Armchair Quarterback: NFL’s over, but the QB stays put
It’s a sad week for me — and many of you — seeing that football season is over.
Sure, we have NASCAR and the new Nextel Cup beginning today and March Madness is just around the corner, but it’s hard to replace the excitement us football junkies feel on Sunday afternoon. It seems like football season lasts no time while sports like baseball seem to never end.
But have no worries. While you may be saddened by the loss of football until camps open in July, you will be happy to hear your Armchair Quarterback column will be staying right here with you during the offseason. I will be doing football columns from time to time, especially around the draft and as offseason player moves happen, and I will be taking you with me to Titans camp later this year. However, I will be visiting different sports while the professional football players relax in the tropics and spend their millions during the offseason. We’ll be talking a lot of NASCAR and hopefully a little Predator playoff hockey (keep your fingers crossed), and of course some NBA and college hoops. The name of my column will stay the same since it’s a pain to change it for each season.
With that said, I want to break right into NASCAR with today’s race at Daytona, where I’ll likely be by the time you read this.
As any NASCAR fan knows, there are two favorites who come to mind when you mention Daytona – Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip. The DEI team has dominated restrictor plates for years, finishing in the front of the field consistantly at Daytona and Talledega, no matter where they start in the field. This year will be no different seeing Little E starts third after winning the first of the Twin 125s Thursday. Michael will start ninth with a fourth place finish in the same race, meaning they will likely be drafting together by about Lap 3 today.
However, just like a couple of years ago, when Jeremy Mayfield and Bill Elliot premiered the new Dodge team at Daytona by taking the front row, there’s been a lot of speculation of whether the guard could be changing with the front row qualification of a pair of Fords driven by Greg Biffle and Elliot Sadler. There’s been talking that a nose modification on some of the Fords could add that little extra, especially on the super speedways, to make them competative with DEI.
Well, first of all, Greg Biffle has already proven his ability to win on the big tracks, taking his first Cup victory at the July race at Daytona last year, in what really ended up being a fuel mileage race. Meanwhile, Sadler has had a second place finish at the 500, so neither of these guys are slotches when it comes to the big tracks.
However, barring the big crash or mechanical problems, DEI will be up front today when it matters. Even Sadler admitted recently he looked for the DEI cars toward the end of the Daytona races because he knew if he got behind them, they would take him to the front.
You’ve got to remember, qualifying is done without benefit of a draft and the Daytona race is all about drafting. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got the aero package and horsepower to pull out and pass if you’ve lost the draft because you’ll be half a track behind.
That’s another reason DEI will continue being dominant in restrictor plate races, because folks will stay back and draft with them, even when it means they may not be in the lead pack for much of the race. The smart driver hitches his buggie to the horse with the proven record, not the horse which gets out of the gate the fastest. This, in turn, means the DEI cars will always have someone to draft with and given the importance of the draft, this also means they will always be a force.
Forget about nose designs, qualifying position, incriments of horsepower and aero packages. All that matters in Daytona is the draft and the experience of knowing when to make your move at the end.