NASCAR: A Quiet Day at Bristol, Until the End

I know over the last week or two I mentioned on the inability of Richard Childress Racing (RCR), drivers (Jeff Burton especially), to finish out a race and come home with a checkered flag.

Thus, as I write this weeks article I'm having my dinner of crow, which isn't too bad with a little rice, gravy, and toast.

As a RCR fan obviously I'm excited about the win and this should hush some of the critics (like myself), whom questioned the lack of wins at RCR, with their talent level and depth of resources, since the race ended with Jeff Burton winning, Kevin Harvick second and Clint Bowyer third, all RCR men.

This also reminds us how uncertain a short track like Bristol is, that you can have a guy like Tony Stewart lead the most laps each of the last three years, yet not even get a top ten finish in any of the recent races.

Bad luck, maybe, more like Smoke being too aggressive (like his late race collision with Kevin Harvick), and a gamble like that can lead to checkers on a larger track, but the smaller places tend to take out those whom don't respect the narrow straight aways and seemingly endless tight banking corners.

Let me not forget that this also gets Chevrolet in the winners circle for the first time this season. After dominating each of the last few seasons, now Chevy has competition and with RCR and Hendrick Motorsports looking up to Roush Fenway (Ford), & Joe Gibbs (Toyota), it isn't an automatic win for the Bow Tie every Sunday, they will have to earn their wins.

And as for Henrdrick, I wouldn't be surprised if when we get to Martinsville in two weeks (no racing next week due to Easter), that we see Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson back in victory lane. Jimmie has run better each week of this young season.

His fans know he is a late bloomer on the track and as the weather heats up, so does the Lowe's 48 car. He is by no means out of the running of points race or anything else at this point and his time will come, sooner than we may know.

And without further delay let me give some time to Dale Jarrett on his last points bearing race. It was a shame Fox didn't give him more time or a better tribute.

I know he will be working for a competitor of theirs (ESPN), but this is a former champion, someone who owned Daytona for a while and is one of the few drivers who gets equal respect in the garage, on the track and in the stands. In his prime he provided a good strong yet not over aggressive driver whom could win anywhere and was always in the hunt.

A great point on yesterdays TV telecast was that of there are guys that drive race cars and then there are race car drivers, Dale Jarrett was the latter.

It was nice to have a race that didn't have overwhelming tire issues or other things to get in the way of the race, however, on Bristol standards, this was a calm race. When you watch racing on certain tracks like Bristol (Talladega comes to mind), you expect action, accidents (The Big One), and a race that keeps you close to the TV like a moth to a porch light.

But the ending on this one was true Bristol, whatever happened with Denny Hamlin (ran out of gas or a fuel line or pick up problem), just opened things up for the RCR guys to step up and walk home in order.

And looking ahead to Martinsville, I see that Jimmie Johnson has won the last three races here and between him and teammate Jeff Gordon, they have won six of the last seven (Tony Stewart sneaked in a win there), so I would expect it to be just like the RCR revival of this race. The Hendrick boys are too good not to be in winner's circle for much longer and with a track with that history (and a week off), I figure the 24 & 48 will pick up from where they left off at the end of last year.

With the week off, I'll write a column at the end of this week with some thoughts and issues of this young season, a progress report if you will, for we've seen some decent racing, but I think the best is still ahead of us.