What About the Other Race ~ Win, You’re In?
|
Sunday
marks the end of the 2019 Cup Regular season.
After 400 miles at Indy, the Playoff field will be set. Sixteen will advance to compete for this
season’s Championship.
Kyle
Busch, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex, Jr., Kevin Harvick, Brad
Keselowski, Chase Elliott, Kurt Busch, Alex Bowman and Darlington winner, Eric
Jones have all qualified by meeting the three part qualifying criteria-at least
one race win, attempted to qualify for all regular season races and met the
minimum points position. For Cup you
must be in the Top 30.
Justin
Haley is also a 2019 race winner. He
has a win, a Big One-the Daytona Coke Zero Sugar 400. Unfortunately, he came up a little short on
the other two criteria, so he’s on the outside looking in.
So
much for “Win, You’re In”.
Ryan
Blaney, Kyle Larson, William Byron and Aric Almirola don’t have wins this year
but “point raced” their way in. By Darlington, they had earned enough points to
clinch their position in the Playoff.
Even Kurt Busch clinched the Regular Season one race early.
I
thought this System was to minimize points racing and produce Game Seven
moments. What happened?
So
here we are-one race left. Sixteen
available slots. Fourteen are
occupied. Who will get the final two
this weekend and race on for another three weeks of relevance?
To
hear all the talking heads this week, the battle for those two slots is being
waged by Clint Bowyer and Daniel Suarez who currently occupy points positions
15 and 16, Ryan Newman who is tied in points with Suarez, (but Daniel owns the
tie-breaker) and Jimmie Johnson are on the outside trying to claw their way
in.
So
far, the talk is not about who is going to win what was once one of the biggest
races on the circuit, but “Outrunning the
Bear”. The position battle between
these four is shaping up to be the story line.
It’s not about who is racing for the win. So don’t be
surprised if you turn on your TV and you see these four getting considerable
air time and endless “If the Race Ended Now” graphics flashed up whenever one
of these four pass or get passed by a competitor.
I
can almost hear the booth screaming now.
What
is sadder and what is not being said is that the battle to make the 2019
Playoff is not limited to these four drivers.
Truth is it’s much broader and involves far more drivers than are being
discussed as fourteen more drivers are still in the hunt for a
Playoff spot. Drivers including -
Paul
Menard,
Chris Buescher,
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.,
Matt DiBenedetto,
Austin Dillon,
Ty Dillon,
Daniel Hemric,
Ryan Preece,
Bubba Wallace, Jr.,
Michael McDowell,
Corey Lajoie,
David Ragan
How
is that possible? All they have to do is
WIN THE RACE at Indy!
Each
have qualified for all regular season races and are in the Top 30 in points-two
of the three criteria to qualify for the Playoffs. All one of these fourteen need to do is WIN
THE RACE and they’re in the Playoffs, just like Kyle Busch or Eric Jones.
Wouldn’t
that be neat?
Unlike
the foursome of Bowyer, Suarez, Newman and Johnson who everyone is focused on
their points racing against each other for 15th and 16th, these fourteen have
one clear purpose-WIN THE RACE.
For
them, Stage wins don’t matter now. Stage
points don’t matter now. Points racing
doesn’t matter now. Outrunning a single
car doesn’t matter now. The only thing
that matters for these unmentioned contenders is they have to WIN THE RACE.
Pure. Simple.
Racing the way racing was meant to be.
I
expect these fourteen to pull out all the stops, use every trick they can get
away with and try some they may not get away with. They will take chances on the track and in
the pits. They may even tear up a car or
two in practice pushing things to the limit.
This is their Game Seven moment, their chance to throw a Hail Mary or
pull out the racing equivalent of a Flea Flicker or Statue of Liberty.
Unfortunately,
it’s going totally unnoticed, being totally ignored. Why?
Is it because they have no chance to win?
Austin
Dillon has two big wins under his belt-Daytona and Charlotte. His car owner has won here before. Is it time to add a third Big Win to his
collection?
Ricky
Stenhouse Jr. has a couple of wins himself.
It’s been a while since he has seen Victory Lane so he’s plenty hungry.
Don’t
forget David Ragan. He’s sitting at 30th
but he’s won two as well. They were
restrictor plate races mind you, but aren’t they all restrictor plate races
now?
Chris
Buescher got a win, on another flat track.
His was on the three-turn Pocono track.
If he figures out the fourth turn at Indy could he take the win?
Paul
Menard has a win also. Right here at
Indy. Coming off a top 10 at Darlington
could this be his chance to put the Wood Brothers in the Playoffs?
Michael
McDowell showed strong at the beginning of the season. Is now the time for his resurgence?
Finally,
what about the recent fan favorite, Matt DiBenedetto? A near miss at Bristol. Solid run last week at Darlington. Top 10 finishes in five out of the last ten
races. He’s knocking on the door. All the other Toyota’s are in the Playoffs,
so he’s in the right car. There would be
no better story this season than if he were to win Indy and take the #95 to the
Playoffs. Could it happen? I, along with a few more fans would like to
see it.
So,
these and the other, all but ignored drivers still have a chance. There is still a race to be run. Still a race to be won. So why isn’t anyone talking about it?
Why
isn’t a Steve Phelps or Steve O’Donnell touting these “Wild Cards”, these
fourteen unsung underdogs who still have a puncher’s chance to make the
Playoffs? It escapes me.
The
“Win, You’re In” component is one thing that made NASCAR’s Chase/Playoff different
than other sports’ Playoffs. It kept the
playoff possibilities alive until the final regular season race for all those
in the Top 30. That’s nearly the entire
field. The Playoffs provided a chance,
hope, all the way up to the final regular season race.
That’s
different. That’s unique. That’s also totally being ignored by the very
ones who should be singing the Playoff’s praises.
Are
the Sanctioning Body and the Media so sold on, so beholden to Stages, Stage
Racing, Stage Points and Stage Wins that all things Stages has displaced the
Race and Race wins? From where this fan
sits it sure has that look about it.
That’s a shame.
For
these fourteen drivers, their hopes for the season are riding on one thing and
one thing alone Sunday-WIN THE RACE. Isn’t that really what our racing should be
about?