|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Not too tough for me Despite Darlington's reputation, we have run well there
If I made any mistakes going into Darlington this spring, it was questioning whether the track owed us one. Darlington is different than any other track. You hear stuff about how the place is almost human and, now and then, you might start to buy some of that "Lady In Black" stuff. But it's like Darlington decides who wins and when they win, and Darlington decides who has problems. You get cocky there and the place slaps you -- hard! I'm not saying we were cocky going into the race in the spring, because we were far from that. But we had been running awfully good there for two years and felt like our time was due. I guess Darlington decided otherwise. I thought our luck had been kind of bad there in the past. For example, in the spring race last year, we had one of the best cars on the track. We were running third, just past halfway, and it looked like it was getting ready to rain. The first- and second-place cars wrecked and tore their cars up. One was done and the other limped through the first lap of caution and there was no way he could finish the next lap, much less the race. Then it rained. Day is over. We finish second. Last year, we were one of the best three cars and had another real shot at winning the race. It rains just past halfway and we never find out what we could have done. We finish third. The spring race two years ago, we were the best car out there again. We had the lead and thought we could win the thing. The only caution in the last 150 laps comes out with 50 laps to go while we're leading.
We're pitting on the backstretch. We go into the pits first, and come out sixth. We're still able to pick up two spots at the end and finish fourth. At a lot of tracks, that would be considered "bad luck." I guess at Darlington, it's considered good luck because this past spring, we were good. I mean, we were really good. We had been the best thing out there during Happy Hour on Saturday and we were figuring on just biding our time and working our way to the front. But somebody went sliding and we got nailed from the rear after I thought we had it missed, and it cost us a really good finish. What it didn't do was affect our optimism. The guys on this Mobil 1 team are feeling as optimistic about Darlington right now as they have all season long. We have a great history there, and we think we're capable of winning the Southern 500. It's just a question as to whether Darlington wants us to win, and how we can handle the luck issue. The place is downright tough, let's face it. It's tough to get the car set up the way you want it and it's tough to drive. If you are on top of your game and you can get through the gremlins that Darlington throws at you from time to time, you can have a really good day there. You hear it all the time but you can't let the place lull you to sleep. I've seen guys running away with a race there and, next thing you know, they are sitting in the wall. And I've seen guys struggling on seven cylinders around the place, just riding and, next thing you know, they are in the wall. Darlington doesn't play favorites. You have to respect the place on every turn of every lap. You can't take anything for granted there. That is never forgiven. For some reason, Darlington has been pretty nice to us the past couple of years for the most part. I think she kind of respects the way this Mobil 1 bunch approaches her. We're respectful of what she can do and how tough she can be. Maybe it's just a deal where we've treated her right the past couple of years, so she has treated us right too. And maybe this is the race where she finally lets the Mobil 1 team dance in Victory Lane. Jeremy Mayfield is the driver of the No. 12 Mobil One Ford on the Winston Cup circuit. The Kentucky native has won twice this year to doubr his career wins total to four. Mayfield's column appears weekly on CNNSI.com.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
