March 6, 2012
By Doug Demmons
Rarely is there a parting of the ways that is totally amicable.
In the average press release about folks being replaced, there is lots of talk about spending more time with families or exploring new opportunities. Everybody thanks everybody else for everybody’s valuable contributions.
It’s all standard stuff. Everybody smiles and moves on because -- even though the grievances and slights could be laid end to end and circle the globe -- nobody wants to sound like a whiner or a malcontent.
NASCAR teams are especially good at this, likely because they have had so much practice at it. Crew chiefs, crew members, drivers are as disposable these days as Kardashian marriages.
There is a notable exception, however -- Darian Grubb.
Grubb hasn’t broadcast his feelings about being let go by Stewart-Haas Racing last year after leading Tony Stewart to the Sprint Cup championship. But he hasn’t disguised them either.
Grubb and Stewart haven’t aired whatever grievances led to the dismissal, but Grubb isn’t maintaining the brave PR front either.
Sunday would have been the perfect opportunity for Grubb to gloat. His new driver, Denny Hamlin, had just won in only the second race for Grubb at Joe Gibbs Racing.
Stewart, meanwhile, was struck down by some mysterious gremlins in the computer that controls the electronic fuel injection system.
Hamlin got pushed to Victory Lane. All Stewart got was a push from a tow truck.
And Stewart wasn’t exactly Mr. Happy after the race.
“I don’t build these things. You are asking the wrong guy,” he said when asked about it after finishing 22nd. “I don’t know why it didn’t re-fire. I honestly don’t know. It’s not really my department.”
So, was Grubb drinking it all in, swirling the delicious irony in his glass like a fine Cabernet Sauvignon, savoring the moment? Nah.
“I guess you could say it is a little bit of vindication,” Grubb said after the race, “But I really don't think that way. I try to just think the high road all the time.”
Grubb has been around long enough to know that the high road is usually the best way around the track. He also knows that a vindicating win today could very easily be replaced by a devastating setback tomorrow.
But there is no question that Grubb has made a difference in the No. 11 team and in Hamlin’s attitude, which had sunk low enough that he felt the need to get away from racing during the offseason.
On Sunday, Hamlin couldn’t sing the praises of his new crew chief loudly enough.
“I mean, for me, I don't know where this came from,” Hamlin said of the win. “I don't know how our car was as good as it was today. We were solidly off in practice. We were off, but we kept getting it better and closer to being competitive. But I had no idea we were going to fire off like we did today.
“You know, it just seemed like we kept improving our car, and I think the turning point for us was that green flag pit stop,” he said. “Whatever he did to the car at that point was just lights out after that.”
Winning Sunday at Phoenix wasn’t just another of 18 career wins for Hamlin. It helps snuff out a bad habit of starting slowly out the gate. It puts the frustrations of 2011 behind him.
And it comes at a track that probably cost him the 2010 Cup championship when his points lead all but evaporated with bad fuel strategy.
“It's a little bit of satisfaction there for sure,” he said. “I mean, this is a ... it's a bittersweet track. Before that moment, I had a lot of success at this track, ran very competitive. Never got a win, but last year I wasn't a huge fan of the race track, obviously, because I wasn't that competitive.
“Last year, we just never got going,” he said. “Yeah, maybe there was a hangover effect for the first half of the year. You can claim that. But it didn't have anything to do with how bad I ran the last 10 races. We just didn't have it all together.
“When I come back here, it just puts 2011 to rest. That year is done. It's a year that I'd just as soon forget about, and now we're focused on winning a championship.”
Doug Demmons is a writer and editor for the Birmingham News ~ he writes daily and weekly auto racing columns ranging from NASCAR to open wheel to Formula One, local tracks and more... you can read Doug's columns online at ALABAMA MOTORSPORTS
Follow Doug on Twitter: @dougdemmons
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
You can contact Doug Demmons at ....
