I was reading an associated press story about how Dale Earnhardt Jr. does not like racing at Infinion near Sonoma California. If you have read anything that I have wrote you know full well how I feel about the road course races in Nascar. As a member of “Junior Nation” I was not happy with Tony Stewart dumping Brian Vickers 38 laps into the race. So I don’t blame Junior for not liking that track when you get wrecked on lap 38 of a 110-lap event. That in my opinion is way too early to be dumping people. I don’t know who wrote the article on Nascar.com because for some reason they didn’t get credit for it but they mentioned the fact that Dale Junior said that he wasn’t looking forward to going back to Daytona because he is not a fan of the “Two Car Tango” style of drafting there. I myself am very much looking forward to the Daytona 4th of July weekend night race because of the results of the last restrictor plate race. Do you remember who won the last restrictor plate race? It was Jimmy Johnson and it was at Talladega Super speedway. And it was Dale Earnhardt Junior that pushed him to that win.
I specifically remember the post race interview in victory lane where Jimmy Johnson was asked what he and Dale Junior said when Dale Junior stuck his head in Johnson’s car after the race. Jimmy said that he thanked Dale junior for the push to victory and that the next restrictor plate race was on them, meaning the 48 Lowes team. So here we are headed for Daytona International Speedway for the Coke Zero 400 and I am wondering if Jimmy Johnson and Chad Knous remember that conversation. It is time to put your money where your mouth is and push Junior to the win Saturday night. What say you “Junior Nation”? I know you all remember that statement! There has been 110 races since Dale Earnhardt Junior has won a Sprint Cup race and it is time to see if this “One House, One Team” mentality that we have all heard about, is really true. I don’t want to doubt Jimmy Johnson and Chad Knous but I need to see some teamwork when we get down to the green flag Saturday night. I expect both of those cars coming out of that building to be equally fast right off the truck or shortly thereafter.
One thing that I think we need to see as members of “Junior Nation” is some more energy out of Dale Junior. I know the guy has always been laid back but there comes a point in your career where you have to start standing up for yourself on the track and retaliate for the problems other drivers cause you. Kevin Harvick moved him once and I didn’t appreciate that, Tony Stewart causes a big wreck at Sonoma, which eventually takes out Dale Junior, Mark Martin gets into Junior causing him to get into the wall, I mean to me it seems like people are running rough shod all over him without much of a complaint afterwards. I’m not saying that Dale Junior needs to go out on the track and wreck anyone but maybe the 88 team needs to step up like David Reutimann last season and make it very clear that the running over of the 88 team is over.
We may very well be entering into the closing acts of this “Two Car Tango” at Daytona as the weather in central Florida will eventually wear on the track and cause it to loose a good deal of that new track grip that is has now. I once lived in Central Florida for a full season and experienced the weather there first hand. It rains almost every day through most of the year and most of the time the pavement is bone dry again within an hour after the rain stops. Temperature ranges before and after a weather event in central Florida can and do vary by some fifteen to twenty degrees. Possibly more during the winter months, it is these changes in temperature along with the blazing Florida sun that will wear the track surface much quicker than lets say a new surface at Michigan. There will be an opportunity for such a case study should anyone feel like taking on the task, since Michigan has a repaving project planned. Talladega is a year ahead of Daytona and it is losing some of its newfound grip already. We saw cars getting a little looser at Talladega in the spring race there. Give Daytona a couple of more years and I think you will see the “Two Car Tango” start to die off. But before that happens lets go get what Jimmy Johnson owes us this weekend at Daytona!
Stay safe
TW
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