I’ve always said that Charlotte Motor Speedway is the crown palace of NASCAR. The track sits in the sleepy town of Concord, NC (some say it’s closer to Harrisburg, but locals say Concord), and has plenty of camping and lots of trams and golf carts to get you around the 1.5-mile racetrack in quick order. Most of the seats are chair seats, which is good if you’ve ever sat on those aluminum bleachers and had to sit beside an unusually large person. I like the place. The only trouble is that the racing is usually tepid.
Normally, the race belongs to Hendrick Motorsports and that was pretty much the case on Saturday night. If you’re a fan of that organization, it’s almost a party just waiting to see which of Rick’s car will win. Brad Keselowski ruined that last year coming from behind in the October race. It was not to be this year. In fact, as much as he probably hated it, he stole the show this time, too. In the meantime, you could see the yawns in the crowd—big yawns. The racing was good back in the pack, but Kevin Harvick dominated the event with a little help from Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon. Harvick, you know, drives for Stewart-Haas Racing, pretty much a satellite of Rick Hendrick’s empire, so it was all in the family, especially since HMS’s Jeff Gordon finished second. As usual.
The big surprise is that usual Charlotte master Jimmie Johnson couldn’t get it in gear and a series of misfortunes found fan-favorite Dale Earnhardt, Jr. having shifter trouble. Both finished poorly, which led to one fan saying Junior would win at Talladega and another saying it would be Johnson, and you know the rest. Needless to say, the faithful were pretty upset at this revolting development. So much so, that a real fight broke out in the Chrysler section which resulted in several fans being led out by police. Then the drivers got into the act, and Twitter and Facebook blew up.
It’s almost funny how NASCAR fans turn on drivers. The usual victims are the Busch brothers. The boos from the stands tell that story, but on this night everything was about Keselowski. He used his car as a weapon, as if that hasn’t been done before. Matt Kenseth whipped his, uh, bottom. It looked a lot like Jeff Gordon’s right hook at Jeff Burton and his shoving Matt Kenseth at Bristol. Tony Stewart did a full reverse burnout into Keselowski’s car—no reaction. Never mind that under caution, Keselowski lost the right front of his car to Kenseth or well, too many things to recount. One thing fans must remember, it’s not the first time it’s happened and won’t be the last as long as guys who win all year get eliminated like Johnson, Earnhardt and Keselowski (10 wins from those three). Win and in? Not this year.
Talladega will be it’s usual, two abreast dance with a few coming up to the front late after the two big wrecks. If Keselowski, Johnson, and Junior aren’t at the front, expect more fireworks after the race. It sounded like a good idea to emphasize winning, but I wonder how this will work out? It should be interesting.
As usual, Logano is back to his “can’t pass anybody without moving them.” I hope she gets him back in the next session.