Weekend That Was: Lowe's

CONCORD, N.C. -- Driver Jimmy Spencer once joked that he would dispatch crew members to an infield concession stand for at least two hot dogs during every Coca-Cola 600.

"It's a really long race. You get hungry out there," he joked.

Then again, maybe he wasn't joking. Asked to clarify whether this tale was fact or fiction years after it was first told, Spencer winked and said, "Well, it depends on how you're running. If you ain't runnin' no good, why not grab something to eat during one of your stops? It is a long race."

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The implication was that the longest race on NASCAR's Cup Series schedule was so long that a couple of meal-times might come and go before it was finished. And every year when it is run, the 600 is the butt of jokes from time to time by everyone from the media to the drivers to the crew chiefs who know their car's equipment will be put to the most severe test of the 36-race Cup season.

But if anyone needed a reminder of why it is such an important stop on the Cup schedule, and why one 600-mile race is necessary on a season crammed with 35 other events that are all 100 miles or more shorter, that reminder came Sunday night.

This 600 had a little of everything. There were spectacular multiple-car wrecks within the first 100 laps that ruined the nights of some top stars early, such as points leader Jeff Gordon (watch video), and simply made the long night even more of a challenge for other stars such as Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart. There were tire issues and track-temperature challenges, as the asphalt the racers tore around on was charted at 125 degrees at the start and about 85 degrees by the finish. There were, as there always are in the 600, equipment failures that ended quality runs and pit-crew triumphs that saved the days of others in peril because of the punishing nature of the event.

In the end, it became a fuel-mileage gambit with all the tense decision-making that entails (watch video). Stewart, who was leading the race, was forced into the pits for a splash of fuel as the final laps wound down -- as were Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who also was among the top late challengers for the lead.

This was a race that had it all: intrigue early and late, with lots of exciting racing in between. And when it was over, it had produced the unlikeliest list of top-five finishers in recent memory.

Yes, it was yet another victory for Hendrick Motorsports -- the ninth in 12 races this season. But because it was Mears' first career victory, because Mears is the anti-Kyle Busch of the Hendrick team and appears to be a well-mannered, polite, nice guy that everyone can root for, it still had the real look and feel of an underdog coming out on top (watch video).

After too much predictability over the season's first 11 races, this was something different. This was just what NASCAR needed. And it wouldn't have been nearly as challenging for the competitors, or as exciting and as interesting for the fans, if it had been a 500-mile event instead of a 600-mile one.

"I think that's what's so special about the Coca-Cola 600," said Kyle Petty, who registered his best finish in nearly a decade by overcoming some early damage to the front end of his No. 45 Dodge, caused when Johnson had a tire literally come apart. "That last 100 miles, if you go back and look at the history -- and let's go back 20 years because it's been 20 years since I won this race [in 1987] -- but even the year that I won it, it was like nobody wanted to lead it. Everybody that led the race blew up, or hit the wall, or something happened. All of sudden with eight or 10 laps left to go, I get the lead and there wasn't enough time for me to screw it up -- and I ended up winning the race. That's kind of the way it worked.

Back on top

With a solid run, the No. 45 team looks to use Lowe's as a stepping stone for the future.

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"I think it's that last 100 miles that make it so good. ... You don't know what's going to happen."

Petty added that it's refreshing to see some new folks at the top of the leaderboard at the end of a day, and that a long race like the 600 helps make that possible because it's an event like no other.

"Do I think it's good for the sport? Yeah. I think it's good that Casey Mears wins the race and J.J. Yeley runs second. It shows that the sport is healthy," Petty said. "I think sometimes we get stagnant. But look, we've gone through this 10 million times. We went through it when Tony [Stewart] won all the races; we went through it when Dale [Earnhardt] Sr. won all the races; or when Jeff [Gordon] or Jimmie [Johnson] wins all the races.

"You need that variety. The sport needs that mixup. We need those new guys to come in and win races and run good, to show people that we're not just all lap cars out here and that we can compete to win races out here."

Not back yet
Robbie Loomis, vice president of operations at Petty Enterprises, cautioned that while everyone in the Petty organization is jacked up about Kyle's strong finish in the 600, it's not like Petty Enterprises has suddenly jettisoned back to its glorious past.

"We've still got a long, long way to go," Loomis said. "It really comes down to money and time. We need a lot of money. If you lined 'em up by points finishes, a lot of them would be ahead of us as far as money coming in. It's a step in the right direction, but we've just got to keep growing our performance so we can go to our sponsors and ask for more -- so we can ultimately give them more.

"Right now you're just trying to work together. ... Everyone is working like crazy around Petty Enterprises, and we're getting there."

Petty added: "We didn't change the world [Sunday night]. It's just a race. I guess I'm at that stage in my life where I can feel that way. Don't get me wrong, it feels darn good. ... To race competitively with some of these guys who are 20 years younger than me, it feels good. The third-place [finish], I guess that's just cherry on the sundae right now.

"If I was 21 or 22 and that's the best finish I'd ever had, maybe I'd be making a wet spot on my seat right now. But it's just a race. It's good for Petty Enterprises, it's good for those guys at the shop who have worked so hard every day for the last five or six years. ... But now we need to try to build on it."

Generally speaking
Of all the places Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, could have gone to make a public appearance on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, he chose Lowe's Motor Speedway and the Coca-Cola 600.

He explained way before Sunday's race began, expressing how much he appreciated NASCAR's "Salute to American Heroes" theme that included having the Nextel Cup cars of Greg Biffle, Denny Hamlin, Mark Martin, Gordon, Earnhardt, Johnson and even eventual 600 winner Mears drive cars with special paint schemes honoring different branches of the military. Mears' No. 25 Chevrolet featured the National Guard -- but then the National Guard usually is his main sponsor.

"I'm here because NASCAR invited me to represent 2.4 million Americans who serve on our active guard and reserves, and it's a great honor for me to be able to be here and represent them and their families," Pace said. "It's wonderful for the entire NASCAR family to do what they're doing here [Sunday], showing support for our troops. The guys and gals who are currently overseas and making it possible for us to have this kind of a day back here know about this, will watch it live or hear about it on the Internet, and it will make a difference to them -- that such a respected organization as NASCAR and all the NASCAR fans have taken time to pay tribute to them."

Pace said he understands why NASCAR and all branches of the military have always forged a special bond.

"I think, first of all, NASCAR reaches out to the military in a very friendly day -- like [Sunday]," said Pace, noting that more than 6,000 members of the military and their families were among the 160,000 fans in attendance. "I think there is also a common understanding that in the military, it's a team effort. Nobody wins by themselves. And that's the same thing with NASCAR. They've got great, skilled drivers who drive the car across the finish line -- but that driver would not have that car anywhere near the finish line if it wasn't for the great team backing him up. So I think everybody both in NASCAR and in the military understands that we work as teams together, that we survive and succeed or not based on the team."

Asking for understanding
Pace also addressed the latest public opinion polls that show most Americans view the current war in Iraq negatively, imploring everyone to seek as much information as they can about what is happening on the ground there.

"I think we all have to work very hard to make sure the American people have as much information as they need to make the right decisions," Pace said. "The men and women serving overseas right now know what they are doing is good. They know that they're building schools, building roads, helping local people be free -- or more free than they were.

"So somehow, collectively, we need to let the American people get the entire story -- so that the American people can make their own judgments. I have great respect and confidence in the balance of the American people to understand what's right for our country, and to understand the threat that we're facing, and to find the right way forward."

Pit Stops
• Oh, and lest anyone think that Petty's strong finish will make him rethink his decision to step out of the car soon and into the broadcast booth for six races to be televised by TNT, think again. He said he's already looking forward to the time out of the driver's seat.

• The save of Sunday night belonged to Jeremy Mayfield, who had a strong run ruined when his engine blew with 18 laps remaining. Roughly 90 laps earlier, Mayfield spun into the infield grass and did a complete 360-degree revolution, but somehow kept it off the wall and straightened out the car to keep going, prompting television announcer Darrell Waltrip to exclaim: "It's written all over his hood what he was gonna do!" Mayfield drives the No. 36 Toyota sponsored by 360 OTC.

• You got the idea that maybe driver Kasey Kahne was going to build on his Busch Series win Saturday night with a strong showing in the Cup race Sunday. But he didn't, finishing seven laps down in 23rd only because so many others crashed out in front of him earlier in the event.

• Jimmie Johnson's 10th-place finish -- largely the result of a pit-crew mishap on his next-to-last stop (watch video) -- was his worst at Lowe's since 2002. Remarkably, prior to Sunday night he had not finished out of the top three in a race there since then.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.