What I saw at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday made me sick to my stomach. It ruined what otherwise was a good weekend at the track, the marvelous speedway that should be a blueprint for what racing should be. Everyone knows the story by now. Matt Kenseth decided to retaliate and knock the leader out of the race—on purpose. You may say I can’t prove that, but actions speak louder than words.
What a strange week. Just when I thought NASCAR was handling things right, things go haywire. After the events at Richmond (I won’t go into it—you know the story), I thought the sanctioning body had made some tough decisions in displacing Martin Truex from the Chase and adding Ryan Newman, but what happened today was almost unbelievable.
All attention was on Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon, the two drivers who would finish 12th (yes, I said 12th) in the standings that lead to NASCAR’s playoff, The Chase. It was an amazing turn of events and Gordon deserves most of the credit, but there were 41 other drivers out there and one (Bowyer) was making a statement for Michael Waltrip Racing that was just as amazing.
Race No. 2 of the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup brings us back to Loudon, New Hampshire. On April 12, 1934 the highest wind speed recorded at ground level was recorded at Mount Washington, NH.
Earlier in the week, the man known to many as Smoke upset a lot of people. His fans and many of his competitors took offense to some of his comments regarding the chase chances of the golden 12.