Someone
will ask Aric Almirola this question at some point in his driving career: "What do you remember about your first win?"
I can almost guess his reply.
"Well, I was sitting in the motor coach watching the Rockwell Automation car."
NASCAR
rules state that the driver starting the race is credited with the win, regardless of who is in the car when the race finishes.
This scenario is rare, but not impossible. At the AT&T 250 Busch race Saturday Night in Milwaukee, one driver
took the green flag and another took the checkered.
Almirola put the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR)/Rockwell Automation on
the pole for the second straight year at the Milwaukee Mile. Denny Hamlin was set to drive the Rockwell car after making
the long flight from Sonoma California to Milwaukee, however due to air traffic situations above the speedway, Hamlin could
not get on the ground quick enough to strap in and take the green flag. Almirola made the best of the situation and
kept the Rockwell Automation car on the point for the first forty four laps, eventually giving up the lead to Busch Series
dominator, Carl Edwards.
After a Ron Hornaday crash on lap fifty seven, Almirola
was instructed to bring the car into the pits, where the team strapped Denny Hamlin into the car and sent him back out one
lap down. The cost on the track was 31 positions. The cost in driver loyalty and confidence has yet to be measured.
In
a dazzling display of driver ability, courage and tenacity, Hamlin charged the No. 20 Chevrolet back through the field from
the thirty fourth position to lead with twelve laps to go and took the checkered flag. Yes it was fun to watch,
and yes the fans in the stands probably enjoyed it, but at what cost, and what does it say about race decisions made by the
sponsor rather than the crew chief or car owner?
You have to remember that Milwaukee is home to the Rockwell Automation
company who sponsors the JGR ride. The clock tower high above their world headquarters is a familiar Milwaukee landmark.
The stands were full of Rockwell executives and employees. They wanted to see their top tier Busch driver in the car,
and see him they did.
When asked about the sponsor involvement in the decision to replace the driver,
JGRR teammate Brad Coleman said, "That might have had something to do with it."
In victory lane, checkered flag taker
Denny Hamlin expressed his displeasure with the decision. "I didn't want to do it. I knew he would be really upset,"
referring to Aric Almirola.
Rockwell Automation is a marketing company that happens to sell electrical equipment.
They understand marketing and what it means to have a name driver in the car. Racing decisions that impact track position,
driver development, and all the other issues related to the race team, should be left to the racing pros. The decision
to pull Almirola from the car had much more potential for disaster than a race win.
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It all worked out with a checkered flag, but it is not a decision that
an intelligent crew chief or car owner would've made under those circumstances. I completely agreed with Rusty Wallace, (which
doesn't happen very often), when he said, "I don't agree with this at all," as the team was strapping Hamlin into the race
car.
When a young driver makes a commitment to a race team, and puts forth the kind of performance that Almirola
did in the early laps of this race, it's equally important that the race team remain committed to that driver. There
is no doubt that Aric Almirola is a talented driver with a bright future in stock car racing. Will his commitment to
Joe Gibbs Racing diminish subsequent to the decisions of Saturday night. Time will tell.
The only thing that
might ease the bittersweet pain of this race is another first win. Not many drivers get the opportunity to get one of
those.
2006 StockCar Review.
