It starts with 'P', rhymes with 'T' and stands for Trouble
Well the P is for Phoenix and the T is for trouble. Phoenix is a
disaster in waiting for a lot of these teams because there are so
many places at that track where you can get into trouble. You have
the dog-leg off the back, the tight racing off of Turn 4, the front
straightaway is really narrow and heavy braking getting into Turn 1
and the list goes on.
So it's a tough little ol' track. A lot of people are talking
about Mark having won there in the spring and that it will give him
an advantage this time. It's true he won but it was sort of a night
race. This time the race starts in the afternoon. You will have the
sun in your eyes as you head down the front straightaway and that
will be an issue they have to deal with.
As we've told you many times in the past, that Phoenix track
has an identity crisis. Sure it's a 1-mile track, but you race it
like a short track and it acts like it's a superspeedway. And then
on top of all that, you have to throw in the fact that it's flat.
Don't you find it ironic that the two best drivers at Phoenix
-- Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin -- are not only teammates, but
also 1-2 in the points? So that will be really neat to watch as
they battle it out for the championship.
I always loved driving at Phoenix. It's a driver's track and
it's a lot of fun. But again, looks can be deceiving. When you
watch qualifying, watch that ticker because when they are hauling
down that back straightaway they will be hitting 165 mph to 170
mph. Then come race time watch the drivers use the apron. You'll
see guys like Kevin Harvick go all the way down on it in both turns
to pick up some grip in those left side tires.
With as long and as narrow as that front straightaway is I
can see some trouble brewing during the double-file restarts. You
saw Kyle Busch have trouble last week at Texas during the restarts
but that has always been a characteristic of that particular spot
on the track.
Remember that the rule is you can't beat the leader to the
Start/Finish line. So that gives the leader of the race a huge
advantage despite whether he picks the inside or outside lane to
restart in. Being able to go first and not having to worry about
being passed until the Start/Finish gives a big advantage to the
guy in first place.
But my point is again with the narrow front stretch and how
things bottleneck going into Turn 1, I would look for some serious
issues this weekend at Phoenix. The other thing about Phoenix that
everyone takes into consideration is that it's a short race. It's
only 312 laps so you better have your car right when the green flag
falls.
Qualifying is unbelievably important there. Being able to get
a good pit selection is primo. If you are able to sit on the pole
and get the No. 1 pit stall, well that's a huge advantage. So that
goes back to my point on Monday about the No. 48 car and how they
better start qualifying better.
This weekend they better spend more time focusing on the pole
instead of only worrying about race setup. You can anticipate Mark
Martin being bad fast there so you need to qualify and have a pit
right near him. You don't want to give the old man any kind of
advantage because he will be in your mirror or passing you for the
lead before you know it.
All three of our major series are there again this weekend.
Just like last weekend, Kyle Busch will be going for the trifecta.
Again, like I said Monday I would love to see him do it simply
because nobody has. It doesn't matter to me a lick that it's Kyle,
I mean it could be anybody going for it. I simply love watching
folks do something that has never been done before. I just think
that's cool.
Jimmie goes into this race with a 73-point lead. It's the
second-largest point lead anyone has had going into the final two
races of the Chase. So it's not like the guy is toast and doesn't
have a chance. 73 points is huge with two races to go. All he
really needs to do is qualify well, avoid the problem areas I
mentioned before and finish in the top two or three spots.
He has his work cut out for him because that No. 5 bunch will
be breathing down the No. 48's neck. But at this point in time you
still have to say that Jimmie is the odds-on favorite for the 2009
championship. I also think it is pretty cool that it looks like the
Hendrick Motorsports cars of the No. 48, No. 5 and No. 24 are going
to take the top three spots in the final points. That's something
else that has never been done before.
It would be such a huge accomplishment. It just shows how
well those teams work together. Speaking of working together, I was
simply amazed at some of the comments I heard and read from folks
following the race about teammates going over and helping out on
the No. 48.
For the life of me I don't understand why some folks were so
up in arms about the No. 5, the No. 24 and the No. 88 members going
over to help get the No. 48 back on the track. When I hear stuff
like that it sure makes me wonder how much they really know about
our sport. It tells me they haven't followed our sport for 30 or 40
years like some of us have. It tells me they must be fairly new
fans that are used to watching other sports where the athletes are
selfish.
Those folks that are running their mouth about why teammates
would even consider helping the No. 48 definitely need a history
lesson on our sport. Our sport was built on and has gone for 60+
years now on helping one another. Sure we want to beat one another
on the track but that doesn't mean teammates should ignore helping
teammates.
So if you are one of those that think what happened Sunday
was out of the norm, well you need to learn that the norm in NASCAR
is to help your buddy. I've called it coop-attition. That is why
our sport is so successful in maintaining the integrity that it
has. There's camaraderie in NASCAR that you aren't going to find
anywhere else in any other big league sport.
OH BY THE WAY
Now this one happens at times and it simply cracks me up.
After a race, some cars are randomly picked for inspection. I need
a math wiz to calculate the odds of how the one they randomly
picked turned up to be illegal. Brian Vickers was randomly picked
last year at Martinsville and his sheet metal was too thin. Then
Sunday the No. 1 car was picked and it was too low.
Here's a car that finished 14th on Sunday one lap down. He's
randomly picked and the car was found to be too low. Now they are
fined $50,000 and docked 50 owner points. You really must being
have a bad year when you are randomly picked and there ends up
being something wrong with your car. That's just really bad luck
right there.
It also tells me that maybe they need to be checking all the
cars after the races. If they can randomly pick a car after the
race and the trend is to find something wrong with it each time,
well then my suggestion is to check all 43 after a race.
OH BY THE WAY II
With all the building noise about Danica coming to NASCAR
maybe it's time I give you my thoughts on that. Let me put some
thoughts down and I will post it later this week.
