Rain-shortened Phoenix race adds to disappointment of 2015 Chase
Sunday’s rain-shortened finish to the Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix was a fitting way to continue what’s been an ultimately unsatisfying Chase.
The race, which determines which four drivers will race heads-up for the Cup Series title on November 21 at Homestead, was called 93 laps early because of rain. The beneficiaries of the call were Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. As Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the race, they joined Jeff Gordon for the right to drive for the title.
The losers were Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards. Instead of having 93 more miles to determine their title fates, they were left standing underneath umbrellas as NASCAR called the race 20 minutes before midnight on the east coast.
We’ve said it numerous times, but it bears repeating; NASCAR’s elimination Chase is predicated on big moments. And while 2015 has certainly brought them once again, the mess that the moments have created leaves a feeling of emptiness.
The first moment came at Kansas, when Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano made contact while racing for the lead with five laps to go. Had Kenseth held on for the win, he would have advanced to the third round of the Chase. Many, including Kenseth himself, felt Logano had spun the driver of the No. 20 intentionally.
At Talladega, Harvick made contact with Trevor Bayne to help incite a chain reaction accident that ended the race under NASCAR’s new and unnecessary green-white-checker restart rule created specifically for the race. As the field froze at the moment of contact, Earnhardt Jr., coincidentally, was a few feet short of being declared the winner. Had he won at Talladega, just like Kenseth at Kansas, he would have advanced to the third round of the Chase.
And hell, we’re not even counting Martinsville, where Kenseth took out Logano with about 50 laps to go. Logano had the day’s dominant car and was leading at the time. While Gordon’s win proved to be the ultimate NASCAR fairytale and helped distract from the incident that led to a two-race suspension for Kenseth, his win too feels empty. There’s no telling if he would have had a car capable of challenging Logano for the lead if Logano hadn’t been wrecked by Kenseth.
Should NASCAR have continued the race on Sunday? It’s possibly a question without a right answer. The downpour that engulfed Phoenix would have prevented the race from starting anytime before 1 a.m. Eastern. Incredibly late for a sporting event. But this is the sport that finished a race earlier in the year at Daytona at 2:40 a.m. Eastern.
Since the race was past halfway, it was already official. And there’s no modern precedent for continuing an official race to the next day. Given NASCAR’s tendency to be inconsistent, you could make the argument the sanctioning body should have made sure such an important race went the scheduled distance. But NASCAR ultimately stuck with its rules.
It did so at the start of the race too. Kurt Busch, who started second, was penalized for an infraction that’s very clear in the NASCAR rule book. Busch crossed the start-finish line when the green flag dropped ahead of polesitter Jimmie Johnson. The polesitter being beaten to the start is a no-no. Busch was given a pass-through penalty and finished seventh. In the race at Phoenix in March, Joey Logano started second to Kevin Harvick. He beat Harvick to the line at the start of the race. He wasn’t penalized.
Did the penalty cost Busch the race? It’s incredibly hard to argue it didn’t. Track position is key and passing is difficult at Phoenix. Busch fought his way to seventh over the first 200+ laps of the race. Could he have made up six more to get into the Chase over the final 93?
Logano and Edwards will be playing the “what if?” game too. Logano has become one of NASCAR’s best at restarts. He would have restarted (and ended up finishing) third on the race’s next restart behind Earnhardt Jr. and Harvick. With his restart prowess and a fast car, who knows what Logano could have done over the final 93 laps.
Edwards was 12th, two spots ahead of Martin Truex Jr., who was the final driver in on points. Truex beat Edwards by five points, but that’s just five positions on the track. With over 90 laps remaining, a shift of five positions combined isn’t drastic.
Keselowski finished ninth. Barring a difficulties that plagued the other Chase drivers ahead of him, he needed to win Sunday’s race too. He didn’t have the race’s fastest car, so winning the race was probably out of the equation for him. When he was asked if the ending was fair by NBC after he climbed from his car he had this to say.
“I don’t think it matters what’s fair, it matters what entertains the fans,” Keselowski said. “And if the fans are happy, then that’s what it’s all about.”
He’s right. The entire format of the Chase isn’t fair. Its designed for entertainment and randomness.
And sometimes the unpredictability lends itself to a series of events that aren’t satiating for those its designed to entertain. Will the satiation come at Homestead in the form of a Gordon championship? We’ll see. If what has happened so far is the guide, don’t bet on it.
– – – – – – –
Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
