The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has endured its share of critical reviews lately. The 2009 season seems to have brought more negative comments from fans then I have ever heard. Some were justified and some not. I agreed with some and some not. But I thought the 500-mile race from Fort Worth Texas this past Sunday was very good.

The show was exciting and captured my attention from start to finish. And I cannot honestly express that feeling about every race I see. I thought this one was a dandy.

The whole atmosphere was ratcheted up quickly when the seemingly can-do-nothing-wrong Jimmie Johnson crashed on lap three. The man and team that appears to lead a charmed racing life proved their mortality by getting caught up in a crash that was not of their making. A phenomenon that seems to happen to every other team but theirs. Suddenly the fourth straight title that many were willing to hand over to the forty-eight crew was actually going to be raced for, a little while longer.

Now championship contender Jeff Gordon is leading from his pole position and looking to close the gap and his opportunity is now. Mark Martin, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Kurt Busch are also doing arithmetic over what still yet may be. And so are all the fans.

Gordon drops back with a car that is not driving right and the Busch brothers take up the battle for the lead. Kyle is trying to become the first driver to sweep the Truck, Nationwide, and Cup events over the same weekend. He already has seen victory lane twice and the feat is within his grasp. And his main obstacle between winning and losing is his brother Kurt.

Montoya finds the wall and Carl Edwards left rear corner as Juan’s championship gap closing opportunity that everyone had been waiting for is lost. And so are a couple of chassis.

The final rounds of pit stops take place just at the edge of everyone’s fuel window to the checkered flag. Now the strategies can start to play out. Conserve fuel and try to make it home? Go hard and short pit with a two or four-tire change? Tension mounts as the laps wind down.

Kyle Busch develops a vibration in his final run as his crew confirms all his lug nuts are tight. Some teams stop and change tires. Others roll the dice and come a little short as so many stopped for fuel in the last five laps.

Kyle’s wheels stay on but his fuel pressure doesn’t stay up and runs dry with less than three laps remaining. His trifecta comes oh-so-close. But close doesn’t count. Older brother Kurt stretches his fuel mileage and wins with a departing crew chief that is only allowed in the race shop one day a week. His victory lap in reverse brings some creativity to the individual winning celebrations.

Positions change in the final laps and top five finishers were drivers that got very little television coverage all race long. A lucky fan received a $1 million prize through the event sponsor for picking the correct winning driver. And the championship runaway turned into a compelling title fight with Mark Martin’s fourth place finish.

There were enough story lines to keep me interested and excited about what could possibly happen next. I will admit some races this year have been less than stellar in my opinion. But if I am going to call out a shortcoming then I need to give credit where credit is due. I thought Texas was a great race that was unpredictable, competitive, and had me on the edge of my seat. I saw a race… and I liked it.

Maybe fans will start calling NASCAR describing how things are perfect and nothing should be changed? 

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