Pit Road Week 34: Texas

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Week 34

By Richard Tix

I will start this weeks review by saying congratulations to Jimmie Johnson and the #48 team. Lost in everything else Sunday night was the fact that he had a pretty dominating win and stole another Chasers automatic bid to the finale.

Secondly, even though the race had some late fireworks which may have some fans forgetting, but a 500 at Texas that starts later in the day is too much. This is another race on the season where the race could be cut back by 100 miles and be run as a 400. We would have still had the same ending where the excitement gets ramped up, but without the first 400 mile of sleeping. I do like the factor of preparing strategy for a long race, but bringing it down to a 400 still will have teams strategically preparing for that.

Now, lets get into the thing that every big media outlet will highlight and only talk about, the end of the race and post race.

I am going to put this out there first, I do not agree with everything Brad Keselowski has done lately and totally understand why he has picked up some enemies and haters. That being said, I didn't see anything wrong with what he did at Texas last night.

Jeff Gordon let a hole open up in between he and Jimmie Johnson and BK went for it (as would 90% of drivers in the position of almost needing a win to move on (obviously now that isn't the case, but it sure looked like it before)). BK got in the hole and Jeff Gordon seemed to start to close it just a little too late. They got into each other and JG ended up with a cut tire, but let me remind you, BK could have easily been the one with the cut tire as well.

It ended up as a racing thing in my opinion. This is the Winston Cup (yes, I know its the Sprint Cup now, but lets be honest everyone loves the old days, and in the old days the BK move would look normal). These guys are at the highest level and competing for a Championship, how do you expect a guy like BK who is already an aggressive hard nose driver to NOT take that hole of opportunity? If it was your driver you would want him to try and make a move as well, heck I think if Harvick was in front of BK at the moment he would have done the same.

But, he isn't your driver so it is easy to do the blame game because he is an easy target right now. Also, I respect Jeff Gordon and I know why he reacted the way he did, its high emotions and a Championship on the line for him as well. But, it seemed more like emotions from the past rolled into this one because it was BK. Unfortunately for JG he left a small window of hope open and anyone with the will to win was going to try it.

Both guys have different styles of racing, but BK did not hit that hole to wreck anyone, he hit it to go for a win, which is what we as fans should want to see. This high emotion racing will lead to a lot of people spewing a lot of hate, but before you say something vulgar and over the line just think about how great this style of racing is. Do you just want another aero, fuel mileage race? 

Last note before the Power Rankings. I hear so many fans clamoring for "old school racing" or "man I miss the old days" but then when we see action a bit like the old days where drivers would go for a hole and beat and bang during some aggressive RACING they get upset because it was there driver involved. We have to stop the hypocrisy just because our driver was involved or effected by the result of good hard racing. No intent was to wreck anyone and some of the past greats would have done the same thing, heck, they did. We can talk all day about respect, but when there is one race left to get into the Chase and you are only racing on respect and not the will to win then you will end up losing, because one of those driver you thought you respected is going to make the winning move and head to Miami as a Final Four Driver. 

Oh, and guys, Jimmie Johnson won....

Pit Road Power Rankings Week 34 (Week 33)

1. Joey Logano (LW-1)- Well, Sunday was crazy and Joey ended up leaving tied with Denny Hamlin as the points leader, but not by much. This Chase is tight but Joey has been very consistent. 
2. Kevin Harvick (LW-6)- Harvick was making moves at the end of the race but it wasn't enough. BK was keeping him behind him and KH waited too long to move him out of the way, leaving him no chance of catching Jimmie Johnson.
3. Denny Hamlin (LW-5)- DH is now tied for the points lead, that is how crazy Sunday night at Texas was. Not to take anything from DH, but you have to admit he has been very quiet this round.
4. Jeff Gordon (LW-2)- Gordon had a fast car all night, but went down with a cut tire when he and BK got together late. It was a rough way to end the day, but everyone still has a shot at the next round so hope is not gone for #5.
5. Ryan Newman (LW-3)- Newman finished 15th, but ran in the top 10 almost the whole day. He is sitting two points behind DH and JoLo so he still has a shot at Miami.
6. Brad Keselowski (LW-7)- BK is an aggressive driver and no one (or everyone) wanting to beat the crap out of him will change that. So, fireworks could be coming at Phoenix again if drivers start driving back at him. The fans win in this case....
7. Matt Kenseth (LW-4)- Rough finish for Kenseth, he had a strong car all day and looked like he would finish top 5. Late troubles did in his night, though. He sits just one point out of the top 4.
8. Carl Edwards (LW-8)- Carl is also only one point out of 4th after one point on Sunday being a couple laps down. It was a strong fight back for him, but I still don't see the speed. All that matters is two races, though. They will be looked at as finish top 4 or go home.
9. Kyle Busch (LW-10)- Yeah, Kyle had a beat up car. Yeah, Kyle ended up finishing 4th on Sunday. It was a run like BK had at MIS with a banged up car. He and that team never gave up, nice run.
10. Dale Earnhardt Jr (LW-12)- Jr finished 6th even after he was blocked top to bottom by McMurray. Not sure McMurray picked up to many fans after Jr Nation had a word for him, but Jr still fought on.
11. Kurt Busch (LW-NR)- Kurt ran a few laps up front on the long day, but it was a quality finish for he and his new team after bringing home an 8th place finish.
12. Tony Stewart (LW-NR)- Smokes 11th give hope to a fan base looking for something to cling to. Last week he finished 4th so maybe he is getting it going again and will smooth things out for a strong 2015?

Just because he is going to win, that's why!

Well that's it for this weeks Pit Road. NASCAR Behind the Wall only has two more Pit Road articles on the 2014 season! Thanks for checking them out and make sure you check out other articles throughout the week!