What Happens When Your Driver Doesn't Win?

Photo  by Matthew Lowell Thompson

The first race of the weekend was the Nationwide, and it was the first of three great races that weekend. Needless to say, I was pretty happy that my driver -- Carl Edwards -- won the race. Because the race is always better when your driver wins, right?

Which got me to thinking about racing and what sets it apart from other sports. If I go to a hockey game, it's usually to see my team play another team. At the end of the game, I'm either happy because my team has won or unhappy because my team has lost. And generally speaking, I have only one favorite hockey team. But's not so simple in racing, is it?

Let's use this past week's Nationwide race as an example. For me it was simple because Carl was in the hunt the whole race and he won it. But what if Carl had an issue and was knocked out early in the race? What's a fan to do? Give up on the race altogether because my driver isn't in it any more? Unlike most sports, there's more than two teams to root for. Is it OK to root for another driver? Is it OK to have more than one favorite driver?

Me personally? I seem to have more than one favorite in each racing series. So if they win, I'm happy. Then I have some not-so-favorite teams. I'm not happy when they win. (And no, I'm not naming names.) And then there are some winners that just come from out of the blue and make you smile -- like Marcos winning on Sunday.