You hear the cliche all the time in other stick and ball sports where someone says, "you wont see that on the stat page tomorrow morning" and nothing could apply more to the 19's team effort from Dover.
I don't think there was one instance where the 19 car actually improved his position 'on the track', but did manage to salvage a nice finish through good pits stops, a spotter who has cat like reflexes guiding his driver through wrecks, and a driver who listens to that almost 'psychic like' spotter.
Starting 12th, the 19car almost immediately began sporting the now patented 'falling back through the field' with an ill handing car to the high 30s in the field. It's like a broken record hearing 'loose on entry, tight in the middle, loose off', repeat as needed.
But sometimes it is not how fast the car is (even one that really was only a tenth or so 'off') but how the whole team reacts. The crescendo came with just a handful of laps left in the race when the 'big one' happened just in front of the 19car, and the plethora of 'back it down, back it down, wave em off' by spotterman and the presence of mind of the driver to slow his car without flat spotting the tires. That exchange won't go in any record books, but probably was the difference from finishing 17th compared to the possible 34th. So the next time we hear about how 'bad luck' played into a finish, the opposite is true for this week's Dover finish.
And lastly:
I thought upstart Denny Hamlin showed much maturity and restraint with ole guard driver Kyle Petty. While on the track Hamlin may have made a bonehead move, off the track he remained calm and simply watched Petty make himself look foolish.
Score one for a 'young gun'.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Could the "Southern Gentleman?" function without the "Spotterman" ?
Doe he have enough brain cells to think for himself, enlarge his horizons, operate "outside" of the box and grow a pair, for goodness sakes. It's either his mother or the spotter.....but the bottom line is....he will always be 'small time' unless he cuts the apron strings and the escapes the smallmindedness of being so insulated.
Poor business decisions and bad career moves....even the Southern Gentleman isn't so mentally deficient that he could dig such a deep hole all by himself.
Now he's hooked up with a snake of an owner or CEO or whatever. Joy !
The Driver of the #19 makes Kyle Busch look like a genius.
Oh well....at least he's rich, if his future continues to deflate.
Also, there's always TV work.....and hunting, or car dealerships and family business.
One would hope he'd rather win races right now......
Post a Comment