Turn 3

Best-laid plans...

By DAVID GREEN

Later today we could very well see Jimmie Johnson all but lock up his third straight Cup Series championship with 30 percent of the Chase for the Cup still left to run. It's all but a done deal already.

ABC-ESPN's promotions are almost amusing in their attempts to make the last four races of the season dramatic. Nothing is certain yet -- no, there's always that chance that Jimmie could oversleep four Sundays in a row and miss the green flag.

I think Johnson has it won. And that's OK with me. I want races and championship titles to come out in an honest reflection of how drivers performed on the track, and I think Johnson's three-peat will satisfy that criterion nicely. But I bet NASCAR and the television folks are squirming.

Because the Chase was supposed to give us, every year, the kind of white-knuckle conclusion it produced in its debut season in 2004.

It's not going to happen, people. Regardless of the system, barring out-and-out manipulation, there won't be a thrilling conclusion to every race or every points race.

My only question is, how many fans want that? I'm not sure anymore. Reading what other fans post, and judging from the decisions and rules changes NASCAR has made, I certainly feel as if I'm in a very small minority. Most fans, it seems, want to be titillated, and NASCAR is more than willing to titillate. It's just that the Chase is not proving to be a real consistent titillator.

I find it sweetly ironic that the truly compelling points races this year are in the Nationwise and Craftsman series, which have no Chase format.

It's also interesting to note that in Formula One, the driving championship this year will be decided in the final race of the season -- for the fourth time in the last six years.

The Petty decline

By Mark Young

In these days of financial unrest the racing world has taken a beating.  Sure Pope Brian France and the NASCAR juggernaut is still raking in the dough while at the same time turning a blind eye to empty seats each week at the track. ...Oh wait, they aren’t empty, they are just covered with big advertisements.

Other than the fans who can’t afford to go to the races the second biggest hit on the racing economy has been on the car owners.  Now don’t go jumping on me, because I realize that Rick, Jack, Richard, and the Joe are all doing very well.  I am talking about the Ganassis, Davises, Earnhardts, Yates and Pettys.  Lost sponsors, mergers, and perhaps lost manufacturers have placed the future of these teams in peril.

The one that will hurt the worst and put a mighty large black eye on the sport will be the loss of or merger of the Petty organization.

Petty.  It all started with Lee, then Richard, on to Kyle, and should now be Adam.  The longest running NASCAR team in history (I think) is in trouble, big trouble.  It began when the company had to move their shop from Level Cross, NC to Mooresville, NC in order to entice potential employees (a 67 mile difference in drive).  The organization’s troubles came to a boil when they had to sell majority ownership to an outside company in order to stay financially competitive.  Then they lost their primary sponsor for their primary driver, a former Cup champion, no less.  Compounded with the fact that Kyle was making races and we all saw the writing on the wall: The Petty’s are in trouble.

Now we are reading and hearing everyone report how the Petty operation is once again evolving, this time pursuing other teams to partner with.  As of today they have been rumored to be joining forces with Dale Earnhardt Inc. as well as Chip Ganassi and Gillette Evernham.  Regardless of what team they are talking to or wherever these discussions lead, it is a sad day in NASCAR.

But it isn’t just the Pettys who need to do something or face peril.  The Wood Brothers have been around almost as long (if not just as long) as the Petty family and if they don’t figure something out will be closing their doors as well.

Look at Bill Davis Racing.  Bill took Toyota on his back and carried the load during the development of the manufacturer and is looking for a merger or will be gone also.  Can’t NASCAR see that this is an epidemic?

When is Brian France going to WAKE UP and realize that if he doesn’t start helping the little guys there won’t be a Chase for the Sprint Cup we will just have a 36 race season with cars being driven by four or five car owners with less than 30 cars on the track.

Brian might not care about the little guy but when the Pettys have to close up because they can’t survive something is very, very wrong.  Is he going to wait until ALL of the seats are empty, HALF of the race cars have no sponsors because NASCAR has taken all of them to become the official “place company product here” of NASCAR, and two-thirds of the car owners, including U.S. racing history’s greatest family, are gone?  What will he do then?  Probably sell it off or try to merge with F1.

None better in the clutch than Johnson

By DAVID GREEN

Don't think, if you read my post of a week ago about Jeff Burton, that I'm fickle. I'd still love to see Jeff Burton win a Cup Series championship. But after today, it's getting more and more difficult to expect anything except a history-making title for Jimmie Johnson. And I'm OK with that, too.

The Lowe's Chevrolet driver tightened his grip on the points lead today at Martinsville with a dominant victory. With four races to go, he has 149 points on his closest challenger. Barring a collapse in the remaining events, Johnson will become only the second driver in NASCAR history to win three straight championships.

How can anybody not be impressed with this guy and his team?

Regardless of your opinion of the Chase, you have to admit that a driver's performance in pressure situations is critical. Regardless of your opinion of the Chase, you have to admit that nobody drives better when a championship is on the line than Johnson.

He won four races in the first Chase in 2004, including a streak of three out of four leading up to the finale at Homestead. He won two of the 10 races in the 2005 Chase and had a single victory en route to his first Cup title in 2006. He won four of the final five races last year, and now he has won twice in the first six races of this year's Chase.

Thirteen of his 39 career victories -- exactly one third -- have come in championship competition.

Whether he adds to those victory totals remains to be seen. He has yet to actually, officially clinch the record-tying third straight championship.

But surely he has proven himself one of the elite drivers of the era. If he wins this year's Cup Series title, it will render all discussion about the methodology of determining the champion moot.

Evernham Leaving His Own Team?

By Mark Young

That's right people, the latest rumor out of NASCAR is that Ray Evernham is going to leave his own organization.  This rumor has been floating around for a few weeks now with several different twists to it.  In fact a little bird told me several days before it hit the Internet that this could happen but not in the way it is being pushed since Charlotte.  Here is what I have heard......

First off we have to ask the big question of why?  Why would Ray want to leave his own team?  Well to be honest, it isn't really his team anymore.  When he merged with the Gillettte family he became the minority owner and that means he doesn't make all of the decisions.  Granted he doesn't have to spend all of his money but he also doesn't make the final decision.  Perhaps the opportunity to share the monetary burden of owning a NASCAR team wasn't as full of grandeur as it appeared?

Another reason Ray may want to get out is because of the demise of Dodge.......they are pulling out of the trucks after this season, I bet they pull out of the rest after 2009.  Maybe Ray doesn't want to have to deal with another manufacturer switch?  I doubt that is a big part of it but who knows?

Ray Evernham was a wizard as a crew chief.  He and Jeff Gordon  dominated NASCAR during the mid-90's, maybe he longs for the chance to get back to the pit box?  Who in their right mind would want to go back to that grind?  Maybe he misses the rush of it all?

Maybe Ray just wants to follow suit with Rusty Wallace, Dale Jarrett, and the slew of ex-crew chiefs who have left pit row and invaded the announcer's booth?  Granted Ray looks very comfortable and does a good job in the booth, we can't deny it.

I think that his time in the booth is only part of his move.  The big rumor I have heard says that Ray is going to split with Gillette and either go to work for, or assume some sort of ownership within another NASCAR team.  The list of struggling teams is pretty thick, Ganassi, Davis, Petty, Waltrip, and DEI are not doing very well.....maybe the challenge of helping them would be enticing?

What do you make of all this? 

A plug for underdog Jeff Burton

By DAVID GREEN

From 1997 through 2000, Jeff Burton was looking like the Next Big Thing in Winston Cup Series racing. In his second through fifth seasons with Roush Racing, Burton scored his first 15 career victories --six of them in 1999, his best season to date -- and finished fourth, fifth, fifth and third in driver points.

In 2001, though, things began to go sour for Burton in the Roush organization. He won only twice and slumped to 10th in driver standings. For the next 2-1/2 seasons, Burton was winless, and he switched to Richard Childress Racing after 18 races in the 2004 campaign. He has been with Childress ever since.

And now, in the Chase for the third straight year, Burton is within striking distance of Jimmie Johnson, the leader at the halfway point of the 10-race, championship-determining segment of the season.

Burton perhaps became better known as an activist than a racer, as he was one of the higher-profile questioners about safety in NASCAR as first Adam Petty, then Kenny Irwin Jr., then Tony Roper, and finally Dale Earnhardt were killed in crashes in NASCAR's three national touring series.

In all likelihood, it was Burton who was the target of Earnhardt's famous pronouncement on the subject at Richmond International Raceway in the fall of 2000, when he suggested that drivers who were complaining about safety ought to tie kerosene-soaked rags around their ankles, "to keep the bugs from crawling up their legs and biting their candy asses."

The blustering remark became tragically ironic about five months later.

Safety-consciousness isn't the only way in which Burton is the antithesis of what Earnhardt was. He's the consummate gentleman racer, one of a select few who, in my recollection, have never resorted to knocking a competitor out of the way in order to pass them.

Many fans see that as a weakness in a driver, and point to Burton's career total of 21 wins in comparison to the more ruthlessly aggressive Jeff Gordon, who has 81 victories in a roughly similar career span, along with four Cup Series championship titles.

I see it as an attribute, and as one good reason to cheer for Burton in the final five races of this championship drive.

Johnson is bidding for a third consecutive championship, a feat achieved only once (in 1976-77-78 by Cale Yarborough). He's 69 points ahead of Burton. Greg Biffle is third, 17 points behind Burton, and Carl Edwards is fourth, 168 points behind Johnson. It's safe to assume Johnson, Biffle -- who won the first two races of this year's Chase -- and Edwards, making headlines on and off the track the past week, will get more than their share of media and fan attention.

Meanwhile, here's a plug for articulate nice guy Jeff Burton, my personal favorite to win the 2008 Cup.

The Bump Drafting Debate

By Mark Young and Keith Ott

 

With the Presidential race heating up and having to deal with all the hype surrounding the debates, Keith and I have put together our own debate regarding NASCAR. This week’s discussion…….Bump Drafting. To some it is a necessary evil while to others it has grown into a two-headed monster. Check out what we have to say and weigh in with your thoughts.

What has NASCAR done regarding bump drafting?

Keith: NASCAR has a big dilemma with the BD because it’s big TV.  No-one confesses to wanting the big one, but it’s good TV.

Mark: NASCAR has a dilemma with BD because they have designed a car that invites drivers to do it. The big one is a result of restrictor plates, not the bumpers. Those guys would find other ways to have a big one.

Bump drafting has been used for a while? Why is it so bad now?

Keith:  There has always been the bump, but BD evolved because of the last decade’s car’s aero.  It couldn’t pass, or passing was made easier with the bump. It became accepted.

Mark: Bump drafting has been around as long as the restrictor plate. Like Keith said the aero packages NASCAR has mandated. The BD used to be an art used at the right time at the right place. It has become necessary in order to pass.

Why is bump drafting so much different now than in the past?

      Keith: BD, accepted or not, had consequences with the old car.  There was a known penalty to pay because the bumpers didn’t align back to front…caution was needed.

Mark: Like Keith mentioned, with the old-style cars the bumpers didn’t line up. Hit the guy in front too hard and you would be replacing a radiator or blow up. But NASCAR allowed teams to reinforce the bumper regions of the chassis and bump drafting became slam drafting.

Keith: The CON has no such limitation.  It still can’t pass, but, it’s a perfect bumping machine.  Everything lines up and if the car can’t race to the front…Let’s bump it up there.

Mark: I have to disagree here Keith, the CON can pass. Did you see Almirola and Earnhardt hook up and look like a missile through 3 and 4 on the high side? They bump draft because the plate levels the field engine-wise.

Keith: Just where did Amirola and Jr. finish? The draft is viable, the bump is viable, but 43 cars pretending they belong at Busch Gardens isn’t racing. Ask Carl.

But doesn’t bump drafting make for better racing?

Mark: It doesn’t create better racing. The problem is with the plate. Give these guys a little more power and then the slingshot pass will be back. Give them more power and they will spread out thus creating room to pass and, in situations where handling is an issue, will require the use of lifting the gas and using the brakes.

Keith: It’s not racing if it’s the only venue for passing.  I mean guys with all that talent, driving that closely, have to push or be pushed to the front. That’s not racing.

If you could change something at the restrictor plate tracks what would it be?

Mark: Like I mentioned in the last question, I would open the holes in the restrictor plate and let these guys really race. The pack would thin out and drafting would mean something. We would still see the bump but it would be used differently.

      Keith: I’d want softer noses, or rear panels. Something to put more thought and consequence back into the bump. 

 

Keith: What Presidential race? Tell me they are not going to make that old guy try to run! What if he goes below the yellow line?

Blocking is the culprit

By DAVID GREEN

Wow -- a race at Talladega turns into a wreckfest, and ends with a controversy. Who would've imagined?

I won't dwell on the crashes. That dead horse has been beaten into dust. But there's some lively discussion about the end of the Amp Energy 500 on David Poole's latest "Turn Lane" piece and elsewhere, so let's kick that around from a little different perspective. The problem is blocking.

This won't be well received by many readers, I'm sure, because blocking has become as much a part of NASCAR racing, especially at Daytona and Talladega, as tire smoke and gasoline fumes. It's a bogus tactic, just like the bump-and-run. It's what you resort to when you can't keep somebody from passing you any other (legitimate) way.

Don't misunderstand. I don't mean to say every driver ought to be so gentlemanly that he moves aside and opens doors for his competitors when they come up to challenge. I'm not suggesting that any driver ought to surrender the part of racetrack real estate on which his car works best just to be polite. I'm not even suggesting that any driver ought not crowd his opponent, and give him the minimum of room to get by.

I'm saying -- and so do most legitimate sanctioning bodies -- that you are allowed to make one defensive move to obstruct an opponent, and then you should hold your line. Second or subsequent moves that are made simply to block your opponent are (and should not be) permitted.

If NASCAR enacted and enforced a no-blocking rule, there'd be no need for the yellow-line rule. If NASCAR enacted and enforced a no-blocking rule, racing at Daytona and Talladega would be safer -- and would feature even more passes for position that it does now.

Of course, that would open up a big can of worms as far as fans are concerned -- just read the angry posts about favoritism with regard to enforcement of the yellow-line rule -- but, with good reason or not, fans are going to complain. So are drivers. But the problem is not having rules that demand judgment calls; the problem is inconsistent judgment.

To those who have suggested Dale Earnhardt's fatal crash was caused by blocking, I totally agree. Next to getting knocked out of position by the bump-and-run, getting blocked is one of the most frustrating things that can happen to a driver. Often, it encourages rough driving. I don't think Sterling Marlin meant to wreck Earnhardt, but he was doing his best to get past the 3 and there was contact that in all likelihood would never have been made if Earnhardt had not been blocking.

"Days of Thunder" famously gave us the "rubbin' is racin'" line. The bump-and-run and blocking are neither "rubbin'" nor "racin'" -- except in NASCAR. That's too bad.

Rambling (even more than usual)

By DAVID GREEN

The first nine weeks of school are done and I get a week off, so forgive me for a rambling contribution to our online dialogue. It's kind of hard to maintain a coherent thought. Yeah, yeah, I know, that's my normal state, but fall break spaz-out is my excuse and I'm sticking to it...

I'm wondering if Talladega can produce a finish that's substantially better than Dover or Kansas did. The three-way battle between Biffle, Kenseth and Edwards was great, and I loved Edwards' attempt to get past Johnson on the last turn -- and Johnson's cool reaction, to let him go and then do the crossover. Good stuff...

Anybody get up early to watch last weekend's Singapore Grand Prix, the first-ever night-time Formula One race? Nah, I didn't think so. Anyway, there were the usual comments about how the cars look so much different under artificial lights and so forth, but I don't think it (night racing) works as well for road or street courses. I guess I'm accustomed to endurance racing, where darkness and headlights are part of the equation; anyway, I like night racing under the lights for ovals and not so much for road or street circuits...

A couple of National Speed Sport News items caught my attention recently (not an unusual thing; NSSN rocks) -- columns by Sheena Baker, a newcomer, and the always-excellent Dave Argabright. Sheena wrote about how her passion for NASCAR, so intense in the mid-1990s, has cooled, and Dave about Tim McCreadie's resurgence in dirt late model racing after an ill-fated flirtation with NASCAR in a Richard Childress racing development deal. Maybe Congress will consider a bill to bail out disenchanted NASCAR fans. ...

I remember when NASCAR was the "next big thing" and CART/Indy car folks were in denial about the decline of their form of motor sport. Wonder what the next "next big thing" will be? I'm a big dirt-track fan, but I just don't see dirt racing rising above niche-level appeal. Heck, even dirt has gotten bigger than I'd prefer it to be. Does that make me regressive? ...

Memories of Fred Lorenzen inexplicably popped into my head the other day. I don't remember what triggered the thoughts, but suddenly I was thinking about what a kick I got out of Freddy and Richard Petty duking it out at Charlotte in the 1964 National 400. More good stuff...

Those of you who have been to Talladega, I'd like to hear your first-visit memories. Mine are how the track was so big it deceived me. It was kind of like watching a C5-A Galaxy on landing or take-off. The thing is so big, it looks as if it's barely moving. Looking up at the banking, I thought Talladega wasn't that much different from other tracks I'd been to. Then some cars came by, and I was struck by how small they looked. The track was so imposing, like the C5, and the cars didn't seem to be going as fast as they actually were...

OK. I'm better now.

Is Rusty Wallace Making A Comeback?

By Mark Young

OK, this has got to be the biggest practical joke in NASCAR this year. I have read in two different locations on the Internet that Rusty Wallace is considering making a comeback in 2009 and drive for DEI. Now I know that DEI has had a very bad week in losing the U.S. Army as the sponsor for the #8 car, along with the announcement that Paul Menard and his literal sugar Daddy are leaving for Yates Racing, but I didn’t think things were bad enough to bring Rusty out of retirement.

 

We all know that Rusty has been bad in the TV booth for ESPN this season, the addition of Dale Jarrett has relegated him to a part-time exposure status from the pit-side booth. As brother Kenny mentioned in his blog on SPEED TV’s website, Rusty is also fired up at Mark Martin’s recent success this season in a very limited schedule. He went on to say that Rusty would do well in the COT, not sure about that one either but hey he couldn’t be worse than several other drivers that come to mind.

 

Here is a crazy thought. What if Rusty was looking at the mentor/driver role Mark Martin has done the past couple of years and is considering this as a way to get his son Steven into the Cup Series? DEI needs a sponsor, Rusty has a couple in his Nationwide teams that Steven and David Stremme (soon to drive the #12 replacing Newman) drive. Could Rusty be offering his sponsors and driving services in return for his son getting a chance to drive at the Cup level?

 

We will soon find out my friends, what do you think?