Ever since Tuesday night, I’ve been wondering how this week’s column would turn out. Would it be a lot of talk about the suspension, or “driver code” that has come up a lot in the last six days? Would it be about the aftermath, and what is next?
Instead, I’ll go another direction, but still keep that subject in mind.
When Sunday’s race at Texas came about, the focus was clearly on the other half of the big incident last weekend, which was Joey Logano. People made him out to be the bad guy, and early in the race everyone saw the left-rear tire go down, which ended up doing damage and forcing the No. 22 to go behind the wall to get repaired.
He would return to the track for a while, but would end up with a disappointing 40th-place finish.
Immediately, people were beginning to throw out a five-letter word to describe what had happened. That word: karma.
Well, I say to that: No!!
It wasn’t karma that brought about the unfortunate luck he experienced. It was 11 laps into the race, on a track that experienced heavy rain the day and night prior, causing all the rubber to be washed off and making the entire racing surface “green” as it is known. Texas already was known to be a track that was hard on tires, and as the race went on we all saw even more issues for many of the heavy hitters in the sport.
So how exactly can that be karma, because he was the first one on the day?
Absolutely not, this was a combination of an abrasive track, one that had all the rubber taken off not just once, but twice, in a matter of 24 hours, and the hard compound of rubber that Goodyear brought for the weekend.
Another driver that had some unfortunate luck with last week, was Logano’s teammate Brad Keselowski. He absolutely had the most dominant car on the afternoon, leading over 300 of the 334 laps. But, when it mattered most, he wasn’t the fastest car on the track. It was Jimmie Johnson waiting for the right moment, and he made it count. His pass late in the going took away a victory, and also meant Keselowski had to wait another week to possibly lock into the Chase.
Karma again? Not so much. In this case, it was simply a case where the fastest car wasn’t fastest when it needed to be.
So for everyone that made the claim that the Penske teammates experienced their own version of karma in one race, that is not how this writer views it. It was simply a case where one driver was the first in a long line of drivers that ended up experiencing the same thing. It was a case where the guy who was fastest for one lap, and fastest for over 85 percent of the race wasn’t the fastest when it counted.
Karma, I think not.
RESULTS: 1-Johnson 2-Keselowski 3-Harvick 4-Kyle Busch 5-Edwards 6-Earnhardt Jr. 7-Kurt Busch 8-Truex Jr. 9-Gordon 10-McMurray
NOTABLE FINISHES: 12-Jones 20-Kahne 40-Logano
CAUTIONS: 9 for 47 laps. Lap 11-17 (#22 Spin-T3); 26-29 (#21 Accident-T2 /Competition); 37-41 (Debris-FS); 53-57 (#14 Spin-FS); 102-106 (Debris-FS); 150-154 (Debris-BS); 169-172 (#88 Spin-T4); 198-203 (#6 Accident-T2); 311-316 (Debris-T2).
LEAD CHANGES: 15 among 8 drivers. B. Keselowski 1-17; K. Harvick 18-26; M. DiBenedetto # 27; B. Keselowski 28-41; Kyle Busch 42; B. Keselowski 43-53; D. Gilliland 54; J. Yeley(i) 55; B. Keselowski 56-251; J. Johnson 252-253; B. Keselowski 254-297; K. Harvick 298-299; B. Keselowski 300-316; M. Truex Jr. 317; B. Keselowski 318-330; J. Johnson 331-334.
TIME OF RACE: 3 Hrs, 38 Mins, 38 Secs.
AVERAGE SPEED: 137.490 MPH
MARGIN OF VICTORY: 1.082 Seconds
CHASE GRID: 1. Gordon, 4082 points*; 2. Kyle Busch, -2; 3. Harvick, -3; 4. Truex Jr, -6; 5. Edwards, -13; 6. Keselowski, -25; 7. Kurt Busch, -34; 8. Logano, -69; 9. Earnhardt Jr, -1823; 10. Hamlin, -1825; 11. Newman, -1829; 12. Johnson, -1842; 13. McMurray, -1847; 14. Menard, -1874; 15. Kenseth, -1885; 16. Bowyer, -1929.
*Locked into Championship Round
