Congratulations NASCAR. You solved the tire problem! Cars went more than 10 laps in between pit stops and delivered lengthy green flag periods of racing. Instead of tire problems, we the fans, had to suffer through "tired" problems..
The 2009 Brickyard 400 was the worst race I have ever seen in my life -- a life that has spanned last season's Brickyard, the restrictor plate race at New Hampshire and the infamous fuel gate at Talladega. I've seen infinite amounts of suck potrude out of NASCAR but this takes the cake.
At one point during the race, I decided I was going to take a nap. After waking up, I came to the realization that I had been awake the entire time and was actually watching the bore of a race. In correcting the tire issues from last season, Goodyear created a compound that wore thin way too quickly giving drivers a four-lap window to pass. Is it any coincidence that the only real passes for the lead were Juan Pablo Montoya and Jimmie Johnson on restarts?
Speaking of Johnny Montoya. I have never seen a more blatant crime committed against one driver than I did today. Fearing the PR repercussions of the unpopular Montoya winning the most yawntastic race in NASCAR history, NASCAR penalized the latin-born driver for a 1/10th of a second penalty on pit-road. Yes one-tenth...
NASCAR tried to script a storybook ending by allowing Mark Martin to win at Indy, hoping to all but erase the memories of the worst event of recent history. Unfortunately for the suits upstairs, Jimmie Johnson passed Martin on the last restart to win his second consecutive Brickyard.
But let's be honest for a moment. Winning these two Brickyards shouldn't even count on Johnson's already Hall of Fame career. In fact, if I were Johnson, I would try to give these wins back to NASCAR as I would not want my name attached to the utter garbage that comes attached to the trophies.
But regardless of the circumstances, Johnson is a three-time consecutive Indy 400 Champion. It's just a shame that no one was awake to see it.