Weekend That Was: WGI

Here we go again.

Despite many self-acclaimed NASCAR "purists" who continue to insist that road courses have little or no value on a circuit defined by oval racing, Sunday's Nextel Cup race at Watkins Glen International offered proof yet again that adding a couple more road-course events to the schedule would make more sense than eliminating them.

In fact, the correct solution, as it so often appears to be in this sport even when the powers-that-be choose to ignore the obvious, would be to add one more such event during the 26-race regular season and another during the 10-race Chase to the Nextel Cup championship.

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However unlikely that is to happen in reality, the bottom line is this: Having only two road-course races during the overall 36-race schedule -- and none during the Chase -- makes no sense whatsoever. Either increase it to four with one during the Chase, making road-course driving one of the true factors in determining a season's champion, or eliminate the road courses altogether.

From this perspective, pursuing the latter course would be a huge mistake. The Centurion Boats at the Glen that was won by Tony Stewart in his No. 20 Chevrolet when Jeff Gordon inexplicably spun out to hand over the race lead with two laps to go (watch video). It was highly entertaining and dripping with all kinds of drama that snaked through numerous interesting sub-plots.

Seriously, after the yawn-fest that was the previous weekend's Cup event at Pocono, the 90-lap event at The Glen was a welcome blast of fuel- and oil-soaked air. The main course even included a side order of angry, agitated drivers who engaged in a shouting and shoving match after a crash that wrecked both of their days.

But we'll get to Kevin Harvick and Juan Montoya in a moment.

More than anything, the grand appeal of Sunday's race in the Car of Tomorrow was that it was old school and more like a Race of Yesterday. At the end, no one wanted to settle for second place and "a good day in the points." These guys desperately wanted to win, and drove like it.

That's not to say that guys don't want to win each and every week they hit the track. But sometimes toward the end of an event, points might play a role in how aggressively a driver and his team risk blowing a strong finish to pursue that coveted ride to Victory Lane.

Gordon spun out in what he called "a stupid move" because he was being pushed to the hilt from behind by Stewart, who was at the time running right behind Gordon's No. 24 Chevrolet in second. And after Stewart seized the lead, here came Carl Edwards barreling forward at full throttle in his No. 99 Ford.

Having no intention of settling for second himself, Edwards drove so hard into one of the final turns that he literally seemed to fly off the track and into the "gravel trap" that so many others had been in and (sometimes) out of earlier in the day (watch video). Then, in a final act of bravado that, well, seemed utterly cool, he kept his foot squarely planted on the gas and kept on coming right through the stuff, spewing gravel and smoke all along the way to allow a respectable and hard-earned eighth-place finish nonetheless.

Of course, Edwards wasn't satisfied with that. He wanted to win.

"I didn't want to finish second," Edwards later said.

Neither did Gordon, who was positively fuming despite regrouping quickly himself to finish ninth.

"I wanted that win really bad. Points don't mean anything," Gordon told reporters (watch video). "I pushed and I pushed too far. ... I don't like giving up wins. I don't like making mistakes."

He pushed it to the limit all the way to the end. So did almost everyone else who lined up in the finishing order behind Stewart.

That was what made the weekend that was more entertaining than several other recent Cup affairs, and once again made one wonder why NASCAR doesn't at least consider adding a couple more of these road-course challenges to future schedules. (Continued)