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Racing in Atlanta was fast, slippery, at times a little wild and the finish … well … it was as I predicted. Carl Edwards won the race and that could prove to be an ominous precursor of who will win the race in Texas this coming weekend. I also predicted Jimmy Johnson would finish in the top five and he accomplished that by finishing second. Now, I’m not bragging but I do feel pretty good about both of those choices.
Chad Knaus once again made a gutsy decision in calling Jimmy to the pits for tires on the last yellow of the race. At first glance, it appeared to be a questionable call that could have either cost him a lot of points or moved him up to the front. The latter proved to be true as Jimmy went from eleventh to second in the single file start with nine laps left to go. He flew through the pack and, in my opinion, if there would have been two more laps or a green-white- checker finish, the end results up front could have been slightly different.
I have to be honest here, I didn’t think it was a very good call that Chad made, but when I saw how fast Jimmy was picking off the competition and moving toward the front after the last restart, I was absolutely amazed and once again realized why Chad Knaus is the crew chief and I am just a fan looking on.
It looked like it was going to be a bad day for the 48 team after Jimmy was tagged by Nascar for going to fast in the pits.That moved him way to the back and put him a lap down. At the very least, it looked like he was going to lose at least sixty points and could have lost as many eighty. Instead of losing points to the others in the Chase, he actually added to his lead slightly even though he finished second behind Edwards.
A quick look at the top twelve finishing order shows that all five of the Roush/Fenway team cars, all four of the Hendrick teams and two of the Joe Gibbs cars finished in the top twelve spots. Kurt Bush also made another strong showing for Penske Racing, showing they are becoming more competitive once again.
I heard quite a bit of chatter about the tire that Goodyear brought to the track from commentators and teams, but in reality, this “Just A Fan’s View” of the situation is, they brought a reliable tire and shouldn’t have to take too much blame. The track is just getting old and abrasive. Some compare it to the way Darlington used to be. That limits what the tires can actually be called upon to help as far as this situation is concerned.
It is my opinion that the high speeds and the heavier cars along with the bump stops and the higher roll centers, are very demanding on the tires and it would not matter who manufactures them. It is just the way things are at the moment. Time will tell if changes are made to help the tire maker even though the word is Nascar says it isn’t going to make changes to the C.O.T. at the present.
This race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway was a great race. It proved once again that the race isn’t over until the checkered flag drops. I think that the track and the tires just show us all how good these Nascar drivers are. I don’t know of any one on the track that didn’t have to manhandle in their car in some way or other to make it go as fast as it could and still keep it going the right direction. It was a handful with the slippery track and the hard tires.
Still, I am glad that the drivers don’t have perfect conditions at every track because they are touted as the best drivers in the world and they prove it week in and week out by the way get every hundredth of a second out of these cars. I like it when a driver like Carl Edwards gets out of the car and doesn’t complain about how bad the tires are but says, “It is fun and I hope they keep on running tires like this at this track!”
Well, that about says it all.
See ya next time …
Rusty
©PCN Productions and Rusty Norman