Weekend That Was: M'ville

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Has Nextel Cup racing gone soft? Are the best stock-car drivers in the world becoming too nice?

Well, as dramatic a finish as it was in the Goody's Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, it makes you wonder. Jimmie Johnson held off Jeff Gordon, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, by 0.065 seconds (about half a car length) to win the event.

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And immediately afterward, Gordon seemed none too pleased about finishing second.

"Well, last week [at Bristol], I was happy just to finish third; we didn't have a better car. This week we had an awesome car and I'm really, really upset that I'm sitting here talking to you about finishing second," Gordon said. "I feel like we should be getting another one of those grandfather clocks [for winning at Martinsville] -- but we didn't get it done. Without wrecking him, there was no way I could get it done."

In the old days, you know what would have happened. Gordon had the faster car at the end. Teammate or no teammate, if the guy driving the slower car wouldn't have gotten out of the way, the guy with the faster car would have booted him.

That's just the way it was. But that obviously is not the way it is now.

The question is, which makes for better racing? Gordon tried to bump and grind past Johnson, but it appeared to be a half-hearted effort as he drove along a fine line -- or perhaps it would be more accurate to say he toed the company line -- that he knew had been drawn long ago by team owner Rick Hendrick.

He therefore was careful not to bump too hard.

"I had hit him hard. I hit him really hard and got him way out of shape," Gordon said. "It was one of those things where I knew I had to wait until the last lap because without putting him all the way up into the wall, I couldn't get clear enough of him where he wasn't going to come back and run into the back of me -- and that's not how I want to race my teammate. I felt like he did really what he needed to do, but I think if anybody else had been in second but me, he probably wouldn't have won the race."

The duel lasted much of the last 53 laps of the 500-lap event. That was plenty long enough for Hendrick to communicate to both drivers via their crew chiefs how he expected it to be played out. No matter who was going to win, he wanted a one-two finish for Hendrick Motorsports. (Continued)