Winners And Losers Of The Winston 2006

The Winston - aka The Nextel All-Star Challenge - has completed its 22nd running, and there were plenty of winners and losers -

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THE WINNERS -

HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS - Jimmie Johnson has now won two Winstons, the last three World 600s, and the last two National 500s. And this time he did it with a self-confessed junk racecar after prerace practice. It shows what the perfect combination of vast resources and workable organization that is Hendrick Motorsports can accomplish. Johnson, though, wasn't the only one smiling afterward, as Jeff Gordon got a strong finish, looking for his first win of the season.

While Johnson and Gordon were winners, the other two Hendrick cars continued their form chart - Brian Vickers was irrelevent again and Kyle Busch ran strong and then wrecked.

RCR ENTERPRISES - Though Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer didn't make the A-Main, RCR showed marked improvement in their intermediate superspeedway program with Kevin Harvick's wildcard victory bid. RCR looks to be repeating a formula they implemented with Dale Earnhardt in the 1980s - work on the short track program first, then improve on intermediates. Having mastered short ovals with two wins and leading the most laps at Richmond, RCR's schedule appears on.

PETTY ENTERPRISES - Kyle Petty didn't acquit himself in the Open, looking downright abysmal. He got voted into the A-Main by fans and once in he began to improve. It was vexing that he had to dodge all the wrecks to finish eighth instead of race his way there, but he showed improvement as the night wore on, particularly in the final segment.

Bobby Labonte shook off the stupor of three disappointing weeks, notably when he and almost all the other Dodges panicked at Darlington by not letting the track come to them, to post his best effort of the year so far; he started slow in the first segment, picked up in the second, and then looked very racy in the final segment, especially fighting with Gordon, Newman, and Carl Edwards three wide for third. Sixth doesn't quite do justice for how well Labonte ran.


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With the winners went plenty of losers -

THE LOSERS -

ROUSH RACING - Of five cars, only Carl Edwards finished, typifying the season. The organization best suited to matching Hendrick in both resources and organization, it is notable that Jamie McMurray started the spinning in this effort; McMurray has proven not to be that good a fit with the organization and increasingly looks like he's being left behind. Talk about contrasts - in 2005 the intermediates were a Roush feast, and now they're a famine.

JOE GIBBS RACING - Still winless after their 14th start in The Winston, JGR saw the downside of Tony Stewart's raciness as he ran all over Matt Kenseth in One. Kenseth usually doesn't convey emotion but his remark about Stewart "he's always mad at someone" contained noticably more bitterness than Kenseth usually lets on.

RAY EVERNHAM MOTORSPORTS - Is this a full-fledged season collapse? Increasingly the Evernham Dodges are either snakebit or look lost, and The Winston left them with plenty of repair work to do. Scott Riggs won the Open, but the irrelevency there showed once the A-Main got going; one has to wonder why Riggs was allowed to keep racing even though he was a lap down most of the night.

Kasey Kahne had another frustrating finish while Jeremy Mayfield keeps walking a tightrope with this organization.

DALE EARNHARDT INC. - In 1972 Bobby Isaac famously growled, "I don't think we need to run two cars when we can't keep one together." Coming after the announcement that Paul Menard will drive a third DEI Chevy in 2007, DEI's lackluster run in The Winston brought Isaac's remark to mind. Certainly DEI is a better team now compared to 2005, but the consistent muscle of 2004 has still not been reached, and one has to wonder about the wisdom of bringing up Menard, who has not shown much muscle in BGN, this while Martin Truex continues the learning curve.

GANASSI/SABCO RACING - Few may have noticed that they were here, too, though Reed Sorenson showed some good driving moxie at points of The Open.

ROBERT YATES RACING - Dale Jarrett salvaged something with his finish, but the overall organization continued to show struggle after Elliott Sadler's struggles during the weekend.

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But the biggest loser may have been the track itself. The new surface was certainly needed, but it didn't make the racing better. Excessive horsepower, lack of downforce, and insufficient tire remain the primary problems here and elsewhere, so blaming the track really isn't fair. One can, though, say that it remains as cantankerous as it's ever been, especially with cars skating through Four like an NHL/AHL playoff game.

Such has The Winston 2006 weekend wrapped up.