And if you, like me,
watched the race from Mexico
it was quite revealing. When JPM had to pit because of a petrol issue rather than go to the back of the pack he simply
moved into the spot where he came out, which I guess must be alright because NASCAR didn’t have anything to say about
where he was, 19th . And then the fun began in the next few laps as he pushed and intimidated his way past some also-rans
and then hit the going to win group. After several cautions JPM decided that the thing to do was get a really good running
start so he could have a real head of steam going into that first corner, and of course he did, out breaking many of the cars,
collecting several positions at which I guess Denny Hamlin, Boris Said and Carl Edwards decided that it was probably more
prudent to let the wild man go rather than end up wrecked or at the very least spun out. Scott Pruett didn’t seem
to be frightened by his team mate after all he was probably thinking about what the owners said pre-race, that they didn’t
really want the two teammates wrecking each other to get by. No doubt JPM had the better car with newer tires so he
knew that eventually he could pass his teammate. But he wanted to lead the race and he wanted to do it now, not in a few laps,
so he punted his mate out of the way and went on to win. I can understand racing for the win with a lap or two to go
and pushing someone out of the way for the win. But with nine to go knowing you have better tires and a superior car?
I don’t think so.
I don’t suspect
after that win the owners will say boo to him about how he did it. That’s the nature of the beast. But what will
interest me in the future is how that will play out when the Cup boys get to such tracks as Pocono (6-10) and Infineon Raceway
(6-24) and maybe even before when he is up against the real hotdogs of Cup names like Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Robby Gordon
and a host of others that are also considered expert at road racing, or just racing in general. Will he boot them out
of the way? Most of those drivers have a long memory and JPM will have to race against them every week.
JPM is no doubt a very talented
driver all you have to do is look at his record to find out he is one of the best in the world. But if he starts shoving
the big boys out of the way I suspect he will find himself in deep dodo with a lot of wrecked cars.
Questions, Comments;
Email Merv
The views and opinions
in this article are that of the writer(s) and not necessarily that of SCR
2006 StockCar Review.
