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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
SPENCER: Shut up and Drive
Last season, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers and crew chiefs raised hell about the new race car...
Jimmy Spencer  |  Posted February 25, 2009   Charlotte, NC
Jimmy Spencer calls it like he sees it on SPEED. (Photo: SPEED)

I’m seeing more and more how significant a role the driver and crew chief’s mindset plays in their on-track success. Last season, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers and crew chiefs raised hell about this new race car but it appears that once everyone accepted it is here to stay, the racing began to improve.

Some drivers, crew chiefs, media and fans screamed about the new car during its first full year of competition in 2008 but it’s quite obvious NASCAR intends to stick with the car and plans no significant modifications in the near future. We heard Jeff Gordon and other drivers last year vocalize numerous times that the car just doesn’t drive well.

Part of me wants to blame Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards for some of the grumbling last year, however politically correct it may have been, but the whole while they were racking up win after win and obliterating the competition. How can you complain about a car that you’re driving to Victory Lane on a weekly basis?

But it’s been great to see Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon running so well this year and I attribute their newfound success to their belated adaptation to the car. It’s like they, and other drivers, have finally decided to bite the bullet and drive the car, no matter how difficult that task might be, because there are no other options. The car is obviously a challenge but Matt and Jeff running up front is good for the sport. The 48, 18 and 99 dominated last year but now we’ve got at least a couple of other teams contending for wins.

Since Gordon and Kenseth struggled last year and have now turned things around, at least early on, something had to make the difference. Sure, Kenseth has a new crew chief but his old one knew how to set up a race car. I think a lot of their improvement can be attributed to their acceptance of and adaptation to the new car.

Last weekend’s race at California was pretty good and we saw more passing all through the field than we’ve seen there in a while. It’s like all the drivers have finally surrendered their affinity for the old car and accepted the fact they have to make the new one work for them. Kurt Busch is a good example – he ran better at Fontana than he has in months because he has more miles on the track with the new car now.

And I applaud what these guys are doing because this car is very tricky to drive. It has a tendency to be really free getting into the corner, which scares most drivers and can take their breath away. But if they can get the hang of it a few times without hitting the wall, they’ll become more comfortable with it. These cars are a handful to maneuver around the track and it’s been really cool to watch how hard these guys have to drive these machines. But they get paid well and if this was easy to do, we could pluck someone out of the grandstands and slap a helmet on him.

To be quite honest, these cars drive terribly compared to how the cars did two or three years ago. But part of the growing pains in the drivers’ acclimation has been the fact many of these younger drivers have never driven cars from the era of Rusty Wallace, Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip and Ernie Irvan. These cars are a bit of a throwback to 20 years ago when the guys really had to manhandle their machines. It took a certain amount of finesse to get those cars to go fast and this new car is the same way.

But there were 43 drivers out there last season with the same problem and the few who accepted the car and adjusted to it first were the ones we saw in Victory Lane. Fortunately, it looks like more of them have finally embraced the car, despite its faults, and decided to be quiet and drive it. Mindset in this sport is more crucial than people sometimes want to admit, and it may just separate the men from the boys this year.

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel

Jimmy Spencer calls it like he sees it as an analyst on NASCAR RaceDay and NASCAR Victory Lane on SPEED. He retired from driving with two NASCAR Sprint Cup, 12 NASCAR Nationwide and one NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory, putting him in an elite group of drivers who have logged wins in all three of NASCAR’s premier divisions. In 478 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts, Spencer amassed 28 top-five and 80 top-10 finishes. He won back-to-back NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championships in 1986 and 1987 on the heels of 15 victories, becoming the first driver ever to earn consecutive titles in the series. He earned the nickname “Mr. Excitement” for his flamboyant and aggressive driving style early in his racing career.
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