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  • The White Zone: Shame on NASCAR and Charlotte, if they sign off on Trump’s appearance

    The White Zone: Shame on NASCAR and Charlotte, if they sign off on Trump’s appearance

    Really, NASCAR and Charlotte Motor Speedway? You’re both OK with this? You’re OK with Donald Trump, who previously attacked Bubba Wallace, publicly, to attend, Sunday?

    If so, shame on you both!

    If you missed it, the former president — and presumptive presidential nominee for the Republican Party, this year — plans to attend Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600. Where he’ll turn one of NASCAR’s crown jewels into a glorified campaign event. Just as he did in 2020 at the Daytona 500. Furthermore, that raises the possibility of interfering with Kyle Larson’s attempt at “The Double,” Sunday.

    Those together result in a stupid idea.

    But did you forget he attacked Wallace?!

    Plus, as Jeff Gluck points out.

    You’re gonna let that man have a spotlight at yet another one of your marquee events? Where, if he randomly feels like it, he can incite more vitriol towards Wallace? A good percentage of which is thinly-veiled racism!

    Most charitably, NASCAR and Charlotte acted wildly irresponsibly, if neither stops this before it happens. Less charitably, both entities turn a blind eye to the vitriol that’s sure to come at Wallace, because neither cared enough to nip this in the bud. Yeah, who cares if this inspires more racism at Wallace? The money matters more, right?!

    I hope like hell it’s not the latter!

    NASCAR’s angered me more times than I can count over my 20+ years of following it, but this tops everything! All the work the people at NASCAR did to cleanup the mess left by Brian France, when he endorsed Trump for President. Which, if you recall, happened just months after he pulled the XFINITY and Truck Series banquets from one of Trump’s hotels, for one of the many, many times spewed racist garbage about Hispanic immigrants. All the work to erase virtually any presence of Confederate flags at all NASCAR races in 2020. All the work to make NASCAR more appealing to African Americans. Who saw the sea of stars and bars that plagued the infield of most NASCAR race weekends. Particularly in the Deep South and either refused to give NASCAR a chance, or stoically dealt with the background radiation for years (when they shouldn’t had to in the first place).

    If you and Charlotte let this happen and the national embarrassment known as Trump attacks Wallace again, then all that work and goodwill collapses and disappears into a black hole. What other non-White Southerner would give NASCAR a chance, again? I know none of my leftist friends would, no matter how much I sell them on becoming NASCAR-pilled, like me.

    NASCAR, you dropped the ball on this in 2020. When you waited two days to issue a response on the FBI’s findings of the noose situation. All while racists and right-wing political hacks tarred and feathered Wallace for something that was wildly out of his control on any reasonable level Yes, Wallace didn’t help himself with his comments on CNN the day after the report. But that doesn’t excuse NASCAR’s tardiness on it.

    And let me stop those people who’ll call me a Wallace shill dead in their tracks. I said NASCAR should park Wallace for nakedly dumping Kyle Larson at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2022. Argue with the wall.

    Bottom line: NASCAR and Charlotte, stop this before it happens. This possibility shouldn’t exist in the first place, but both entities can save their bacon with the years of work to appeal to a more inclusive audience still intact.

    If not, whatever happens, Sunday, is on you.

    That’s my view, for what it’s worth.

  • The White Zone: Yeah, this race wasn’t good

    The White Zone: Yeah, this race wasn’t good

    EDITOR’S NOTE: A previous version of this story used the headline “The White Zone: Yeah, this race sucked.” After discussing it with Tucker, he understood this was too mean-spirited of a title. Furthermore, he rewrote several paragraphs for the same reason.

    ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Even IndyCar puts on lackluster races.

    I’ve worked enough NTT INDYCAR SERIES races to know what makes a good race. You won’t see bumping and banging, and multiple on-track lead changes like NASCAR. And if you understand and accept that, there’s a lot of fun to have with IndyCar. Which, in my opinion, is more strategy-heavy than NASCAR.

    But just like NASCAR, INDYCAR has doldrum days.

    All weekend, I heard beat writers and even NBC take potshots at Formula 1 for how stale and boring its product is (and rightfully so). Now by no means was Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Pete near the level of the Max Verstappen Invitational.

    But it had some elements of it.

    Josef Newgarden led 92 of 100 laps and won by a margin of roughly eight seconds. All the lead changes happened during pit stops. Three times, a driver braked wrong, overran a corner and a caution flew. In one case, Romain Grosjean clipped Linus Lundqvist in Turn 10 and put him in the tire barrier (for which, he served a pass-through penalty).

    Outside of that, Sunday’s race didn’t give me much to discuss.

    Look, there was a lot of good from this weekend. This race drew an insanely huge crowd, which crowded pit road, pre-race. I found it more difficult than normal to move my way through the sea of people. Furthermore, St. Pete is an amazingly intimate venue. Everything’s centralized to an excellent walking distance radius of the deadline room and once you figure out the basic layout, it’s insanely easy to navigate.

    Would I come here to cover a race, again? ABSOLUTELY!

    Moreover, this race was probably an outlier.

    For now, however, the kickoff to the 2024 season could’ve been better.

    That’s my view, for what it’s worth.

  • The White Zone: Lighten up about saving fuel

    The White Zone: Lighten up about saving fuel

    Kyle Busch took his seat in the deadline room, Saturday, at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Never one to mince words, gave his thoughts on the stretch of fuel-saving during the first stage of the Daytona 500.

    “I believe it’s a problem,” he said.

    After a multi-car wreck in the opening laps, while some drivers followed the typical green flag pit cycle pattern of restrictor plate racing, most of the field dropped their speed to save roughly 20+ laps of fuel. At one point, AJ Allmendinger (a lap down) ran faster laps by himself than the field ran, together.

    “I felt disgraceful, myself, being a race car driver – wanting to go fast, lead laps and win the Daytona 500, and that was our strategy that we had to employ at the start of the race because everybody was doing it,” he said.

    Now I say this with the utmost respect to Busch and the many fans who called into SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, this week, to share that sentiment.

    Y’all overblew it.

    Who would make it to the end of the stage on fuel? Could they make it to the end? That fuel-saving added a layer of strategy and intrigue to plate racing and demonstrated how skilled these drivers are. Rather than a wreck-fest embarrassment, like the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series displayed at Daytona, Phoenix and…well, really, most weekends now.

    As a sports league, NASCAR sacrificed so much strategy and sport for entertainment value since in the last 10 years (after a decade of maintaining some semblance of both). It made the already controversial playoffs into a total game of chance and instituted arbitrary cautions that slow the pace of races and incentivize overly-chaotic restarts. What’s more, NASCAR all but made fuel-mileage races extinct.

    NASCAR gave us a reprieve, last season, with no stage cautions for road courses. At Circuit of the Americas, William Byron and Tyler Reddick gave us some actual “quintessential NASCAR,” thanks to teams running varying pit strategies. In fact, the pit strategy was the only interesting thing to watch for most of the road course races.

    Don’t point the finger at the artificial cautions that are nakedly meant to spice up the race (FOX and NBC don’t even hide it). Blame the terrible aero package NASCAR ran on road courses.

    But enough of you complained, that NASCAR reversed course on it.

    Say what you will about Formula 1 (and it gets bad), there’s still strategy at hand. With when you pit and what Pirelli tires you run. Yeah, most weeks, the same driver nails it better than the rest (welcome to Formula 1), but when it hits, IT HITS!

    If you think you can’t do both strategy and entertainment, look at the NTT IndyCar Series. Tire strategy makes or breaks a driver’s day, most weeks. Scott Dixon ran a longer stint on tires to win at Gateway, last August.

    Notice how neither F1 nor IndyCar (overly) sacrificed strategy and integrity for entertainment value.

    That’s my view, for what it’s worth.

  • The White Zone: Dealing with mistakes and depression

    The White Zone: Dealing with mistakes and depression

    Last August, I sank to the lowest point in my life.

    My many mistakes as a NASCAR writer, neurodevelopment disorders and ongoing battle with depression drove me to attempt suicide.

    Come with me, as I show you what led me to that.

    The mistakes

    May 29, 2016.

    I stood on the frontstretch of Charlotte Motor Speedway several hours after Martin Truex Jr. won the Coca-Cola 600 in dominant fashion. I don’t recall the conversation that led to it, but I told some race fans there was a crossover gate that I either opened or just led them to it.

    Either way, that choice at Charlotte haunts me to this day.

    But wait, there’s more!

    Sept. 4, 2016.

    I spazzed out, because I couldn’t find a golf cart and was too lazy to walk. So I threw down my headset in the press box at Darlington Raceway.

    That choice haunts me to this day.

    Aug. 18, 2017.

    I climbed over a row of press box seats, rather than momentarily inconvenience the writers next to me (which would’ve been much simpler to do).

    Haunting isn’t strong enough. That’s straight up “What are you thinking? Are you thinking?!”

    Even at the age of 21 and 22, no excuse.

    But that’s not all!

    June 20, 2021.

    I walked into an unauthorized area on the spotter’s stand to take photos during the closing laps. This was after NASCAR and Speedway Motorsports, Inc. gave me a second chance in 2020 and 2021.

    In a six-year span, I learned nothing. I had an off-ramp, but I failed to learn anything.

    And that hurts the most.

    Contemplation and depression

    I’m supposed to think I have a place amongst writers far more talented than me, and don’t make such stupid mental errors? Amongst writers who parlayed their tremendous writing to make a living from watching NASCAR races?

    But that happens when you don’t socialize in high school until you do and your best friend ghosts you, because your introversion meant you developed bad tendencies.

    Immature and annoying.

    Compounding the matter, I suffer from verbal apraxia and ADHD. I’m no expert on either, but as far as I understand it, it made socializing with other people rather difficult, and careless mistakes frequent.

    Symptoms of attention deficit hyperactive disorder, as listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fifth Edition.

    Frankly (and I’m no doctor), I think it’s a sizeable influence on my ongoing battle with depression. I have days where I feel fine. Then I’ll have days where I feel nothing. My energy, zapped. My mind in total molasses. My motor functions, slow.

    It’s a miserable hell to experience.

    July 31, 2023.

    I got an email from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, saying my media credentials request was denied.

    I sank to my lowest point.

    Aug. 1, 2023.

    I grabbed a pistol from my parent’s room, put it in my mouth and slowly squeezed the trigger.

    The hammer clicked.

    A few seconds later, I opened my eyes and thought, “Wait, nothing happened.” So I popped the magazine.

    No bullets.

    I broke down in laughter. My stupid dumb ass forgot to reload it, after firing off a few rounds at a tree in my backyard a few hours earlier!

    When I caught my breath and lied on my parents’ bed for a few minutes, I thought it over again. Since I couldn’t even do THAT right, I figured I might as well try to make the best of it.

    And I’m getting help.

    I attend weekly sessions at Autism Breakthrough. Where I work with people who specialize in helping high-function autistic adults like me talk to other people and open up to them.

    Anecdotally, I point to one moment where that work helped (but I still have room for improvement).

    Room to grow

    June 4, 2023.

    The Cup Series race concluded minutes earlier. I’m on pit road in the media bullpen. I’ve made it the whole weekend without getting pulled aside by someone at NASCAR IMC (the league’s PR people, who I mean no disrespect to). Now I’m still a little inexperienced on bullpen proceedings and stuff, but I just need to get through the final leg without a misstep, and I’m golden.

    We finished up talking to Truex and moved on to the next driver. Lee Spencer (who I thank for scolding me when I’ve stepped out of line on several occasions) walked up and asked if Truex had already come through. I and some other writers told her yes, and she asked about Joey Logano. I told her, no, but he’s coming over, too.

    I glanced at Brent Gambill (IMC), as Kyle Busch did his burnout down the frontstretch, and asked (well, shouted, so the engine didn’t drown me out) if he’d bring Logano over because Spencer needed audio from him.

    As we walked back to the deadline room, Gambill tapped me and told me for future reference, don’t shout for a driver like I did. He understood I was trying to help Spencer, but Logano’s PR person took it the wrong way. Especially after a race prolonged by rain and stretches of green flag stints.

    I face-palmed because I was so close to a weekend with no screwups.

    But on a more optimistic note, it showed my sessions at Autism Breakthrough weren’t in vain.

    After eight seasons on the beat, all I have to show for it is one NMPA writing contest award plaque (in the columns category). Now, I take great pride in that award. It was the first time I entered one and the two people who bested me were Ryan McGee and Amy Henderson (both of whom I respect).

    The irony of it coming after I blew it isn’t lost on me.

    I can still do this. I just need to work on myself and get help with communication. Then maybe, just maybe, I can repair my standing with both NASCAR and SMI.

    I’ve still got a ways to go, but I’m on the right track.

  • The White Zone: The changing of eras

    The White Zone: The changing of eras

    Amidst the sea of crew members and race fans lay three scenes of interest. At one end of pit road, Kevin Harvick hugs his family and crew members. At another end, Ross Chastain smashes a watermelon to celebrate his race victory. Finally, at the center of attention is the runner-up finisher. Surrounded by photographers, fellow drivers and eventually race fans, Ryan Blaney exits his car to a storm of confetti as the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion.

    The 75th season of NASCAR concludes with the changing of eras.

    The curtain call on the Winston Cup era

    After a seventh-place finish at his playground of Phoenix Raceway, Harvick hangs up his helmet and transitions to calling NASCAR races for FOX Sports. His retirement severs the last connection to the Winston Cup Series era.

    Sure, there are several drivers from the mid to late 2000s still active, but Harvick was the last full-time driver from the season-long points era.

    In other words, the drivers of my childhood are gone.

    My childhood hero, Jeff Gordon, retired just before I joined the media corp. Tony Stewart, NASCAR’s ultimate smartass, retired in my first season on the NASCAR beat. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth*, rookies when I started following NASCAR, retired in 2017.

    *Yes, I know Kenseth raced in 2018 and 2020, but that was in substitution roles.

    Jimmie Johnson was the bane of my teenage years, but as I covered his seventh championship run and curtain call of his Cup Series career, I learned to appreciate what a great driver he really was.

    Finally, Harvick, an A-type personality who took over the ride of the late Dale Earnhardt, rides off into the sunset with a career that’s frankly on par with “The Intimidator.” Not necessarily numbers-wise, but like the man in black, he established himself as a member of his generation’s elite drivers.

    Harvick finishes 10th on NASCAR’s all-time wins list (60), the champion of the 2014 season and five Championship 4 appearances. He’s a first-ballot entry into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

    Somewhere in the racing afterlife, I imagine Earnhardt sporting his signature Chesire grin at his replacement.

    The young guns

    When I started covering NASCAR in 2016 and even into 2017, the scuttlebutt of who’s gonna fill the shoes of the stars permeated the airwaves of SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

    Cut to Sunday, and the roar of fans drowns out Blaney’s SportsCenter hit.

    The young guns who replaced the older stars fit their shoes. Chase Elliott, Gordon’s (initial) replacement is NASCAR’s most popular driver, until one of Earnhardt Jr.’s daughters joins the Cup Series. William Byron, Gordon’s next replacement, made the Championship 4. Christopher Bell, Kenseth’s replacement, did the same two years in a row. Larson is the only driver to win both the Knoxville Nationals and Cup Series championships in the same year.

    Now Blaney, one year removed from a winless season, hoists the Bill France Cup.

    Of this group, only Larson is over the age of 30.

    And there’s more youth coming up the NASCAR pipeline.

    As the late George Jones sang, “Who’s gonna fill their shoes?”

    Yeah, I think we can put those fears to rest now.

    The future

    Is the present perfect?

    No. Not by a long shot.

    But as I wrote, on Saturday, there’s reason for optimism about NASCAR’s future. Sunday at Phoenix Raceway encapsulated that the waning star power we feared in the late 2010s is a solved problem.

    For now, we take a much-needed vacation and do this all again in February.

    That’s my view, for what it’s worth.

  • The White Zone: NASCAR’s 75th season was good, but not great

    The White Zone: NASCAR’s 75th season was good, but not great

    The haulers rolled into Phoenix, Friday. Banners hang from the building facades and street signs. On the heels of the Texas Rangers winning their first World Series in Phoenix days earlier, four drivers face off for NASCAR’s biggest crown, the Bill France Cup.

    With the curtain call on the horizon, I reflect on the good and the bad of the 75th season of NASCAR.

    The good

    The 1.5 mile package

    HOMESTEAD, Fla. – OCTOBER 22: Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, leads the field to the green flag to start the NASCAR Cup Series 4EVER 400 Presented by Mobil 1 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Oct. 22, 2023, in Homestead, Florida. Photo: Sean Gardner/Getty Images

    Last season, the NextGen Car gave the long maligned mile and a half tracks a boost in racing quality not seen in the NASCAR Cup Series since the days of the twisted sister car. Naturally, everyone expected this to continue in 2023.

    The first trip to Las Vegas in March, however, almost shattered that thought.

    Of the 13 lead changes, only two happened on track. The rest happened during pit cycles.

    Did we witness the start of a massive step backwards on the intermediate tracks?

    Thankfully, the rest of the season proved Las Vegas was an outlier, and NASCAR maintained the level of quality we saw in 2022.

    Though it’s not perfect. Adding more horsepower and taking off more downforce would go a long way to taking the racing from an eight or nine to an 11.

    Of course, I’m no engineer. So all I can do is trust that the engineering minds at NASCAR figure out how to make this work.

    The schedule

    CHICAGO – JULY 2: Justin Haley, driver of the #31 Benesch Law Chevrolet, Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 Hooters Chevrolet, and Shane Van Gisbergen, driver of the #91 Enhance Health Chevrolet, race during the NASCAR Cup Series Grant Park 220 at the Chicago Street Course on July 2, 2023, in Chicago. Photo: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

    When I started covering NASCAR in 2016, schedule movement stagnated. Thanks to a terrible agreement NASCAR made with the tracks to guarantee their races for a period of five years, the schedule was usually a carbon copy of the previous season’s schedule. Hell, the 2019 schedule was a 100% copy/paste of 2018.

    That made the 2020 schedule an Earth-shattering revelation (and that was before COVID threw a wrench into the operation).

    Fast-forward to the present.

    The variety and diversity of the schedule rocks!

    NASCAR went from two road course races on the Cup Series schedule to six (but drops to five in 2024).

    Yes, the road course package sucks and I’ll address that in a later section, but for most of my 29 years on this planet, NASCAR went to Sonoma Raceway, Watkins Glen International and that was it.

    Now, the Cup Series visits Circuit of the Americas, the infield at Charlotte Motor Speedway and an honest to god street course race on top of the South Shore Line.

    Not in my wildest dreams could I have imagined the NASCAR Cup Series race on a street course like IndyCar and Formula 1 do.

    Nor did I see NASCAR return to North Wilkesboro. A pioneer track the league and its partners all but left for dead when I was a month from turning two.

    Is it perfect, no. Not even close. Furthermore, I fear NASCAR might fall back into the complacency that left the schedule stuck in molasses in the coming years.

    For now, however, the schedule realignments of the 2020s beats the copy/paste routine of the late 2010s.

    The bad

    The road course and short track package

    AUSTIN, Texas – MARCH 26: Tyler Reddick, driver of the #45 Monster Energy Toyota, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas on March 26, 2023, in Austin, Texas. Photo: Sean Gardner/Getty Images

    Circuit of the Americas showcased some of NASCAR at its best.

    To borrow a line from former NASCAR Chairman and CEO, Brian France, this was “quintessential NASCAR.” Only instead of a poorly handled fustercluck over three races, it was two generational talents using every inch of real estate and an aero package on the razor’s edge of control to fight it out for the victory.

    That was the peak.

    Most weeks, NASCAR road course races (as well as short track races) resembled Formula 1 at its, well, most par for the course. Follow the leader and hope pit strategy cycles you ahead. After two years, is it time to increase horsepower, like everyone in the garage says over and over again?

    NASCAR’s chief operating officer, Steve O’Donnell, said Friday that it’s one of many options on the table.

    “For us, we’re going to look at shifting specifically around that at our next test and see what we can do,” he said. “There will be variations. Also some aero things we do with the underbody. There’s some things we found in Richmond from an aero standpoint that could work as well.”

    He also mentioned factoring costs to OEMs to make more horsepower work.

    “It’s not as simple as just upping the horsepower,” he said. “You better be ready for all your OE(M)s to be onboard. It better make sense for any potential new OEM and technology. It’s not just a short-term answer.”

    Again, I type words onto digital paper for a living. So I don’t know if shifting is the problem.

    What I’m certain of is that unless this is fixed soon, then that doesn’t bode well for the long-term heath of North Wilkesboro. The goodwill of its return won’t last forever, if the racing sucks.

    The TV product

    I’ll give NASCAR president Steve Phelps this. He acknowledged that the ratings aren’t great. Though he said it was “a mixed bag” with the Cup Series.

    “NBC came back in a powerful way,” he said. “Those metrics are up. If you consider back in March we were down 15%, now we’re down mid single digits, we’re happy with where that is.”

    That’s more than we got from France, who dodged or denied reality on that front.

    Yet, neither pointed a finger at the elephant in the room.

    The broadcast partners, especially FOX.

    The problems with FOX and NBC deserves it own column, and the FOX foibles aren’t fresh in my mind at the back-end of the season.

    With that said, however, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the biggest ratings drop happened during the FOX portion (and Chase Elliott’s injury only explains it so much).

    Put a bow on it

    Overall, NASCAR’s 75th season was good, but could’ve been better.

    The intermediate track package continues strong and the schedule has excellent variety. Hopefully, NASCAR finds the fix to the ailing short track and road course packages.

    Though I’m not holding my breath on NASCAR calling out the broadcast partners.

    NASCAR’s on a good trajectory, even though it’s a grind.

    For now, let’s sit back and watch Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, William Byron and Kyle Larson race for the big prize, Sunday, at Phoenix Raceway.

    That’s my view, for what it’s worth.

  • The White Zone: Chase Elliott has an attitude problem

    The White Zone: Chase Elliott has an attitude problem

    EDITOR’S NOTE: After press time, Chase Elliott told Dave Moody on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Tuesday, that the side-swipe was a heat of the moment incident and that he and Kyle Larson cleared the misunderstanding, during their post-race chat on pit road.

    Original column

    Chase Elliott stood on pit road and spoke to the media, Sunday, at Kansas Speedway. Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports asked him about side-swiping his teammate, Kyle Larson, coming off pit road.

    There was no message? Does he seriously expect us to believe this?

    Well according to the beat writers on site, he did.

    Considering NASCAR parked him for intentionally wrecking Denny Hamlin back in May, he would act more level-headed.

    Nope, Elliott acted like a jackass.

    Why lie about it?

    KANSAS CITY, Kan. – SEPTEMBER 10: Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, and Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Yahoo! Toyota, race during the NASCAR Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway on Sept. 10, 2023, in Kansas City, Kansas. Photo: Jay Biggerstaff/Getty Images

    Let’s dissect the incident in question.

    As Elliott left pit road, he had Tyler Reddick to his right. Larson pulls out of his box with just enough room to spare. Then Brad Keselowski exits his box, Larson pulls right to avoid him and hits Elliott.

    Just drivers going for the same real estate. Pretty innocuous.

    Elliott probably didn’t realize Keselowski forced Larson up. So he side-swiped him on the apron.

    OK, heat of the moment incident. It happens. If Elliott said his reason was just payback, I wouldn’t be writing this column.

    Rather than say that, he lied about it.

    For what gain? Who knows. Danielle Trotta and Larry McReynolds on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Monday, threw out that he’s jealous of Larson or that it stems from past run-ins. On the latter, the only ones that come to mind are Fontana and Watkins Glen in 2022. For the former, I don’t know if I can put stock in that, right now. I’m not a psychologist. I type words onto digital paper for a living.

    With that said, it doesn’t take Sigmund Freud to know Elliott lied. No driver side-swipes another driver, especially a teammate, unless there’s a reason.

    So why lie about it?

    If it was a heat of the moment response, then say it. If it’s more deep-seated, then say it.

    Don’t piss on our legs, then say it’s raining! Any journalist worth their salt sniffs out a bullshit story.

    If you don’t, then expect more scrutiny from us.

    And if not to us, then have the decency to tell your damn teammate and bosses at Hendrick Motorsports why you did it and what your problem with Larson is.

    If not, don’t act surprised if you have difficulty getting resigned, when your next contract talk occurs.

    More importantly, tell your fans why. You know? The people who made you NASCAR’s most popular driver for seven consecutive seasons.

    If you don’t, then that tells me you think your fans are brain-dead idiots who’ll slop up any lie you tell.

    Regardless, if this is how Elliott carries himself now, then he didn’t learn a damn thing from his suspension. And if he thinks talent shields him from repercussions for being a cancer, then look up Antonio Brown’s tenure with the Pittsburgh Steelers (particularly around 2018).

    Talent only goes so far, when you’re toxic to everyone around you.

    That’s my view, for what it’s worth.

  • The White Zone: Johnson worthy inductee of the hall

    The White Zone: Johnson worthy inductee of the hall

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jimmie Johnson took his seat at the center of the Grand Hall of the NASCAR Hall of Fame to answer questions from the media. I watched from the second row, staring dead ahead of the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion. A man who, as a Jeff Gordon fan, caused me grief and broke my heart so many times, during his five-year span of championships.

    Now as a member of the NASCAR media corp, I sit back and realize I witnessed the entire career of arguably NASCAR’s greatest driver.

    From dislike to respect

    As Johnson celebrated in victory lane at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 11, 2007, Gordon approached him and waved the white flag.

    “I surrender,” he said, bowing to Johnson. “I surrender.”

    After Gordon won back-to-back races at Talladega Superspeedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway, Johnson rattled off four-straight wins to clinch his second Cup Series title.

    In a film script of my life, the camera cuts to 13-year-old me and my gaudy 24 DuPont Chevrolet shirt, as I hang my head in despair. During a season in which Gordon set a modern-era record for most top-10 finishes in a single season (30), Johnson did what Gordon did to Mark Martin in 1998; out-win him to a championship.

    It didn’t stop there.

    2008, Johnson duels it out with Carl Edwards to win his third-straight championship. Meanwhile, Gordon goes winless for just the second time in his career.

    2009, Gordon breaks a 43-race winless streak by holding off Johnson to win at Texas Motor Speedway for the first time in his career. Gordon even led the points for the first time in two years.

    Cut to November, Johnson wins his four-straight title.

    Fast-forward to 2010. Johnson breaks the heart of Denny Hamlin fans to win his fifth-straight title. Gordon blows an engine in the final race to secure his third winless season.

    Cut to me, a socially-awkward sophomore in high school, combined with the beginning of my future alma mater’s descent into the football abyss (it’s in my bio), that five-year period wasn’t much fun.

    HAMPTON, Ga. – FEBRUARY 28: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Feb. 28, 2016, in Hampton, Georgia. Photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

    Six years later, I jumped from the grandstands to the press box. Johnson won the first NASCAR race I covered on-site. Now as someone who retired his fan allegiance to join the media, I found an immense level of respect for him. Especially when he gave such detailed answers to questions from a stammering mess like me.

    I covered four of his six wins in 2016, on the way to his seventh Cup Series championship. Furthermore, I covered his penultimate Cup Series victory on a Monday afternoon at Bristol Motor Speedway.

    Beyond his wins, however, I saw a side of Johnson that he doesn’t usually show. In public, he was very stoic and a great spokesperson for his sponsors (like former teammate, Terry Labonte). Off-camera, however, and while nowhere near Matt Kenseth, I saw his more snarky demeanor shine through.

    Looking back

    Cut to Wednesday, Johnson stands in front of a video screen in loafers, light brown pants and a blazer, and poses for pictures with Knaus and Donny Allison. As I said, earlier, I’m in the second row of people asking him questions.

    I asked him what it means to him to hear someone say he’s one of NASCAR’s all-time greatest.

    It humbles Johnson.

    “We just want to go racing and from a very young age, racing is in our life,” he said. “Our parents raised their families raced and we just wanted to be racers and sure we wouldn’t, I know I tried to dream big, but I couldn’t have dreamed this big and to have everything play out as it has. Even then, looking back on those moments in time and five in a row and seven championships in total, these different moments along the way, I still can’t believe it’s happened.”

    Grateful as ever, Johnson made me see why I’ve gone from a disgruntled Gordon fan to having nothing but respect for the seven-time champion.

    That’s my view, for what it’s worth.

  • The White Zone: Waivers in NASCAR are a joke

    The White Zone: Waivers in NASCAR are a joke

    MADISON, Ill. — NASCAR, how does this make sense?

    If you slept under a rock, this week, NASCAR parked Chase Elliott, after he intentionally wrecked Denny Hamlin, Monday, at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was nakedly blatant and the SMT data of the wreck reinforced that.

    NASCAR handled it, correctly. After it suspended Bubba Wallace, last season, for doing the same thing to Kyle Larson at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, it couldn’t not give Elliott the same penalty, without inciting a mutiny in the garage.

    But then NASCAR shot itself in the foot by giving him a waiver.

    So let me get this straight: Elliott’s actions in the Coca-Cola 600 (correctly) warranted a one race suspension, but he’s still playoff-eligible?

    How?!

    The only real penalty, effectively, is he gets one less race to make the playoffs.

    And he’s not the first.

    Johnny Sauter got a waiver, after NASCAR parked him for wrecking Austin Hill under caution at Iowa Speedway in 2019. And while not a wreck, NASCAR suspended Josh Williams for parking his car on track at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March.

    Both received waivers.

    OK, I get that there’s more to a race team than the driver. The pit crew, the crew chief and spotter didn’t put Hamlin in the wall. Furthermore, it’s probably not good for sponsorship, if you penalize the whole team for the actions of one individual.

    And if NASCAR approved all waiver requests, I’d respect that point more.

    With that said, however, the league’s denied waiver requests.

    In fact, at press time, the league’s denied just three request for a playoff waiver.

    Spencer Gallagher’s denial makes sense, but Kaz Grala and Grant Enfinger’s don’t. They were circumstances beyond their control.

    Yet according to the heads in Daytona, substance abuse and missing a race for lack of sponsorship are stronger grounds for a waiver denial than intentionally wrecking another driver.

    So I ask again, NASCAR, how does this make sense?

    For as much flak as NASCAR (rightfully) gets for inconsistent officiating, granting playoff waivers to drivers suspended for intentionally wrecking others is one precedent NASCAR should break.

    And if this isn’t grounds for a waiver denial, then waivers are a joke.

    But at the end of the day, as the late Ed Coombs told me, “It’s their show to **** up.”

    That’s my view, for what it’s worth.