Top Row Seat - Richmond
Dateline: 03/04/97This week we saw the continuation of Rusty Wallace's total domination of the short tracks. His record on tracks under a mile in length is unbelievable. Top Ten finishes in 23 of his last 26 short track starts including 19 Top Fives and 9 wins. That's simply amazing.
This week, however, he needed a little help from the NASCAR officials. After the race NASCAR reported that his engine failed the new 14:1 compression restriction which was put in place for the 1997 season for the unrestricted engines (this rule was already in effect for the restrictor plate engines). Then, the next morning, NASCAR announced that the engine was fine and awarded Rusty the win. What? Did NASCAR's compression device just get a good nights sleep Sunday night and decide to give a different reading?
This situation just seems odd to me. Sunday night the AP wire reported that NASCAR had tested the engine "multiple times" and it had failed. Then the next morning everything is just ducky? That's enough to make you wonder if someone thought that this was bad for the sport and decided to let it go.
Either way, Rusty put on quite the driving display. Spinning out after making some "racing" contact with Rudd and falling to 41st place. Then 120 green flag laps later he's in the lead! That was very impressive. Makes you wonder again about that engine, huh?
But when it came down to it Wallace simply outsmarted Jarrett for the win by nailing the restart with 3 laps to go and then riding it out for the win. Jarrett himself said that he made a mistake and should have been able to hold them off for 3 laps to get the win. If DJ loses the championship by 10 points, don't forget what happened this week.
Qualifying....sort of
Qualifying was a complete washout causing the lineup to be decided by last year's points with the rest being decided by postmark. The net result of this is that Mike Wallace went home still having not raced in 1997 and Chad Little, thanks to "Shirley" back at the shop who mailed in his entry form early, made his first start of the season.
Chad might have been better off going home because this morning (Tuesday) NASCAR slapped a $10,000 fine on him for some rough driving after the race. Apparently Robby Gordon hit Little on the last lap and spun him out. Little took offense to this and rearended Gordon after the race was over. Too bad there was no coverage of this at all during the broadcast, like maybe a replay or an interview? Gordon was fined $5,000 for his part in the incident.
Time for a rant
OK, now it's no secret that the driver of the #24 car is not my favorite. But this time Rusty Wallace and Ernie Irvan agree with me. What the hell was PosterBoy doing up there battling (and VERY aggressively) with the leaders with 5 laps to go? That was completely ignorant. It is just a simple matter of class (or lack thereof) and respect for the other racers and the fans. When you are a lap down you stay out of the way and let the leaders race for the win. To quote Rusty Wallace from victory lane "I thought it was a little rediculous." Rusty can afford to be gentle with his words because he ended up winning.
Ernie Irvan had some stronger words for PosterBoy after #24 knocked him out of a sure fourth place with just a couple of laps to go. I believe Ernie said that PosterBoy will "get his" if he gets the chance. And Swervin' Irvan is certainly the guy to do it. Let's hope that was just the emotion talking and that cooler heads will prevail. I hate to see anybody wreck.... Even if it is well deserved.
One positive side to this whole thing is that there are a number of races on the circuit that require some help to win. The fewer friends he has the less chance he has to win.
Poor PosterBoy
Well it finally happened. I found a reason to have some sympathy for PosterBoy. Did you all see the way that the pit wall jumped right out in front of him? That's not fair. 24 has enough trouble just not hitting the leaders when he's a lap down he certainly doesn't need the pit wall to rush out in front of him like that.
Off To Atlanta
This week we head off to Atlanta Motor Speedway for race #4. Dale Earnhardt hasn't won a race since this race last year (0 wins in his last 30 starts). Watch for him to start getting desperate. Also, let's keep an eye on the Wallace/Irvan/PosterBoy trio to see if there is any fallout from the end of last week's race. Chad Little and Robby Gordon are both smart enough to know that NASCAR will be watching and will probably play it straight.
Prediction time
OK let's take a look at the contenders. Dale Jarrett has been right there all year, Jeff Burton has been strong lately, Geoff Bodine looked good last week, and Bill Elliot has had strong cars. My prediction at Atlanta.... Dale Earnhardt.
Go Fast, Turn Left, Stay Safe!
