Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

NASCAR Notebook: Is Johnson’s dominance bad for racing?

Chance of rain affects Sprint Cup drivers’ practice schedule

NASCAR

Kurt Busch waits to qualify at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Friday, Feb. 26, 2010.  Busch took the pole. Launch slideshow »

Controversy still swirled around Jimmie Johnson’s victory last week in Fontana, Calif., during drivers’ first media appearances at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Friday.

Aided by a well-timed caution with 26 laps to go while he made a pit stop, Johnson won the Auto Club 500 Sprint Cup race for his 48th career victory. Some fans and drivers complained after the race about Johnson’s apparent good luck.

Kevin Harvick, who came in second in the race, made the comments that garnered the most attention.

“Jimmie is a good friend of mine, but there’s no denying how lucky they are,” Harvick said of Johnson’s team after the race. “They have a golden horseshoe stuck up their (butt).”

Johnson, who has won four straight Sprint Cup championships, responded to the claims of luck Friday.

“Luck didn’t have us lead 101 laps. Luck didn’t hold off the No. 29 car,” Johnson said. “Luck put us in position. I’ll take that, and I’m the first to admit it. But luck did not win the race for us.”

The only thing that irks Johnson more is when people argue his dominance is bad for NASCAR. With attendance figures down, Johnson’s winning ways have sometimes been pointed to as a reason why NASCAR has stalled in its growth.

Johnson’s supremacy has been on display in Las Vegas, as he won the race here three straight times from 2005-2007. As awkward as it may sound, Johnson is now used to having to defend his achievements on the racetrack.

“We all look at sports and, say, Shaun White is the best at snowboarding and dominates. Does it hurt their sport? No,” Johnson said. “You look at golf, granted Tiger’s got some different issues now, but did it hurt golf before that? No. You go through tennis and Federer. Did it hurt that sport? No. It helped.”

Rain affects Sprint Cup practice session

The forecast calls for an 80 percent chance of rain Saturday, which forced Sprint Cup drivers to change their approach during Friday’s practice session.

Sprint Cup racers are scheduled to have a second practice session tomorrow at 10:40 a.m., but the chance of precipitation means that might be in jeopardy. The drivers planned accordingly.

“It wasn’t a normal practice,” said Jamie McMurray, who won the Daytona 500 two weeks ago. “We threw a lot of things on the car just in case we can’t practice tomorrow.”

On a normal weekend, most drivers use the first practice to prepare for the qualifying round. That wasn’t the case for all drivers Friday.

“We spent the entire practice on race setup in case the weather comes tomorrow,” Tony Stewart said.

Drivers talk odds

David Reutimann, ranked eighth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings, used to look forward to coming to Las Vegas during race week and peeking in the sports books.

After all, who doesn’t like seeing their name illuminated on a giant betting board? Reutimann doesn’t anymore.

“It was depressing the odds they had on me doing anything,” Reutimann said. “So, I stopped looking.”

The Las Vegas Hilton lists Reutimann’s odds to win the Sprint Cup race as 60-to-1. Tony Stewart is facing the opposite problem as Reutimann.

As one of the favorites at 12-to-1, Stewart said his bettors weren’t getting a big enough potential payout.

“I don’t know if I would be a good bet this weekend or not,” Tony Stewart said. “It looks like you wouldn’t make as much money as you wanted.”

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