Nice Guys Do Win

There are a lot of people out there that say "nice guys don't win." This weekend gave me reassurance of something I knew all along: nice guys do win. Racing has a persona of being made up of nothing but so called tough guys. I have know for a while that a number of racers are nice guys and great drivers. There are two that are on my radar right now for being good racers and good guys.

Jeff Burton and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. are the two guys I am referring to right now. There are many others but I think this weekend brought Burton and Earnhardt to the front of my mind. I heard some people say that Burton should have been more "aggressive" at Bristol. First of all, I hate that word when it is used to tell people how good of a race car driver someone is. The so called aggressive drivers get labeled that because they are in good equipment and have good people around them. Oh, and they can drive! Jeff Burton knew at Bristol he had the fastest car and he did everything he could to win short of wrecking himself or someone else. He also knew that a Nextel Cup victory was right around the corner for him and his RCR team. The nice guy thing works for Burton but don't think for a minute that he is laying back or not giving all he's got just because he doesn't bump someone or wreck someone to win. He knows how important it is to keep the fenders on these cars so he and his team can continue to make his cars drive better. There are guys that everyone loves and pulls for, and when they bump and wreck, it is exciting but they actually take a step back because his team then has to refocus on fixing equipment instead of making their car faster. Jeff Burton gets it and maybe now everyone else will too. This nice guy will continue winning and making his team better.

Some of you are wondering why I listed Dale Jr. in the "nice guys do win" category. Well, it is not everyday that you see people that willing to get in a competitor's race car, especially after wrecking out of the race yourself. He may of also had some other motives that drove him to jump in another car. But it comes down to him helping out some of his friends that happen to be on a different team. There was part of him that wanted to see how a Hendrick car drove, although it had been wrecked. There was part of him that wanted people to wonder exactly what his motive might be. He wanted to get the attention of the media, without saying a word, and he did. He wanted people to wonder if it had anything to do with his contract negotiations. He wanted to finish the race and he did just that. For me, I believe he knew a lot of different questions would be asked, but in the end, he was just doing two of his favorite things: helping out some friends and racing.

Why do I think he won? Because he just loves to race and be involved in this sport. He is living his dream. Sure there are bad days for him just like anyone else but not many guys would have stuck around for friends or anyone at this point. He did and I think that is another reason he is so popular. I don't really know him now but I do know as we both grew up in the infields around the country that Dale Jr. wanted to race worse than any other kid in the infield.

These are two total different guys. They probably don't many other common interests other than race cars. On Sunday they were on different ends of the score board but that didn't change the fact that they are both nice guys that win.

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