You’ll have to excuse Jimmie Johnson if he looked a bit more exuberant than usual at the end of today’s Sprint Cup race at Dover. It wasn’t the simple thrill of winning. It was having done so in a sufficiently dramatic fashion to avoid having to wear a shirt reading “ACTUALLY WON THE RACE” in order for anyone to remember this was in fact the case.
Not that the Dale Earnhardt Jr. story was the overriding theme of the day, but he got more air time than Danica Patrick during an IRL race televised by ABC (yes, Jeff, it’s actually possible). This duly noted, let the record show there were signs of hope in his performance. A couple of missed calls by Lance McGrew, but bear in mind he doesn’t have a ton of experience adjusting the Sprint Cup car under race conditions. He also nailed it more than once, something his predecessor could seldom state was the case. The jury has barely been sequestered, let alone had sufficient time to reach so much as a preliminary verdict, but for the first time in a very long time there are indications the Junior Nation can drink AMP to heighten the excitement rather than multiple cans of Dale Jr.’s former sponsor in an attempt to dull the pain.
Back to the race. Miles was rather mellow today. There were a few tire issues, but nowhere near the number that had been feared going into the event. We had more than one real live lead battle on the track; always a welcome site. And in the final dash for the cash, to see Johnson charging through the field after a muffed pit stop and then enter into a classic multi-lap duel with Tony Stewart to eventually emerge with the victory was remindful of a line from Dos Equis’ ‘the most interesting man in the world’ ad campaign: “He once had an awkward moment… just to see what it felt like.” Were it not for the issue not of his own doing Johnson would have destroyed the field as he evidenced would be the case more than once while piling up a huge lead in-between yellow flags.
Johnson has most definitely taken the Dos Equis man’s admonition (“stay thirsty, my friend”) to heart. His thirst for competition and victory is insatiable even after three straight championships. While two-thirds of the season remains, it is impossible not to think he has established himself as the favorite to win it all again this year. Although still kept at arms’ length by the majority of the NASCAR Nation, given the current “anyone but Kyle Busch” sentiment running rampant through stock car racing fandom he may well earn more cheers than jeers come this November should he hoist the hardware at Homestead for the fourth consecutive year.
Some good, exciting stuff. Which since the next race is at Pocono was all the more welcome.
