A Voice For The Fans ~ Spinners And Sinners: Breaking The Rules Of NASCAR
9/10/2013
PattyKay
Lilley
Good day
gentle readers, and welcome to the week before the "Chase" begins...
but that's another column. This one is all about the uproar caused by both
races at Richmond on the weekend now behind us. Both nights, I watched with a
friend and we discussed some aspects of each race. Actually, there was little
to discuss about the Nationwide race on Friday night.
It is easily summed up in two words... Brian Scott. Young Scott started from
the pole and led 239 laps, never being headed until a late caution (Fancy
that!) brought about a restart.
Starting
next to Brian was Brad Keselowski, the reigning Cup Champion. It may be safe to
say that Brian never had a chance. Keselowski certainly had experience on his
side, both in seat time and collecting warnings for jumping starts. The
inevitable happened and it was Brad, not Brian in Victory Lane, having led the
final eleven laps of the evening. Controversy? Oh, to
be sure. Fans quickly lined up on all social networks shouting "Tastes
Great" on one side and "Less Filling" on the other. Columns galore
from many of my brethren in the print media filled the Internet and what
newspapers remain today on Sunday morning. "Brad jumped the start and the
win should be taken away." "Brian spun his tires and Brad couldn't
wait all day for him to get going."
Fast
Forward to Saturday night.
Same scenery, same backdrop, just faster cars... the Cup race
at Richmond; the race to decide once and for all who is in or out of that
"Chase" thing. (More on that at a later date) This one was a
better race and held our attention through most of it. Nearing the end, it
looked as though Ryan Newman had the race well in hand, when the now familiar
and seemingly inevitable late caution flew... not for debris, to which we've
become accustomed, but for a spin by #15, Clint Bowyer, driver for Michael
Waltrip Racing. Immediately, the statisticians in the TV booth are all over
this one because "It might have Chase implications."
Those
implications are well known to everyone with a radio or TV by now. The caution
changed the starting order a bit and consequently changed the order of finish
just enough that Newman, who had been leading and "in" the Chase, was
then "out" by virtue of a third place finish. Out also, by losing one
finishing position, was four-time Champion, Jeff
Gordon. The car that finished just ahead of Gordon? Martin Truex, from Michael Waltrip Racing. Conspiracy theorists came out of the
woodwork like cockroaches following a ballroom feast at Valhalla.
OK, so
MWR doesn't have a squeaky clean record as far as rule-bending goes. Theirs is,
in fact, muddier than a hog wallow, so suspicion might well be justified. Many
are offering statements made following the race by Dale Earnhardt Jr. as proof
that something was "fishy" with Bowyer's spin. Um...
Junior is a teammate to whom? Oh, that would be Jeff Gordon. Would he have
reason to fan the flames in this instance? I'd say at least as much reason as
Bowyer might have had for spinning. Let's just say most coins have two sides,
and some folks have two faces.
NASCAR
is "looking into it."
And
then, there was that restart itself. Did Carl Edwards
jump the start on Menard? Well, upon further review, and at least two dozen
views of the replay, it would appear so. Would someone in the scoring tower be
able to see that with the naked eye and flag it for a restart that probably
would no longer involve Edwards? Not likely. I view that much like some of the
instant replay changes in the NFL. If you can't see it without slo-mo, let it go. It's a game for heaven sake, not a
life-altering situation!
This
scribe has offered this simple solution before, but it seems to fall on deaf
ears, so I'll try one more time. Mr. Helton; Mr. Darby... Mike and John, you
have those scoring loops; I know you have because you told me so. Why not just
do the logical thing and use THEM to
tell you if there is a jumped start. It's all there, electronically recorded
for you... or should be. That one doesn't even involve freezing the field at
some imaginary point in time. Transponders on each car record exactly when that
car crosses a designated line. If the wrong car shows up first, it's black flag
time. Wouldn't that be far easier than leaving the start up to a bunch of
hot-headed racers all going for the win at the end of a race? You have the
technology. For goodness sake, use it!
NASCAR
is "looking into it."
No word
on whether they are also looking into the Nationwide
situation.
Predicted
outcome? Everything stands as written. Really, at this juncture, would anyone
expect something different? Does any "rational" fan think that NASCAR
is now going to go back and rearrange the Chase drivers by taking anyone out or
putting someone else in? That, gentle readers, just won't happen, and I for
one, can't fault them for that. For the second time this year, a simple
solution to handling a jumped start has been suggested here. Let's see if
anyone pays attention this time. As to the spin... well, back in the Stone Age,
when I was a girl, we called that the "designated spinner." It's
nothing new; it goes back through the decades, not always involving teammates,
but on many occasions friends... and a few "paid
friends" as well. It's not a penalty often called, as it's almost
impossible to prove... and drivers are all capable of telling "fibs."
We are
looking at the Chase field my friends, like it or not. One thing though, I will
point out. Four-time Champion Jeff Gordon is not in the 2013 Chase.
Three-time
Champion Tony Stewart is not in the 2013 Chase.
Reigning
Cup Champion Brad Keselowski is not in the 2013 Chase.
Perennial
Championship threat Denny Hamlin is not in the 2013 Chase
In my
considered opinion, no matter who wins the title in 2013, it should come with
an asterisk noting that this year's Champion did not beat the best.
Be well
gentle readers, and remember to keep smiling. It looks so good on you.
~
PattyKay