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What will the Shootout bring?

By DAVID GREEN

Anybody think the Budweiser Shootout tonight might be a little action-packed?

If not, things will take a distinct turn from the pattern established in practice so far, with the rollbacks and clean-up crews staying busy -- not the mention the mechanics who have to repair wrecked cars, or get back-ups prepped for their understudy roles.

At this point, it would be safe to guess there won't be any multicar crashes in qualifying this afternoon. But I'm not betting even on that.

Tonight's non-points special will be an unrestricted (pun intended) test of the new policy of allowing drivers to police themselves in bump-drafting. Then, there will be NASCAR's reaction to how the drivers fare in the exhibition race.

It is entirely possible that the self-policing policy will be modified, or even rescinded entirely, before the 500. I'm not predicting that, merely suggesting that it is possible.

Then again, tonight's race be turn out to be the next to take its lumps for being boring.

Either way, I suspect we'll be talking about it tomorrow.

What the hull!

By DAVID GREEN

In case you haven't heard, there's a big controversy in the America's Cup yacht race -- based on technology. Auto racing fans should be able to relate to this one.

It's all about hulls. You know, the body and chassis, as it were, of the boats. One might refer to the debate as a "hull-abaloo."

OK, OK. Enough groans, booing and hissing. This year's race will be the first ever between two multihull boats. As a National Public Radio announcer described it, "Think of a catamaran on steroids."

Switzerland's Alinghi is, in fact, a twin-hull boat, or catamaran. The American challenger is a trimaran. (It a name -- BMW Oracle -- based on corporate sponsorship, another element NASCAR fans should find familiar.)

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Playing dirty

By DAVID GREEN

Get ready for two weeks of Super Bowls -- the National Football League's version of it this week, and the NASCAR race often compared to it the week following.

Just how the two events stack up against each other is strictly a matter of individual tastes. In this writer's humble opinion, the Great American Race has not yet reached the mainstream iconic status of the football game, and may never do so.

But that's not the subject at hand. Rather, let's discuss an aspect of the game that is comparable to the race with regard to competition and the actual conduct of the contest.

Specifically, let's talk about dirty play.

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The 'great race' debate

By DAVID GREEN

It's less than a month until the Daytona 500, so it's not too soon to resume the largely dormant debate over the quality of NASCAR's product, as Jim Utter does in TR.com's lead story at this moment.

It is, as Jim points out, the driving force behind most of the changes NASCAR has made recently and is proposing to make. It is, as Jeff Burton notes, an elusive thing, this concept of just what it is that makes a race "great."

With all due respect to every opinion, I suggest that the debate -- popular as it may be -- is flawed, in several ways.

First, there is the absolutely relevant question of "what kind of race?" A 100-meter dash is different from a marathon. The hurdles are different from a relay. Cross-country is a whole different animal, as is -- literally -- horse racing.

The same things do not a "great race" make.

NASCAR-centrist participants in this debate may argue, "Well, we're talking about NASCAR races and all NASCAR races are the same."

I beg to differ. In my opinion, they are not -- short tracks and intermediate tracks and superspeedways and road courses each have their own qualities and nuances.

But even if all the essential elements are identical, as they are in football and basketball games (not so much in baseball, with variations in parks requiring different ground rules by which play is governed), all the contests are not going to be identical.

At least, I hope they're not.

And if we are striving to make them that, we are doomed to failure -- I hope.

I can think of nothing worse than a series in which every race features some formulaic kind of "excitement."

Roush Fenway Racing's Geoff Smith makes a key point with his comment that "the attention span of America is shortening." Good luck to anybody trying to keep up with that.

Auto racing is not alone in its dilemma. For decades, stick-and-ball sports have gone back and forth with tweaks in how their games are played. From the evolution of the forward pass to the elimination of the center jump after every made basket to the designated hitter, all sports have changed. All of the changes, it is safe to assume, have been for either or both of two central reasons -- the well-being of competitors and the entertainment value of the contest.

It's fine to get fan input, and it's fine to consider the opinions of competitors. It's great to tweak, even when some of the changes (the designated hitter, for example, in my opinion) are not good ones.

But the intent should be to set conditions, not micromanage outcomes.

The old tabloid newspaper rule of thumb -- that every front page headline should be a little more shocking than the one the day before -- is flawed in a fundamental way that should be obvious. Everything that goes up must come down.

Every race is not going to be a "great" one, no matter what you do, unless you write a script and have competitors follow it to the letter. That's not sport; that's theater.

Forget about holding the interest of any "fan" who requires that kind of maximum stimulation, every time he or she buys a ticket of turns on the television.

Confirmation breeds apathy

By DAVID GREEN

I have to admit it -- I am just a little puzzled by the short shelf life of the Danica Patrick-to-stock cars story. But, I suppose most everybody had already exhausted the supply of things to write about it before the fact.

But, come on -- holy cow. This was big -- bigger than big, Barney Fife would have told Sheriff Andy Taylor. The cows came home. The National Weather Service issued brass-monkey advisories in Hades. Chicken Little was squashed by the falling sky. The little boy who cried "Wolf!" got eaten.

And it has already disappeared from prominent navigation on this and other motor sports Web sites?

Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009 -- a date which will live in ... uh ... trivia?

We'll remember it, like, for as long as we can?

Another paradox: Now that it really is a story, it's not one.

The most popular driver

By DAVID GREEN

Thanks to TR.com reader Johanna, who posted a comment Saturday in response to my 2009 season-ender. Johanna's remarks about the most popular driver award prompted this item.

The complete text of her remark is at the end of that post, but what triggering my thoughts was her reference to the Grantland Rice quote about "how you played the game," not winning, that was most important.

"I am not saying that those who accumulated the most points do not deserve all of our praise and recognition for their hard work, but I do think that a statement is made when one who has not amassed that sort of victory is still the most popular," she wrote.

For the seventh year in a row, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Chex Most Popular Driver award, presented by the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) and, as Johanna noted, determined by fan voting. (See the list of award recipients here.)

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The champion after Jimmie

By DAVID GREEN

Seems to me that this is a quieter beginning to the brief off-season than usual. The hottest story going is whether Chad Knaus is going to re-up with Hendrick, and that's almost a week old.

Of course, there's always Danica. The story confirming Danica's signing with Andretti Autosport for three more years included the obligatory "no news about a move to NASCAR" boilerplate paragraph.

But we don't need no stinkin' hard news in order to discuss our favorite subject. So, thanks to my buddy Paul Borden for this suggestion: Which driver is most likely to succeed -- as in, succeed Jimmie Johnson as Cup champion?

Continue reading "The champion after Jimmie"

Closing the books on 2009

By DAVID GREEN

First thoughts on the historic achievement of Jimmie Johnson and the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 team:

• Can't even get to the aftermath without first mentioning: What an entertaining race the Ford 400 was. Homestead-Miami Speedway has become, in my opinion, the best track on the Cup Series circuit. I know there will be those who disagree, but this was racing the way I think it's supposed to be, with drivers' skills and mechanical attributes of the racecars predominant. Kudos, Curtis Gray and staff.
• What gracious comments from Johnson and Chad Knaus. The respect they showed for their own achievement, in context of the history of the sport in which they achieved it, was fantastic.
• What a worthy performance Johnson turned in, running up front and racing back up through the pack to finish fifth. No backing into this one -- not that Johnson or any other NASCAR champion could be accused of that. But this one lived up to my hopes.
• What an awesome guy that Mark Martin guy is, overall.
• What fun watching those guys dirt-track their way around a 1.5-mile paved oval. Special recognition to Jeff Burton, Martin Truex Jr. and Kurt Busch.
• What an amazing narration in-race reporter Carl Edwards provided. It's probably safe to assume that if anybody can safely text-message while driving, it would be Cousin Carl. (Not that he would do such a thing.)

Mostly, I'm pretty pumped that my thoughts are so dominated by positive things. My lifelong favorite sport has gotten much too grim lately, particularly from the perspectives of so many who are still involved in it day-to-day and from those, like me, who have moved on to more distant perspectives.

Not that the negativity has no basis, but perhaps we all get it out of proportion too many times. Tonight, I was determined not to let it drag me down. I really enjoyed myself.

• Thanks to Juan Pablo Montoya and Tony Stewart for adding a dash of devilry to the night. For the record, I though Juan Pablo was the instigator. Stewart inserted his car into a tight, but open, space. Montoya is talented enough that he could have cut left and kept his momentum and passed Stewart instead of rear-ending him, but...
• Thanks to NASCAR for not making a federal case out of the 42-vs-14 clash -- at least not during the race. I expect there will be consequences to follow for both drivers, especially for JPM.
• Congratulations to Denny Hamlin for getting through the last day of the season without getting in Brad Keselowski's way, and to Keselowski for getting through a race without wrecking Hamlin.

Thanks to everyone who has shared his or her thoughts in this forum for the past several years. Thanks to Bob Henry and the folks at TR.com for providing the venue.

Despite my grumbling and my acknowledgement of the way the sport has changed over the past 25 years, mostly in ways that do not please me, and despite my frequent complaint that the season is too long and too crowded, I will be ready for another season come February Speedweeks. The good Lord willing, I hope to resume our discussions then.

Best outcomes, story-wise

By DAVID GREEN

Just another day-and-a-half, and another season will be over. We all know how it's very likely going to come out.

I'm OK with that. I like watching history in the making. I enjoyed the five-year domination of F1 by Michael Schumacher and Ferrari, just because Schumi in the red car was so amazingly fast and bulletproof. Jimmie Johnson and the 48 team haven't dominated to the extent Schumacher did, but in the Chase events, they've been close to that level.

So, the first four-times-straight championship will make a good story. But -- in my opinion, anyway -- another one would be better.

It's probably easy to guess that my choice for best story would be if Mark Martin were to steal this one. No offense to Jimmie, but Mark has been so close, so many times. I would love to see him get the big prize.

That's the great thing about dynasties. There's no better example than the New York Yankees. Picking a side is easy for everybody. You either root for the dynasty or against it. When David upsets Goliath, it makes a great story, either way. One side is disappointed and the other ecstatic, but it's a compelling story either way.

Next best option would be for Jimmie to win the championship, but with a bang instead of a whimper. He has teased us with this potential scenario by winning the pole. Now, if he goes out tomorrow and lays a thrashing on the field, or -- even better -- if he wins a stirring race to the checkered flag -- or even if he comes out second-best in a race to the checkered flag -- that would be great stuff.

That, to me, would be as dramatic as an orchestrated close decision, which is what the Chase was designed to produce -- and, in its first season, did produce.

But to see Johnson grabbing the fourth Cup, not meekly and carefully cruising to it, would be great. Fans would be torn between cheering him on and fearing that the "go for it" strategy might backfire and cost him the championship -- as, indeed, it did for the late Fireball Roberts in the 1950 season finale.

That one was a kind of reverse of this year's characters. Points leader Bill Rexford had already dropped out and Fireball needed only to finish fifth or better to win the title. Instead, he raced for the win and blew his engine.

No JR Motorsports ride for me, either

By DAVID GREEN

This just in, from home offices in North Carolina and Kentucky: My people have not spoken to Dale Jr.'s people -- no phone calls, no text messages, no tweets -- and at this point in time, I have no plans to race at Daytona in February.

That puts me squarely within a group including several million other folks -- including Danica Patrick.

Stop the presses!

Am I the only one who's way past tired of the obsession with Danica (not) coming to NASCAR?

Continue reading "No JR Motorsports ride for me, either"