Apr 18th, 2011 by T.C.
Shortly after Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega, Dan Bell (VP of Communications for FOX Sports) tweeted that it was “one of the best races in NASCAR history.” With a four wide finish that saw Jimmie Johnson win by 0.002 seconds, it certainly was one of the best finishes ever. But while the two car drafts create a ton of lead changes, and a level of unpredictability not seen anywhere else, I’m not sure we can really call the race as a whole a great one.
I know there are a lot of you out there who are going to disagree with me, but from where I was sitting on Sunday, I didn’t think the first 177 laps of this race were all that great. Positions on track change lap by lap just based on who has the most momentum at that point, and any race strategy is pretty much pointless. A duo can go from the front to the back, and back again very quickly. It makes for a lot of passing, but it’s almost pointless. After seeing a few races with the tandem drafting, these races just doesn’t seem as exciting to me. I’m certainly not a fan of the “big one,” but I liked the old style of superspeedway racing better. The three wide, ten rows deep, white knuckle racing was more fun to watch, IMHO.
With all that said, I’m wondering if we can really call a race great or “one of the best in NASCAR history” if the first 177 laps were so-so, and the last 11 were good, including a spectacular race to the line. Shouldn’t the entire race be exciting and fun to watch to be able to deem it great?
In these cases, I’m wondering if the explanation could be as simple as we only remember what happened at the very end of a race. The result was so great that we forget how not great the rest of the action was. We are blinded by an insane four wide, paint swapping, door to door, all out mad dash to the finish.
As we head into an off weekend for the Cup Series (don’t forget about the Trucks and NNS at Nashville!) I do want to say that this season is playing out as one of the most interesting in recent memory. No driver or small group of drivers has emerged as clear favorites, and we’ve had 7 different winners in eight races. It’s been fun to watch. Bring on Richmond!
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