There were those that thought the race at Fontana was a real snoozer… that is until the last few laps of the race. One reason was the dominance of Kyle Bush at the 2 mile oval track in California. Not only did he win the Nationwide race on Saturday, but he led the most laps and looked like he was going to walk away with the Cup victory right up until the end. That’s when Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick decided to make it a race when the yellow came out after Bobby Labonte blew a right front tire and hit the wall.
Kyle Bush and six others decided to stay out on the track rather than come in and take tires on that last yellow flag. Thanks to NASCAR’s double file restart rule from last year, what could have been a predictable end to the 400 miles, became an exciting finish on a Sunday afternoon in California. Before the final yellow, Stewart had been catching Kyle Bush. At that last restart with nine laps to go, Tony Stewart unexpectedly dropped back from the front and was not a factor even though he looked like he might take the win a little bit earlier.
For the first few laps after the restart, it still looked as though Kyle was going to take the win but Jimmie Johnson finally caught up to him and passed him with three to go and it looked like Johnson was going to squeak out the win. Kevin Harvick had other plans though. He had more horses hooked up to the track and pulled ahead coming out of the last turn to take the win. In this fan’s opinion, it was one of the best finishes at the California track ever.
I heard the remarks of the guys on Tv and they stated Kevin Harvick had intimidated Johnson by pushing him part way down the backstretch and I don’t totally disagree with them. But in this fan’s opinion, it was very obvious Harvick had more horse power working for him than Johnson and not just intimidation and that’s what helped him win. Yeah, it’s also true he made an excellent move at the last turn, but it’s still my opinion he quite simply had a few more horses than Jimmie Johnson.
Well, that makes five different winners in the first five races in 2011. If things continue on as they have so far, I’m thinking we may have 36 different winners this year.
Well, maybe not, but I’m still gonna be watching every week to see what really does happen…
See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© April 1, 2011 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman and Nascarfansview.com
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