CP MOTORSPORTS – MONTE DUTTON: EVERYONE COULD USE THE OCCASIONAL MIRACLE

 

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Miracles happen. Not often, lest they lose their coveted miraculous status.

A last-lap pass isn't a miracle. Neither is a two-out base hit. A Hail Mary pass is. A long bomb isn't. Last week the Washington Nationals turned a 3-3-5 triple play. Supposedly, it was the first in major-league history. Baseball has been around a while. That’s a miracle.

I am limiting the parameters of this discussion to sports. I’m not going to compare the Parting of the Red Sea to the rescue of the Brits at Dunkirk.

Chris Buescher won the Pennsylvania 400 at Pocono. It wasn't just the first victory of his NASCAR Sprint Cup career. It was his first top-10 finish. His average finish, even with the "W," is 27.8. He's 31st in the point standings. If he picks up one position and, at present, six points, he's going to make the Chase.

Chris Buescher!

Now, get this. It wasn't just any tactical triumph. It's not that uncommon for a driver to stretch fuel with the halfway point reached and rain in the area.

Okay, yes, rain was in the area. But what limited the Pennsylvania 400 to 139 laps of a scheduled 160 and Victory Lane to Chris Buescher was fog.

As Shakespeare wrote, in “Macbeth”: Fair is foul, and foul is fair / Hover through the fog and filthy air.

Good for him. (Buescher, not Shakespeare.) This may catapult him to stardom. It may create greater opportunities. August 1 may end up being a famous date. It may end up being a footnote. The last time NASCAR saw such a miracle was probably Joey Logano's first victory, at New Hampshire in 2009. That was exquisitely timed rain.

The kind of fog that swooped down upon the Poconos was the kind that falls on San Francisco every other day. Pocono Raceway is located, officially, in Long Pond, which, practically, is little more than a long pond, a race track and a richly appointed volunteer fire department. Fans streaming into the race track feed that fire department like a mountain stream.

It's a good name for the place where the fog fell. It makes for a good made-for-TV movie on the CHILL channel. "The Fog of Long Pond." "Pocono in the Gloaming." Hallmark might produce "The Magic Wand of Long Pond." What was that episode of Perry Mason? "The Case of the Timely Buescher"?

Chris Buescher, last year's Xfinity champion, is 23. Fairy tales can come true / It can happen to you / If you're young at heart ...

I wish for him the best. I hope he took Mother Nature out to dinner. He doesn't want that old gal mad at him.

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