Paying Tribute to 9/11: NASCAR, Richmond International Raceway and the Fans Get it Right
On Saturday, Sept. 1oth, I spent my entire day at Richmond International Raceway. I literally went from tailgate to trackside, something that I’d never done before, something that I’d never even thought to attempt. It’s always been one or the other, fan or journalist, but never both. I generally make the trek from Washington DC to Richmond on my own and do my job from the confines of the media center and infield. I have not seen a race from the stands or mingled in the crowd in over three years.
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[/media-credit]This weekend was different though, as we all know, this race fell on the same weekend of the tenth anniversary of 9/11. For many this was more than just your average race day, this was a time to also reflect and pay tribute to those we lost in those terrible attacks a decade ago. So, when several of my coworkers expressed interest in going to the race, I changed my normal routine to give them the best race day experience they could hope for. For many of them this would be their first experience with NASCAR. I wanted them to be hooked, to feel what I felt at my first race, I wanted them to want to come back for more.
We arrived at the track at 10am and staked our ground by parking six vehicles to form a virtual square. In the center we set up tents, tarps, tables, chairs and grills. We strategically placed the coolers, cranked up the CD player and even hooked up a flat-screen TV complete with a DirecTv dish in the back of an SUV to catch some College football before heading into the track. The perfect setup for the ultimate tailgating party. There were 16 of us in total. We varied in age, gender and race to form a perfect little melting pot. You see, we are more than just mere coworkers, we are also great friends. Anyone who has had the opportunity to attend a race knows that you may come with the friends you know, but you leave a race with even more. A NASCAR race is the perfect setting to hang out with thousands of the closest friends you never knew you had.
We ate until we felt that it was impossible to take another bite and then we ate some more. We played cornhole and ladder-ball. Some relived their college days by playing competitive Flip Cup and Beer Pong. Some watched Virginia Tech beat East Carolina from the bumper of a Chevy Trailblazer, while others laid in the sun, just soaking it all in. We mingled and met new people. We shared our stories with them and they with us. After several hours of hanging out next to our crazy brood, a gentleman with his own large group of friends finally mustered up the courage to ask just how in the world a group like us came to be at a NASCAR race together. “I don’t mean this to sound rude or disrespectful by any means, but I’ve been trying to figure out what your connection is with each other other,” he said. “I’m looking at you and you’re from all walks of life, it is an interesting combination of people you’ve got here.” I hadn’t given it any thought until he said something, but by looking at us we did look a bit like a United Colors of Benneton ad.
I told him that we all worked together. He questioned what it was that we could possibly do that would accommodate all of the varying personality types. I explained that we were all healthcare providers that worked in the Emergency Department in the suburbs of the Washington DC metropolitan area. It’s funny when you say that to someone because you can actually see when the light comes on, that moment that it suddenly makes sense. The moment that they think “Oh man, they work in the ER, that explains the craziness!” It’s true, one has to be a little crazy to do the jobs that we do. We’re made up of Nurses, Paramedics EMTs, Registration Clerks and medical school students. In any other world, in any other profession who knows if we would have made a friendship connection, but in our world it just makes sense.
We know what it’s like to see the worst of the worst. We all had our own 9/11 stories to tell, what we went through and experienced not only from a personal point of view but from a medical one as well. Many of us waited on that day in 2001 to help victims that would never arrive. We share a unique perspective of that day. We were at the track this weekend not only to watch what would turn out to be one of the best races of the year but to commemorate an anniversary of a day that everything changed and will never be forgotten. A day that for many of us was the worst day of our lives.
I listened to countless stories on Saturday of where people were, what they were doing and how they reacted. Sometimes you can’t remember what you ate for breakfast but everybody vividly remembers exactly where they were ten years ago today. On Friday I listened to drivers being asked the same question, each of them had a story to tell, each of them a little different than the next. It is easy to forget at times that NASCAR drivers are “people too.” Their larger than life personas that play out on our television screens weekly affect our way of thinking, but under their flashy firesuits and fast cars there is someone that we can genuinely relate to. Our so-called racecar driving heroes have heroes too.
On the last race of the regular season, on a night that sets the Chase and makes for huge headlines in the sporting world, drivers respectively took a backseat to the memory of the 343 New York firefighters who lost their lives, not in the name of heroics, but simply because they were “doing their jobs,” to the 184 souls killed at the Pentagon, to the 33 passengers and seven crew members on Flight 93 who bravely gave their own lives in an attempt to stop the hijackers from crashing into another building, to all 2977 innocent lives lost and to to the families left behind and to the servicemen who fight everyday for our freedom and protection.
NASCAR not only said “I will,” they united and delivered. Then asked the question, “Will you?”
As I made my way from the parking lot to the infield before the start of the race and was handed a tiny American Flag, I knew the answer to that question. I along with over 100,000 others that night at the track said a resounding “Yes!” The pre-race ceremony was like none I’d ever witnessed before. It was emotional and gracious. Crowds cheered when former Mayor Mayor Giuliani appeared on the video scoring tower screens to offer his appreciation, tears were shed as New York City police officer Daniel Rodriguez sang “God Bless America” and respect was given to wounded warriors, USMC Corporal Todd Nicely and US Army Specialist Brendan Marrocco led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Flags waved in unison in the stands as fans and broadcasters paused for a moment of silence between laps nine and eleven. It was patriotism at it’s finest.
I left the track at 1am, some 15 hours after I arrived. Exhaustion was beginning to set in as I made my way to my car. Something on the ground caught my eye, a cutout of a yellow star mixed in with celebratory confetti that littered the infield. I instinctively picked it up and was holding it in my hand when it occurred to me that it was now officially Sept. 11th. I reflected for a moment on the events of the day, the race had been one heck of a wild ride, arguably one of the best of the season, but it was more than that. Richmond International Raceway, NASCAR and the fans got it right on a day, 10 years ago that was filled with such wrong.
NASCAR will never forget and neither shall we.
Surprising and Not Surprising: Richmond Wonderful Pistachios 400
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[/media-credit]With tributes to the troops, America and to all lost on September 11th, NASCAR’s finest took to the Richmond International Raceway to determine the twelve who will Chase for the Championship. Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 54th annual Wonderful Pistachios 400.
Surprising: The unhappiness of this driver with his car at the beginning of the race contrasted starkly with his surprisingly overwhelming joy and happiness in Victory Lane. And yet even in victory, the winner of the race stopped to pay tribute to those who serve and to the country, as well as to his mother on her birthday.
Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet, claimed his fourth victory of the 2011 season and his second victory in 22 races at Richmond, locking him into a tie for the top seed in the Chase.
“This is pretty awesome,” Harvick said as he climbed out of the car to cheers and spraying of the sponsor’s product. “First thing I want to do is thank all of our troops for everything they do for us. This is a special weekend.”
“And I want to say ‘happy birthday’ to my mom tomorrow,” Harvick continued. “This is just a great night and a great weekend.”
Not Surprising: Although getting in by the skin of their teeth, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Denny Hamlin overcame problems during the race to finish seventh, sixteenth, and ninth respectively, establishing their places in the Chase, ninth, tenth and twelfth respectively.
“I’m probably most proud of the fact that we’ve had six opportunities to be in the Chase and we’ve made it five out of the six,” Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, said. “We’re able to sit up here tonight and say we’ve made this thing.”
“I wouldn’t have predicted it halfway through the year with the way our season was going, but real appreciative of our guys who kept their heads up and kept working really hard.”
“Well we just kept working and trying to fix the car,” Dale Earnhardt, Jr. said of his No. 88 Amp Energy/National Guard Chevrolet. “We were tore up pretty bad in the front end and was just really loose in. We worked on it and worked on it and fought for everything we could.”
“It was an unbelievable comeback,” Hamlin, behind the wheel of the No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota. “This car really is destroyed and it’s amazing how fast we got this car considering the circumstances.”
“We were just able to motor up through there.”
Surprising: Although Richmond is a short track and tempers traditionally run hot, it was surprising the intensity of the feelings between one-time champion Kurt Busch and five-time champion Jimmie Johnson, who managed to find one another yet again to bring out the eleventh caution of the race.
“We raced down into Turn One and I locked up the left front trying to avoid him,” Busch, driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge, said of Johnson. “When he came back to us, you could see it coming.”
“That’s not something you see from Jimmie Johnson every day,” Busch continued. “So I know we’re in his head.”
“He’s got to learn to race,” Busch said. “He’s been able to beat guys the last five years just by out driving them just what he has for equipment.”
“I’m going to beat him fair and square with my Penske Dodge.”
“I got run over going into (Turn) One,” Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s/Power of Pride Chevrolet, said after the race. “If you’re going to spin me out, I’m going to spin you out.”
“It’s just part of it,” Johnson continued. “I’m sure I’ll go find him and talk to him and he’ll run his mouth and we’ll go from there.”
“I’ve worked very hard to not have any contact with him,” Johnson said. “I made a move to break the draft and I didn’t touch his car.”
“He instigated it and ran into the side of me,” Johnson continued. “If he can stop running into my Lowe’s Chevrolet, everything will be just fine.”
Busch finished fifth in the race and, in stark contrast, Johnson finished 31st. Johnson, however, now becomes the only driver to qualify for each of the eight Chase competitions, from 2004 to 2010.
Johnson is seeded sixth in the Chase and Busch is ironically right behind him in the seventh spot.
Not Surprising: In contrast to the hot tempers, three drivers in particular remained calm, cool and collected to not only finish the race with top ten finishes, but secure their places firmly in the Chase.
Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Kellogg’s/Cheez-It Ford, almost caught winner Kevin Harvick in the final laps of the race, settling instead for a second place finish. This was Edwards’ seventh top-10 finish in 15 races at Richmond and his 17th top -10 finish this season.
“Well, once I get over the frustration of not winning this thing, I am going to be really excited about how fast our team is,” Edwards said. “We really turned things around tonight.”
“That is the best we have run on a short track in years,” Edwards continued. “That was huge. I had a good time and I am ready to go get this Chase on.”
Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, was bitten by the final caution to score a third place finish. This was, however, Gordon’s 24th top-10 finish in 38 races at Richmond.
“That definitely did not fall our way, but that was a great battle,” Gordon said. “That was fun.”
“This team has got me excited and they’re on fire,” Gordon continued. “To be up there to take the lead and have a shot at winning that thing was awesome. We’re very excited.”
And Kyle Busch, behind the wheel of his No. 18 M&Ms Toyota, decked out in a red, white and blue 9/11 tribute paint scheme, scored a sixth place finish after recovering from losing a lap due to a loose wheel.
“It was just a hard-fought battle tonight, and certainly we had to battle through more adversity than we would have like to,” Busch said. “But that’s what’s going to make us better.”
“We fought through everything it seemed,” Busch continued. “It was fun to drive that thing.”
Surprising: Red Bull Racing had a surprisingly bad day, with Kasey Kahne, behind the wheel of the No. 4 Red Bull Toyota, wrecking twice, once with a tire going down and once into his own teammate Brian Vickers, behind the wheel of the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota, as a result of contact with Marcos Ambrose.
“I just know I started to turn when the 83 hit me hard,” Kahne said. “It was a weird deal.”
Vickers had an even stronger reaction, expressing his anger both on and off the track at Ambrose. Although speculation had it that Vickers had been parked by NASCAR, he ended up spending a great deal of time on pit road attempting to repair the car before visiting the NASCAR hauler after the race.
Not Surprising: It was not surprising that several drivers just out of the top twelve came oh, so close to making their Chase dreams a possibility.
A.J. Allmendinger, behind the wheel of the No. 43 Best Buy Ford, had a great run, finishing 11th. Yet he still came up short, remaining in the 13th position in the point standings.
Clint Bowyer, driving the No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet, also gave it his best college try, only to finish 22nd after a difficult run, including losing his air conditioning ten laps into the race and tangling with fellow competitor David Ragan, also trying to make the Chase in his No. 6 UPS ‘We Love Logistics’ Ford.
“I got under David and I didn’t get any room left and spun myself out,” Bowyer said. “I drove as hard as I could and gambled and did what we could to try to win the race.”
“Nothing’s gone our way since Charlotte half way through our season,” Bowyer continued. “There’s always next year.”
Surprising: Stephen Leicht, in only his second career race, had a good run for the No. 36 Golden Corral Chevrolet. Although Leicht finished 24th, he was in contention throughout, demonstrating that his time away from the sport has not hurt his abilities behind the wheel.
Not Surprising: Brad Keselowski, again showing that he is NASCAR’s hottest driver, brought the Blue Deuce to the checkered flag in the 12th position. ‘Kes’ has now cemented his place firmly in the Chase seeded 11th.
“We just didn’t give up,” Keselowski said. “We got a little momentum going.”
“When the Chase comes you’ve got to out-finish what you have for a car and we’re doing that,” Keselowski continued. “It’s Chase time and we’ve got the Blue Deuce in it.”
Even with an Extra $100,000 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Finds Little Solace in Third Place Finish
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won an extra $100,000 on Friday night and extended his championship point lead but he was still disappointed.
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[/media-credit]After finishing third in his Fastenal Ford, Stenhouse didn’t hide the fact that he wanted more. Never leading a lap Friday night but coming close battling with the leaders like teammate Carl Edwards and eventual winner Kyle Busch, the Tennessee driver has come a long way in order to be upset with a top five finish.
“It was a great race for us,” Stenhouse said. “We worked hard on it all night. We struggled a lot more than we expected to. We felt like the past couple of races here we had something that could win the race but we struggled with our Fastenal Mustang a little bit.”
Stenhouse’s performance bagged him the aforementioned $100,000 from Nationwide’s “Dash 4 Cash” program. He was the highest finishing driver of those eligible and the win puts him in the running for another $100,000 payday at Charlotte next month. It was an added reward for the 6 team after a solid performance Friday night.
“That was a great points day for us and all the Roush cars were fast,” Stenhouse said. “We have to keep doing this every week. We didn’t make mistakes tonight, I don’t think we had one area that we made a mistake in, other than not getting our racecar where we needed it to be. Other than that, we have to stay positive. We have been running really well and go on to Chicago.”
Entering Chicago and the final seven races of the 2011 NNS season, Stenhouse holds a 16 point lead over Elliott Sadler and a 45 point lead on third place Reed Sorenson. With two victories this season, the most of any NNS regular, Stenhouse can’t find much to be upset with, except whom he’s been finishing behind lately.
“It is definitely frustrating,” Stenhouse said about Cup drivers Busch and Edwards beating him. “I wanted to be a little more excited about winning that Dash 4 Cash. Finishing third makes it tough to do that.”
During portions of the race Stenhouse felt he had a car capable of running with Busch. For 10 laps Stenhouse would run some of the fastest laps on the track before starting to fall off. The car would get tight and he would be spinning the tires.
“It is disappointing to finish third but then again it is good to be up there racing with those guys,” Stenhouse said. “They are champions and win a lot of races, so to be in contention to win is a good thing in this series.”
Stenhouse’s two victories came by overtaking the Cup drivers. At Iowa in May he bested teammate Edwards and Brad Keselowski. Then at the same track last month he again bested Edwards in a fantastic finish. Cup drivers have won 23 of 27 NNS races this season with Busch taking home eight trophies and Edwards six.
Following in their tire tracks though has been the resurgent Stenhouse and company. Friday night he was best in class for the NNS regulars, unable to catch the powerhouses in front of him. Stenhouse said he struggled in turns three and four, which allowed Busch and Edwards to pull away from him down the frontstretch.
“I would gain on them in one and two and then we were a little too tight in three and four,” Stenhouse said. “I would have to basically stop the car to get it to turn and go the other way. That is really what we struggled with all night.”
As Stenhouse moves forward he knows where he can do better and it comes from in the driver’s seat. Drivers like Busch and Edwards know exactly what they need and how to communicate with their team.
“Sometimes I think I struggle with that,” Stenhouse revealed. “Telling them exactly what I need to make my car faster. Kyle made his better and he normally makes it better every pit stop it seems like. Carl was better at the beginning and was catching him at the end, he just ran out of time I think.”
While crew chief Mike Kelley and the No. 6 team made Stenhouse’s car better on Friday, they too ran out of time. Moving forward for the team as they chase their first championship, being able to make the car better will be an important key to success.
Said Stenhouse, “We just tried something to get us a little bit extra and go after those guys and it just didn’t work for us.”
Despite Recent Struggles Dale Earnhardt Jr. Excited and Positive Entering the Chase
He still hasn’t won a race but for the first time in three years Dale Earnhardt Jr. has ended a streak, he’s back in the Chase for the Championship.
Saturday night in Richmond the No. 88 AMP Energy / National Guard team battle back from a lap eight accident they were collected in to officially secure their spot. Going down a lap on multiple occasions and making over 10 pit stops, Earnhardt Jr. and company brought home a racecar that looked as though it went 10 rounds at Martinsville to a 16th place finish.
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[/media-credit]“We had a pretty good year,” Earnhardt Jr. said afterwards. “Tonight didn’t start off too good. We got in a little bit of a crash there. The 33 [Clint Bowyer] spun out early and I think everybody back there behind him was alerted of the accident except for one or two guys and they come through there and drove a few of us into it.”
Earnhardt Jr. hit Bowyer square with his nose, severely damaging his Chevy. Afraid of lifting the hood in case it wouldn’t shut, the team decided to work around the damage by pulling out and taping what they could. The car ran fine for about ten laps Earnhardt Jr. said before the right front tire started showing wear and tear.
“We got lucky, got the lucky dog a bunch and ended up finishing [16th] somehow” said Earnhardt Jr. “I was disappointed we didn’t get to show how good a car we had because I thought we had a good one yesterday in practice and it’s all over with now. We’ll just see how we can do in the Chase.”
Dropping to 10th in points, Earnhardt Jr. will stay seeded there as the Chase starts next week in Chicago. When it does all the positive energy and confidence he had when his team was running top five in points earlier this season will be back. Making the Chase was something Earnhardt Jr. has felt his team was capable of doing all year long and there’s enough relief to go around that he has.
“’I’m proud to be in the Chase,” he said. “I feel like I’m a good enough driver to be in the Chase, my team is good enough to be there. As a group I think we’re good enough to be in the top 10, and I can look back over the season and just as easily think of several instances where we cost ourselves 10 or 15 points and made this situation difficult this weekend. But we’re a good team and I’m proud to carry my sponsors and HMS in the Chase and represent them in the Chase and hopefully we’re going to work real hard. Hopefully we do a good job.”
A good job much like Saturday when the 88 team refused to go down easily. Steve Letarte led the team with his calm, cheerleading attitude and made sure they had a plan. Every chance they got the car was repaired and adjustments were made as they worked their way through the field. While Junior Nation sat on the edge of their seats for 400 laps, Earnhardt Jr. never blinked.
“No, I wasn’t worried at all,” he said. “I had seen racecars run good at short tracks before and I figured we had all night to fix it. I felt like if we were a good enough team, we’d get the job done. Brad had to run his ass off to win the race, to run in the top five to make it tough on us. He almost did that, but I felt good. I knew my team could fix the car good enough and if everything fell the right way for us as far as cautions and getting them lucky dogs, getting an opportunity to work on the car, we’d be fine.”
The final 100 laps it became easier to breathe. Earnhardt Jr. climbed into the top 20 where he needed to finish to clinch his Chase spot, regardless of what his competitors did. Now in, Earnhardt Jr. can start thinking about the future.
“We’ve got to turn a different setup than what we ran tonight and in the last six weeks frankly,” he said about the Chase. “But we had a pretty good run at it going the first 15 races and for whatever reason we sort of fell off and forgot some things or over-engineered something. But we need to look hard at what we’re doing, what we’ve been doing.”
Earnhardt Jr. would like to go back to running how he did in those first 15 races. He was third in points for many weeks and was coming ever so close to finding victory lane before things started going downhill entering the summer. Now though, all Chase drivers will start with a fresh slate.
“Steve has told me he’s been kind of conservative,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “But we’ve been conservative on the motor and a couple of other things the last several weeks to make sure we don’t have any problems like engine failure and there’s some other things on the engineer’s side. We’ll just see. I don’t think any of that stuff is really going to make us faster but we’ll go in there with a good attitude.”
Right now though, life is good in the Earnhardt camp. He’s back in the Chase, he’s confident and he’s ready to go forward.
“I’m in the Chase and I’ve got an opportunity to run for the championship,” he said late Saturday night. “I’ve got an opportunity to compete and improve my points position and improve the overall payout. I’ve still got a race to run … I think it does validate our team. I think it says a lot about our team and I’ve always felt like this team was good enough to be in the top 10 and I feel like tonight, we almost gave it away. We got outrun all year long several different times but we almost gave it away a few times too. So, I’m proud of what we’ve been able to do all year.”
