When the crew has to throw out all previous plans for the car and start over, all bets are off as to who has the best car. A completely different condition -- night to day...literally -- brought that feeling to the forefront of everyone's consciousness.
Joey Logano and his crew got the adjustments right and dominated the field to win the Bank of America 500 on Sunday afternoon to become the first to get the free pass to the Eliminator round, better known as the Elite Eight.
Logano and his crew were certainly elite in winning for the first time at Charlotte. The No. 22 was so good, Logano led 227 of the 334 laps. Only two other drivers led laps in double figures.
Matt Kenseth started from the pole and led 72 laps, but couldn't figure out how to avoid Ryan Newman and ended up 42nd. Sam Hornish Jr. led 22 laps, but most were during green-flag pit stop cycles as he finished 17th.
Knowing another four drivers will be denied their shot at the 2015 Sprint Cup title after Talladega in two weeks, Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were none too pleased about their problems at Charlotte.
And it all involved oil on the high side of the track.
Busch (via Twitter): "You now, can’t pass anybody – single-lane race track and then you put oil on the top lane to try to make anything happen and then you put yourself in the fence, so thanks to NASCAR for cleaning that up, but just every single year it keeps going the same way.”
Busch finished 20th.
Dale Jr. backed up Busch's claims as strongly as he could, cleaned up a bit for publication:?
"We hit fluid and flew into the freakin' wall hard. That's not speed dry. I hit the wall, I know I hit oil.
"We all hit the wall. There was oil down there. It wasn't speedy dry. I've raced this (stuff) for 20-some years I know what oil is"
It's only one race, but at the same time, the pressure of trying to not only get through Talladega with the car in one piece in addition to quite possibly needing a victory to keep championship hope alive kicks up the pressure to the boiling point.
That is, for everyone except Logano. He can enjoy the racing experience at NASCAR's biggest, baddest track, even if his No. 22 Ford Fusion whacks a wall along the way.
That's the beauty of the Chase, though. One bad day can get turned around in a heartbeat, as Kevin Harvick certainly knows.
And as the Chase field dwindles to a precious few, winning will matter that much more over the next six weeks.
Followers and comments welcome on Twitter @Tomzsports. He'll have discussion this week on the upcoming NHRA Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
NEXT WEEK'S RACES
Kansas Speedway (1.5-mile D-shaped oval), Kansas City, Kansas
-SPRINT CUP: Hollywood Casino 400, Sunday, 2:15 p.m. ET/11:15 a.m. PT, NBC. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local MRN affiliate.
Race distance: 400.5 miles, 267 laps.
2014 champion: Joey Logano
-XFINITY SERIES: Kansas Lottery 300, Saturday, 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT, NBC Sports Network. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local MRN affiliate.
Race distance: 300 miles, 200 laps.
2014 champion: Kyle Busch
-CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES: Off until Oct. 24 for the Fred's 250 powered by Coca-Cola at Talladega Superspeedway.
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