NASCAR AND THE CHASE FOR THE CUP

ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY

- Carl Edwards won in Atlanta and returned to Victory Circle for the 7th time this season.

- Jimmie Johnson found a way to finish 2nd, so now he has a 183-point lead over Edwards and 185 over Greg Biffle who finished 10th. Jimmie actually went a lap down when he received a speeding penalty on his second pit stop. That put him a lap down, in 30th place, and 10th in order to receive the “Lucky Dog” award (the first car a lap down to the leader is given a free pass to return to the lead lap when a caution comes out). When the caution came out the next time, Jimmie’s pit crew performed so well that he passed all nine cars that entered the pits before him. Twenty laps later, he got the “Lucky Dog” and made his way to 10th place when the last caution of the day came out with 10 laps to go. The leaders stayed on track, afraid to give up track position. The 5th-9th place cars took two tires, and Jimmie took four tires. On the restart, with eight laps to go, Jimmie immediately passed three cars that had taken only two tires and made it all the way to 2nd place.

- Jimmie could miss a race and still be in the points lead. No one has ever come back from this large of a points spread with just three races remaining; however, this is racing. Jimmie could be wrecked by someone, or he could have a parts failure. Jimmie could finish 43rd the next three weeks in a row; he could, but he probably won’t.

PIT NOTE

Jimmie made his first mistake of the Chase. His speeding penalty was his fault; he misjudged his speed entering, and locked up his brakes and slid onto pit road. He restarted 30th and was not making great gains on the cars ahead of him; actually, he was in line to be passed by the leader unless a caution came out. If he had finished even 20th, his lead over Edwards would have dropped to only about 105 points.

Instead, his pit crew saved the day. First, they calmly did their jobs, even though they knew Jimmie had made a mistake and he would be penalized a lap. Then, the crew performed beyond expectation which allowed Jimmie to pass nine cars on pit road. After that, his crew chief called for four tires with 8 laps to go. Only then, did Jimmie’s skills make a significant difference.

Analyzing the strength of the whole #48 team can point to various attributes: they trust in each other; they stayed calm in the mist of trouble; they never raised their voices when someone failed, but they encouraged each team member to perform to the level of excellence, which everyone on the team is capable of doing.

This reminds me of Jesus when he was asleep in the bow of the boat when a storm came up on the Sea of Galilee. His twelve disciples panicked (not Jimmie’s ‘disciples’) and upon awakening Jesus, vigorously questioned His sanity and care of them. Jesus then used his power over the elements He had created (Colossians 1) to calm the storm and teach his disciples about his being God incarnate.

Storms will come in everyone’s life. Some are caused by individuals who have an effect on our life (such as Hamlin almost spinning into the side of Jimmie as he passed him with 2 laps to go), but many (maybe most) are the result of our own mistakes (as Jimmie did entering pit road). Regardless of the cause, the cure is the same; Jesus cares about everyone. He knows we will fail at times; therefore, He sent the Holy Spirit to be with us on this earth until He returns. The Holy Spirit is called the Comforter; that is His job as the third member of the Trinity. When we rely on the Comforter, calmness is available to us when there is a storm in our life. A popular saying reveals that “sometimes Jesus calms the storm; sometimes Jesus calms the person in the mist of the storm.” We should rely on our Comforter when we are embarrassed by our own actions. We should rely on the Comforter in others, when their actions cause us harm. Relying on the Comforter calms us in all situations, because we are acknowledging our dependence on God, even when we are using our strengths and not just when we feel weak.

Ron Pegram

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