Power’s win provides only drama on big race day

CONCORD, N.C. – Auto racing’s biggest and longest day lacked the drama often associated with three of the planet’s major motor sports events.

It’s true that the spectacle was there. First, racing along the narrow streets of Monaco in front of the rich and powerful and on one of motor sports’ classic courses.

Then the color and pageantry that is woven into the Indianapolis 500 which, for a day, draws hundreds of thousands to tiny Speedway, Ind.

And, finally, Charlotte Motor Speedway’s pre-race salute to the military — a red, white and blue celebration of those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

In the main events, though, the excitement meter wasn’t exactly popping.

At Monaco, where the beautiful landscape and exotic atmosphere usually outshine the competition, only strong drink and loud engines kept the spectators’ attention. Racing “softly” on tires in attempts to pit only one time during the race and keep track position on a course famously difficult for passing, drivers limited their speeds. Daniel Ric- ciardo won Formula One’s Monaco Grand Prix by seven seconds, a victory followed by several key drivers describing the racing as boring.

At Indy, there was the feel-good story of Will Power finally winning The Big One, and there were some questions if his wife, Liz, would crash in victory lane in her exuberant celebration. But there was no magical fourth win for Helio Castroneves, and Danica Patrick’s racing career ended quietly — if a hard crash can be quiet. Power won by three seconds, denying challengers a last-lap shot at a pass and fans the accompanying drama.

And then it was on to Charlotte for the last and longest of the tripleheader, a 600-mile journey from day into night, a marathon, tradition-bound race that rarely ranks in the top 10 of NASCAR’s most exciting. It is more about endurance and strategy than close-quarters racing and rarely offers the final-lap bumper-banging that sends fans home afire with excitement.

On this day, it was colored in the candy sponsorship flavors of Kyle Busch, who was so dominant it appeared that he thought he was Kevin Harvick. Busch led all but 23 laps of the 400.

Busch won all four stages of the race, and there is little doubt he would have led 10 stages if the format called for that many. On every restart, he flashed away from the pretenders, building a lead of at least a second before anybody had time to root for the second-place driver to mount a challenge. For everyone else, it was essentially hopeless.

The win was an important one for Busch. CMS was the final track on the current schedule where he had not won a points race.

“This one’s very special,” Busch said. “The Coke 600 — I dreamed of this race since I was a kid and winning this race. I watched the All-Star and the 600 the following weekend (as a kid). Being able to come out here and win is phenomenal.

“It’s a little boy’s dream come true.” Based on the timeline of the season, Busch should have had significant competition Sunday from Harvick, who entered the race with five victories and a reputation as the driver of the moment. He started the day from the back of beyond, having been banished to the rear of the grid because his team had run afoul of the NASCAR police. He started 39th after failing pre-qualifying inspection three times.

As many, probably including Harvick, imagined, the punishment had lit- tle real effect. By lap 71 of the 400-lap race, Harvick had powered through the field to roll into fourth place.

Harvick’s surge ended in a flash, however, when a tire problem sent his Ford into the fourth-turn wall on lap 83. Damage to the car’s right side led the team to park for the night, eliminating any drama that might have been created by a Busch-Harvick battle.

In the grandstands, the talk was almost audible over the race noise. The previous weekend’s All-Star Race here featured much closer competition because of the use of a different engine/ aerodynamic package. Why, fans probably asked their grandstand neighbors, wasn’t that same package used Sunday in an effort to make the 600 a much better show?

There were too many unknowns to throw that package into a points race, NASCAR said, especially a very long one, after one experimental run. More research and development work are needed.

It’s hard to imagine a package that would have sidetracked Kyle Busch’s march to victory Sunday. His lead was measured in seconds; his figurative lead was in calendar pages.

It was that kind of day at the end of racing’s longest.