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Tag: The White-Zone

  • The White Zone: There’s no defense for fans throwing objects on track

    The White Zone: There’s no defense for fans throwing objects on track

    “The white-zone is for immediate loading and unloading…” and I need to unload on those of you who thought pelting the track with beer was a good idea.

    Sitting in the stands this past Sunday, I had the unfortunate dishonor of watching grown adults pelting Talladega Superspeedway with cans of beer. I wasn’t even going to bring this up, but then I heard about a seven-year-old girl who got hit in the face with a full can of beer and had to get eight stitches.

    I don’t care how angry you were with the finish Sunday and I even said that NASCAR should be embarrassed with the finish of the race, there is NO EXCUSE or justifying the actions of those of you who decided to act like idiots. If you want to act like stupid rednecks, you leave that crap at home or in the campgrounds! Actions like that give NASCAR fans the “stupid redneck” image I’ve fought against for years.

    It was wrong when fans did it to Jeff Gordon in 2004, it was wrong when they did it again to Jeff Gordon in 2007 and it was wrong when they did a third time on Sunday.

    Don’t even try to justify their actions in the comment section by saying “NASCAR screwed them out of a finish.” I don’t care. There is no justifiable reason to act like idiots and throw cans of beer on the track.

    Thankfully, I’m not the only one who feels this way.

    Dave Moody even took the time to call out those people Monday on Sirius XM Speedway when a man called in to tell his story on his seven-year-old daughter getting hit in the face with a beer can and requiring stitches.

    Those fans should also be ashamed of themselves because they just wasted perfectly good beer. There’s an old saying in the baseball world: You don’t throw things at players and you don’t waste beer. Unless you’re committed to finishing that can of beer, don’t buy that can of beer!

    Now I understand perfectly that I’m talking about not even one percent of the people in attendance Sunday. Hell, I’m not even sure fans were throwing beer cans beyond those down towards turn 1. But we all need to call these people out and make it clear that we won’t tolerate this stupidity from fellow members of the NASCAR fanbase.

    My plane is about to take off, so I must wrap this up. Until next time, I’ll leave you with this fact. Certain species of male butterflies produce scents that serve in attracting females during courtship.

    *The opinions expressed in this piece are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views of Speedway Media.

  • The White Zone: Scaling back to 1 GWC attempt was a stupid idea (Take 2)

    The White Zone: Scaling back to 1 GWC attempt was a stupid idea (Take 2)

    “The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading…” and I need to unload on the idiotic decision to scale back to one green-white-checker attempt…again.

    Now I know y’all heard me make this rant just two days ago, but if NASCAR can do two takes of “one attempt,” then so can I. Now I do wish I had waited until today to start talking on the matter because I have more evidence to support my claim.

    First we have the “waving off” of the first attempt despite the fact that Joey Logano had taken the restart. NASCAR’s reasoning on this was that Logano had not passed the start/finish line before the caution flew so it “didn’t count.” In other words, similar to what IndyCar does when the race control doesn’t like the restart. Now I understand NASCAR’s explanation on the issue. Maybe this was a rule that had always been in place and never needed to be used. But what I don’t understand is why this was never brought up when we spent a whole month arguing over restarts. My understanding has always been that once the green flag flies, the race is back under green.

    I wasn’t the only person who didn’t understand this. Others in the NASCAR media didn’t get it either.

    Now we move to the “second attempt” at the “first attempt” at the green-white-checker finish where Trevor Bayne got out of line, Kevin Harvick made contact with him and the “Big One” happened. This brought out the caution that ended the race and Logano was declared the winner. Being in the stands for the race yesterday, myself and everyone around me had the expression of “that’s how we’re ending this?!”

    I think Pete Pistone put it best with this tweet.

    I hope NASCAR was satisfied with the change because it was a giant fiasco. You’d have to go a long way to screw up a Daytona or Talladega race and NASCAR did just that. They made the idiotic decision to reduce the number of green-white-checker attempts and ended up with this fiasco.

    I truly, truly hope that NASCAR comes to their senses and goes back to the three attempts by the time we’re back in Daytona for Speedweeks. They should be embarrassed that it ended this way.

    My plane is about to take off so I must get moving. Until next time, I’ll leave you with this fact. There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos.

    *The opinions expressed in this piece are solely those of the author and may not represent the views of Speedway Media.

  • The White-Zone: Don’t Do Single-File Restarts at Talladega

    The White-Zone: Don’t Do Single-File Restarts at Talladega

    “The white-zone is for immediate loading and unloading…” and I need to unload about some possible rule adjustments for Talladega Superspeedway.

    In case you haven’t heard, NASCAR has been talking to teams the last few weeks about possible changes being made to the upcoming race at the Alabama roulette-wheel of Talladega Superspeedway. Some of these changes include doing nothing at all and limiting the number of green-white-checker attempts down to one or two. Personally, limiting the GWC attempts wouldn’t bother me. I’d personally reduce it to two, but I could live with one.

    There’s one possible change, however, that would really bother me. That would be the possibility of going to single-file restarts for Talladega.

    This bothers me because I envision the possibility of teams just racing single-file all race long. I know that’s possible even with double-file restarts. Hell, it happened back in May. However, that was the last 30 laps and the race as a whole had been mostly three-wide racing. With the Contender Round ending at Talladega and 10 drivers needing to survive or win to advance, they would have little incentive to race up front all race long. If you can’t get these top drivers, especially at the top plate races, heading the lines on the bottom, middle or top, everyone might be content to race single-file.

    We’ve been building this race up to a monumental race for the ages. Drivers have been talking for weeks that everything will hinge on Talladega. Grant Lynch, Chairman of Talladega Superspeedway, is probably loving all the free publicity the track is receiving. If we go single-file on the restarts, we’re running the risk of this Talladega race falling flat on its face.

    Now I understand why NASCAR is doing all this. I’m certain the horrific last-lap wreck at Daytona in July was the catalyst for this discussion. I understand that nobody wants to see drivers or fans get injured or killed. The catch fence did its job and kept Austin Dillon’s car from going into the stands. I completely understand that we have to protect the drivers and fans from unnecessary danger. But at the same time, let’s not neuter Talladega, take the one race that would be next to impossible to botch and manage to botch it.

    In conclusion, if NASCAR is going to make changes in order to protect the drivers and fans, let’s not knee-jerk it and ruin the hallmark style of racing that practically sells itself. You don’t have to do much to sell people on Daytona and Talladega. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that every race at Daytona and Talladega is going to be the “race of the century,” but eight times out of 10, the restrictor plate races are among the best races of the season. If NASCAR wants to reduce the number of GWC attempts, I’ll be fine with it, but leave the single-file restart idea at the door.

    My plane* is ready to load and I’ll wrap this up. Until next time, I’ll leave you with this fact. The probability of two whole fingerprints matching is around one in 64-billion.

    *I use the word plane as a metaphor for getting off my soapbox and ending the piece. It’s not an actual plane and I’m not actually about to fly out to “parts unknown” (that’s for those of you who follow pro wrestling).

    The opinions expressed in this piece are solely those of the author and may not reflect the beliefs of SpeedwayMedia.com

  • The White-Zone: Why the Contender Round Favors Jeff Gordon

    The White-Zone: Why the Contender Round Favors Jeff Gordon

    “The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading,” and I must unload about why the Contender Round will put the ball in Jeff Gordon’s court.

    The motto for the 24 team in the Challenger Round struck me as simply “survive and advance.” While he had a dominant car at Chicagoland, he was a 10th-place car at best in Loudon and Dover. Now that Gordon has moved on to the Contender Round, he’ll find the track lineup of Charlotte, Kansas and Talladega to his advantage.

    First is the “Beast of the Southeast.”

    Jeff Gordon has a love/hate history with Charlotte Motor Speedway. This was the track where he scored the first of his 92 career wins on May 29, 1994. He’s visited victory lane here five times and has 17 top-fives, 24 top-10s, and nine poles. Gordon has led 787 laps with an average start of 10.7, an average finish of 15.4 and he has completed 93.3 percent of the combined laps in 45 career starts.

    Now with that said, Charlotte is the ultimate hit or miss track for the driver of the No. 24 car. His 10 DNF’s here are his most at any track on the NASCAR schedule. From 2005 to 2007, he suffered five straight DNF’s. In the last five races, those five being the races with the Gen-6 car, he’s finished 35th, seventh, seventh, second and 15th. This gives him an average finish of 13.2, which is higher than his career average of 15.4 at the track. Gordon might have a better run this time around since the Chase race doesn’t require as much chasing the changes as the Coca-Cola 600, but I would say it’s wishful thinking to expect anything but a 10th-place finish.

    Where the odds truly begin to go up for Jeff Gordon is when we make our way out to the heartland and race at Kansas Speedway.

    This has been one of his more friendly tracks. He’s won three times with 11 top-fives and 13 top-10s, led 218 laps with an average start of 13.1, an average finish of 9.9 and has completed 99.2 percent of the combined laps in 19 career starts.

    His top-10 average of 68.4 percent is his eighth best behind Pocono, Phoenix, Homestead, Indianapolis, Sonoma, Martinsville and Kentucky. Gordon’s top-five average of 57.9 percent is his third best behind Sonoma and Martinsville. In his last five races at Kansas, he’s finished 13th, third, first, 14th and fourth. This gives him an average finish of 7, higher than his career average of 9.9 at the track. In May, he ran top-10 most of the race and came home fourth. I think it will be another top-five run for Big Daddy in the heartland.

    While I expect Jeff Gordon to run well at Charlotte and Kansas, what really gives me confidence in his Contender Round run is the Alabama roulette wheel (I really hope that starts catching on) of Talladega Superspeedway.

    Before I go into detail, I’m aware that after Daytona, Gordon said he was glad he only had to do this plate stuff one final time. I’m also not going to say for certain if he’ll just run in the back trying to survive and advance. I do know that, next to Dale Earnhardt Jr., Big Daddy has been the best plate racer this season. He won the pole and dominated the Daytona 500, leading 87 laps before getting caught up in the last-lap wreck on the backstretch. He also won the pole and led 47 laps here back in May where he most likely had the race won until he was busted for speeding when he locked up the brakes getting onto pit road under the sixth caution and restarted the race from the rear of the field. He was unable to work his way back to the front when the field decided to run single-file until two laps remaining. Gordon, again, was caught up in the last-lap wreck and finished 31st. While he didn’t make as much noise in July at Daytona, he did bring the car home to a sixth-place finish before getting caught in the tri-oval melee.

    You also can’t overlook the fact that Gordon has more restrictor-plate points wins than any other driver in the history of NASCAR. Before anyone goes to Wikipedia to try and tell me it’s actually Dale Earnhardt, the Intimidator only had 11 points wins in plate races – two of his Talladega wins came before the plates – while Jeff Gordon has 12. I’m not saying that Earnhardt wasn’t the best plate racer in NASCAR history, I’m just saying that Gordon is no slouch when it comes to Daytona and Talladega.

    Granted, he hasn’t won a plate race since sweeping Talladega in 2007. But it’s not a stretch to say he could get one last restrictor plate win. Regardless, it’ll be a thrill to be there in person to see Big Daddy make his final start in the hallmark style of racing in NASCAR. I also think when all is said and done, Jeff Gordon will stand victorious at the Alabama roulette wheel.

    Do you agree with my case? Leave your thoughts in the comments below. Until next time, I’ll leave you with this fact. A syzygy occurs when three astronomical bodies line up.