It’s called “mo”, short for momentum and it’s defined as the capacity to develop, the power to increase at a growing pace. ‘Mo’ is not unique to NASCAR, it’s a force in all sports even though no one really knows how to possess it. If they did, they would always win.
Racing teams that achieve consistent results during the first 26 races, however join the final 12 teams in a dash for the Chase Sprint Cup. A championship team may not call whatever they had to get them into the finals and onto the big prize -- “mo”, but they know they had many things right -- over and over.
For this series, for simplicity the short word “mo” will be used to describe what team has the best mix of humans and machines at any given stretch during the long NASCAR season.
Richard Childress Racing has seized impetus so far in the 2010 season so the word mo is in their care right now. Mo might move on, mo might have found a home.
RCR drivers Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton have thoughts about “mo” in the RCR camp and Kasey Kahne has thoughts about the distinct lack of mo for his team in Richard Petty Motorsports. Hendrick Motorsports has owned “mo” in that past four years with Jimmie Johnson’s championships and the 48 team got off to bad DNF start in Daytona, but recent wins has the team ready to grab “mo” and run.
Jimmie Johnson may have won two in a row but with strong finishes Kevin Harvick has been the points leader for two races in a row. Harvick has had a good Vegas showing by winning the nationwide race and then placing second in the Sprint cup race.
Kevin Harvick [No. 29 Chevrolet]
“I think the team has started to kind of turn a corner last year when we got to Indianapolis,” Harvick said. “Around the track, you could really sense the fact that the cars were running a lot better and everybody was headed in the right direction, probably three quarters through the year last year. I think as we got towards the end of the year, there was one, if not two of us, who would run good every week.”
Clint Bowyer [No.33 Chevrolet]
“I don’t try to dwell on the past very much.” Bowyer said. “I try and look toward the future and try to make things better. Every now and then you have to take a look back at the past to learn from that and fix a mistake you made. We’ve worked hard over the offseason on our mile-and-a-half program.”
Jeff Burton [No. 31 Chevrolet]
We did a tire test in January (2009) and we were pretty far off on speed. I was really sick and not feeling good and I kept saying that I am still fast when I’m sick, so it’s not that. Then, it showed itself pretty quickly that we weren’t very good. The tire test that we did this winter, combined with the way we ended last year, gives all the RCR teams a lot of confidence going into these races. We are much more prepared and have a better shot at doing well this year than we did last year.”
When you don’t get off to a good start and the first three or four races don’t go well. You’re trying to play catch up and you’re trying to make up what you lost. You can’t make up what you lost -- what’s done is done.
Kasey Kahne [No. 9 Ford]
“The team isn’t hitting the panic button because it’s a long season, right?” Kahne said. “Early in the year it really doesn’t mean much because you can make or break points so easily.
“I think we all know that in this sport you can go on rolls and if you can run consistently you can gain points pretty fast, especially early in the season. If you’re 34th in points after 10 races, you’re probably in trouble, but early in the year I think you have plenty of time.
Kahne and the No. 9 Ford finished ninth and moved up 10 spots from 33rd to 23rd in one race. Jimmie Johnson moved up seven spots to 5th after not finishing the Daytona 500. With two race wins in a row Johnson has a good shot at grabbing “mo”, but Harvick is in first place and Bowyer is in second. They still have “mo.”
In the end it’s more than who grabs “mo” and runs with it, it’s who grabs “mo” and turns it into “big mo” for the championship.
For now this series will follow mo. Big mo will be the focus in the future.
Comments
FYI: Clint Bowyer hasn't driven the 07 for 2 seasons now. That's kind of a silly mistake to make.
Thanks Jeff,
Mistakes are easy to make for humans, but this one is fixed thanks to you.
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