I think one of the ongoing NASCAR storylines that will continue at least through this early part of the season is the fuel situation.
We have new fueling, new fuel and questions about fuel mileage in 2011. In addition to all that, there is one less man going over pit wall this year.
It’s interesting to watch the combinations of who does what now when they go over the pit wall. I think we saw the No. 48 team of Jimmie Johnson, which experienced pit-crew problems last year, show in Las Vegas that it still has a lot of work to do, too.
One of the other really neat things I saw at Las Vegas was a lot of families coming to the track. I think that is so crucial for the future of our sport. I love the fact that families are spending time together, and obviously they chose our sport to spend that precious time.
I know NASCAR has worked hard to ease some of the restrictions in the garage, and it’s allowing kids to get closer to the action. The other encouraging thing is the fan zones that are in Daytona International Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway were full.
That carnival-type atmosphere is very enjoyable. There are all kinds of attractions for fans of all ages.
We have a lot of positives going on right now, and we need to keep the momentum going. The racing is awesome. The fans are back in the grandstands. The ratings are back way up. We’ve had two surprise winners with Trevor Bayne at Daytona and then Jeff Gordon at Phoenix International Raceway.
Carl Edwards really wasn’t much of a surprise at Las Vegas. Heck, going back to the end of last year, Carl has now won three out of the past five races.
What I don’t want to overlook is what a great win it was for veteran Mark Martin last Saturday in Las Vegas in the Nationwide Series race. In addition to that, what an incredibly solid race Danica Patrick had at Las Vegas while making NASCAR history.
That’s a tribute not only to the organization she drives for, but specifically for her.
Watching her this year in that No. 7 JR Motorsports car has been a day-and-night improvement compared to 2010. She is not the same person behind the wheel, in my opinion.
We’ve always said it’s not fair to judge someone who pops into our sport and takes over driving these much heavier cars until they’ve had some time under their belt. Now I think she is starting to get a real feel for our kind of racing.
Hopefully she will now feel energized to spend more time in NASCAR. Danica did everything right last Saturday. She even battled back from two laps down to get a strong fourth-place finish. That’s impressive and a great job on her part.
