NASCAR At Homestead; The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Column By: JOHN DOUGLAS / RPW – HOMESTEAD, FL – Ford Championship Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway culminated in the crowning of NASCAR’s Monster Energy Cup Series Champion.
For Martin Truex Jr. Sunday evening was the realization of a life-long dream. For Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth it was the end of a 17-year Cup Series career. For Danica Patrick it was the end of a full-time racing career as well, but with much less to smile about.
The Good
It’s almost impossible to put into words what Barney Visser has done. Furniture Row Racing is no doubt one of the best stories in this sport in quite some time.
When you take into account all the things we’ve heard time and time again; the location of the team in Denver, Co.; the health issues Truex’s girlfriend Sherry Pollex has dealt with; the heart attack suffered by Visser the team owner, who we now know may not be able to attend the NASCAR Banquet either and all the other trials thrown at this team; it’s incredible to see them hoist the trophy as Champions.
Yet, some people may not remember the first years of this team. Jerry Roberston started the team’s first race in an Xfinity series event in 2005. They made one start in the Cup series that year with Kenny Wallace starting 24th and finishing 33rd. Their next few years resulted mainly in DNQ’s. In just 12 years this team has blazed a rebellious trail…believing they could do it their way with no compromise. That is something to be truly admired, and in a way, is exactly the spirit of this sport. Do it your way; win your way; celebrate your way.
Today, Furniture Row Racing can celebrate.
The Bad
We have all enjoyed the talents and personalities Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth brought to NASCAR for the last 17 years. Kenseth was exactly the opposite yet exactly the same kind of man as Dale.
He didn’t have a famous father, but he had the same passion. He didn’t have a lot of money to go racing with, but he won…a LOT. Neither was he loud and boisterous on a race weekend, but had an underlying confidence in his abilities.
No wonder what, we got to enjoy two friends who’s paralleled careers came to a close in their rookie paint schemes on Sunday Night. So what’s the bad part? We don’t get to have those people racing for us anymore. No one can drive forever, but if I had to choose two guys to watch race forever, they’d be pretty close to the top of that list.
The Ugly
While most people left Homestead with a feeling of completion, one person, Danica Patrick, did not. Her full time racing career also came to a close on Sunday night, but her race ended much earlier when her car got loose in turns one and two.
Unfortunately, the most successful female racer in NASCAR history did not get to take her final checkered flag as a full-time racer.
Danica has said time and again she wants to be looked at as a racer, not a woman racer. I’m here to tell you she may not have wins, she may have not produced a certain result many were looking for, but what she did do is prove that a woman can step into this sport, compete, and get something out of it and contribute something to it.
Could Danica have won? I say she did win. This isn’t a participation trophy, it’s recognition of outstanding achievement.
No woman other than her has ever won the pole for the Daytona 500; no other woman has as many top 10 finishes and no other woman had as long, or as fruitful a career as Danica. As a racer, she has opened a door for others to come compete on the same field of play as their male counterparts. No woman has done it better and that puts Danica in a league of her own.
It’s just a shame she couldn’t finish what she started.
