MORE: Clements ‘shocked’ after winning
Jeremy Clements’ thrilling XFINITY Series win at Road America on Sunday was as unlikely as it was unprecedented.
The driver of the No. 51 Chevrolet — a small, family-funded ride — held off the major-team backed No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Matt Tifft to secure his first career win in 256th start since 2003.
Clements said after the race that the chassis he ran in the race was nearly a decade old, first manufactured in 2008. That’s wild!
It got us thinking — is there another sports story out there along the same lines of this David vs. Goliath narrative, with a financial twist?
Insert the Oakland A’s.
Not only did Clement’s career get started in 2003, but it also marked the release of Michael Lewis’ acclaimed book, “Moneyball,” which tracked the 2002 season of the American League team from the Bay Area.
The team became famous because of a completely alternative strategy employed by general manager Billy Beane, who mixed things up by signing under-the-radar (i.e. cheap) free agents who excelled in very particular statistics (Sabermetrics), under-appreciated at the time.
The team rewarded Beane by responding with an American League record of 20 straight wins from August 13 to September 4, defying all odds to surge into the playoffs.
… Kind of like how Clements clinched his berth in the upcoming XFINITY playoffs with his unexpected win.
In the years since “Moneyball” was written, more and more teams have accepted and adopted Sabermetrics. The A’s strategy was only thrust even further into the spotlight when the book was adapted into a film starring Brad Pitt in 2011.
It’s unlikely teams will use Clements’ small-team approach as a blueprint for making the playoffs down the road.
But, hey, the story is so good, maybe somebody will write a book about it some day.
