With all due respect to Dale Earnhardt Jr., Steve Hmiel and
crew, and the entire hyperventilating nation of No. 8 fans,
Sunday
’s most impressive performance in the NASCAR USG Sheetrock 400
at Chicagoland Raceway was turned in by a driver other than the one
steering the Budweiser car. While Earnhardt and Hmiel pulled off a
brilliant strategic victory in the race, getting out ahead of the
pack by throwing on two tires dur
ing the last pit stop and quieting for a moment the dogs of
discontent baying at the doors of Dale Earnhardt Inc., Sunday’s
biggest winner may well have been the third-place driver.
With all due respect to Dale Earnhardt Jr., Steve Hmiel and crew, and the entire hyperventilating nation of No. 8 fans, Sunday’s most impressive performance in the NASCAR USG Sheetrock 400 at Chicagoland Raceway was turned in by a driver other than the one steering the Budweiser car.
While Earnhardt and Hmiel pulled off a brilliant strategic victory in the race, getting out ahead of the pack by throwing on two tires during the last pit stop and quieting for a moment the dogs of discontent baying at the doors of Dale Earnhardt Inc., Sunday’s biggest winner may well have been the third-place driver.
Mostly obscured by the hysteria that seems to accompany every melodramatic event in Junior’s career was an inspired race by Nextel Cup overall points leader Jimmie Johnson, who may have learned what it takes to be a champion in last weekend’s race.
After earning his first pole position of the season, Johnson knew he had to baby the tires on his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevy even before the race got under way on the white-hot Chicagoland track. And, after showing off racy tendencies early on, Johnson slipped back into the latter half of the Top 10, “saving his stuff” – in NASCAR parlance – and watching as driver after driver ignored the telltale chassis vibrations, ripped up their rightside tires and crashed into the wall.
Sitting on a rocket, Johnson knew his car was as fast as nearly everyone else’s on the track.
But he hung back, biding his time and waiting for his chance.
Then came the dread signs of tire wear that had already claimed fellow Cup championship chasers Carl Edwards, Elliott Sadler and Michael Waltrip, each of whom ignored the signs and paid the price by smacking the wall.
But pitting to change the tire while the rest of the field whizzed around the track at speeds approaching 200 mph would drop him far back in the field, likely costing him a shot at the win and his points lead to the hard-charging Greg Biffle, already ahead of him on the track. Besides, slinking into his pit with good rubber on his wheels would have had the greatest potential for embarassment and ignominy. (Kevin Harvick pitted under green claiming similar vibrations, only to find his tires still track-worthy.)
It must have been a mighty struggle in Johnson’s mind, weighing the two options and eventualities, especially considering his well-earned reputation as a headlong frontrunner who still hasn’t learned how to settle for second.
“Big picture” racing, as it is referred to by NASCAR observers, is still not Johnson’s strong suit. While he and crew chief Chad Knauss have reached an uneasy truce over when to go hard and when to drive smart, Johnson has still shown an unsettling tendency to accept nearly any challenge on the track to the detriment of his championship aspirations.
During last year’s final 10 races, Johnson’s impetuous style of racing led to a string of wrecks that he couldn’t recover from, despite a brilliant string of victories down the stretch that brought him to within a breath of the Cup championship.
So, when Johnson pulled his car off the track and into his pits, it was a kind of trial by fire for the young Californian.
Sure, it turned out one of his rightside tires was shredded. But by the time he got back on the track, he’d dropped a lap down into 32nd place. And, Biffle held the championship points lead.
Not all is lost, NBC’s Benny Parsons – the veteran driver – opined. If Johnson can finish in the Top 20, he can salvage something from this race, Parsons allowed.
Back on the track with 60 laps to go, Johnson had a chance to race the leaders to get a lap back, but sat back instead, waiting for his chance. It came several laps later courtesy of a caution, ironically because of a flat tire-prompted crash, and Johnson had his lap back. Starting at the back of the pack, Johnson worked his way steadily back toward the front. Then, after advancing near the Top 10, Johnson and Knauss saw their chance. On the second-to-last caution, Johnson made his bid for track position by whipping on two tires and emerging from the pits in fourth place.
Moments later, he finished third, reclaiming and even bolstering his overall points lead over Biffle, who fell to 11th.
Ironically, Johnson’s stunning comeback was evocative of the never-say-die, late-race heroics of another aggressive racer who refused to allow setbacks to determine his eventual finish – Dale Earnhardt Sr.
It may well be that Johnson doesn’t win the Nextel Cup title this season. There’s a long way yet to go. But if he does, it may be that Sunday’s race had as much to do with him learning how to be a champion as any other.
Besides, how can you go wrong with that name?
Around the horn:
n San Jose product Kevin Frandsen’s star continues its meteoric rise. After hitting for the cycle while playing for the hometown San Jose Giants last week, Frandsen was promoted to Double-A Norwich and earned a trip to Detroit’s Comerica Park to compete in the Futures All-Star Game as a late roster addition.
Frandsen ended up hitting into a double play with the bases loaded in the final inning of a 4-0 loss by his team, the U.S., to the World prospects squad.
But, hey, nobody’s perfect.
Don’t be surprised if Frandsen is in the bigs sometime very soon. Especially since the Giants seem to have tired of Ray Durham’s act.
Jim Johnson is the Morgan Hill Times Sports Editor. He can be reached by phone at (408) 779-4106 (ext. 203) or by email at jj******@mo*************.com
