You Call This Team Work?

Unless you've been sleeping for the last few days, by now you must have picked up some of the many conversations that came out of last weekend's Daytona Firecracker 400. One of the more popular topics was about team work, or in the case of Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports, the lack thereof. Now, if you work at a place similar to the one I do, being a team player, and being able to work together, is an important part of success for a business. That goes for any company. Obviously, there seems to be a lack of team work at Joe Gibbs Racing. By now, you must have heard Tony's rant about Denny, and the resulting crash between the two. Let's face it, Denny was in front, and obviously Tony thought that, because he's the senior member of the team, Denny should have gotten out of his way (out of everyone's way!). The result was two good cars taken out of the race by an ego that's way too big! The crash was completely Tony's fault. To add insult to injury, "Mr. Perfect" didn't have the guts to admit that he's a goof, and apologize for what he did. Instead, he chose to throw his teammate under the bus! Come on, Tony! Be a human being for once, lose that ego, and admit that you made a totally dumb mistake! That's what being a team player is all about!

Which brings me to Kyle Busch. According to poor Kyle, his teammates Mr. Gordon and Mr. Johnson, abandoned him at the end of the race! But, according to Mr. Gordon's substitute crew chief, when it comes down to the last 10 laps, it's every man for himself. I think any driver, or crew chief, will say that! So, despite the fact that Kyle was in the position to win, again, the egos took over, and neither Jimmie or Jeffy offered any help to give Kyle a chance to not only sweep both the Cup and Busch race that weekend, but to do it on the same day (thanks to Mother Nature). Instead, Kyle had to rely on his brother for help, and there really wasn't a lot that Kurt could do for Little Brother! Well Kyle, before you get your shorts in a knot, think back to who was leading at the last restart. Seems to me it was your other teammate, Casey Mears... and what did you and Jeffy and Jimmie do? You all hung Casey out to dry! At least you three got a top-10! Casey wound up, what, 19th! So Kyle, don't complain too much! After all, there is no such thing as team orders at Hendrick's, is there! Ya, right!

Now, this brings me to Roush-Fenway, and in particular, Carl Edwards. First of all, Jamie McMurray truly deserved that win! He has been running well this year, and is not far from taking Junior's place in the 'Race For The Chase'. During those last few laps, Jamie must have felt like he had a Roush bulls-eye painted on the back of his car! First, he gets pushed ahead by Kenseth. Then, The Biff gives him a shove to push him further ahead. Then, when they are coming down to the line, it was Carl's turn to give Jamie a shot in the behind to give him a push to get ahead of the previously mentioned Mr. Busch! Next thing you know, the Roush guys are lined up on the outside, and Jamie beats Kyle by the closest margin since they started electronic scoring at Daytona! The only thing that could have made it more perfect would have been to have David Ragan move from 12th to at least 10th! Imagine if all 5 Roush cars finished in the top-10!

Carl said it after the race: had he tried to go for the win himself, he would have gone three wide with Jamie and Kyle, and there would not have been a Roush car in Victory Lane! Carl, as well as Greg and Matt, did what they could to win themselves. When it appeared that none of them could win, they all did what they could do to help out their teammate win the race and Jamie won his first race since October of 2002. This wasn't the first time Carl has helped out his teammates. Does anyone remember the Truck race at Daytona in February? Well, Carl had some transmission trouble at the start and lost about 10 laps. Once he got back into the race, first he helped Travis Kvapil get to the lead and then he helped Eric Darnell get up to the front. Had that late caution not happened, and there wasn't a single-file restart with Carl shuffled way back, I think he would have hung onto Travis' bumper, and Travis would have won that race instead of Sprague! As luck would have it, however, Travis was snookered right at the end and wound up 3rd.

Anyway, I think that last weekend's race showed us a lot about who knows how to work as a team, and who are just out there for themselves! Obviously, Joe Gibbs and Rick Hendrick believe in 'every man for themselves'. Now, I know Jack Roush has said that he doesn't care who wins, as long as the cars come home in one piece. From what I saw Saturday night, at least his drivers know how to work together. During the end of the last race, they didn't show off their egos! Tony, Kyle, Jeffy, and Jimmie could take a lesson from Carl, Matt, Greg, David, and Jamie.