There’s one thing I have zero tolerance for in the world of motorsports, and that’s when incompetence puts the safety of drivers at risk. NASCAR, your safety team needs a lot of work.
On Lap 142 of the Ford EcoBoost 400, Danica Patrick got loose in Turn 1, the result of a flat right-rear tire, and hit the wall, and was rear-ended by Kasey Kahne.
As she drove her car back to pit road, the caved-in right-front tire caught fire down the backstretch. She then decided to drive it to the garage, but the fire spread when she reached the entrance to the pits. She parked it and quickly exited the car.
From the moment the caution came out, her wheel was on fire for over a minute.
So a few questions come to mind:
Why did nobody from NASCAR tell her to stop the moment the wheel caught fire?
And don’t tell me they couldn’t. NASCAR has spotters manning the entire perimeter of the speedway, not to mention cameras trained on every inch of the track. They had to know this was happening. And if they don’t, that’s another major problem.
Why was a safety truck not tailing Patrick back, considering her car was on fire?
Again, someone from NASCAR should’ve sent a safety truck straight to her, one, to make sure her damaged car gets back to pit road, and two, to assist her extraction from the burning car. One belt strap doesn’t come undone, running the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500 next season suddenly becomes the least of Patrick’s concerns.
And this isn’t the first time the safety team has come under fire.
Earlier this season, Kevin Harvick blasted them for their pitiful response time to his wreck at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“The worst part was the medical response. It took them forever to get to the car,” Harvick said. “I thought we made that better, but obviously we haven’t.”
But as Denny Hamlin revealed on Playoff media day back in September, it only got worse as the season progressed.
He told the story of how Aric Almirola’s ambulance that took him from his wrecked car at Kansas Speedway in May to the infield care center got lost.
“His ambulance got lost inside the race track and I mean, he had a serious injury,” Hamlin said. “So that was an issue, for sure. I know they’re trying to do the best they can. They’re not doing it every week, they’re just doing it when we come to town.
“People argue it should be the same team everywhere, others think that the ambulance crew should be familiar with just that racetrack.
“I don’t know what the correct answer is, but we for sure can get better because we’re not good right now.”
NASCAR, this farce you call a safety team has gone on long enough. This should’ve changed after Almirola’s mishap, and it needs to change now. And by change, I mean get an actual safety team, like IndyCar uses.
Sooner or later, this will get a driver seriously hurt, or killed.
Four years ago, Martin Truex Jr. sat on his front porch thinking his career was over. Four years later, he held off a hard charging Kyle Busch to win the Ford EcoBoost 400 and the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship.
When the final caution flew with 39 laps to go, everyone hit pit road for tires and fuel. Truex exited with the race lead.
It went back to green with 34 to go.
Busch was held up a few laps by Joey Logano, which, in his words, is what cost him in the end.
Once he passed Logano for third with 25 to go, he essentially hit the nitro button, because it took him only seven laps to run down and pass Kevin Harvick for second.
Five laps later, he caught up to Truex.
The gap between him and Truex went back and forth from 13 to go, until eight to go, when it remained around three-tenths of a second to the checkered flag.
“I don’t even know what to say,” a teary-eyed Truex said after getting out of his car. “We just never gave up all day long. We didn’t have the best car. I don’t know how we won that thing. Never give up, dig deep. I told my guys, ‘We’re gonna dig deeper than we ever have today.’ With 20 to go, I thought I was done. They were all better than me on the long run all day long. I just found a way. I found a lane that I could use and I found a lane that blocking enough of the air that they couldn’t use it. I just made it happen.”
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – NOVEMBER 19: Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #78 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Toyota, celebrates with teammates after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 19, 2017 in Homestead, Florida. Photo: Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images
As Truex drove his car down the front stretch of Homestead-Miami Speedway, fans and pit crews lined along the outside pit wall to congratulate the journeyman his share of frustration, heartache and tragedy. Even Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race Director David Hoots told Truex, “Congrats, you finally did it.”
When he got out, he was swarmed by his overjoyed crew and he joined in the sea of emotion.
“It’s overwhelming. You think about all the rough days, the bad days, the days that we couldn’t run 20th to be here. I never thought this day would come and to be here is unbelievable!
“I can’t believe it. I’ve wanted it since I was a little kid. Just never give up. Just never give up on your dreams, no matter what happens, or what kind of crap you go through. Thank you Barney (Visser). I wish you were here buddy.”
Busch finished second and Kyle Larson rounded out the podium.
“Yeah, that’s what happens when you lose in this format. But we gave it everything we had. We gave it our all. So congratulations to the 78 (Truex). They deserved it probably on every other race, but today, I thought we were better. Don’t matter though. They were out front when it mattered most. Just unfortunate for us that that caution came out and ruined our race strategy and we weren’t able to get back to where we needed to be and then I had to fight way too hard with some of those guys trying to get back up through there. But that’s racing.”
“Yeah, we had a great Credit One Bank Chevy today,” Larson said. “Throughout the first half especially. It seemed like the 18 and them guys were probably a little bit faster than me the first, I don’t know 15 laps a run and then I was really, really good. I was definitely better than them in front of me, but I was just stuck in their dirty air a little bit. I was going to race them, I just could never get close enough. I wanted to win the race bad, but a good way to end the year. It showed we had a lot of speed all year long and congrats to the No. 78 (Martin Truex, Jr.) team they were the class of the field all year. It is pretty neat to see the top three there they were the three best cars all season. I wish I could have been a part of the final four, but had a little bit of bad luck here lately. It’s nice to see a checkered flag, it’s been about a month since I’ve seen one. That was good and yeah, we will try and make our stuff even better than next year just fine tune on little things and try and come back even stronger. Hats off to everybody on my Chip Ganassi Racing team. They busted their tails throughout the off season and that prepared us to be good this year. Thanks to them and thanks to all of our other partners, Target, wish they were still with us, but we will miss them. Looking forward to our future with all of our other partners. Good year all-in-all.”
Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott rounded out the top-five.
“We just got really loose and then got a hole in the nose and it started to get tight in. We got that fixed,” Harvick said. “We were pretty good on the next-to-last run and we were just really loose on the last run. I want to thank everybody on my Jimmy John’s, Busch Ford for everything they’ve done. It was great to have a chance. We were in the mix all day. Didn’t quite have what we needed at the end. I want to thank Mobil 1, Hunt Brothers Pizza, Morton Building, Textron, everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing. Thank you guys for everything you did all year. We’ll be back.”
Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and Ryan Newman rounded out the top-10.
RACE SUMMARY
Hamlin led the field to the green flag at 3:15 p.m., but didn’t lead a single lap as Truex quickly took the lead in Turn 1. He led the first 13 laps, before Larson passed him in Turn 1 to take it. Aside from one lap by Keselowski during the first stage break and Busch during a cycle of green flag stops on Lap 122, Larson lead from Lap 13 to Lap 160, sweeping the stages in the process.
Truex exited pit road during the second stage break with the race lead and led the field back to green on Lap 166. Busch swung around him through Turns 1 and 2 to take the lead on Lap 179.
Keselowski hit pit road with 69 laps to go. Truex and Harvick pitted a few laps later.
Rather than follow suit, Busch elected to stay out until 55 to 50 to go to get within the 55-lap fuel window to one-stop the rest of the race. His plan went up in flames when Kurt Busch spun out in Turn 3 and laid debris on track, bringing out the caution with 39 to go and setting up the run to the finish.
NOTES OF INTEREST
Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 25th in his final career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start.
Jimmie Johnson’s 27th-place finish ended his 13-year streak of winning at least one race in the Playoffs.
Danica Patrick brought out the third caution of the race on Lap 142 when she got loose and slammed the Turn 1 wall, and was rear-ended by Kasey Kahne. She finished 37th.
NUTS & BOLTS
The race lasted three hours, two minutes and 11 seconds, at an average speed of 131.900 mph. There were 13 lead changes among four different drivers and five cautions for 26 laps.
Martin Truex Jr. topped the chart in final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota was the fastest with a time of 31.543 and a speed of 171.195 mph. Clint Bowyer was second in his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford with a time of 31.804 and a speed of 169.790 mph. Denny Hamlin was third in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 31.807 and a speed of 169.774 mph. Erik Jones was fourth in his No. 77 Furniture Row Toyota with a time of 31.817 and a speed of 169.721 mph. Ryan Blaney rounded out the top-five in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford with a time of 31.849 and a speed of 169.550 mph.
Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch and Daniel Suarez rounded out the top-10. Brad Keselowski was 11th and Kevin Harvick rounds out the Playoff drivers in 18th.
Kyle Busch posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average of 164.681 mph.
Denny Hamlin topped the chart in second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the fastest with a time of 31.555 and a speed of 171.130 mph. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was second in his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 31.638 and a speed of 170.681 mph. Martin Truex Jr. was third in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota with a time of 31.761 and a speed of 170.020 mph. Kurt Busch was fourth in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford with a time of 31.850 and a speed of 169.545 mph. Kasey Kahne rounded out the top-five in his No. 5 HMS Chevrolet with a time of 31.958 and a speed of 168.972 mph.
Ryan Newman, Joey Logano, Trevor Bayne, Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top-10.
Kyle Busch was 16th and Kevin Harvick rounded out the Playoff drivers in 17th.
Hamlin posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 165.574 mph.
After posting a lap that was three-tenths faster than his closest competitor while he was on track, pole position all but belonged to Martin Truex Jr. But after time expired, Denny Hamlin edged him out by five-one thousandths of a second and took the pole for the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota won the pole with a final round time of 31.038 and a speed of 173.980 mph.
“We had him there by a little bit. I messed up (Turns) 3 and 4 by a bunch, but honestly a great run. We did great adjustments there in between runs. Our FedEx Camry was obviously very fast that last run.”
It’s his 26th career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series pole.
Truex qualified second with a final round time of 31.043 and a speed of 173.952 mph.
“It was a good effort today by everyone on the Bass Pro Camry team. Just come here, (with) a lot of pressure, a lot going on. And to be able to stay focused, have a solid day was important. Definitely wished we could’ve been first, five thousandths away from that. But the first two rounds were really good and just missed it a little bit that last one. Proud of everybody. We outran the other three guys, which is good. But I don’t think it’s a big deal, because we were all pretty tight together and this is a track you can pass on. All and all, successful day, and one spot from where we wanted to be.”
Kyle Busch will start third with a final round time of 31.047 and a speed of 173.980 mph. Matt Kenseth will start fourth with a final round time of 31.272 and a speed of 172.678 mph. Brad Keselowski will round out the top-five starters with a final round time of 31.313 and a speed of 172.452 mph.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Larson, Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick and Daniel Suarez will round out the top-10 starters.
Ryan Blaney and Trevor Bayne will round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying.
Kyle Busch topped the chart in first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the fastest with a time of 31.269 and a speed of 172.695 mph. Martin Truex Jr. was second in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota with a time of 31.299 and a speed of 172.529 mph. Kevin Harvick was third in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford with a time of 31.420 mph. Kyle Larson was fourth in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet with a time of 31.539 and a speed of 171.217 mph. Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five in his No. 11 Gibbs Toyota with a time of 31.606 and a speed of 170.854 mph.
Trevor Bayne, Jimmie Johnson, Michael McDowell, Kurt Busch and Daniel Suarez rounded out the top-10.
Brad Keselowski rounded out the Playoff drivers in 21st.
During the session, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s engine malfunctioned — “something broke,” as he put it on Twitter afterwards — and he’ll start the race from the tail-end of the field.
Larson posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 165.012 mph.
Carl Edwards’s championship hopes were dashed in a violent wreck that took out a number of cars in the closing laps of the season finale in South Florida.
Restarting with 10 laps to go, the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota restarted ahead of the other Championship 4 drivers when Joey Logano dove to the bottom to try and pass him. Edwards mirrored his move with a block, but he came across the nose of Logano’s car and got hooked into the wall.
The lifeless 19 car came back across the active race track into the oncoming path of Kasey Kahne who slammed into the back of his car and lifted it up into the air. Regan Smith was also collected in the chaos.
“Joey (Logano) was so good on the short run that I knew I couldn’t give it to him. I couldn’t give him that lane,” Edwards said talking about the restart. “I went down there and blocked and he went down there as far as a guy could expect to go down and I just thought – I thought we were going to possibly hit. I just thought I’d have a little more time to correct it, but we were so far down there we couldn’t go any farther down and basically we ended up wrecked, so that’s the way things go sometimes.”
Logano’s car continued on, but got loosened by Edwards’s car coming back towards the track. This sent him across the nose of his teammate Brad Keselowski, who gets hooked into the wall by Ryan Newman.
“It’s a product of a format that’s based on putting everything and risking everything,” Keselowski said of his thoughts on the incident. “I don’t know. It’s not really all that surprising. It’s disappointing. I don’t think that’s great racing, but I understand why it happened on both ends.”
Martin Truex Jr. slams into Keselowski, which sets the engine of his car on fire.
“All I see is the 2 (Brad Keselowski) coming up the track and nowhere to go,” Truex said of what happened from his vantage point. “This is one of those wrong place, wrong time. We got put in the back a few times. Once was our mistake early and (Kevin) Harvick’s after that. It’s unfortunate. We had a really good race car tonight and nothing to show for it. It’s two weeks in a row. Frustrating, glad this year is over and we will go and regroup and get ready for next year.”
Ty Dillon also sustained damage in that melee.
He, Edwards, Kahne, Keselowski, Smith and Truex all retired from the race as a result.
Jimmie Johnson etched his name into the history books of NASCAR with a race victory and title victory in South Florida.
The driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet took the lead from Kyle Larson on the final restart of the race in overtime to win the Ford EcoBoost 400 and his record-tying seventh Sprint Cup Series championship.
“Oh my gosh, there is no, no way on earth. Just beyond words,” Johnson said. “Just didn’t think the race was unfolding for us like we needed to do to be the champs, but we just kept our heads in the game. Chad called a great strategy, made some great adjustments for the short runs. Luck came our way and we were able to win the race and win the championship. I wouldn’t be here without so many people believing in me and giving me this chance; from my dirt days – my parents first and foremost, my brothers, my wife and family today. Car owners, sponsors, Chevrolet, Lowe’s, so many amazing people along the way that believed in me to give me this chance. Jeff Gordon, Rick Hendrick, all the men and women at Hendrick Motorsports for working so hard to get these cars fast and giving me an awesome 15 years with the company. Just thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. So thrilled to be in this moment and so grateful for the opportunity and so thankful and blessed. I am at a loss for words.”
It’s his 80th win in 543 career Sprint Cup Series starts, fifth of 2016 and first at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
He joins Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt in a tie for first in most championships in NASCAR history. He and Chad Knaus also join Petty and Dale Inman as the only driver/crew chief duo’s to win seven championships.
Larson, who led a race-high of 132 laps, finished runner-up. It’s his 15th top-10 finish on the season.
The run to the finish was setup by a caution with 15 laps to go related to Dylan Lupton.
On the restart with 10 to go, Joey Logano tried to go inside of Carl Edwards, Edwards went down to block him, but got himself hooked into the inside wall. This led to a multi-car wreck that took out a number of cars, notably Martin Truex Jr., whose car went up in flames.
Logano brought his car home fourth.
“It was eventful to say the least,” Logano said of his race. “I hate being that close to a championship and not getting it. The team did a great job all day. We had a good race car and we put ourselves in position to win. No one made any mistakes or anything like that on our pit crew. That last restart, I was hoping to get Jimmie there and trying to get either to the inside or outside of him. I just timed it a little bit wrong to get underneath him. I just didn’t have enough time to get under him. We lost some time there and unfortunately we finish second. The championship means so much and everyone forgets about second place. That is what stinks. But overall I am proud of this team. This will be motivation for next year. This hurts.”
It required the race to be red-flagged for 31 minutes and nine seconds.
On the following restart with five to go, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got loose exiting turn 2, slid down the track and slammed into the inside wall.
“I was just trying to get all I could get there,” Stenhouse said. “It looked like the 3 got underneath the 20 and I tried to get underneath the 3 and when I did he was really close to my door and it just kind of sucked me around and we got loose. It’s a bummer way to end. We were just kind of average all night. It’s a tough way to end the season, but we’ll build it and get back ready for next year.”
Kyle Busch made the decision to pit under the caution and wound up finishing sixth, clinching the 2016 manufacturer’s championship for Toyota and snapping a 13-year win streak by Chevrolet.
Edwards finished 34th retired from the race in that accident with 10 to go.
Notables include a third-place finish by Kevin Harvick, who led 79 laps, and Michael McDowell finishing 10th.
“We had a great car,” McDowell said. “We made up a lot of spots in the beginning and we just sort of maintained that all day. We were running right there 16th – 20th most of the day and the strategy worked out, everything played out. Got back on the lead lap which obviously was a game changer. There at the end we got a couple of good restarts and we had a good car. We were able to close off a good season.”
Sixteen cars finished the race on the lead lap and 32 cars were running at the finish.
The race lasted three hours, seven minutes and 10 seconds at an average speed of 128.869 mph. There were 20 lead changes among six different drivers and seven cautions for 33 laps.
Brian France responded to concerns regarding continual declines in ratings and attendance saying they “could always be better,” but NASCAR is “pleased with where we’re at.”
Speaking to the media in the deadline room at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the chairman and CEO of NASCAR was asked, given the decline in ratings for most of the Chase races and few races being sellouts, if he believed this Chase format was resonating with fans.
“Yeah, you’re seeing TV ratings slide all over the place in sports, right? You’re seeing all kinds of things happen in TV ratings,” France said. “The big events, they go one way, the digital audience is consuming things different. We’re no different from that. It’s not a surprise on that.
“Attendance has been fine. We’ve come off weather issues like we did in Phoenix a year ago. We don’t have Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt. Needless to say, there’s going to be a little impact there.
“(Indiscernible) huge crowd. It could always be better, but we’re pleased with where we’re at.”
NASCAR television ratings have declined dramatically from their peak in 2005. This season alone, ratings are down six percent from last season (Forbes).
According to Sports Media Watch, 21 of 30 (six races affected by rain weren’t included) races have hit multi-year lows. That includes seven of the nine Chase races run so far (the rain affected races at Charlotte and Texas weren’t included).
Attendance also appears shaky, but it’s hard to measure since NASCAR stopped releasing official attendance figures for races since the conclusion of the 2012 season.
The declines in viewership, be it attendance or television, isn’t exclusively a NASCAR problem. It’s plagued all professional sports in the United States. The NFL most notably, which for the longest time has withstood any damage of the 2008 economic recession, has seen significant declines in television viewership this season.
But it’s one that’s hit NASCAR the hardest of any sport.
Ratings and attendance is important to teams when looking for sponsorship. When Bob Pockrass asked about this, however, France seemed rather annoyed by it and actually interrupted his question.
“Let me stop you,” he said. “Maybe what you don’t realize, or maybe you to realize, we report our attendance, right? We have publicly traded companies. We don’t have publicly financed facilities for the most part. All the other leagues have that benefit, so they can discount tickets, give them away. That’s not reported. So we’re in a little bit of a double standard on that, number one.
“Number two, we are still very pleased with our position in sports. The audience isn’t going away at all. It’s sliding to different places, consuming in different ways.
“I would tell you some other leagues that have 30% drop‑offs, they didn’t lose 30% of their audience from one moment to the next, that audience is just sliding and consuming in some different ways. Our digital consumption is off the charts.
“I want to tell you a little something. I watched the other day, as an example, I’m a sportsfan, so I watched a Duke Blue Devils game, after they had played, in like a six‑ or seven‑minute recap of the game. It was pretty good. Maybe it was a little longer than that. I didn’t watch the game on TV, but I watched it fairly intense with my laptop.
“So things are happening and sliding and moving around. It will all work out. Sports, in the end, us included, will always have a huge, big audience. So whether ratings are sliding over here, spiking at times over here, that will all work out.”
“The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading…” and I’m here to say that the Chase has run it’s course and it’s time NASCAR do away with it.
Now right off the bat, I know this might be a tad hypocritical of me to say given I once wrote an article admonishing fans for still hating the Chase. I’ve abandonded that point of view and now don’t look upon the Chase as favorably.
There is probably nothing more polarizing in the world of NASCAR today than the Chase. Since it’s inception in the 2004 Nextel Cup season, it’s been a source of constant angst that’s divided the fanbase of the sport for a number of reasons.
The original Chase was less of a “playoff” like in stick and ball sports and more of a 10-race “miniseason.” In it’s first season, Kurt Busch recovered from literally losing a wheel to win the championship by a margin of eight points over Jimmie Johnson, then a record for the closest points finish in NASCAR history.
As time went on, more and more changes made it more and more artificial and conveluted.
In 2014, NASCAR implemented the elimination format style of the Chase. This was more like a “playoff” with eliminations and rounds, rather than it being a miniseason.
This was the format that took the cake in artificiallity. It ensures that no matter what happens, four drivers will always vie for the title at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
They went a step further this year and added the same format to the XFINITY Series and Camping World Truck Series.
For me, it came to a head today.
On the final restart of the Ford EcoBoost 300, Cole Whitt, who opted not to pit and assumed the lead on 30-lap old tires, spun his tires and cost Erik Jones and Justin Allgaier a chance at winning the XFINITY Championship.
While it was a dumb move on his part, it was the reaction that I don’t agree with and what led to this column.
There was a lot of people chastizing him for determining the outcome of the championship the way it occured.
My take on that is this: Whitt has every right to be there. This is racing! Just because Jones was competing for the title didn’t mean Whitt was obligated to move out of the way for him.
Just because he had no chance of winning the race – by the way, would you tell me if my Tennessee Volunteers will play in the Sugar Bowl this season while you’re looking in your crystal ball – doesn’t mean he doesn’t get to be there. We harp on other drivers when they decide to lay back and not go for the win, yet criticize Whitt for doing exactly that.
MAKE UP YOUR MINDS!!!
But it was this one tweet in particular from Jeff Gluck of USA Today that led to this column.
I know he has a right to be there, but that’s maybe a situation where NASCAR should step in and say no, you’re not restarting in that spot.
The part that caught my eye, and led to this column, was suggesting that maybe NASCAR should’ve stepped in and told Cole Whitt he couldn’t restart up front so he wouldn’t interfere with the championship fight. (I’ll come back to this in a moment)
Now to be fair, he did issue a retraction of that statement in a later tweet.
I’m getting crushed for suggesting NASCAR tell Whitt not to restart up front. And you’re all right. For real. I was wrong to suggest that.
So Jeff, if you’re reading this, I’m not directing my ire at you. I just used your earlier tweet for reference.
I hate to play the hypothetical game, but let’s say hypothetically NASCAR did step in and tell Whitt, who, even on worn out tires, was leading the race, to take a hike and let championship contender Sadler, Jones or Allgaier in first. If that happened, well, let’s just say I hope Mike Bagley, Pete Pistone, Jim Noble, Chocolate Myers, Dave Moody and anyone else at SiriusXM NASCAR Radio would still has vacation days to burn, because they would not want to be present when those people call in on Monday.
Fans would be irate, and rightly so, at NASCAR explicitly manipulating the outcome of a race. It would instantly validate every last claim of manipulating the outcome of races that has ever been levied against the people that run NASCAR.
So what does this have to do with my original thesis? It’s my proof that the Chase has done more harm to the sport than its done good and it’s time we put it in the vault labelled “Good on paper, but poorly executed idea” along with the Car of Tomorrow.
My plane is about to take off so I must get going.
