iNSIDE SCOOP: Icing on the Cake

INDIANAPOLIS – On Jeff Gordon Day in the Circle City, could there have been another winner of the Crown Royal Presents the John Wayne Walding 400 at the Brickyard?

Yes, Gordon was wicked quick all weekend, and he was the best of a good group of cars on the final restart. When the checkered waved, he was the first car underneath it…just as he was on that sun-washed day in 1994 when he won the inaugural.

As I’ve said before, it was one of those happy coincidences that occur from time to time in the world of NASCAR.  Sunday’s triumph was icing on that particular cake.

Gordon winning the 20th anniversary of the race that changed history at IMS was a big bonus for the sport, it’s true. Just like Dale Earnhardt winning his first Daytona 500 on the occasion of NASCAR’s 50th Anniversary, it galvanized the sport and made it bigger.

It kind of makes you believe in fate and karma, doesn’t it?

This was one occurrence that we saw coming. Gordon had been fast for the past two months, and winning at his “home” track was always a fairly strong possibility. He’s good there, and he is the first to win five oval races at the legendary oval. Michael Schumacher won seven Formula One races there, but that was on the road course, not the oval, and the oval is the hallowed ground for most of us.

Trust me. I saw the last two of A.J. Foyt’s four, all four of Al Unser Sr.’s and all four of Rick Mears’ Indy 500 victories. It was a special moment.

It also cements his place in the Chase, even though he is the point leader and would likely have been in anyway.

That he won the race on a restart was important too. He’s traditionally not been the best at restarts for the past few seasons, so to win a race as big as this one by doing something he’s not been all that good at is pretty cool.

As hot as Brad Keselowski has been of late, it is nice to see another guy step up, and Gordon is still regarded as a native son. He’s not, being born in California, but close enough.

Bookending the 20 years of the IMS date on NASCAR’s schedule is a neat trick, and Gordon was deserving of all the love he got in the finals laps.

I will say, however, that the racing at the iconic facility has changed. It’s more like Indy Car racing than it used to be, without the ability to just power past someone at any place on the track. The Gen-6 is a nice piece, and it will be one of the reasons NASCAR makes a push toward the heights as it once did in the mid-1990s.

The pomp and ceremony is still lacking, compared to the Indianapolis 500, but maybe it doesn’t need to be as big. Forever a 500 fan, I’ll take the way the Brickyard is presented from that standpoint. There is only one Indy 500; just as there is only one Daytona 500, and that’s as it should be.

Congratulations, Jeff, for winning another big race at the perfect time.