John Force’s brilliant return to victory in his Castrol Ford Mustang AA/FC at the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona wasn’t the only happening in motorsports on Valentine’s Day 2010. They also ran a quaint little motorcar race down in some podunk Florida beach town. Or at least they tried to, in between an exciting 145 minutes of patching cavernous fissures in the Turn Two pavement of the aging Daytona International Speedway.
Over six hours and 520 miles after Richard Petty paced the field in a 411-horsepower 2011 Mustang GT and the initial green flag fell in the “Pothole 500,” former Roush-Fenway Ford driver Jaime McMurray took his second straight restrictor plate win. Only this time it was in a common-template Earnhardt-Ganassi COT. BangShift.com hero (or zero, depending on your perspective) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. came in second. Roush-Fenway Ford driver Greg Biffle rounded out the non-existent podium.
Here are some grades for the major players.
Drivers:
1. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: C . (Let’s get this one out of the way up front.) After chopping down on Carl Edwards and taking a wild ride on the shiny side during the penultimate event of Daytona Speedweeks (i.e., the Nationwide Series race), it looked like Junior’s fading NASCAR career would produce yet another mediocre result. However, Junior parlayed three attempts at a “Green/White/Checker” finish to move up from twenty-second in “regulation” to runner-up in “overtime.” He had the highest-finishing Hendrick Chevrolet—which may suggest more about the dismal day of pardoned Jailbird Rick Hendrick’s superteam than any “Little E” resurgence. Perhaps all of the extra red flag time gave Junior’s hard-partying system more time to metabolize…
2. Jaime McMurray: A . Any time they’re calling what you did an “upset win,” you’ve probably exceeded all expectations. Extra credit for abandoning the sponsor litany in the post-race TV interview and showing some real emotion.
3. Kevin Harvick: B. Leading the most laps and making a dangerous, daring lurch to the left on a restart is meaningless if you’re not in position to “seal the deal.”
4. Greg Biffle: C. Even despite minimal drafting help, “The Biff” had an outside shot to win. He just made his move too soon.
5. Clint Bowyer: C-. Hanging back from “the Biff” helped his teammate Harvick make that wild lane change on one of the restarts. Bowyer simply couldn’t do enough with what he had.
6. Jimmy Johnson: C-. He always stinks up the Daytona 500, so his dismal 35th place finish probably puts him firmly on the road to Cup title number five.
7. Carl Edwards: D. In the end, Cousin Carl couldn’t hang with his wingman (Biffle).
8. Jeff Gordon: D-. Wonderboy hates bump drafting so much that one of his mid-turn bumps caused a huge wreck. But for Gordon’s crashes, his more popular Hendrick teammate wouldn’t have been second.
Organizations:
1. International Speedway Corporation/Daytona International Speedway/DIS President Robin Braig: F. Competing with the Winter Olympics and reeling from fan discontent, the last thing NASCAR needed was another fiasco. They got one, courtesy of a recalcitrant pothole in the cracked pavement. While the “Pothole 500” probably wasn’t as big a downer as the caution-marred Brickyard 400 of a couple of years back, the long delays for road work likely hurt television ratings. Providing a raceable track for NASCAR’s so-called “superbowl” is “Job One.” ISC, DIS and Braig failed.
2. NASCAR: C. NASCAR did about as well as it could have under the circumstances. Multiple “Green/White/Checker” crashfest was a fan favorite. NASCAR’s decision to force Roush-Fenway to divest itself of a team obviously hurt Ford more than anyone else.
3. Earnhardt-Ganassi: A. Chip Ganassi may have failed in his quest for Rolex 24 glory, but signing Jaime McMurray off of NASCAR’s equivalent of “waivers” was a savvy move.
4. Richard Childress Racing: B. RCR seems to be on its way back, but still too early to tell whether it will challenge Hendrick for Chevy supremacy.
5. Hendrick: B. Junior carried NASCAR’s version of the Yankees at Daytona.
6. Roush-Fenway: B-. Watching a former driver win in a rival manufacturer’s car has to be a bitter pill to swallow. While Roush-Fenway may prove more competitive in 2010 and produced brilliant pit stops on the last go-round, they simply didn’t have the cars (or maybe the drivers) to get Biffle into victory lane.
7. Michael Waltrip Racing: C. Strong runs by Martin Truex, Jr. and David Reutimann offset Michael Waltrip’s continued struggles.
8. Stewart-Haas: C. Lots of smoke but no fire when it counted.
9. Joe Gibbs: C-. Toyota’s Number One superteam fumbled in the “superbowl.”
10. Richard Petty Motorsports: D. Lots of exciting crashes.
11. Penske: D. Being the last of the Dodge teams isn’t an “unfair advantage.”
12. Fox Television: D-. Too bad they couldn’t have used Digger to fill the pothole. After ten years of broadcasting the so-called “Great American Race,” the color commentary team has officially run out of anything new or interesting to say. DW was obviously rooting against the Fords after the last red flag.
Manufacturers:
1. Chevrolet: A-. Even as Hendrick stumbles, Chevrolet’s depth still keeps them best among equals for the moment.
2. Ford: C . Somebody at Ford Racing has to be wondering today why, when NASCAR forced Roush-Fenway to cut one team, that a seat in a Ford COT wasn’t secured for McMurray. Somebody should also be wondering why Ford hasn’t brought Chip Ganassi into the Blue Oval fold. While Ford showed flashes of competitiveness, at the end of the “Pothole 500,” they came up “no-cigar.” But at least there are more Fords on track this year. And they did finish ahead of Toyota and Dodge.
3. ‘Yota: C. No documented incidents of “unintended acceleration” or recalls has to be a relief.
4. Dodge: F . Somebody at Dodge is wondering why they couldn’t keep Ganassi and maybe even the hapless Richard Petty Motorsports. “One Team” concept has now truly become one team. It will take every bit of “the Captain’s” magic to salvage anything from 2010.
