Waving the Checkers: Daytona
Matt Kenseth's emotional interview moments after he was declared the Daytona 500 winner captured the significance all drivers put on winning this race. Over and over, whenever a driver wins the Daytona 500, he declares it as one of, if not the greatest, moment of his career.
You've heard me repeatedly praise Kenseth as one of the finest drivers I have ever raced with. Always a contender, yet seldom controversial, Matt just goes about his business and has consistently put up strong numbers whenever he has been in the field.
In the preseason, I predicted that both Kenseth and Jeff Gordon would return to victory lane early in 2009. I can't honestly say that I expected Kenseth's win to be this early, but truly, I am not surprised.
Congratulations, Matt Kenseth, on your Daytona 500 win.
Pit Road at Daytona is often an enemy for drivers. This year's victim was clearly Dale Earnhardt Jr., who twice had trouble navigating successfully into his pit stall and was heavily punished for it.
The only explanation I can offer, in an attempt to defend Dale Jr., is what I wrote about leading up to this race. I never looked forward to a trip down pit road at Daytona or Talladega because there are so many ways of finding trouble.
Earnhardt Jr. driving by his pit the first time is something that happens to every driver at one time in their career. It is typically a result of not identifying your pit road sign early enough or the spotter not effectively talking you down pit road.
The second incident was completely the responsibility of the driver. Dale Jr. parked on the line trying to aim his car out of the stall to improve his exit.
Pit road was not the only aspect of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s day that qualified as poor. My opinion on who should bear the responsibility for causing the big wreck is really easy – both Earnhardt Jr. and Brian Vickers were wrong because cars running one lap down should never take out lead-lap cars. Period.
Both drivers deserve to battle to get their lap back, but neither showed any regard for the drivers battling to win the biggest race of the year.
In the "what were you thinking?" category … I found it very odd that drivers were campaigning this week for Daytona to be repaved immediately. I am normally quick to side with drivers in most debates as I often can understand or see the logic in their case. But not this time.
In an off season dominated by economic challenges, rising unemployment and severe financial difficulties, why would some of NASCAR's highest paid athletes ignore that filling the seats at the race track is far more important than laying millions of dollars worth of new asphalt?
One argument was that the track was solely responsible for some of the cautions and wrecked equipment during SpeedWeeks because the surface had become too rough. With the most recent race in the books, I can safely say that the Daytona track was responsible for far fewer cautions than was the lack of judgment used by some of those driving on it.
Jeff Gordon pitting on Lap 113 under green illustrates the difference between a veteran driver and a rookie. No, Gordon did not win the race, but his savvy decision to pit under green allowed him to continue on and have, at least, a fighting chance.
Drivers are taught to not ignore vibrations which are caused most often by a tire coming apart and losing its balance. It's been my experience that a vibration that appears during a green-flag run never fixes itself. This is often learned the hard way by young drivers, who ignore this sign of inevitable failure for fear of losing a lap. Gordon showed his maturity by pitting and changing the bad tire, losing a lap, yet preserving the car and allowing him to continue on and go for the win.
