iNSIDE SCOOP: Takeaways from Charlotte

So, after two straight weekends at Charlotte Motor Speedway, what did we learn?

We learned that the weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth by fans of the six-time champ is over, for one. Jimmie Johnson finally got on the board by winning the Coca-Cola 600 after a late-race battle with Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth.

We learned that Kurt Busch can drive a race car or two…in the same day. His sixth-place at Indianapolis was a solid drive in a race that’s not always that easy to master, and he had enough left in the tank to drive 271 miles of the Coke 600. The exploding Hendrick engine in his Chevrolet prevented him from equaling team boss Tony Stewart’s position as the only man to do the true double.

One wonders if Smoke planted a little time bomb…nah, just kidding. 

We learned that the troubles at Roush are deeper than we imagined, and we can imagine quite a bit. Carl Edwards was pretty good, finishing fourth, but Greg Biffle is howling in the wilderness. He was 21st, two laps down.  Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was 24th, three laps down.

There’s something wrong with the RFR camp. Edwards is all but out the door, and one wonders if Biffle will stay—or be given the opportunity. Trevor Bayne coming on for a full Cup season next year is one indicator that either/or may be in play.

We learned it’s darn hard to stand up for 400 laps. Well, our feet did, anyway.

We learned that CMS takes its Memorial Day spot on the calendar seriously. You could not turn around Sunday without running into a service member of some kind, and that’s fantastic. Chris Galbusieri, an ONMC Member and an ASFE attendee, was on stage during pre-race to introduce the combined military might to the crowd, and afterward, he went right to our area behind the Intro stage to celebrate with his other family. Thank you for your service, Chris, and for being a Member!

We learned that the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, Cabarrus County Police and the Sheriff’s Department have figured out traffic patterns after the race. We left at 11:45 p.m. and were safely inside the gates of SCOOP castle 20 minutes later. The no-turn edict north of the Speedway is a bit of a pain, but I can see why they do it. If they don’t have a problem with my illegal U-turn, I don’t either.

We learned that thousands of people on the frontstretch can be a good thing, especially when they are all genuinely nice and just as excited as you are to be there.

We learned that pit crews have a tough row to hoe in the 600. Ten or 11 stops, four tires most of the time…it’s a grind.

We learned that May is a great month to be in NASCAR. Well, we already knew that, but it’s nice to have it work out to be true again.