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It has started already. The NASCAR crowd always seems to want to jump on the slightest remark by a driver and twist it into something that it was not intended to be.

After winning NASCAR’s 2009 Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 today at Martinsville, Jimmie Johnson made the following innocuous statement:  “It might sound crazy, and I heard some comments when we were doing interviews on the frontstretch, where people assume and expect us to win.  We don’t take this for granted.  It’s a great track for us.  We hoped that we would. You never know.”

Johnson continued, “No one would have thought that Jeff [Gordon] would go winless last year. You know, you can’t take things for granted.  We’re very relieved to get the first one of the season.  Hopefully there are many more to come.”

Immediately, NASCAR fans and news writers have begun to jump on this remark and are trying to contrast Johnson’s attitude with that of Tiger Woods, who also won a golf tournament today. After Tiger’s amazing comeback win, Woods stated that he expects to win every time he tees it up. Detractors are surmising that Jimmie Johnson doesn’t have the same drive, the same winning attitude as the great Tiger Woods. This is ludicrous!

There is a huge difference between the two sports. In golf, the player has absolute control over everything that happens during his round. He has no team members that he must count on in order to achieve a victory, no equipment that could fail him at any moment.

In NASCAR, the slightest miscalculation by the pit crew, a tenth of a second difference in a tire change, a failing engine part or other car malfunction can all keep a driver out of the winner’s circle. Indeed, the crew and the car may very well have more of an impact on the results of a race than the performance of any driver.

Because of this, Jimmie Johnson’s comments are hardly surprising or in the least bit inaccurate. You can’t take things for granted in NASCAR. Too many things that a driver has no control over can go wrong.

Give me a break NASCAR fans and writers! There are plenty of controversial events that occur during a NASCAR season that are well worth commenting on. This is certainly not one of them. The defending three-time NASCAR Champion certainly deserves a little better than this!

The NASCAR shop Quote of the Day: “Well, I think we tried very hard not to be overconfident, because when you get overconfident, that’s when something snaps up and bites you.” – Astronaut, Neil Armstrong

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NASCAR Shop Opinion:

Track owner Bruton Smith is lobbying NASCAR to move its final race of the season from South Florida. He would prefer the final race to be in Atlanta or Las Vegas.

In quotes reported widely on the Internet, Smith was not kind to the Homestead Miami Speedway. “Why have the last race of the season at some Godforsaken area just north of Cuba?,” Bruton said. “Why would you do that? I don’t understand that. Why don’t you pick a place that can accommodate the final race of the year with seats and parking and somewhere that appreciates it?”

Bruton Smith continued, “Home-in-stead is now running that final race,” Smith said. “They don’t have the seating, they don’t have this, they don’t have parking. And the event should be held somewhere else. There’s an idea, let’s maybe hold that final race in Las Vegas.”

Smith is the founder, chairman and CEO of Speedway Motorsports, which owns eight NASCAR tracks, hosting eleven NASCAR Sprint events. It’s no coincidence that Las Vegas Motor Speedway is one of the tracks that he thinks the final NASCAR race should be moved to.

Sure, he has a point; Vegas could host more fans. Las Vegas Motor Speedway has a far larger capacity (142,000) compared to the Homestead Miami Speedway (65,000). But trashing an entire metropolitan area in order to push forward his own greedy agenda is way over the top.

Homestead Miami Speedway president, Curtis Gray, responded with the following statement. “Hey, it’s not a fluke that all of North America’s premier racing series [NASCAR, IndyCar and Grand-Am] have chosen Homestead-Miami Speedway and South Florida to host their 2009 championship finales,” Gray’s released statement read. “And because we’re a diverse, fun-loving and even forgiving motorsports bunch down here in Miami, Bruton’s still welcome to join the party this fall.”

I don’t know about that Curtis. I’d think twice about heading to South Beach if I were Bruton Smith. If he does take Gray up on his invitation, he better stay away from the Cuban sandwiches!

NASCAR News Quote of the Day: “If I only had a little humility, I’d be perfect.” – Ted Turner

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The NASCAR Shop Opinion:

Are you kidding me? Apparently Dale Jr. is quite content with being a middle of the road driver and, in fact, aspires to be one this season. He currently is ranked 29th in the standings, 192 points behind leader, Jeff Gordon, and has quite a few spots to climb if he stands a chance at being in the top dozen. Only the top twelve drivers in points after 26 races will qualify to compete in NASCAR’s late-season Chase for the Cup title playoff over the final 10 races.

Jimmie Johnson, winner of the title the last three years, has also had a troubling start to the 2009 season. He is currently sitting in 19th place after three races, 145 points behind his teammate, Jeff Gordon. Johnson, however, has demonstrated the ability to come back after a slow start. He was virtually in the same place after three races last season before winning his third consecutive cup title.

His reaction was decidedly different than Dale Earnhardt Jr’s. “We had the best car,” Johnson said. “It was just unfortunate that I just got a little too aggressive and I piled it up.”

That’s the attitude of a winner. Earnhardt Jr. needs a little more fire in his belly if he is ever going to hold a candle to his late father’s accomplishments. The Intimidator has to be rolling in his grave!

The NASCAR Shop Quote of the Day: “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordon

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