Category: Race Central

Jimmie Johnson won one of the longest races of the year. The excitement level of this race was very similar to waiting in the waiting room at the dentist office. This race was a long drawn out ordeal. It was painful to watch. The most important thing to remember and the biggest area of concern is the fact that this is the 4th race of the Chase and not a single one of them has been a good race.

[media-credit name=”Kyle Ocker” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]We need to remember that people paid for tickets to see these races. We are concerned about our ticket sales in the sport and races like this are very illustrative as to why. The long drawn out follow the leader racing does not make for good racing. It does not make for good entertainment. It’s simply in a word boring. The entire broadcast for TV centers much like a vulture circling the 12 chase contenders. Who will have a problem? Will they rebound? Are they out?

The points changes are broadcast on every 30 minutes, even though the points do not change until the checkered flag waves. Three of the four races have had an exciting ending. But an exciting final 25 to 30 laps doesn’t make a good race it makes a good ending.

A good race is constant racing throughout the distance. Nascar has yet to manage to produce that with the current car used in competition. Now we are looking at a new COT for 2013. As fans we have to be concerned about our dollars spent on tickets. As members of the media we have to be concerned about our futures in trying to paint a plain white wall with a decorative brush and make it exciting. Simply it’s going to be very difficult to continue to draw fans to the track or the TV with this kind of competition. But ratings are up. They are up because the new points system paints the chase as exciting and close competition. While the points are close the competition simply isn’t there.  Drivers struggle to give entertaining comments and gently avoid talking about the fact that is painfully obvious to even them, the event was boring.

Jimmie Johnson lead the most laps and he lead the last lap. His domination was slowed only six times. Only three times  for other car incidents. The longer they ran the stronger he got and the further his lead became. At one point he led by 14 seconds. He showed without a shadow of a doubt why they have dominated the Chase for the last five years.

With his victory Johnson moved to within four points of leader Carl Edwards. By history the points leader leaving Kansas has won the Championship since the Chase’s inception.

Edwards who struggled all day to stay on the lead lap found himself finishing in the 5th position and taking over the points lead from Kevin Harvick. “What a fun race that was. There was certainly a lot of luck involved there. Man I wanted to win for these home fans at Kansas but this is like getting a win considering how it looked like it could have been. I have to thank my AFLAC team. They did a great job today, they never stopped and we were able to work out way back up there. We were just way off in the beginning but they worked hard all day and it paid off at the end.” Edwards said of his day.

Second Place Kasey Kahne was a steady occupant in the top ten all day. Staying within striking distance and making the Red Bull Toyota better with ever stop.

Brad Keselowski finished his Kansas weekend with a third place finish to follow up his win in the Nationwide Series on Saturday. “The Miller Dodge was good. I am proud of the effort. Kind of an up and down day. We got up to be a second or third place car mid part of the race, then kind of fell off a little bit, but came back. Third place day, that’s good. That’s what you’ve got to do. Really we want to win races like Jimmie, but we;re making the est we can out of it. If he stumbles, we’ll be there.”

This win was the 199th victory for Hendrick Motorsports and clinched the manufacturers Championship for Chevrolet.

“You know, when I look through all the pictures, since the beginning of Hendrick Motorsports, and I look at the wins, and I remember the celebrations, I can remember vividly that I didn’t know if I’d ever win one race. I know there were some years where I thought, ‘Are we going to win a race this year?’ When you say you’ve won a race in the Cup Series, you’ve accomplished something; but when you think about 200 wins – it’s unbelievable.” Hendrick said.

“This sport is so tough, look at all the second places we have this year, we have been close but just have not got the job done. We were glad to get the win done today. Big win for Mr. Hendrick, 199 and also Chevrolet winning the Manufacturing Championship, couldn’t do without all them and all the great people at Lowes’, they have been behind us since day one. We did our job today and hopefully we can do it six or seven more times.” Johnson said.