A Buffet of NASCAR Thoughts

By Mike Harper

No, I’m not going to bring up the IRL. I really don’t plan to touch on the absolutely wonderful coverage we saw from our good friends at TNT from Infineon either. Yep, I tend to ruffle feathers with some of my friends when I do that.

I could slip in a few good words about ARCA since they’ve been the most competitive racing this season. But - I won’t. Why you ask? Good question thanks for asking.

Well, because lately I’ve been living and breathing ARCA and so I figured uncapping these NASCAR emotions that’s been building up inside my head would make me feel better. Maybe in my next posting, I can share with you how life is going in ARCAville U.S.A.

But today it’s all NASCAR and as we head into New Hampshire, my agenda includes penalties, Kyle Petty and the other Kyle, that would be Kyle Thomas Busch.

My good friend Mark Young touched on this topic here in Turn 3 and while I like all of the comments, I have a different take on how these penalty situations should be handled moving forward.

I’ve always – yes, always have taken the position that if you break the rules in NASCAR, to the extent where suspension comes into play, then the team should be parked. To be blunt, if life is good enough to win as a team, then life should be miserable enough to be parked as a team.

But as we move forward into this mega-money industry where race fans and sponsors pay lots and lots of cash to support their drivers and teams, I’ve come to the conclusion that you can’t park teams. If you do, fans and sponsors suffer. And, when fans and sponsors suffer, they’ll go elsewhere for their racing entertainment.

Obviously suspending crew chiefs isn’t the answer. You know as well as I do, with today’s technology Chad Knaus doesn’t need to be on the pit box to get his job done.

I think when NASCAR suspends a crew chief or driver for a rule violation as we’ve seen happen this week - the team must race, period. The team must qualify too. The sponsors and fans deserve to see the car on the track.

But – yes there's a but. The driver and owner shouldn’t receive any points for the same amount of races their guy is suspended. That means Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon should race for their fans and sponsors, but receive no points for six events.

That my friends would stop the cheating!

Next topic please….

I’m not going to say anything about TNT and their lovely coverage last weekend. Not gonna do it. But I will ask a simple question – how does a person get away with dropping an expletive on national TV without receiving any kind of penalty?

Maybe I’m jumping the gun, but Kyle has admitted to it. He said, "I'm sorry it got as far as everyone's living room. But when an incident happens that early in the race and it's unexpected, what I said pretty much described it."

Dale Earnhardt Jr., says a dirty little word in victory lane a few years ago and NASCAR pounds him, but now we hear nothing from the network or NASCAR. What gives?

I like Kyle. Kyle is a cool cat. But come on, where is the consistency on this policy?

Next topic again please…

Our good little buddy Kyle Busch! Here’s the deal folks – you may not like him or he may be your favorite driver, either way the kid can drive a race car.

Bottom line without holding anything back, Kyle got fired. When have we ever heard of a driver winning races, running in the top 12 and getting fired? Doesn’t happen.

As much as people want to point at Kyle and blame his attitude for getting the boot, it was 100% a choice. Hendrick picked Junior over Kyle.

At the end of the day it’s Rick Hendrick’s choice and by golly I respect his decision. But I am man enough to step up and admit that if Junior doesn’t beat Kyle to a Nextel Cup Series championship, I’ll be one of the first to wonder who got the better deal.