In my opinion – NASCAR has turned soft

By Mike Harper

Thanks Tom Sorensen for the lead in.

I’ve been itching to write about this topic. I’ve even typed it up and backspaced over the darn thing because I can’t sugarcoat my opinions. So figured I would wait until the season was over so I could yell it from the top of the grandstand. Got a bullhorn?

Thanks to Tom Sorensen and his column published on ThatsRacin.com, everyone who has a ticket should jump on board Tom’s train and ride it with him. Bottom line, Tom is absolutely right, if you would like to replicate the thrills at Homestead-Miami Speedway, go to Wendy's and watch the drive-through. Man that’s brilliant!

I’m willing to push the envelope a tad bit further than Tom. I’ll name names.

The Mark Martin philosophy, you know the one, "move over and race them later" especially those non-Chasers who are scared to race the Chase drivers because they might take out a championship contender is hogwash!

First, has Mark won a championship in the Nextel Cup Series using this philosophy? Exactly, he hasn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I like Mark Martin. So before all you Martin fans start sending me the hate email, keep in mind I’ve been very pro-Martin this season. I even picked him to win the championship. But his "give and take" advise might work for some, but it doesn’t for others.

Jimmie Johnson doesn’t live by giving and taking. Normally he is on the taking end and guess what? He won a championship.

At Phoenix, Johnson started 29th and was able to cut his way through the field up into the top 10. He achieved this in less than 30 laps. The majority of his competition moved out of his way and let him go. It was the same story at Homestead-Miami with the exception of Kevin Harvick, who made it difficult for Johnson to pass him early in the race and was criticized for it by Johnson. So racing should only happen during the last 25 laps of a race? Is that it?

It amazes me when a driver like Harvick or Ryan Newman gets raked over the coals for racing his competition during the early to middle stages of a race. What’s wrong with making your competition work for a pass or have him use up his stuff in an attempt to pass you on lap 20? Isn’t that racing?

During the Busch event at Homestead-Miami, Kyle Busch complained that David Reutimann was blocking him and caused him to wreck early in that event. Honestly, Reutimann discovered a new trick and it’s called racing! It’s where you do your best to race and keep the guys racing you, behind you. It’s a great concept and entertaining too.

While Busch wrecked trying to pass Reutimann, Reutimann finished in the 12th position all because he raced his competition. Amazing how that works.

On Sunday morning, SPEED televised a show hosted by Dave Despain highlighting "The State of NASCAR." Team owners, media and drivers were invited to join the panel of experts to discuss many topics including the decline in the TV ratings. My main question is why didn’t they find a NASCAR fan and put them on the panel?

Isn’t a fan an expert in watching NASCAR? Couldn’t a fan or a panel of fans explain why the ratings are down?

I think the reason a fan’s voice wasn’t heard is because NASCAR doesn’t want to hear the truth. And the truth is the ratings are down because the racing is soft and so are the driver rivalries. It’s not fun watching race car drivers move out of the way of other race car drivers.

Sadly, as much as we’re told the car of tomorrow will increase the racing between drivers, that can’t happen until the drivers themselves decide to race each other hard each and every lap.