I realize it’s just a garden variety team release, but when I saw the following headline pop up in my RSS reader, I couldn’t resist. For Vickers, the tracks may differ but momentum same.

It doesn’t matter to Vickers that the style of racing at Talladega differs greatly from every other Cup track except Daytona. He’s banking on taking the momentum generated in Alabama with him into Saturday night’s Crown Royal 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

Maybe it’s because I prefer logic and facts to nebulous forces like momentum or mojo or hunger, but this article is just silly. Seriously, if it was strictly momentum that won stock car races, then wouldn’t Red Byron still have the momentum from winning the 1949 NASCAR championship? If it was a case of simply wanting to win, then I would have a shot at winning this Saturday (I really want to win). If that is true, then someone should also tell that slug in the #88 car that he should just ‘want’ his way to a win.

As the article concedes, Talladega has nothing in common with Richmond. If you run well at one type of race track, there is very little connection to running well the next week at a different track. Sure teams can run well at both, but the two are unrelated. If Kyle Busch wins this week, it’s not because he’s riding a wave of momentum, is on fire right now or really wanted to win. It’s because he’s a really good driver with a really good team. It’s not like Busch gets a head start from last week because he won.

“Yes, I think you can take momentum into anywhere — momentum is momentum,” Vickers said. “No matter what track you are going to, it is the same. We had our best run of the season last weekend in Talladega, so I think that will definitely carry over to Richmond.

According to Jayski, Vickers carries his momentum in a fanny pack. Carl Edwards uses a glass box with a cover fashioned from what looks to be an oil lid. Chip Ganassi accidentally left his momentum in the garden section at Target, which is why Reed Sorenson and Dario Franchitti can’t help but finish in the 30’s. It’s all absurd. If I came to my job, got a raise and then let momentum carry me, I’d get fired. I’m not picking on Vickers, but simply pointing out what a cliche’ the term is.

I looked up the definition of momentum. It pertained to physics, motion, business trends and several album titles, but not mentioned as a factor for success in sports. Vickers might have a better attitude heading to Richmond, but make no mistake, it’s up to his team’s ability to build a fast racecar and Vickers’s driving skill that will determine how he runs at Richmond. And for good measure, Vickers has 1 win, 3 top 5’s and 4 top 10’s and a 19.3 average finish in 8 starts at Talladega. He has one top ten and a 28.4 average finish in 7 Richmond starts.

My apologies for the Fire Joe Morgan style rant. I just get tired of reading articles like this on large websites and I think they can do better.