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Fastest Car Wins NASCAR Race...Again!
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LAS VEGAS - In what is becoming a very tired occurrence, once again some of the finest driving performances on the NASCAR circuit went unrewarded as the fastest car again won a Winston Cup race, the carsdirect.com 400 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This time the race was won by a modified Ford Taurus. The driver was Jeff Burton
"I drove my ass off out there this afternoon," complained driver Mark Martin. "I suppose it is possible the Jeff drove better, but I can't really see how. It is upsetting that your best efforts get you nowhere in these races." Martin was driving a different modified Ford Taurus.
This last race marked an unprecedented streak in sports in which the fastest car has won every single race in NASCAR's fifty plus years of existence. Several times over the years races were almost won by drivers in cars that were not the fastest, but in every case the fastest car managed to win, albeit by slight margins.
And the fact is that the best driving of the day is frequently no more then a footnote in the sports pages.
"Folks might be surprised if I said Michael Waltrip was actually the best driver out there," said Martin. "I mean he's not, but he's got such a crappy car, race fans would never get to know one way or the other." Waltrip has never ridden in the fastest car in a NASCAR Winston Cup race.
Burton was unapologetic for this particular win, "I have often driven fantastically only to lose to a driver in a faster car. I think it all equals out in the end."
Martin himself admitted to winning several races where "I doubt I was the best driver that day." However, Burton himself admits that NASCAR officials may have to do something to change this continuing trend. Like many others, he sees no easy solution to the problem.
"What are you going to do? Maybe the fastest car winning is just a fundamental fact of auto racing," pointed out Burton rather axiomatically.
But if this is true then one must wonder how long NASCAR can last as a spectator sport. NASCAR officials remain unconcerned at this point, "Hell, we've lasted fifty years," said NASCAR President Bill France. "I wouldn't think we should start overestimating race fans at this point."
©2000 Copyright David Oliver
DISCLAIMER: These stories are not true. No really. It's all just a joke, you know for fun.
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