I realize that stock car racing isn't everyone's cup of tea but today's championship race was one for the ages, especially if you love rooting for the underdog.
In previous seasons, races have been dominated by teams that could pool resources and throw a lot of money behind car development and personnel. In 2010, for example, Jimmie Johnson's pit crew chief replaced the entire crew with another Hendricks Motorsports team. This imbalance between the high-money teams and the single-car teams was all-too-evident during the years when the Hendrick, Childress, and Gibbs teams rolled to victory lane nearly every week.
So, brother, you just had to root for the single-car Furniture Row team and their New Jersey (!) driver Martin Truex Jr. Truex was having a dream season with the most wins and top 10 finishes and all the pieces came together for him in the premiere race, holding off a determined run from Kyle Busch. After the win, Truex was drenched with sweat and tears and I'm sure he kept his helmet on until he could compose himself.
2 comments:
I still hate the playoff format. To think that Kyle Busch could have been 1st and Truex came in behind him and Truex would not have won the championship. Justice prevailed.
Yeah, it's not the greatest but it builds a little suspense. In previous championship races, the leader had to "lose" by less than the points he was ahead at that point (if that makes sense). So Jimmie Johnson would win if he, say, finished sixteenth or better. What fun is that?
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