NASCAR Cup Series

Monday, Monday can’t trust that day

Published Sep. 22, 2011 2:04 a.m. ET

Darrell Waltrip

Even though last weekend’s race at Chicagoland had to be moved to Monday due to Mother Nature, I think it was well worth it. The boys put on a great show. I continue to believe that 400-mile races are perfect for TV. They take roughly three hours to run and folks still have time to do other things.

I think it is a credit to NASCAR and all the TV partners who all work together in situations like this to make the race available to as many people as they can, whether it is on TV or on computer. What was really impressive was that crowd. A lot of folks stayed an extra night and came back on Monday and they were rewarded with a great race.

There was a lot going on all race long. You had guys trying to salvage a season and in other cases you had drivers trying to simply salvage the race. Some succeeded and some didn’t.

It’s also interesting the change we are seeing at the end of these races.

For the past couple years the fans have been complaining about those late-race cautions for debris. Some called them Phantom Cautions. Basically they bunched up the field with a handful of laps to help create an exciting finish. Unfortunately, it became so predictable that it was almost laughable. I believe NASCAR realized the backlash from all that and they now are letting the race run its course. I’ve always been a big believer in that. The byproduct of all that is we are still having a lot of late race drama that hasn’t been manufactured to help create an exciting finish.

Not knowing whether your favorite driver has enough fuel to make it to the end is intense. Whether you are in the grandstands or at home, your hands start to sweat and you have a knot in your stomach.

What I am also noticing are the teams have now realized they aren’t going to get that late-race caution they’ve come to expect in the past couple years.

The deciding factor in these fuel mileage races is when the actual last caution falls. It always seems to happen when some guys are in their pit window while others aren’t. The drivers with enough fuel obviously race different than those who are iffy. That’s when the hard decisions are made when you as the driver or the crew chief realize you might not have enough fuel left to make it. That’s the tough situation these crew chiefs have been finding themselves in. Do they call their guy in and hope he can race his way back to a decent finishing spot, or do they roll the dice and go for the win, knowing the risk/reward factor isn’t in your favor?

I love the strategy component this brings into racing. I always have. I loved being able to out-smart the competition.

I really get annoyed when something doesn’t go the way someone wants it to, well then they clamor for a rules change. The rules don’t need to be changed. It is what it is, so deal with it. It’s the way the sport is managed officiated and run. Personally I like the things we are doing.

How about Tony Stewart on Monday? He did a great job of managing his fuel. Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. also fall into the same category. They knew what they had to work with. They managed properly and now they come out of Chicago with an awesome start to the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup.

The flip-side of that group has to be Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson. They didn’t do such a great job on fuel management. I guarantee you on Tuesday morning both drivers were regretting racing each other pretty hard when there was a question of fuel. We were all watching the race, and I told my family those two were making a big mistake and were going to run out of gas. Unfortunately for the Nos. 17 and 48, that is exactly what happened.

You have to manage what you have whether it is fuel or tire management or whatever. You simply can’t pull off pit road, push the pedal to the floor and go flat-out all the time. It just doesn’t work that way. You have to have a strategy and a plan to utilize what you have to work with.

Now teams head to Loudon, N.H. Kevin Harvick is the new point leader. That seven-point lead is huge under this new point system. Harvick is going to be tough to deal with. He has the experience and mental toughness to handle any challenge thrown his way. Kevin’s crew chief Gil Martin does a great job calling a race. He and Kevin are on the same page plus Gil does a great job in helping manage Kevin’s attitude at times.

How about Dale Earnhardt Jr.? Could it actually be true when he said they had been racing conservatively all these past number of weeks simply to make sure they made the Chase? They said once in the Chase they were going to let it all hang out and see what kind of noise they can make.

The other positive they have going for them is these next nine tracks are ones that Dale Jr. is outstanding at. If not the best, then his average finish at these tracks is one of the best. He is off to a great start as well.

I think by winning Monday, Tony Stewart shut up a lot of critics. Everyone knows he was pretty upset with the media at Richmond. The comments about not deserving to be in the Chase sure did motivate the team. He sure lit a fire under his team and that could be a good thing for the No. 14 and a bad thing for the other eleven guys.

If that wasn’t enough good news for Stewart-Haas Racing, going to Loudon this weekend sure is. Who finished first and second there earlier this year? You are correct, it was Ryan Newman and his boss, Tony Stewart. This could be a huge start to the 2011 Chase for those two guys.

Now an organization that has to be really scratching their heads is Joe Gibbs Racing. Golly they had a very bad Monday. Both Kyle Busch’s and Denny Hamlin’s pit crews were way off the mark. Denny had a wheel loose while Kyle had his own problems in the pits. On top of all that, their other teammate, Joey Logano, was not a factor at all. So there are definitely some problems in that camp that have to get rectified immediately. If they have another race like they did Monday, Denny and Kyle will quickly go from contenders to pretenders for winning the championship this year.

Jimmie Johnson led the race. He had a fast car and a solid day. Lately his finishes have been pretty good. He had to coast across the finish line out of fuel Monday, but it still was worth ninth place. So they are sitting in pretty good shape after this first race.

You can say the same thing about Carl Edwards. He had another great run with a good finish. For Kurt Busch the news wasn’t so good Monday. For whatever reason, that team struggles once they get along into the race making the correct changes to the car for what Kurt wants. That makes Busch crazy and then he starts having a meltdown on the radio to the crew. Unfortunately that continues to be his downfall. They have to get a handle on that because once it starts, wow does it get ugly.

Brad Kesolowski continues to impress me. He led some on Monday. It was pretty obvious he didn’t have a car that could win, but he got a great finish. I don’t count that young man out of this thing at all.

It’s interesting the twists and turns we’ve already had in only one race of the 2011 Chase. Some folks had written off Stewart, so he goes out and wins the race. Everyone had Jeff Gordon pegged to continue his hot streak but as you saw, he had one of those Mondays you want to forget. They had a pretty good car, but then came a tire issue and if that wasn’t enough, they ran out of fuel. Jeff and the No. 24 gang cannot afford another race like they had at Chicago.

So now it's race No. 2 in Loudon N.H. It will be really interesting to see if the guys who struggled Monday can turn things around six days later at Loudon. I am also very interested to see if some of our surprises, like Tony and Dale Jr., can keep their momentum going and turn everyone’s predictions for the Chase on their ear.