It is funny how we react to certain aromas. When I was a kid, we lived near the public works yards my father worked at. My brother and I would wander amongst the heavy equipment, taking in the smells of their exhaust and even today I rather like the smell of gasoline and diesel fuel. It is nostalgic. Growing up in a rural area, I always loved the fragrance produced by my grandparent’s coal burning stove on a winter morning as I headed out to do my chores. All around were the more earthy nuances produced by the cattle. “That is the smell of money, son,” I was often told. Such bouquets might not be appreciated by all, but to me, they recall memories of home and childhood.
Not all things can be appreciated. Chicken coops and pig pens, for example, no matter how clean you try to keep them, were never agreeable. However, the worst was the honey wagon. No matter how long you lived in farming country, the stench produced by that device was beyond most human endurance. The liquid that came from it might have been termed as “fertilizer”, but there was no mistaking its origins. At Charlotte, some would agree that they replaced the pace car with a honey wagon. A lot of Chasers came away splattered.
Rain might have won Saturday night, but Sunday was a day the boys did their best to avoid the crap. Barely a third of the way in, Joey Logano had a right front tire issue, which gave him a free pass straight into the fence. His day would not get better, especially when it happened again. They came in even in points, but Logano knew he would have work to do over the next two weeks.
Kevin Harvick was running in fourth when something strange happened. His car shut off. It is hard to race all those opponents with the big engines when all you have is a soap box derby car. Back to the garage Harvick went, finishing behind even Logano. It appeared he would have a mountain to climb to continue on in his bid for a second championship.
With 75 laps to go, two more Chasers joined our already beleaguered duo. Austin Dillon was on the front of the inside row for a restart when Martin Truex Jr. tried to come up behind to give him a shot of acceleration to move the pair to the front. Instead, it shot Dillon to the inside wall for a race-ending impact, while in the chaos behind them, Kyle Busch took evasive action that clipped Chase Elliott to the outside and a sudden termination of his hopes. Four down.
It could have been worse for that quartet. Denny Hamlin commented at one point that they were just trying to avoid all the drama. Sadly, sometimes the theatrical production goes on the road and meets up with you. With just 26 laps to go, the second-place Hamlin went up in smoke, leaving Jimmie Johnson to charge to the victory and a pass to the Round of Eight.
Seven of the Top Eight in the standings are at least 19 points to the good as they head to Kansas for next Sunday. However, the mountain for those on the outside got reduced to a small hill, thanks to Hamlin, who finished 30th. While he sits eighth in the standings. Elliott and Dillon are just three points away, Logano six, and Harvick, who was 38th, is within eight. Whoever thought someone would add a dash of perfume to the honey wagon? It still stinks, but nowhere near as bad as it might have been. That leaves them all with a chance to get back in, to advance through points. All they need is a little good luck and a little bad luck for some others.
Yes, it could have been worse, Yet, despite being freshly fertilized, they all came through the day smelling a lot more like roses than smelling like…well…you know.
