David Reutimann and his “00” team used the old, “We’re stayin’ out and we hope it keeps on raining” strategy to hopefully propel themselves to victory in the Coca Cola 600 this last weekend. Although it took 2 hours for that strategy to finally play out, it proved to be the winning strategy of the rain-plagued race.
Hi everyone, and welcome to this weeks Coca Cola 600 After Chatter from Just A Fan’s View.
Looks as though I was right when I said the race this week was going to be an endurance event for the fan’s as well as the drivers. It proved to be even more of an endurance run for both of them than even I could have imagined. The rain completely changed the complexion of the competition for the race this weekend from one of hanging in there until the last one hundred laps and then going for it, to one of, “I just hope we’re out front when they finally call this thing.”
I know that may sound like an over simplification, but I just couldn’t resist. After waiting for the rain to stop several times for long delays, Nascar finally threw in the umbrella and decided that trying to continue was pointless. After all, there is always next week. I really felt for the fan’s that stuck it out to the end and they proved, once again, Nascar fan’s are some of the most devoted fans on earth.
It is unfortunate that the rain put such an extended damper on what was to be a very full day of memorial and appreciation for the all of the military veterans that have given so much for this country over the years. The race was supposed to be the topping on the day of remembering and appreciating all who have given so much to all of us. To add to the disappointment of the weekend, and not because they didn’t try to “git ‘er done”, Nascar had to call the race and thereby added to the “uneventfulness” of the event. It is a shame because, with the delays, and if the sky would have cleared, the race could have run into the night and been finished under the lights as originally planned for the day before. Oh well, as they used to say at our local track, “that’s racing”.
I would have liked to have seen what would have really happened if there had been no rain. Because of the way rain caused the yellow and red flags to fall, it totally changed how everyone approached the racing. Some were racing as if there were only going to be 201 laps while others figured to go most of the distance if not the full 400 laps. Some teams guessed right on their setup for the change to a totally day race and some obviously didn’t and struggled from the beginning.
I still think the ones I picked to finish at, or near, the front would have done so without all the rain. All of those predictions are nice to consider at this point, but completely pointless because it did rain, and continued to rain and then rained some more.
I will say this, I bet the commentators and pit reporters are more worn out than the drivers and crews . I’ve had the privilege to run cameras and sometimes work sound over extended periods before (although not for race events) and I bet those guys had more than enough rain and weather breaks to last them a while.
I always found over long events with unexpected delays, the busier you are the faster the time goes, particularly when you’re on a camera. These guys had to put in a full extra day because of the rain. (To top it all off, they had to tear down all of their equipment before they could go home. That’s why I admire the “tech teams” at such events. They’re the ones you hardly ever hear about or see but without them, you wouldn’t hear or see anything on radio or Tv.)
I’m happy that David Reutimann won if for no other reason than it’s his first cup win and he has been running pretty good so far this year. I’m really glad for him and his owner, Micheal Waltrip, because, overall, MWR has been working really hard for three years to make this happen. They took a chance and it worked out for them and it still counts as a win. The great thing is that a few years down the road no one will even know it was a rain-shortened event. When people look at the statistics, it will say David Reutimann won the race and he was driving for Michael Waltrip Racing … that’s it … there will be no mention of the rain in the record book — just who won.
Well, hopefully the weather will clear for the race coming this weekend in Dover at the Monster Mile. I don’t know if anyone wants to sit through another rain delay for a while, (at least, I know I don’t.)
See ya next time…
Rusty
(All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer)
© May 2009 – all rights reserved
Just A Fans View & Rusty Norman
