Drivers Need to Stop Complaining

Summary: A summary of the Kobalt Tools 500 and commentary on NASCAR's constant whining about track conditions.

Looking like he is already in championship form, Jimmie Johnson passed Tony Stewart with three laps remaining to win the Kobalt Tools 500 in Atlanta Sunday. Johnson led 132 of the first 238 laps and then the last three to win the 25th Nextel Cup race of his career. Johnson gave much of the credit to crew chief Chad Knaus for making adjustments during the race, and specifically on the last pit stop. Following the final pit stop Johnson passed Matt Kenseth and then Stewart. Stewart had the lead on the final restart but after some exciting side by side racing with Johnson, Johnson's inside pass was the pivotal moment. Kenseth finished third and Jeff Burton finished fourth. Johnson moved to within 28 points of chase leader Mark Martin in the Nextel Cup standings. Martin, who finished 10th remains in the points lead eight points ahead of second place Jeff Gordon. Martin's lead should come to an end after next week since he reiterated his plans to sit out the next two races in the partial schedule he will run this year. Jeff Burton is third in the points, 11 behind Martin and Johnson is in fourth. Juan Pablo Montoya continues his rapid learning curve as he carded the best result of his Nextel Cup career finishing in fifth. Montoya, who won the Busch race in Mexico City two weeks ago, says he and his crew are "getting the hang of it". Most drivers were obviously concerned about tire wear and tear and took it easy early in the race. The Goodyear tires held up well and for half the race with the drivers just clicking off laps is seemed to be a pretty boring race. Atlanta Race Notes: Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s struggles in 2007 continue. He is 26th in the point standings. Brian Vickers became the first driver to lead a lap in a Nextel Cup race in a Toyota. His joy was short-lived, he had engine trouble and ended up in the garage with a 42nd place finish. The biggest wreck of the day was a four car incident the included Kasey Kahne, Greg Biffle, David Reutimann, and Brian Vickers. Many drivers in Atlanta couldn't help but thinking about next weeks Bristol race and the debut of the new larger, boxier Car of Tomorrow. Kyle Busch will showcase endangered wildlife on his car this year to call attention to animal rescue and conservation education at Sea World and Busch Gardens. A bald eagle, penguins and a kangaroo were at the media center in Atlanta this past week for the announcement. Drivers Need to Stop Complaining Tony Stewart said "They screwed up a great racetrack!" Mark Martin predicted gloom and doom after the Busch race last Saturday, and Jeff Gordon said he planned to sit down with NASCAR officials after last Sunday's Las Vegas Motor Speedway Nextel Cup race. Lately if one thing is as certain as death and taxes, it will be stock car racers complaining about the track and conditions they have to race in each week. In reality it was not "black ice" as Greg Biffle called it, or was there a wreck on every lap as Kasey Kahne boldly predicted. It was a different track than they had raced on in Vegas in the past, slight track improvements were made and 8 degrees of banking were added as well a revamping of pit road. Speeds were topping 200 mph during testing in January, and Goodyear's tire for LVMS was hard and didn't grip the track very well. What's the big deal? NASCAR Nextel Cup drivers are paid big buck to make left turns and complete 267 in Las Vegas every March. If the track unsafe for driving with 42 other cars at blazing speeds racers need to make adjustments. The conditions are the same for everybody. When Tiger Woods goes to Scotland for the British Open and the conditions are wet, rainy and gale force winds whip up over the lochs and channels he can't play the same game as he would in Hilton Head at the Heritage Golf Classic. Different conditions at different tracks make NASCAR racing much more interesting to Joe Fan in Hoover Alabama. If every track was the same, racing teams could set the car up each week, teach a chimpanzee to grip a steering wheel and hit a gas pedal and let him go. It would be mindless racing each weekend which translates into BORING. These drivers are too good to be pouting each time a track doesn't suit their cars perfectly. It is a long season and each week the warriors of the NASCAR circuit hit a different track in a different city. There are many great stories and races that need to be talked and written about. Complaining and crying about the track each week doesn't need to be one of them.