While the outcome of Sunday’s Lennox Industrial Tools 301 may have been disapointing for many of us, it reminded us of how hard it is to actually win a race in NASCAR. A team that has the best car and the best driver for a given race doesn’t necessarily come out the winner, and we saw that at Loudon.
The teams that stayed out during the caution with around thirty laps to go were merely expecting to get a good finish. They knew they wouldn’t be able to beat the cars that had been running so well all day–those of Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Jeff Burton, for example– and expected to be about four laps short on fuel if the race had gone green for the scheduled distance, but they took a gamble that many teams take at nearly every race. The results that came of the gamble were better than expected, with Kurt Busch winning the race, Michael Waltrip second, and JJ Yeley third.
It would be fun to think about what might have happened if the rain hadn’t come down, but it is really pointless to do so, in much the same way it would be to think about what would have happened if it had started raining fifteen minutes earlier.
It was disappointing to see the race end the way it did, but what happened happened, and we got to see yet another way a race is won.
For those who missed the race, or perhaps wish to relive the experience, Rev’Jim’s RantsnRaves has the race “Live on Type Delay:
There are a lot of fast cars making their way up through the field. Besides Stewart, who is now running in thirteenth, having gained fifteen positions from his starting spot, Jeff Gordon seems to finally have a good car to start with and has made it into the top ten…read more
There are also some thoughts on the Nationwide series at Rev’Jim’s in the post “Dave Rogers, Jr Celebrates Hometown Victory“
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July 2, 2008 at 2:01 am
I might be the only one, but I’m a little surprised that NASCAR called the race on account of the rain so quickly? I remember the times where I was waiting all day for a race to restart due to a rain delay…but I guess they were almost done with the race so what the hell right? I still would of liked to see the race all the way through! Oh well!
July 2, 2008 at 2:58 am
I think the only reason they might have called it as soon as they did was the amount of laps left. But yet they wait longer in Kansas last year..what was it two hours?
I guess that is why they get the big bucks.
July 2, 2008 at 5:57 am
I believe they were looking at the weather radar, and could see no break in the weather at any reasonable time. With only twenty-six laps or so to go, it would have been impractical to suspend the race and finish it the next morning, so you are correct in that there wasn’t enough of the race left to wait out the rain.