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Category: Flashman’s Take

Fleshman’s take on NASCAR

  • Has NASCAR Destroyed A.J.’s Career?

    Has NASCAR Destroyed A.J.’s Career?

    Maybe a career has been destroyed.  Just like the teacher I once knew who was accused of unthinkable acts, lost his job, but exonerated.  It didn’t make much difference.  From the time he was accused, he was guilty in the world of public opinion.  He survived because he wasn’t A.J Allmendinger, the driver of the No. 22 Penske Dodge.  It’s unlikely that Allmendinger will be as lucky. The teacher survived and went on to do work in another field, but all Allmendinger knows is racing and that career is in jeopardy.

    What drug did he test positive for? It’s a secret and NASCAR isn’t telling. Heroin? Marijuana? Alcohol? NASCAR’s policy says they won’t disclose the drug. Therein lays the problem.

    Most of us support the testing of drivers, crew members, and anyone else that has anything to do with NASCAR racing, but the fact that the drug is not disclosed leaves a lot for speculation.  Most of that is bad.  Major League Baseball tells us the drug that the player tested positive for and gives us a reason why the player is suspended. Not NASCAR.  Many people want to know How to Beat a Drug Test – Health Street, you can learn what works and what is pure myth.

    It takes me back to long ago when Tim Richmond was banned from the sport. The unofficial line was that Richmond has huge amounts of Tylenol in his system. In fact, Richmond was suffering from AIDS. Yes, it was early when AIDS was not understood, but the secrecy was more than I could stand. What was the problem?

    Late Monday, Allmendinger and Penske Racing requested testing of the “B” test (each driver gives the testing facility, Aegis, two samples), which could exonerate Allmendinger, but what damage has been done to this driver’s career.  If it had been revealed what driver he was tested positive for, it might give sponsors, fans, and the sport a better idea of what is going on here.  Only a court order in the Jeremy Mayfield case let us know about the details of the case.  It’s likely that this is something that the promising driver will live with for the rest of his career.

    It’s time for NASCAR to reveal the reason for suspensions and what the drug is that the drivers are suspended or temporarily suspended for.  It happens when cars are found not to be in line with the rules. It happens when driver steps over the line in their dealings with the press or the rules. Why not on drug testing? Do drivers have to spend huge money with attorneys to reveal their infractions when it comes to a drug test?

    Luckily it’s only happened twice.  The first was Jeremy Mayfield and the events afterward were pretty evident, but it should be revealed immediately so that a career is ruined in the meantime.

  • Why Did Matt Kenseth Leave?

    Why Did Matt Kenseth Leave?

    [media-credit id=26 align=”alignright” width=”228″][/media-credit]As my father used to say, “I’d have liked to have been a little birdie”. We will probably never know what was discussed in that verbal intercourse between Jack Roush and his points-leading driver, Matt Kenseth.  But whatever it was saw one of the best drivers in the sport head for Joe Gibbs Racing (or so they say).

    It’s an interesting phenomenon. Last year it was Roush driver Carl Edwards that the Gibbs organization coveted. Carl didn’t take the bait and stayed. This year it was Matt Kenseth and Matt moved on. I guess it’s flattering to the Roush organization that other teams are coming after their drivers, but losing a driver the caliber of Matt Kenseth is quite a blow. I have no inside information, but I think three factors led to Kenseth’s defection.

    First was the sponsorship situation. It is unbelievable to me that a former champion who is always in the front of the field has no sponsorship while lesser teams with lesser drivers get enough money to run the entire season. Matt is low-key and less exciting for sponsors maybe, but it seems to be a problem with Roush-Fenway more often than not.  Rising star Trevor Bayne had to discontinue his Nationwide Series quest because sponsorship could not be found. If the truth were known, Roush has financed Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.’s Nationwide effort often. The fourth team, the famous No. 6, is without sponsorship. The future seemed to be iffy for Kenseth. If Gibbs is the place he lands, Home Depot is really a solid sponsor and Gibbs seems to find sponsors easily.

    Secondly, Kenseth might have been looking for new scenery. As successful as he has been with RFR, the same old grind gets old. Staying with the same team for a decade makes one look at the grass on the other side. It may be greener. How often does a driver get the opportunity to go to a team with solid sponsorship that is competitive as the one you are leaving? Opportunity knocks but once, an old philosopher once said. Maybe Matt saw this as his last chance.

    Finally, maybe it was the money. If the rumors swirling around last year are any indication, Gibbs offered a very lucrative package to Edwards to lure him away from Roush. Ford and RFR offered more and Edwards stayed. Maybe with the sponsorship problems (lack of resources) made it impossible to make a decent counter offer to Kenseth. Despite all the talk about it not being the money, it always plays a part in every equation. If that money also offers security, it would be hard to turn down.

    In comments today from Stenhouse, it appears this has been a done deal for awhile. “I got the call actually before Road America, but they wouldn’t let me tell anybody,” Stenhouse said. “I got the call last Thursday.” Stenhouse initially thought it was for the fourth car in the stable, but learned earlier this week it was for the car Kenseth is vacating.

    So, Silly Season starts in earnest. With the first domino falling, surely others will follow. If the No. 20 is Kenseth’s destination, will Gibbs field a fourth car for Logano? That has been mentioned. Will Richard Childress shake up his organization? Will Penske stay with A.J. Allmendinger or will he look at another driver for his flagship No. 22 Ford next year? Will Richard Petty Motors stay with Ford or head back to Dodge? Will Dodge field any cars next year? Lots of questions, but with Silly Season happening earlier and earlier these days, most of those answers might come quicker than you think.

  • Congrats to Boywer, But There Were Better Races

    Congrats to Boywer, But There Were Better Races

    [media-credit name=”SpeedwayMedia.com” align=”alignright” width=”236″][/media-credit]I almost hate to write what I am about to put on this site. It’s blasphemy in many ways, but I don’t think I am the only one who feels this way. Saturday was a great racing day. We saw what I consider great racing. After the Nationwide Series race at Road America where the story lines were so great and the racing was so great, I moved over to NBC when it finally quit raining, to watch a real IndyCar race. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t watch that series much, but there was nothing else to do, so I watched. I learned a lot.

    Like the Nationwide Series race, the race at Kansas was good. There was lots of action and though they didn’t have fenders.  These drivers wanted to win and when that happens, you get some dust-ups. In that series that’s a dangerous proposition, but it didn’t seem to matter. Points be damned, they were going for the win or the good finish. Then Sunday came and we saw a completely different philosophy.

    I’ll just say that the Chase has always been one of those ideas that I not only don’t agree with it, but one that goes against everything I believe about racing.  It’s a system that tries to emulate stick and ball sports and that is foreign to me. That said, so much was said about certain drivers “who just wanted to finish in the Top-15 or Top-20” in this race.  It was if they were trying to avoid the bad finish.  The only problem was that these were the stars—point leader Matt Kenseth and others.  How fun is that? No such talk at Road America and Kansas.

    The Road America Nationwide race was wide open on the four-mile course and the racing was good. The race at Kansas was “Little Bristol,” with drivers going for it.  As strange as it may seem, the open wheel circuit might have another fan. Forgive me.

    What we saw was three drivers who weren’t at the top of the standings going for it at Sonoma. Clint Bowyer was on point all day, Kurt Busch was driving for pride, and Martin Truex, Jr. just wanted to win a race. In the meantime, Jimmie Johnson, Kenseth, Biffle, and others just wanted to get out of there with little damage. The almighty points got in the way.

    Bravo, Clint Bowyer!  No one deserves success as much as he does.  He’s a great driver and goes for it in every race.  I love it.  So much pressure is on these drivers to make the Chase that those in contention are so timid in the races leading up to the final ten that we don’t see the kind of action we should see.

    The mantra seems to be, “Let’s get through this and hopefully we’ll still hold our points position.”  For a guy like Kenseth, who doesn’t have sponsorship for the full season (how in the name of all that’s holy can some backmarkers get full sponsorship and a former champ has to struggle to make every race financially?) it’s called survival.  No wonder he’s supposedly looking at Joe Gibbs Racing and Penske for a ride next season. You have to do what you have to do.

    It doesn’t mean I have to like it, though. In today’s Cup race, I saw so much give and take that it made me sick. I’ll be the first to admit that I hate road racing. These cars are not suited for a road course and for some reason we continue to run there.

    Regardless it’s going to always be a part of the schedule. It just seems that all the racing is controlled by the almighty points system and the sponsor’s pressure to make the Chase.  It’s a flawed system, but what we have.  Maybe someone will wake up in the future.

  • Just a Simple Question

    Just a Simple Question

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”252″][/media-credit]Just call me a little inquisitive. For years, NASCAR has talked about the 200 mph standard. We’ve heard for years that the “insurance” NASCAR carries would not tolerate anything over the 200 mph limit, and yet speeds reached nearly 220 mph at Michigan this week and lap times at well over 200 mph. What gives?

    I mentioned this before without much comment, but the new pavement at Michigan International Speedway has given us speeds we haven’t seen since 1985. Those of us who have been around for awhile remember the runs by Buddy Baker and Bill Elliott that gave us those speeds at Daytona and Talladega in those days and how NASCAR couldn’t tolerate that much speed because of “insurance.” Well, these days it is a completely different story.

    In the words of NASCAR official Robin Pemberton, this was not a concern because the speeds would diminish in time. Oh, really? No restrictor plate was needed according to Pemberton because it would get slower and slower as time went on. What happened to the 200 mph limit? Did the insurance companies just waive that or we’re they lying to us?

    Way back in the 1980’s, when bobby Allison took out the front stretch catch fence at Talladega, all the talk was about insurance. The insurance people would not allow these races to go beyond that magic number, and now we’re hearing that no one is concerned about it. That’s interesting considering that Michigan, like Daytona and Talladega, are owned by International Speedway Corporation. What makes the difference? Is it the high banks of the other two tracks or is that Michigan is a relatively flat track? Not much information is coming from the folks in Daytona Beach, but it is a question that needs to be asked.

    I’d like to hear some explanation. Either it is insurance or something else, but we need to know. I have no problem either way, but it just makes sense that if insurance companies, something I deal with in my everyday life, had a problem with these speeds at the two high-banked tracks, would have a problem at Michigan. Let’s just say that it doesn’t make sense. I love high speeds, but several drivers have expressed a concern. Time for someone to fess up.

  • The Sad Story of Kurt Busch

    [media-credit id=62 align=”alignright” width=”247″][/media-credit]This whole Kurt Busch controversy really disturbs me. I’ve had times in my life and my career when I got in trouble. Everyone has. When it happened, I made super sure that I kept my nose clean until the storm passed by. It’s on human nature. Unfortunately, many people don’t follow this example. One of them is Kurt Busch.

    I will tell you that Kurt Busch isn’t the only driver who can be short with reporters. As many of you know, I’ve spent the last 16 years toiling as a reporter and editor for a web-based organization and I have had my moments. None of them were ever on television, however and I never gave it a second thought. Almost from day one, the MO was get the information quickly and on-line. I won’t mention the names of those that pretty much ignored or acted arrogant with me, because it doesn’t matter, but they are few.

    I’ve found most of the drivers and crews more than willing to spend some time with me in conversation. Likewise, I’ve found most people who report on NASCAR to be gentlemen and ladies, and that includes Dr. Jerry Punch, Jenna Fryer, and Bob Pockrass, the objects of Kurt Busch’s outbursts. I once approached Ms. Fryer at a restaurant in Bristol just to introduce myself and was treated with respect and a smile. It was the same with the good doctor and Mr. Pockrrass. The late, great David Poole , Monte Dutton, and Thomas Pope have been more than helpful. The press is not your enemy. Unfortunately, Kurt Busch hasn’t realized that.

    I have always followed Kurt Busch. When he came on the scene with Roush Racing, in those days, I really believed he was the next great thing. After winning his championship, I was certain of it. Then it went away. The wins dwindled, the abuse to crews and other competitors started, and then it was the reporters. His fall at Roush was just the beginning. Having been around Roush’s organization, it took a lot for Jack to dismiss Busch, even after he had already bolted for Penske. Then it just got worse. What a shame that so much talent may be wasted. James Finch’s comments today seem to indicate that he may be out of a ride, a ride that was pretty much a last resort for him. When you lose a primo ride in this series because of your behavior, you might want to change. Professionals and those experiences didn’t seem to change his attitude one bit. It’s a shame that all that talent might be wasted.

    On the other hand, his brother, Kyle Busch, seems to have learned his lesson. Most do. But in this case, you have to wonder what is wrong with Kurt Busch. I hate it. The guy is so talented, however it’s not the first time that someone with that much talent blew it.

    I will admit that he’s been nothing but a gentleman around me, and a guy that I really like. One time at Rockingham, a long time ago, he spent the best part of a half hour talking and joking with me. Maybe I didn’t ask any stupid questions. In this day of smartphones that can record video and the information system that even watches when you pick your nose the right way, you have to be aware of your surroundings. Some do and some don’t, and those that don’t end up unemployed. I’m afraid that one of the circuit’s most talented drivers might find himself in that line. It’s a shame, but Kurt has no one to blame but himself.

  • The Coke 600: Why Did So Many Stay Away?

    The Coke 600: Why Did So Many Stay Away?

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Tyler Barrick/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]The weather was perfect, if not hot, and the pre-race show was amazing. No one does the patriotic opening act like Charlotte Motor Speedway, so why was the attendance so bad? That’s a good question that comes in the form of multiple choice. Take any of these and you may win, but picking just one will not answer the question.

    The Economy – This has long been the excuse for people not attending the races this season, but gasoline was down to $3.29-3.49 all along the way, with the highest prices being in West Virginia. With the economy improving somewhat, it might be ticket prices which have tripped in 20 years.

    The Saturation of Information – No longer do fans have to come to the track to see what is going on. Even though many newspapers don’t send writers to many of the races anymore, we have the internet, Twitter, Facebook, a bevy of television shows, and Sirius XM Radio that keeps everyone up to date. Long gone are the days waiting for SouthernMotorRacing or Grand National Scene to come in the mail. Most fans simply get more information than they can handle. With most of the tracks being built during the boom era of the sport, a lot of seating was the norm. Today, there are just too many seats. Although the official press release said that 140,000, the printed capacity of the track, large blocks of empty seats could be seen in the third and fourth turns, as well as the backstretch. There were lots of fans there, but nowhere near 140,000.

    The Racing – Here’s where it gets sticky. Many close to the sport continue to insist that the racing is “better than it ever has been before.” They reference the 1960’s and 1970’s races where only ten cars were on the lead laps and so on, but the truth is, most races have not had the excitement factor we saw a few years ago. Why? Some of it has to do with the pressure drivers feel to make The Chase. It’s hard to be aggressive and rub fenders when one mistake puts you out of the race and not in The Chase. Sunday night, we saw a long train of competitors driving around in line. Most of the small number of cautions were mostly for debris. Many fans left early or spent time in the concourses during the race just to get a break.

    The Lack of a Driver like the Late Dale Earnhardt – Earnhardt was unique, but not so far off from the other drivers of his era who were hell-bent on winning a race. In today’s environment, if you make The Chase, you still have a chance to win the title. Witness Tony Stewart last year. Yes, he won half the Chase races, but he overcame a bunch of very consistent teams who sat back and watched the magic Smoke brought to the final ten races. In other words, keep you nose clean for 26 races, make The Chase, and do your work there.

    Of course, I didn’t mention Dale Earnhardt, Jr., which is in error. Junior is by far the most popular driver in NASCAR and yet he has a large losing streak that can be counted instead of races. More than a few of his father’s fans picked the son as their favorite driver. Let it be said that Junior is nothing like Senior on the track. Many believe that a win by the No. 88 would cure the sport, but I feel that any revival will come from one or more remedies from above.

    There are many who think there is nothing wrong these days, but dwindling ticket sales and TV ratings say otherwise. The early ratings tell us that the Indianapolis 500 drew more viewers than the Coke 600. I find that hard to believe. Has America lost their love of stock car racing?

    So take your pick and let’s see what the results are.

  • The Hall of Fame – My Take

    The Hall of Fame – My Take

    [media-credit name=”John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”348″][/media-credit]The panel of over 50 people named the 2013 class to be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Once again there are only five inductees, something I’ve railed about before. The Hall of Fame, in my opinion needs to have more people inducted each year. I also feel one of the main reasons that attendance has not been as stellar as many wanted is that there are so few inductees. That said, that is the way it is and I guess we have to live with it.

    This year’s class was surprising and yet satisfying. It included Herb Thomas, the driver who drove Hudson Hornets to a couple of championships and many wins in the Sprint Cup series in the late 40’s and 50’s. Next was Cotton Owens, the legendary driver and car owner. I remember him from my youth as the owner of the No. 6 Dodge that Buddy Baker and Pete Hamilton drove to victories in races in the 70’s. Leonard Wood joined his brother Glen as an inductee. Glen and Leonard made up the famous Wood Brothers team that still exists today. Buck Baker, whose real name was Elzie Wylie Baker, was also an inductee. Baker not only won two championships (in 1957 and 1957), but he was the father of the previously mentioned Buddy Baker (Elzie WylieBaker, Jr.). Finally, there was Rusty Wallace. The 1986 Sprint Cup Champion was the only driver from the modern era, but his statistics stand up with the legends.

    The only disappointment was that there were only five allowed. My understanding is that there was a tie between Baker and Fireball Roberts. What a shame. Both deserve to be in the Hall, but Baker’s two championships turned the tide. Why are only five chosen each year. That’s a good question. Would it have made any difference if six were chosen this year? Apparently so, and that is a shame. I also have favored Fred Lorenzen, but if championships are the main factor for admittance to the Hall of Fame, then Fearless Freddy will be on the outside looking in forever. Lorenzen, along with David Pearson, who has a championship, has a tremendous winning percentage. If we are to measure drivers by the true measure of a driver, winning races, should not Lorenzen and Turner be considered? At least not this year.

    On the positive side, three notables will be inducted into the Hall that are still with us, which I think is very important. Cotton Owens, all of 88 years old, Leonard Wood, who still works with the No. 21 team, and of course, Rusty Wallace are still with us. Gone, but not forgotten are Herb Thomas and Buck Baker.

    The panel did do one thing that has my total and enthusiastic approval. In creating media inductees to the Hall. This year, one person from television and one from radio were chosen, Ken Squier, who I grew up listening to on radio and then television was inducted. No voice was ever more aligned with NASCAR than Squier. He called so many famous defining moments of the sport including the famous “fight” between Bobby and Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough., which many say started the whole NASCAR boom.

    Barney Hall has been part of my Sundays for as long as I remember. The southern gentleman who has called races on the Motor Racing Network for as long as I can remember, is simply the smoothest voice in radio. Raceday without Mr. Hall is not raceday, and yet I wonder where is Chris Economaki? Where are Tom Higgins and David Poole?

    Regardless, the NASCAR Hall of Fame has some deserving inductees, I would hope in the future that NASCAR follows the lead of the stick and ball sports. There should be a veteran’s committee who can propose older stars, who may not be remembered by today’s fans. The media wing of the Hall should have another committee to induct those who are deserving, but more than all of that is that the Hall should make sure that the former stars of the sport (just for an example, Bobby Isaac, Fred Lorenzen, and others), who didn’t win a championship get recognized. I think they will do this, but a little nudging doesn’t hurt.

  • The All-Star Race, What a Mess

    The All-Star Race, What a Mess

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”256″][/media-credit]Why it is that NASCAR feels it has to tweak the All-Star race. Consider this.  The All-Star Game, the mid-summer classic plays nine innings and all rules apply. The NBA All-Star event follows the rules and the NFL late season All-Star game still plays four quarters and follows the rules. Yet, NASCAR, who lusts after those stick and ball sports thinks they have to mess with the format. What they did on Saturday night was really screw up the formula. They once again made it so that those smarter than you and me could manipulate the race. Sure, strategy is part of sports, but this went to the extreme.

    First they gave a real advantage to the winner of the pit crew competition held earlier in the week. The winner of that “competition” got their choice of pit stalls. Back in the day, the pit crew competition was held at North Carolina Speedway, now Rockingham Speedway, on a real race track with the driver of the car in the driver’s seat. Nowadays, it’s in some area in Uptown Charlotte with any number of people behind the wheel. No longer do drivers drive off after service. The cars are pushed to the so-called finish line with girlfriends and notables, in some case, behind the wheel. Strike One.

    Then, someone decided that a reward would be given to each driver who won four of the five segments of the race. Each would be allowed to pit first through fourth on the final segment. In past races, the field was inverted, but not this time. The rich get richer. Jimmie Johnson first and followed by Matt Kenseth and Brad Keselowski moved to the back and stroked around because they knew that in the end, they would have an advantage.

    Only Dale Earnhardt, Jr. didn’t have the luxury, winning the fourth segment. Truth is that it robbed the fans on TV and at the track of seeing the five-time champ, the current Daytona 500 champ, and a rising star, were robbed of seeing these stars race.

    Sure, it was the correct strategy, given the rules that must have been formulated by someone who didn’t understand what would happen. As it turned out, the format ruined the racing. Sure, it’s just an All-Star race, but to fans, it looked like a fix. I’m sure if they had run 90 laps, Jimmie Johnson would have won, but all the format changes just added to the misery.

    The racing was good back in the pack, but the real fast cars, somewhat like baseball’s Prince Fielder or Albert Pujols sitting out the middle innings, were sitting in the back waiting for the final ten laps or the ninth inning in baseball terms. It was just a little joke on those that raced in that last segment. The real power was at the back of the field, waiting for the end.

    Crazy! Do baseball, football, and basketball players take steroids to beef up for the All-Star game? And yet we see trick engines and apparently no rules.

    Fans love the All-Star race, but those making decisions need to look at what we are doing—racing—and let it be straight up. Saw a tweet from Steven Wallace. He said the race was perfect. No wrecks and no passing. That’s an exaggeration, but true in some ways.

    My response was that our drivers have become too good to make mistakes or that they are too good to settle because some are just too good. Either way, that’s sad.

    The “Pass In the Grass” and the close competition at the end of these races is only a memory. It’s all about finding a loophole in the rules and exploiting it, as usual. But this time, NASCAR, or whoever changed the format, made it easy. I guess I’m in the minority.

  • What It Was, Wasn’t Racing – Part Deux

    What It Was, Wasn’t Racing – Part Deux

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Restrictor plate racing is not racing. You have read it here from me for a long time, but rarely do we hear it from the competitors. Often, we hear lots of non-comments from the drivers which usually consist of utterings like, “that’s Talladega” or “this is the way it is.” That wasn’t so on this weekend. The family that is NASCAR had already seen Eric McClure go head on into a wall and get helicoptered to a hospital. And then the last third of the Aaron’s 499 became a mockery of what NASCAR racing has been and further proof that there is just something wrong here.

    It was not surprising that Mark Martin did not enter this race. He has quietly expressed his displeasure with this type of racing. There are several others, but it’s a fact of life that if you want to compete for the Sprint Cup Championship, you have to race at Daytona and Talladega. Luckily for him, Martin isn’t interested in that anymore, even though he came so close so many times, He was hosting his fan appreciation event in Arkansas, but what of those participating?

    Jeff Gordon, who retired his car early, had a gripe about the overheating that was the rule in the race. This was an attempt by NASCAR to break up the two car tandems and go back to pack racing, which fans said they preferred. He said NASCAR should look at that. We’ll see. But the most interesting comments came from Sprint Cup Champ Tony Stewart. His press conference had to be the most unusual I’ve ever witnessed. He said (paraphrasing here) that there were not enough cars wrecked during the race and that the race should be extended if half the cars had not been wrecked. Further, he said that a figure-eight change to Talladega SuperSpeedway might be in order to assure that enough wrecks happened to please the fans.

    Tony probably had his tongue firmly planted in his cheek, but the point was well taken. Ever since Bobby Allison got lifted into the fence at Talladega, restrictor plates have been the rule and I don’t see anything to change that now. Never mind that there might be solutions other than restrictor plates to the problem, this is what we have to deal with. Drivers hate these races, more Talladega than Daytona, but it matters not. This is what we have to deal with.

    Restrictor plate racing gives the fans an unnatural atmosphere. Racing has its good cars and it’s bad. In a perfect world, the good cars go to the front and the bad cars don’t. Daytona and Talladega lets everyone play. It doesn’t matter if you are good or bad, you can win. It’s a noble idea. Just ask David Ragan, a guy who doesn’t have a chance at most tracks, but was in the mix for the win Sunday. Of course he had a big time ride last year and nearly won at both Daytona and Talladega, but this year, he’s driving for the underfunded Front Row Racing team, and yet he was up front and looking good because of his skill.

    I agree with the champ. We have tried to make NASCAR like football, basketball, and baseball. It’s just cannot be done. Racing is racing and has nothing to do with sticks and balls. Despite all the changes, and by that I mean the Lucky Dog, wave around, and double file restarts, attendance continues to decline and TV rating continue to do the same. Maybe it’s time to make some real changes at Daytona and Talladega and look at what we aren’t. We aren’t football, basketball, and baseball. Recent surveys indicate that folks hate the Chase—about 75% of them. Maybe it’s time to go back to racing, No contrived rules (and that includes restrictor plates—find a real solution) and the realization that we are different from the other sports. It’s a unique perspective, I know, and one I don’t ever expect anyone to endorse, but I can dream.

  • Controversy at Richmond — Who is at Fault?

    Controversy at Richmond — Who is at Fault?

    [media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]What happened at Richmond on Saturday night was typical when circumstances get out of control. Why? It’s pretty obvious. Let’s forget for a second how the race played out. The top two drivers were Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards. After a caution, they were lined up alongside each other. Everyone assumed that Stewart was the leader including NASCAR. Trouble was NASCAR officials as well as the track python showed Edwards as the leader, according to various sources. NASCAR official Robin Pemberton said it has a lot to do with electronics. Edwards had been scuffing his tires and the pylon showed him the leader, so the scoreboard was erroneous. Interesting.

    I’ve attended hundreds of races over the last 40 years. I can tell you that once in those years have I seen a scoring python change over cars moving to warm tires during cautions. Never. It may have happened, but never on my watch. The confusion from the official who supposedly told both spotters that saying that Edwards was the leader to the so-called electronics that put Edwards as the leader has to be investigated. Would a caution or a re-start been more appropriate? Not being a rules guru, but knowing what I’ve seen, bad starts have always been stopped with a caution. Some say that since it was the second place car (with the driver not knowing it), is a different situation, but I don’t know. If an official tells you that you are in the lead, you’re going to go for it. Misinformation is a terrible thing. Why doesn’t NASCAR have a plan to let drivers know who is the leader?

    Compounding the problem was that no one, from the driver to the crew chief to apparently the track really knew what was going on. That troubles me. Given that information, shouldn’t the respective teams been given official information? Also, given the information Carl was given, shouldn’t have someone not been asleep at the switch to correct things? It’s a mess and I hope it doesn’t decide the title come November. I don’t for a minute think that Carl Edwards would have won that race, but one thing you cannot predict is events that happen later after a call NASCAR dropped the ball in this case,

    One more thing. The final caution will forever be considered a makeup for that call. I don’t believe that. And yet, the damage is done. Kyle Busch is the winner and Carl Edwards finished tenth. If we had boring races the last few weeks, this evens the score somewhat. And yet, some weaknesses in the system have been exposed and it’s up to NASCAR to correct this. Will they?