Chasing Chevy
Hard numbers that might cause discomfort in Dearborn and Auburn Hills: Chevrolet won seven of the year’s first eight Nextel Cup races, plus three nonpoints events in Daytona Beach in February. Eight of the top 10 drivers in points and 12 of the top 20 pilot Monte Carlos and Impalas. Together, they’ve led 83 percent of the season’s laps and taken 30 of the 40 top-10s through eight races. Chevy has had between three and five drivers in the top five every race; only once has another brand had more than one.
The Subway 500k at Phoenix International Raceway was another example of Chevy’s dominance. Winner Jeff Gordon, frustrated runner-up Tony Stewart, even more frustrated third-place Denny Hamlin and workmanlike fourth-place Jimmie Johnson drove Impalas SSs in the Car of Tomorrow race. Fifth-place Matt Kenseth drove a Ford, just ahead of Chevy drivers Kyle Busch and Jeff Green. Bobby Labonte (Dodge) and the Chevys of Johnny Sauter and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top 10. Six Chevy drivers combined to lead 311 of the race’s 312 laps.
There was a time when NASCAR might have mulled those stats and quickly reached for an eraser. It would write new rules governing spoiler heights, valances or roof heights. Anything to create parity among GM, Ford and Chrysler teams. If the first try didn’t help, rule makers would change, adjust and tinker again. And again and again until they got it close. There’s nothing to suggest that Ford, Dodge or (certainly) Toyota will make Chevy sweat this year, just as there’s nothing to suggest any rule changes, even if Chevy runs the table. That’s unlikely, given that the Fords of Roush Fenway Racing have been fairly competitive at times.
“I don’t know what NASCAR could do, since these cars are supposed to already be equal,” says Eddie Wood, co-owner of Ford-based Wood Brothers Racing. “Everybody’s supposed to be working within the same [aero and template] box. So where do you look for help? Ford is doing everything it can; they’ve got people working on aero and engine stuff all the time, but there’s only so much they can do. We’ve just got to work harder and get better with what we have.”
Jack Roush accepts much of the blame for his Ford-based organization being somewhat behind the Chevys. He admits he was slow to recognize and appreciate the importance of high-tech, computer-driven, shop-based race simulators. He finally bought and installed some and has more on order. Simulators became invaluable when NASCAR reduced the number of times teams could test on-track. In theory, teams gain the same data from simulators as from “real” testing.
“By the last half of this year, I won’t have any excuses for not knowing as much as my contemporaries about bump stops and coil binding and things like that,” Roush said at Phoenix, where Kenseth drove the only top-10 Ford. “If there’s been a failing here, it was me [not fully grasping] that we needed the equipment to simulate what we used to get at tests. I was slow to make the huge investment, and maybe Ford was slow to recognize that we needed those simulators. Things changed when NASCAR and Goodyear decided we didn’t need the freedom to test like we once had.”
When asked about potential rules changes, longtime Chevy owner Richard Childress couldn’t resist poking at the competition. “What would NASCAR make us do,” he asked, “race on three wheels? Everybody has the same stuff now. It’s not like years ago, when there was more room to change things. I [think there might be things on] other brands that might be better than what Chevrolet has.”
But is Chevy’s hardware better than Dodge’s and Ford’s, or are its people just better at making their hardware go round and round faster? Pat Shuey, brand manager for Chevrolet Racing, thinks it might be more about people than hardware. “You could put any two or three of our teams with any Dodge team and make it better,” he said. “You could put any one or two of our teams with any Ford team and make it better. Everybody has the same equipment and the same level playing field. It’s the people on the teams that make the difference.”
Does he worry that Chevy’s domination might stir NASCAR into action, perhaps leading to penciled-in specs? “I think those days went away when NASCAR went to aero-matching and common templates a few years ago,” he said. “Right now, I think the equipment is fair and equal. I’m going to trust NASCAR not to change anything. We’ve worked hard and done our homework to get the success we’re having right now.”
Speaking of having success, Jeff Gordon’s win in Sunday’s race was his first at Phoenix and the 76th of his career, tying the late Dale Earnhardt for sixth all-time. (Only Richard Petty, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip won more.) It came largely because he was lucky enough to be in the pits when the final caution waved at lap 285 of 312. He got in and out without losing a lap and inherited the lead when the other lead-lap cars pitted under caution. Except for Stewart leading lap 299 (his three-wide pass in traffic was breathtaking), Jeff Gordon led to the end. He regained the lead with a strong inside pass of Stewart on lap 300 and pulled away to a 10-length victory. It was, typical of recent weeks, a memorable finish to a mediocre race with only four green-flag lead changes.
Immediately after winning, Jeff Gordon took a victory lap and displayed a black flag with Earnhardt’s trademark number 3. As that happened, Stewart petulantly bagged NASCAR’s obligatory postrace media obligation, perhaps angry that Jeff Gordon had simply outraced him at the end. Denny Hamlin, on the other hand, spoke about needing more than 200 laps to rally from 31st after a speeding penalty (questionable, he thought) while leading on lap 100. He spoke emotionally of wanting to win so he could give the trophy to Virginia Tech in its time of need. “That was all I had on every lap,” the Virginia native said. “I’m really disappointed I couldn’t win, because I would have given the trophy to Tech. Unfortunately, though, it’s not mine. It’s Jeff’s.”
In another classy move, Dale Earnhardt Jr. went to victory lane to thank Jeff Gordon for honoring his father. Perhaps surprisingly, the 100,000-plus crowd seemed to relish the moment rather than resent it. “That certainly was by no means saying I’m as good or even close to Dale Earnhardt, but I wanted to honor him,” Jeff Gordon said. “It means a lot to me because I learned so much from him. To even come close to anything he did is amazing. We’d been holding on to that flag for a long time, and it meant the world to me to have Junior’s blessing.”
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