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NASCAR Nationwide Series
JENSEN: Deep In The Heart Of Texas
If you ever wondered about how big winning a NASCAR race is, all you had to do was listen to Jeff Gordon’s comments after winning at Texas...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted April 06, 2009   Charlotte, NC
SPEED.com's Editor-in-Chief Tom Jensen. (Image: SPEED)

Some observations about Sunday’s Samsung 500 from Texas Motor Speedway:

If you ever wondered about how big winning a race is to a NASCAR Sprint Cup driver, all you had to do was listen to Jeff Gordon’s comments after he broke his 47-race losing streak and an 0-for-16 TMS streak.

“I'm telling you, it's like winning for the very first time,” said Gordon after a victory lap around the gargantuan track. “ … That's the first time I've ever carried a checkered flag around a race win in NASCAR. Used to do it in Quarter Midgets back when I was about eight. But I've never done that before. But I've been watching these other guys do it. I can't do a back flip, so I'm not going to do that. I did a heck of a good burnout, I thought. So I was proud of that. And I did it so good I blew the rear tires off the car, at least one of them, on the back straightaway. I didn't want those fans back there to miss out on the burnout.”

As hardened and cynical as athletes can become in a sporting endeavor, it’s still nice to see a driver truly rejoice in a victory, which Gordon most certainly did after Texas. Good for him — for as much as Gordon has accomplished in this sport, I think his talent behind the wheel and his professionalism are sadly underappreciated by a large portion of the NASCAR fan base. The truth is, it’s good for the sport to see him back in victory lane.

Some other observations:

• It’s too bad the race wasn’t another five laps longer. I would have loved to see Gordon and Jimmie Johnson go at each other with the kind of ferocity that Johnson and Kenseth did here in the fall Texas race in 2007. To this day, that remains one of the best late-race fights I’ve ever seen.

• I can’t even imagine how ticked off Jack Roush was after a series of mechanical failures and unfathomable pit road miscues snatched defeat from the jaws of victory at one of Roush Fenway Racing’s very best tracks. Wow, you can understand one car or two having problems, but all five? Sheesh.

• Juan Pablo Montoya had the best finish of the season not just for himself but for all three of the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Chevrolets, coming home seventh at Texas. Given that the team’s No. 8 is apparently about to go into limbo for lack of sponsorship, that’s a good thing.

• Overachiever of the year so far? Without question, Tony Stewart.

• Joey Logano finished 30th, four laps down. He’s now 35th in NASCAR Sprint Cup car owner points, a dangerous place to be.


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