Jared Turner: Trio of exciting weekend races energizes NASCAR fans
By Jared Turner - SceneDaily Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
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COMMENTARY
It seems as if everything good that could have happened for NASCAR did over this past weekend.
To review:
- Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR’s most popular driver, won the Sprint Cup race at Michigan to snap a 76-race drought that had been the longest of his career and the talk of the racing world for more than a year. The finish was soaked in drama, too, as Earnhardt Jr. had to nurse his car the final 55 laps on one tank of fuel.
- Joey Logano, the smiling 18-year-old kid anointed as the sport’s next superstar, found victory lane in the Nationwide Series race at Kentucky Speedway in just his third start and outshined a handful of Cup interlopers in the process.
- Erik Darnell, a driver who has said he believes it’s a “make-or-break year” for him at Roush Fenway Racing, edged Johnny Benson to win the truck race at Michigan by 0.005 seconds, the closest margin of victory in the series since NASCAR implemented electronic scoring 10 years ago.
Good luck trying to find more riveting storylines.
NASCAR executives should breathe a sigh of relief this week. Their sport, which has been the target of growing criticism in recent years for being out of touch with traditional fans and producing increasingly bland competition, got a much-needed jolt by the proceedings of this past weekend.
And the events came seemingly just in the nick of time – as a sluggish economy is hurting the sales of race tickets, complaints about the new Cup car are causing NASCAR higher-ups to remind drivers to be thankful for the opportunity just to race (as NASCAR President Mike Helton reportedly did in a closed-door meeting with drivers at Michigan) and NASCAR continues to sort through a $225 million lawsuit filed against the sanctioning body last week by a former employee.
The question now becomes whether the momentum and excitement generated at Michigan and Kentucky will carry over into this weekend and perhaps the remainder of the season.
Here’s betting it will – in as much as the successes of one race weekend can. It’s hard trying to fix what’s broken overnight. While NASCAR certainly isn’t broken, it has taken its share of bumps and bruises in recent times.
But this past weekend proves that the best may still lie ahead for this sport that was birthed on the beach at Daytona some six decades ago.
It’ll be interesting to see if Earnhardt Jr. can ride the wave of his Michigan win to a strong showing on Sunday at Infineon Raceway, a road course where the driver in his first season with Hendrick Motorsports never found much success with his former team at Dale Earnhardt Inc.
Maybe Logano will win again this weekend at Milwaukee, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt - as some already say is the case - that he’s already ready to make the leap to Sprint Cup.
Maybe Darnell will find victory lane again, only this time in more commanding fashion.
What I find the most promising is that for every Earnhardt Jr., Logano or Darnell there’s another driver out there waiting to steal his or her piece of NASCAR glory.
So just as certain criticisms of the sport will continue, so does the intrigue and possibility of another weekend like the one we just witnessed.
And that’s enough for me.
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
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