Sunday, February 22, 2009

Winnin' With the Blick-ness

Although it seemed like a major case of deja vu to this race fan at least, Kenseth's win at Fontana proved his Daytona victory can't just be blamed on the rain.

Kenseth ran great all night and, once again, took the checkers -- this time under green. As the race came to a close, Kenseth fended off Jeff Gordon, giving the rookies in the field a textbook lesson in how to drive under pressure. However, I can't help but think that if not for the stellar performance of Kenseth's crew, under the leadership of Drew Blickensderfer, Kenseth wouldn't have pulled out a victory so easily.

In just two races, "Blick" has shown his fellow Sprint Cup contenders that he has what it takes to be a major player at the highest level of motorsports. While Jimmie Johnson seemed to be the car to beat early on, adjustments on pit road kept him from dominating. And though Jeff Gordon ran the tires off his car in an effort to end his winless streak, his car just didn't have the goods at the finish.

As the outcome of the race became clear to Darrell Waltrip and the FOX crew, they discussed how much difference a year has made in Matt Kenseth's performance. Has it? 'Cuz this fan thinks the difference can be summed up in four syllables: Blick-ens-der-fer.

No comments:

Post a Comment