By Joe Menzer, NASCAR.COM
No whining, please.Especially not by those who steadfastedly accuse Jeff Gordon of being the ultimate whiner.
Yet you knew there would be some coming as soon as Gordon's rain-shortened victory in Sunday's Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway became official. Another half a lap -- shoot, another half a second, it seemed -- and win-starved Ryan Newman would have been the driver cavorting about in Victory Lane instead of Gordon (watch video).
But the yellow caution flag flew when it did, and what's done is done. Newman was about half a car-length behind Gordon and charging hard when the heavy rains came and the yellow flew as the two drivers approached the last scoring loop that mattered on Lap 106 of the scheduled 200-lap event.
It was Gordon's fourth win of the year, and by far his most clairvoyant. In his first run in the announcer's booth for TNT instead of being on the track competing against the eventual winner, Kyle Petty declared that he was ready to retire as a driver if the plan mapped out by Gordon and Steve Letarte, the crew chief on Gordon's No. 24 Chevrolet, ended up working out.
Petty said he can't compete against that kind of unerring excellence, or at least he said something to that effect. Others must have been left feeling the same after Gordon won with a car that had bad brakes, worn tires -- and clearly was not the class of the field at any point in the race, even, and perhaps especially so, when he was in the final stages of actually winning it.
But guess what? Gordon was right when he told reporters afterward that everyone else in the field had the same opportunity as him to pit for fuel on Lap 84, ensuring that he had enough gas to pedal well beyond the halfway point of the race.
All the other teams were well aware of how much fuel they had left, and whether or not it would be enough to carry them past the halfway mark when the results would become official (no one expected NASCAR to have time to dry out the track and restart the race again once it was stopped for rain -- not after the initial start had been delayed by nearly three hours).
Everyone knew the rain was coming. They all had access to the same weather radar. (Continued)
What they lacked was Letarte's creative radar vision, which accurately mapped out how the rain and the race would play out. Was it a gamble? No doubt. Letarte even joked that he couldn't argue with those who thought it was stupid at the time for him to order up a green-flag stop to make certain Gordon would have enough fuel to coast past the halfway point without stopping again.
"Sometimes stupid works, I guess," he said.
Gordon said afterward that when things are going good, as they so obviously are for his team this season, frequently you make your own luck.
"I have never appreciated things in life and my good fortune more than I am right now," he said. "When you have that chemistry and positive energy surrounding you, I think good things happen. I don't think things happen because you're lucky; you put yourself in position to make things happen."
You also are aggressive and confident and go for the wins, instead of playing not to lose like Denny Hamlin and others did on Sunday. The only other car to take the same gamble as Gordon was the No. 25 of driver Casey Mears, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate who ultimately finished fourth.
Everyone else played it safe -- and lost.
It was yet another lesson in why Hendrick's cars in general, and those of Gordon and Jimmie Johnson in particular, continue to dominate this Nextel Cup season.
No whining, please.Especially not by those who steadfastedly accuse Jeff Gordon of being the ultimate whiner.
Yet you knew there would be some coming as soon as Gordon's rain-shortened victory in Sunday's Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway became official. Another half a lap -- shoot, another half a second, it seemed -- and win-starved Ryan Newman would have been the driver cavorting about in Victory Lane instead of Gordon (watch video).
But the yellow caution flag flew when it did, and what's done is done. Newman was about half a car-length behind Gordon and charging hard when the heavy rains came and the yellow flew as the two drivers approached the last scoring loop that mattered on Lap 106 of the scheduled 200-lap event.
It was Gordon's fourth win of the year, and by far his most clairvoyant. In his first run in the announcer's booth for TNT instead of being on the track competing against the eventual winner, Kyle Petty declared that he was ready to retire as a driver if the plan mapped out by Gordon and Steve Letarte, the crew chief on Gordon's No. 24 Chevrolet, ended up working out.
Petty said he can't compete against that kind of unerring excellence, or at least he said something to that effect. Others must have been left feeling the same after Gordon won with a car that had bad brakes, worn tires -- and clearly was not the class of the field at any point in the race, even, and perhaps especially so, when he was in the final stages of actually winning it.
But guess what? Gordon was right when he told reporters afterward that everyone else in the field had the same opportunity as him to pit for fuel on Lap 84, ensuring that he had enough gas to pedal well beyond the halfway point of the race.
All the other teams were well aware of how much fuel they had left, and whether or not it would be enough to carry them past the halfway mark when the results would become official (no one expected NASCAR to have time to dry out the track and restart the race again once it was stopped for rain -- not after the initial start had been delayed by nearly three hours).
Everyone knew the rain was coming. They all had access to the same weather radar. (Continued)
What they lacked was Letarte's creative radar vision, which accurately mapped out how the rain and the race would play out. Was it a gamble? No doubt. Letarte even joked that he couldn't argue with those who thought it was stupid at the time for him to order up a green-flag stop to make certain Gordon would have enough fuel to coast past the halfway point without stopping again.
"Sometimes stupid works, I guess," he said.
Gordon said afterward that when things are going good, as they so obviously are for his team this season, frequently you make your own luck.
"I have never appreciated things in life and my good fortune more than I am right now," he said. "When you have that chemistry and positive energy surrounding you, I think good things happen. I don't think things happen because you're lucky; you put yourself in position to make things happen."
You also are aggressive and confident and go for the wins, instead of playing not to lose like Denny Hamlin and others did on Sunday. The only other car to take the same gamble as Gordon was the No. 25 of driver Casey Mears, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate who ultimately finished fourth.
Everyone else played it safe -- and lost.
It was yet another lesson in why Hendrick's cars in general, and those of Gordon and Jimmie Johnson in particular, continue to dominate this Nextel Cup season.