|
 Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon and Martin Truex Jr. all came
out of a rainy desert day and night to make it out of the final race
of the Eliminator Round in Phoenix with more than a little momentum.
Though he finished second to race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr., Harvick
led 143 of the rain-shortened race's 219 laps. Busch proved he could
continue to advance by showing patience discovered during his
11-race layoff for injuries and by not over-driving his Joe Gibbs
Racing Toyota to finish fourth.
In his last race on the Phoenix mile, sixth-placed Gordon maintained
the momentum needed to win his first title under the Chase format
that started with a win at the Martinsville Speedway. And Truex
shadowed his closest rival, Carl Edwards, well enough to insure his
one-car team would make an appearance in the Final Four that nobody
would have predicted in February - including the driver himself.
It was a weird race.
And after a highly unpredictable Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup
thus far, why not finish up the penultimate round with a desert
rainstorm that delays the start by over six hours and then ends the
race early?
Little E won by virtue of the odd - but fair - rule that scores the
leader during a caution by who gets to the start-finish line at the
middle of the pit road first. Since the leaders were slowing on the
back straight for the yellow caution lights, the fortuitous pit stop
by Earnhardt Jr.'s Hendrick Motorsports team meant he could take on
fresh tires and still get to the start-finish first while on the pit
road. Then the rains came while the field was under yellow.
Earnhardt Jr.'s win with what appeared to be a Top 5 car may have
been salve for losing by less than a foot at the Talladega
Superspeedway when a caution ended the green-white-checkered finish
early. And, he said, it helps continue one of his best Chase runs
ever. "I'm proud of this Chase because we've sort of lived up to
that potential we've always said we've had and we always showed in
those first 26 races."
But Little E remains disappointed about the Talladega race, yet
another major turning point in a career that now has 26 victories
and no championship.
"It's a shame that we didn't win that race because it was pretty
damn badass how we drove that race," he said. "The whole lead-up
into Talladega was about dad's 15th anniversary and how he came from
20th or whatever with 10 laps to go and won. Well, I just about
rivaled that race with that run we had at Talladega, but we didn't
win, so nobody's ever going to remember that one."
The rain ended what little hope remained for the Penske Racing team.
Brad Keselowski wasn't a contender during the race scheduled for
mid-afternoon and run at night. The Penske hopes rested on Joey
Logano being able to find his way around the Stewart-Haas Racing
Chevy of Harvick, which wasn't going to happen easily.
The rain might have been an ally for Logano, who was behind
Earnhardt Jr. and Harvick during the caution. Had a green waved, the
driver known for his restarting ability might have been able to get
into the lead and hold onto it until the rains came. But the green
flag never waved and Logano will have to wait another year before he
can repeat last season's first appearance in the Final Four at
Homestead.
[to top of second column] |
Logano's season turned on the Martinsville race, where he was dumped
into the wall while leading by Matt Kenseth in retaliation for their
coming together at the Kansas Speedway in the fifth race of the
Chase. When asked about the ongoing weirdness for him during this
year's Chase -- including the Phoenix round -- Logano stuck to a
positive spin.
"That's the way this game's played," he said. "That's the way the
Chase is. There's no doubt in my mind we're still the strongest team
on the race track. I feel like this team is as tight as ever, as
fast as ever and we've still got one more race to go out and win,
and I'm confident this team will keep doing that."
The season finale at Homestead may not have the Penske team, but
will have the sport's other three strongest teams represented. In
addition to the one-car team of Furniture Row Racing of Truex Jr.,
the powerhouses of Hendrick, Stewart-Haas and Joe Gibbs Racing will
be in the running. Three of the four teams are Chevy entries and
it's not a surprise Chevrolet clinched the manufacturer's
championship at Phoenix.
What was unexpected was yet another win by a non-Chase driver and
the third in a row by the Hendrick team during the Eliminator round.
Earnhardt Jr. said it came down to the leadership of team owner Rick
Hendrick.
"Rick sat us down this summer and told us to get to work," he said.
"I didn't know if we could work any harder, but when Rick tells you
to get to work, you find something else to do every minute of the
day. Everybody is working harder, and the guys in the engine shop
found some power. They've done a lot of work trying to improve
there. All the teams in the fab shop started working harder to build
better cars, newer cars, different cars and we found some speed."
Does this mean Hendrick driver Gordon is the favorite to cap his
stellar career by winning a championship in the final race of his
final season?
If so, some credit also goes to team owner Hendrick, who was at
Phoenix to help celebrate, for keeping Gordon's career going. "I
talked him into one more year a couple of times so he deserves to be
able to take a break," said Hendrick. "But it's going to be kind of
strange going to Daytona and seeing the 24 car without his name on
the roof. It's going to be exciting and a very emotional race at
Homestead."
Given the cast of characters, an emotional finish is just about
guaranteed no matter who comes out on top.
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
