The “Great American Race” Awards
Monday, February 16th, 2009by: Drew Hierwarter
Well, another Daytona 500 is in the record books and as Daytona 500s go, this one wasn’t half bad. It was full of good story lines. There were teams that had been started on a shoestring just to try to make the race. There were drivers with something to prove. There were raw rookies and aging veterans and teams who were already thinking about the points needed to make the chase. There were high expectations for some, realistic expectations for others, and no real expectations at all for a few.
With the Oscar awards coming up, and in light of several of the other award shows that have been on recently, I thought I would hand out my own awards for the “Great American Race” So, without further ado (because with the way the economy is, I can’t afford to waste any ado) here then are my picks for the “Great American Race or GAR Awards”
“Welcome to the Deep End of the Pool Award”
Joey Logano. You can make the argument that he’s not ready for the Cup Series, but the fact of the matter is he’s there now and he has a lot to learn. He’s been thrown to the sharks and he got a few hard lessons handed to him over the course of the week. Now it’s up to him to figure out to survive.
“Hang on to Your Wallet Award”
Tony Stewart. Stewart-Hass Racing used up five race cars and a couple of engines this week in Daytona. Tony is getting the realities of team ownership lesson the hard way.
“Enough Already Award”
Co-Winners: Fox and Speed TV. Yes guys we know the fist fight at the end of the 1979 Daytona 500 was a watershed moment in the history NASCAR. We know it brought NASCAR into the mainstream. We don’t need to see that footage and hear that story over and over again in the course of three days. There are more good Daytona 500 stories than just that one.
“The Yellow Too Late Award”
Elliott Sadler. If only that yellow flag had come out one lap earlier, Elliott Sadler would’ve been in Daytona’s Victory lane instead of Matt Kenseth. Just imagine how cool it would’ve been if he had won the Daytona 500 for a team that, at the end of last year, didn’t want him anymore.
“The First Time’s the Charm Award”
Drew Blickensderfer. His first time ever on the pit box as a Sprint Cup crew chief and he wins the biggest race of the year.
“The I Finally Did It Award”
Co-Winners: Matt Kenseth and Jack Roush. It was not only Kenseth’s first Daytona 500 win, but his first win in a restrictor plate race. It was also Jack Roush’s first Daytona 500 win.
The “It’s the Daytona 500 and I’m Going For It” Award
Co-Winners: Brian Vickers and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Brian Vickers probably shouldn’t have been trying to block Jr., at that stage in the race and Jr. probably shouldn’t have clipped him as he came back on the track. But they were both trying for the Lucky Dog spot and they both knew rain was coming and well, it’s the Daytona 500!
“The Biggest Waste of Valuable Air Time Award”
Fox. For that ridiculous animated short featuring “Digger”, the cartoon gopher associated with their track level cameras. It had nothing to do with the racing and contributed nothing to the pre-race show except to give Chris Meyers and Jeff Hammond time for a bathroom break.
“The Don’t Worry, This is the Way We Always Do It” Award
Jimmie Johnson and the whole 48 team. The defending three time champions had a terrible day and finished the Daytona 500 in 31st place, the last car on the lead lap. They also finished 27th in the 2008 Daytona 500, and 39th in the 2007 race. Both of those years the team came back and finished as champions. Not to worry, they do this all the time.
“The Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda Award”
NASCAR. For not starting the race until 3:30 PM. NASCAR has been pushing the starting times for many races later in the day to get a better TV slot for the west coast. In that good old easy to use hindsight, had they started this race at the old time of 1:00 pm when they used to, it would’ve easily gone the full 200 laps before the rains came.
There you have it, the “GAR” Awards for 2009. All in all this year’s Daytona 500 won’t necessarily be one that we talk about for years to come but, in this writer’s opinion, the Daytona 500 is sort of like pizza; There’s no such thing as a bad one, just some that are better than others.