_With Indianapolis and Pocono behind us, the 2012 Race to the Chase is now at full bore. Championship contenders are emerging at the front of the standings, but perhaps more importantly, the Wild Card picture is beginning to develop some clarity. Here’s my assessment of each of the Wild Card contenders along with their chances of making the Chase._
NASCAR tracks by their nature lack any kind of large structures capable of protecting the 80,000 fans attending the event.
by Garrett Horton 1 Pocono was the first race this year were the current top-4 in points, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, and …
Johnson’s Bobble Brings Gordon Unlikely Pocono Victory Jimmie Johnson, for much of the day at Pocono looked primed for a second straight victory. Jeff Gordon? …
NASCAR Nation is in mourning this Monday after losing one of their own, a race fan during a series of storms that turned tragic. As …
Jimmie Johnson, who had dominated the race, had his car get out from under him on the final restart and collected second-place Matt Kenseth. From there, it was on.
*NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Tragedy Mars Momentum From Pocono Finish* NASCAR Nation is in mourning this Monday after losing one of their own, a race fan during a series of storms that turned tragic. As severe weather swept through Pocono Raceway, shortly after the race was called a 41-year-old man was killed and ten injured as a series of lightning strikes hit behind the grandstands (four remained in area hospitals, one critical at press time). In a heartbeat, the smiles surrounding getting the race in on Sunday were replaced by sadness, confusion and concern as everyone tried to figure out what went wrong.
“I’m pretty sure I know which one it was,” said winner Jeff Gordon. “We were walking down pit road, the umbrellas weren’t doing any good, there was a huge, huge crack from lightning. You can tell it was very close. I mean, that’s the thing that’s going to take away from the victory, is the fact that somebody was affected by that.”
Lifetime fans of racing are no strangers to tragedy. Safety advancements can only go so far when the goal is to hit a turn at 200 miles an hour; even superstars, driving towards athletic immortality, can only be one broken part from seeing it all stripped away. Dan Wheldon, Dale Earnhardt, Adam Petty… their deaths serve as glass-breaking moments, sobering reminders about how fragile life is for all of us. When fans sit in the stands, they have some faint acceptance that something horrible could happen on-track. The invocation, done every race day, serves as a subconscious reminder that the risk, however slight these days, is always there.
In an era where many drivers don’t know how to turn a wrench, it was a refreshing change to see Dale Earnhardt Jr. taking the bull by the horns and helping his crew when the No. 88 suffered a transmission failure. By the time his crew got to the garage from pit road, Earnhardt had the car up on jackstands on the left side and was working on the right. Although handling the jack might not seem like a big deal, it is on a couple of levels. One that a lot of drivers, including some championship-caliber ones, wouldn’t have thought to do that.
*In a nutshell:* Scott Dixon and the No. 9 team won their fourth career race at Mid Ohio Sports Car Course, this time by snookering early leader Will Power on pit road. The race, which went caution-free, was the second straight caution free race of the season. Will Power led much of the early portion of the race but a slow pit stop relegated Power to a second place finish. Simon Pagenaud, Sebastian Bourdais, and James Hinchcliffe rounded out the top 5.
*Key Moment:* Will Power had the field covered for the first 56 laps of the race, but Power’s No. 12 team had a slow pit stop on lap 57 and subsequently were beat off of pit road by Dixon and the No. 9 team. Dixon made it look easy from there on out, and cruised home by leading the rest of the way en route to his second win of the year.