, Harvick was just three points ahead of Kurt in points banked, but sitting a lap and more than 20 positions ahead of him on the track. Of course, if Elliott could win it, it would not matter what either of those two boys did. As for Kyle and Truex, they just had to avoid disaster to run against Logano for the championship next week.

    It was all Kyle Busch. For a while. Then he gave up the lead to Elliott. Just in time, as it turned out. When Elliott pitted under green, he was a little too speedy. So much for the lead, but on an interesting track, both the action and the intrigue just went up a notch. Who was going to be in and who was going to be left on the outside? All the contenders were back on the lead lap, all had a shot coming down to the final 50 laps.

    Some of the mystery went away late in the run. Kurt Busch was not leading, but he was close. When Denny Hamlin got loose and went up the track, he got very close to Busch. Too close. They made contact, Busch caught the fence, then turned down to take out Elliott. Three on the outside were now done, with only one challenger remaining.

    Aric Almirola needed to win. He needed to catch Kyle Busch. He looked good for a short time. Too short. There were just not enough ponies under his hood. When they hit the line, Kyle won his 51st career Cup race, with Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson between him and Almirola. Harvick finished fifth, Truex was 14th.

    Despite the storylines, the quartet for Homestead remained as expected. Logano and the Big Three go in, with the best of the four in Florida in that one race taking home the championship. Next week, leadership will mean everything.

  • The Final Word – It was the AAA Happy Harvick Texas 500

    The Final Word – It was the AAA Happy Harvick Texas 500

    After Texas, then there were two locked into Homestead. One stole the show at Martinsville and then attempted to deny the second his ticket. Joey Logano failed to pull it off as he wound up third. Ryan Blaney had something to showcase and he had his moments. Not enough of them, as he had to settle for second.

    No, Texas was all about Kevin Harvick and nothing but Kevin Harvick. He dominated to sweep the stages, to win by four-tenths of a second to claim his eighth victory of the season. Taking the maximum amount of points was nice, but the goal was to advance to Homestead and join Logano among the final championship contenders. Mission accomplished.

    It could have been different. The vibrations being felt by the boys on Sunday were not good. Was it a loose wheel or just how the tires were reacting? Harvick almost pulled in but was talked out of it. They could not talk Kyle Busch from doing so, and he was buried in 17th. Martin Truex Jr. did the same, even picked up a penalty on pit road, but at least managed a Top Ten finish. Two of our Big Three are not yet in, but they remain 28 and 30 points, respectively, ahead of the seventh-place finisher, Kurt Busch, as they head to Phoenix.

    We saw little of Chase Elliott, who was sixth, but now needs to win next weekend, barring a catastrophe or two to hit his rivals. Aric Almirola is now seventh in the standings, 18th at Texas, and not even the world’s best mathematician can come up with any scenario that does not involve a win to allow him to advance.

    Then there was Clint Bowyer. He wiggled and came together with Denny Hamlin on the opening lap. Ten circuits later, both cars were in for deflating rubber. They were gone from the lead lap, going beyond a lap down, and things just got worse all day long. Neither would be seen among the Top 25 on the day. For Bowyer, winning has also become everything.

    What can we expect at Phoenix? Harvick has nine wins there. Nine. Jimmie Johnson has four, but no one expects a vintage version of Jimmie to emerge this season. As for the remaining six contenders seeking a win, only the two Busch boys have won at Phoenix, and both of those wins came in the Busch Brother sweep of 2005.

    Hope is not all lost. Elliott has finished second and third in the past two events at the venue. Kyle was runner-up earlier this year, and his average over the past six is better than a fourth-place result. Truex was fifth in the spring, and third last autumn. Kurt had a Top Ten in their last visit. Almirola has had a pair of Top Tens in the past two. Bowyer was sixth in March.

    Who am I kidding? Harvick will march into Phoenix and do what Harvick often does. Barring very bad tidings for one or two of them at Phoenix, Homestead will feature the Big Three and the Big Logano. Anything else would be considered a major surprise.

  • The Final Word – Logano steals a musical chair from Truex at Martinsville

    The Final Word – Logano steals a musical chair from Truex at Martinsville

    We are down to a game of musical chairs. Four spots, with eight drivers who very much want one of them. Let me just say that musical chairs sucks. When you are a reserved fat kid, the more athletic aggressive lads are going to go after those seats hard. Also, you will never be a hero dropping a young lady on her ass. Fortunately for the gents at Martinsville on Sunday, not a young lady to be found. No fat kids, either, come to think of it.

    A fat aggressive butt might be useful, but not as much as a fast aggressive Busch with a good cushion in points coming in. Kyle Busch came in with a 40 point advantage over the outsiders and was third in the opening stage to bump his margin up by one. Hey, every point counts, as seven of eight contenders added to their totals in that initial run, with Chase Elliott being the lone exception. As for Bill’s boy, he fell from fourth to seventh in points locked and secured in the bank at that point, but they had a lot more racing left on the day.

    As long as the car stays together, that is. During the fueling intermission, Clint Bowyer had moved to within a couple of points of Elliott’s replacement in fourth, Joey Logano, when he made hard contact with William Byron in the pits. Surprisingly, his car showed little damage. Instead of a Ford, he must have been driving something made from Tonka. Martin Truex Jr. tested it further during the run, as the pair made some contact in the tight corners.

    Bowyer and five others among our contenders managed stage points in the middle frame. Logano dominated to gain the max amount of points, with Kyle Busch again third. Denny Hamlin, who won that first round, was second this time out. Some guys do not need to be part of no stinkin’ playoffs to make themselves relevant. Neither Kevin Harvick or Aric Almirola collected any bonuses, but the former was still more than 30 to the good. Almirola, on the other hand, seemed about to make like the Titanic and sink out of view. You could almost hear the band playing.

    Truex had some issues going through spec and started this one at the back of the field. He had never won at a short track. He took the lead from Logano with 140 of the scheduled 500 laps to go as weather threatened to move in. That was exciting. It was for about 15 laps when Logano charged back in front.

    We had not seen much of Brad Keselowski. Neither had Logano until his teammate passed him with just over 40 miles to go. Only eight drivers mattered coming in, but nobody told the 2012 Cup champion.

    Bowyer was one who mattered coming in. However, a spin with about 20 miles to go when track position mattered a lot did him no favors. The caution, on the other hand, was welcomed by a few others. Logano and Kyle Busch hit the green up front, while Keselowski and Hamlin were right behind them. It was the contenders against the pretenders for a big ole grandfather clock awaiting the winner in Victory Lane.

    Keselowski could not care less about playing nice with the playoff posse. He roughed up Busch to take over second. He roughed up his teammate but Logano held him off. That is when Truex, who was in the third row for the re-start, re-emerged to tango with Logano, to make a bid for that elusive short-track victory as the pair went fender to fender over the final three miles.

    They were rubbing. They were banging. They were sliding. It was Logano coming across the line to punch his ticket to Homestead. It marked his second of the season and the 20th victory of his Cup career.

    With Truex out of shape, he had to settle for third as Hamlin got by him on the inside. The result means Logano has one of the four seats reserved for Homestead. Kyle Busch is 46 points to the good, with Harvick and Truex sitting 25 on the sunny side. Kurt Busch finds himself 25 away, while Elliott, Bowyer, and Almirola needing to win at Texas or Phoenix to steal a chair or two from the Big Three.

    Musical chairs suck…unless you are watching the pratfalls from the sidelines. One thing to watch for in Homestead is Logano finding the wall instead of the championship. Truex is already installing the sights in his car as we speak.