Rating the Race: Texas
Am I really the only person that finds these Texas races completely and utterly boring? Despite being absolutely wide awake when I first tuned into the race on Sunday, I literally dozed off about four or five times during the course of this 500 mile “spectacle”. The time that I did spend awake, the only thing that kept running through my mind was questioning why they would even contemplate taking a quality race out of New Hampshire for the sake of adding a second Cup event in Vegas when they could help minimize sheer boredom over the course of the nine month season by relieving us of one of these Texas events.
First off, the entire race had the makings of a “fuel mileage finish”, which would have completely ticked me off. There’s absolutely nothing in racing that perturbs me more than watching some team with a crap car worthy of no better than a 15th place finish bring home the checkered flag (please refer to Jeremy Mayfield at Michigan in 2005). So, at least that didn’t happen. So, as the laps dwindled down, Kenseth and Hamlin put on a spectacular battle for the lead. I’m convinced that if the 11 car doesn’t get into the side of Kenseth at this point that the 17 DeWalt team would have brought home their second Texas victory. But, we all saw what happened. Unfortunately Hamlin did swipe Kenseth, and we know what the led to. Another Johnson victory and another broken television set somewhere in the world.
Forget about the fact that Johnson won the race … the fact is that this race still had only three exciting moments for me. The first was when the tension brewed between Stewart and Harvick early in the race. Man, would that just be a nasty on-track feud, or what? The second was very late in the race watching Kenseth take the lead from Hamlin. And, the last one was watching Kenseth try to hold off the 48 car with six laps to go, despite having the weaker car at that point. All in all, this race just didn’t have the zip to it that a track like Texas needs. Overall, I’m going to give it a 1.5 out of 5.
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POSTED IN: NASCAR, Rating the Race
7 opinions for Rating the Race: Texas
Don
Nov 6, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Actually an interesting race. Granted it was only two drivers that made it interesting at the end, but it seemed like their were alot of potential winning cars. Did not expect that out of Texas.
elena
Nov 8, 2007 at 8:53 pm
There are so many sub-plots in every race that ESPN coverage completely ignores. I love every race, and I look at the rookies and watch where they are in respect to the others. I watch the 9, 10, 11, 12 spots. Only the top 10 will go for the big 2 days in NY and sit in the head table. It’s been pretty exciting. I watch the 34,35,3,36 to see who makes it to the top 35. I watch the 13,14,15 to see who is the #1 of the non-chase drivers. They are trying too. Since the tv coverage is so bad, I have to use my computer to track all these drivers.
I wish the annoucers were REAL fans of NASCAR. They could keep the viewers interesting, but when they only follow the top cars, or crashes, people get turned off.
elena
Nov 8, 2007 at 10:23 pm
I think it’s great that Casey is at HMS. That was the greatest move for him. He has a better record with HMS than he had with Ganassi.
2007 - 1 win, 5 top 5s, 10 top 10s, Ave Fin 19.2
If you compare the wins, top5s, top 10s, and the average finish, he would be crazy to go to another team. It’s taken him 5 years to get his first win, so he’s a bit of a slow starter.
Ganassi team
Reed S –0-3-6- 24.6
David S– 0-0-0- 26.6
Gibbs
JJ —0-1-3–22.6
Yates team
Ricky - 0-1-26.2
David G 0-1-2-27.3
DEI team
Martin 1-7-12-16.9
Roush team
Biffle 1-4-10-19.1
Jaime 1-3-9-22.4
David 0-2-2-24.7
Casey is not yet a top tier driver, so if he changed teams he would not be their #1, where on earth would you say he go???
He may not be doing as well as JJ and Jeff, but he’s doing better than most of the drivers not in the chase.
Tim Zaegel
Nov 9, 2007 at 11:51 am
Elena, I’m willing to give ESPN a break on some of their lackluster coverage because its their first year covering Cup races. Not to mention that any network I’ve ever watched leaves many of the “sub-plots” out.
Tim Zaegel
Nov 9, 2007 at 11:57 am
In regards to your comments about Casey Mears, I’m definitely a fan. In terms of where he’d wind up, I think that all depends on how long he has left on his contract, which I don’t know. But, depending on that timeframe, I think it’s feasible that he could wind up at DEI driving the 8 car, or maybe even Roush, depending on what happens with their lineup over the next couple seasons.
I understand that he won’t be the #1 car for any noteworthy team out there, but it’s sometimes better to be the #2 car for a decent team than the #4 car for a good team.
elena
Nov 9, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Tim, thanks for your response. I think we just have to agree to disagree as to whether Casey staying of leaving HMS is good or not.
If he wants to win, HMS has won 17 races, that’s more than half of the races run.
If he likes atmosphere, he’s known Dale Jr since he was in his teens, and has said they are good friends and looking forward to being in the same garage with him. He is also friends with Jimmie. Then Jeff is his uncle’s biggest fan.
I don’t see Casey as being a phony, if he was looking elsewhere, he could not hide it (though we know he would never say anything)
Do you feel the same about Tony and Denny?
Tim Zaegel
Nov 14, 2007 at 9:38 am
Elena, you definitely bring up some valid points there about the relationships that Mears has with the Hendrick organization (and Dale Jr who will be there next year). I also understand that HMS has won more than half of the races run this year, but the question I’m really trying to pose here is what piece of the pie is Casey really going to get, especially next year with NASCAR’s most popular driver joining the bunch?
I don’t see Casey as being a phoney, either … not in the least. He’s under contract through 2009, and I’m sure he won’t be going out of his way to “look” elsewhere until that contract’s actually up. He’s probably the type that will just allow nature to run its course once that contract expires.
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