Gordon Vs. Kenseth: Round 2
Wednesday, July 12th, 2006 10:30am CDT
By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Published on Thunder Lounge.
If you’re new around here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
[thumb:167:l:s=1:l=x][thumb:170:r:s=1:l=x]After reading through dozens of articles over the last two and a half days, there hasn’t been a single writer mention the following possibility. It may be out there buried somewhere, but I haven’t seen it. It’s something that has to be considered at least in the theory of possibility.
It’s happened before. It will happen again.
Many of the articles taut it as payback. A few taut it as a pure accident. Some sit on the fence.
Very few, if any articles have mentioned that neither car had any damage. As sensitive as the bodies of these cars are, if the contact was of any force at all there would have been at least a dent somewhere.
As the video of the whole deal shows, coming out of the center of the corners, the 24 was faster than the 17, and the 24 barely got into the back of the 17 if they actually touched at all. Most likely it was aero that caused the spin, not the contact. With these cars that’s all it takes as we have seen time and time again.
Here is what needs to be looked at. Why was the 24 faster off than the 17, which had been consistently fast off up until that point? Many have said it was a pause due to the lapped car of Casey Mears up high. That’s a pathetic excuse. He was well out of the way, and out of the groove that Matt and Jeff were racing in. I don’t buy it.
What has yet to be mentioned as playing into this is the amount of fuel in Kenseth’s tank. After the spin, coming around under caution, Matt ran out of gas. He even said that he knew he’d probably run out, and wondered why Jeff couldn’t simply have been more patient. Did Jeff know Matt was going to run out of gas? Since when did they put gauges in a car that showed everyone else’s fuel status? Did they start giving that information to the competing Crew Chief’s?
Here’s the thoughts/view from 2nd place up to that point.
- Matt’s been fast getting out of the corners.
- Got to keep up with Matt in order to be in position to make the pass getting into the next corner.
- Lap car up high, not in the way.
- Time to mash it. This is where Matt’s been hitting it.
- Whoa! He didn’t pick up! Let off a touch!
- The incident.
The 5th is what gets most people. They don’t feel the 24 let up at all, and drove right through him. If you watch the footage closely, the rate at which the 24 closed in should have resulted in a much greater hit than what it did. Gordon had to have let off/checked up some. Yes it wasn’t enough, but in a split second reaction like that, it was the best anyone could have done. Most of the driver’s would have ended up spinning him out unintentionally. If they tell you otherwise, they’re full of it.
The question burning in my mind is this. Being so low on fuel, could the slowdown have been because of:
- a) Kenseth’s futile attempt to save some gas?
- b) Could the motor have had a slight hesitation when Kenseth mashed the gas to come off the corner due to the low level of fuel?
Nobody knows except Matt, and frankly he’s still too ticked off to put it into anything more rational than “Jeff took me out”. At this point in the game there’s so much media coverage about it, yes we’re guilty of it too, that for Matt to say anything different would kill the coverage dead in the water. To be honest, the sponsor’s are probably eating this up.
We all know the end result.
- Gordon’s hungry for the win, and to be in the Chase to which he was a bystander last year.
- At the same time, he wasn’t about to give an inch, and race Matt as hard as Matt races Jeff. Clean, but hard.
- Kenseth was slow off the corner where he had been fast previously, and Jeff’s mashing the gas expecting the same result as before, and all of a sudden here comes Matt’s rear bumper towards Gordon’s chrome horn at a faster than a bat out of hell rate.
- Gordon lift’s, but it’s too late. They barely touch, and aerodynamics take over. He probably could have slammed on the brakes, but let’s be realistic. Who’s going to do that with a few laps left, driving their butt off for a win?
- Kenseth is buried back in the pack on the restart, and gets put into the fence coming to the checkers. Gordon goes on to win.
Perhaps the fuel pick up isn’t an issue. But it is something to consider. We’ve seen it happen before, and it will happen again. Sometimes when it has happened the accident was avoided, sometimes it wasn’t. The factors in the result vary, but they all come down to how close the following car was and how close to the checkers they are.
What has really fueled this whole debacle and speculation across the media is the fact that Nascar needs controversy. It needs rivalries. This gives them the opportunity to push one, and generate a little more excitement for the casual fan.
Jeff isn’t stupid. For him to wreck someone intentionally, while on probation, and at those speeds where someone could get hurt is absolutely ridiculous and completely out of character. Now, if this was Martinsville, Bristol, or Richmond it might hold a little more weight.
Nascar reviewed the footage, and called it as it really is. An unintentional accident.
Now, if you are on the “hater-wagon”, then you say Nascar is afraid to do anything because they want their poster boy in the chase, and that they fear the power of Hendrick Motorsports. They pick at Nascar’s credibility, and anything they can get their hands on.
If you’re in the Gordon Nation, then the issue was over as quick as it happened and you’re basking in the win, and Gordon’s being able to scratch off Chicago on the list of tracks he hadn’t won at.
My position is unbiased. I’m looking at it from both angles, to see what really happened. The hard part of this is that Matt hasn’t said anything other than “he wrecked me”, to help this out. So, we have to go with what we know as fact, and look at what the footage shows. Add in Gordon’s comments, and there you have it.
You can make what you want out of it, but it was an accident. Most accidents are preventable, but they still happen. Gordon could have most likely prevented it, but it a split second of timing, he did everything shy of stomping on the brakes. For all we know, he may have touched them. In the end, he raced Matt hard and aggressively. Had Gordon not been so hungry, been fighting for the top 10 in points and a win in the closing laps, the outcome may have been different. Then again, maybe not. An old saying comes to mind in regards to this. Never judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes. In this case, never judge a man until you have raced 400 miles in his shoes.
Filed Under: Damn Good Points, Nascar, Nextel Cup
Trackback URL for: Gordon Vs. Kenseth: Round 2
Loading...
Best analysis I’ve read so far.
I have read a comment by someone who had one of those NEXTEL, overinflated IPod-like thing-a-ma-jiggies that claimed Gordon was told Kenseth was low on fuel. Take it for what is worth. Which is probably not much.
My thoughts mirrored yours, where the hell is the rear and front valance damage on either car.
The best “conspiracy” I have read, and it seems to be fairly wide-spread, is Gordon wrecked Kenseth so Johnson would retain the points lead.
I had the “audacity” to point out to one “theorist” that Johnson could DNF in 3-4 of the next 8 events and still be in the Chase, but well, I quickly was called an apologist for Kenseth. Among less mentionable things.
Sometimes there is no end to the partisanship or quackery on some blogs and or forums.
But it’s always worth a laugh or two.
Marc said this on July 12th, 2006 at 8:55 pm
Yeah, it’s a funny world. In fact, it even mentioned a wise-crack at that exact same conspiracy in Nascar.com’s power rankings.
To be honest, if all this new media and attention is going to bring in the cry-baby’s with it… I’d rather have it like it was even 10 years ago. The trend is ruining the sport to some extent. I am fully in support of professionalism, don’t get me wrong. But imagine the uproar from the NFL fans if they imposed a “safe tackle” rule or something to the effect. It would be chaotic to say the least.
It’s no different here, in principle.
I think it best to end with one of my favorite quotes.
“No, he didn’t slammed you, he didn’t bump you, he didn’t nudge you. He rubbed you. And rubbin, son, is racin.”
Luke said this on July 12th, 2006 at 10:05 pm