What an exciting end to today’s Nextel NASCAR race. Wow! Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson racing side by side for a number of laps until in the end, Jimmie Johnson won. Now I must admit I’m not a Jimmie Johnson fan. As a matter of fact, I’m not even a Jeff Gordon fan so I don’t really care about the fact that now Johnson is ahead of Gordon in the points race for the championship with just two races left. I’m actually a Matt Kenseth fan so I was really pulling for Matt to win the race. He is in the Chase for the Championship, but he’s back in about 11th place in points. That means mathematically, he’s out of the running. Even though he can’t win the championship, it would have been nice to see him win the race. But instead, he came home second, for the second week in a row.

Here’s the fascinating part of the race though. As Matt was out in front with about 10 laps to go, Jimmie Johnson suddenly turned it on and there they were racing side by side. Jimmie fell back, but then he turned it on once again. Suddenly in the midst of the race Matt Kenseth keys his radio and asks his crew chief something to the effect of — “Should I fall back and come in second?”

Rusty Wallace, who’s about the only good announcer ABC has these days covering the races, said “that’s odd. Why would a racer ask if he should fall back into second place instead of running for the win.”

The post race interview with Matt said it all.

When asked what it was like to go side by side Matt said it was fun, but he was most concerned about “not” wrecking Jimmie Johnson. “After all,” continued Matt, “he is running for the championship.”

That comment alone speaks loudly about Matt Kenseth, his integrity, and his looking out for the other guy, even when a win is on the line. He knows he’s out of the chase for the championship, and while a win would have been nice, he wasn’t about to race recklessly, and end up wrecking both himself, and Jimmie Johnson, who is not only racing for a win, but also racing for the championship. Many other drivers would have wrecked Johnson for the win, but not Matt Kenseth. That’s why Matt is my favorite driver. It’s not all about him, it’s about his team, and it’s about integrity, and it’s about having the respect of the other drivers around him.

When the chips are down, and when there’s a win on the line, who should we look out for? We live in a world that says “win at all costs and always look out for number one.” But I think Matt Kenseth may have exhibited a character trait of One who laid down His life so that we might all have life.

Think about that for a moment, can you think of Someone else who “stepped aside” so that we could in turn win the race of life?

A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus