Mark Martin does not win the Daytona 500, but he almost does. In a questionable decision by Nascar not to throw a caution after a last lap crash, Kevin Harvick passed Mark Martin and won the Daytona 500. Mark Martin reacted in typical Mark Martin fashion, with absolute class. He said that was the call that was made by Nascar and he would not question their call.
My thoughts – Should a caution have been thrown? OF COURSE!! Lately Nascar has been about as consistent as Britney Spears. Why would they not throw a caution? There were cars crashing and bumping all over the place, racing should have been stopped immediately, especially by Nascar’s latest pansy ass standards. If these were the old days I would see no problem with not throwing a caution, BUT it is the “kinder, gentlerâ€? Nascar and as soon as they saw a crash, the flag should be out. That is part of the problem with NASCAR, they change the rules as they see fit. I think they need to sit back and decide what Nascar is going to be. If they want to be a sport on the same level as the NFL, NBA, NHL, etc. then they need to make the rules concrete and STICK TO THEM. No “deciding factorsâ€?, no nothing. These are the rules and Nascar follows the rules. All penalties should be equal for infractions. Otherwise Nascar is really just the WWF and they can forget about ever being considered a legitimate sport with the huge mainstream following that they so crave. Viewership has been falling off, sponsors are fleeing the building and Nascar is beginning to alienate their CORE fan base. My tip for Brian France…get some consistency going before you lose the very people that made you the millions that you have today.
Posted on February 24th, 2007 by Nascar News
Filed under: Mark Martin, Nascar Races | Comments Off
Michael Waltrip, the jokester, Nascar’s funny guy got caught cheating this week. Well, not Mikey exactly, his team got caught cheating. They were caught with a fuel additive in the manifold of the 55 car during a qualifying inspection. NASCAR suspended Waltrip’s crew chief, David Hyder and his director of competition, Bobby Kennedy. They fined Hyder $100,000 and took 100 owners points and 100 driver points from Michael Waltrip. They also disqualified Michael’s qualifying score and confiscated the 55 car. Michael stood up and took full responsibility and vowed to find the individual responsible for the infraction. He stated that the additive was not approved by himself or any MWR management personnel.
Michael Waltrip has done a few interviews but the one that struck me the most was when he said that nothing Nascar could do to him would be worse than his daughter asking her mommy why daddy was cheating. Michael Waltrip said he was very close to quitting and his wife talked him into running the 150. MWR pulled out a backup car that hadn’t been tested and managed to qualify for the Daytona 500.
My opinion – just about every team in Nascar cheats one way or another. When you try to make all of the cars exactly alike the teams have to take an advantage wherever they can find one. Sometimes that involves pushing the envelope. The problem comes in when you go beyond “pushing the envelopeâ€? to “let’s hope we don’t get caughtâ€?. When you have a sport that was built by bootleggers you are going to have cheating. I am actually amazed that Nascar came down so hard. Especially since Michael Waltrip has been such a positive emissary for the “sportâ€? of Nascar. I have some opinions about why this crackdown happened, but that will be another post. For now, I want to say that I wish Michael Waltrip the best of luck for the Daytona 500 and the rest of the race year.
Posted on February 18th, 2007 by Nascar News
Filed under: Michael Waltrip, Nascar Races | Comments Off
I have spent the last week reading in disbelief all of the nasty things going on in Nascar. I am going to make a seperate post for each individual driver, however, the first thing I wanted to talk about is the new points system.
The changes:
- 12 drivers in the chase – no more 400 points cutoff, the top 12 drivers after race 26 are in the chase
- Chase drivers set at 5,000 – Each driver that makes the Chase will be set at 5,000 points and then reseeded based on wins
- 10 point bonus for each win – Each Chase driver gets 10 points added to his 5,000 for each win during the first 26 races
- Each win is 185 points – That is five points more than previous years. Now it is possible for the winning driver to score 25 points more than the 2nd place driver.
Will the points change help Nascar? My opinion, I’ve never liked the points system. I think the driver that wins the most races should be the Champion. I understand that Nascar is trying to have a “playoff season�, but I think in doing so they may be alienaing their core fan base. People who have loved Nascar for years are not interested now. Why? Because of the points systems, rule changes and the impending “Car of Tomorrow� doom. I don’t like points and I don’t believe there are many that do.
Posted on February 18th, 2007 by Nascar News
Filed under: Nascar Races | Comments Off
