Fan's Eye View ~ Three Black Eyes For NASCAR At Richmond
9/10/2013
Jim Fitzgerald
This weekend at Richmond was the chance for NASCAR, as a sport and an organization, and come to the forefront, being some of the main stories of the sports headlines. The opening game of the NFL had already taken place, the races were run on Friday and Saturday night with no direct NFL opposition, The Chase for The Championship was due to be set, and it was a night race on a short track. Everything was in play for NASCAR to grab some headlines.
Grab headlines it did.
It began on Friday night when on the final restart of the Nationwide race, it appeared that Brad Keselowski jumped the final restart and secured the win over Brian Scott, who had led almost every lap of the race up to that point. NASCAR did not see fit to throw the black flag on Keselowski, as it had done a few years ago to Carl Edwards at Richmond, or Jimmie Johnson earlier this year at Dover. Instead, NASCAR let the restart stand, as well as the eventual finish. The commentators on television questioned it, and twitter was ablaze with comments from those who agreed and disagreed with the call.
On Saturday night, the controversy showed its ugly face again. On the final restart of the evening, it appeared as if Carl Edwards beat the leader, Paul Menard, to the start finish line by almost a full car length. The rule states, in cases such as this, that as long as the at-the-time second place driver gives the position back to the then-leader, and then resumes racing, all will be forgiven. Jimmie Johnson did not give the position back in Dover in the spring, and Carl Edwards did not give it back on Saturday night at Richmond. Johnson was penalized. Edwards was not. He went on to win the race and execute the signature backflip celebration.
But before that even happened, there was a reason for that late restart.
NASCAR’s Chase For The Championship is locked off after the event at Richmond in September. The top ten drivers in points will advance into the “playoff” system and have a shot at the Championship. They are reseeded by scoring three points per win which they accrued during the regular season, from the Daytona 500 in February until the checkered flag fell at Richmond. In addition to these ten drivers, there is also a “wild card” system, where two drivers from outside of the top ten can also enter the field of drivers eligible to win the Championship. The two drivers with the most wins who are the highest in points will transfer into the playoff field as well. On Saturday night, with ten laps to go, it was Ryan Newman and Jeff Gordon in the Chase, while Martin Truex, Jr. and Joey Logano were out. At least that’s how it was with ten laps remaining.
A few laps later, the No. 15 Toyota of Clint Bowyer spun coming out of the fourth turn, causing the final caution of the evening. When pit stops were completed, the race restarted, the final lap completed, and the dust settled, it was Logano and Truex, Jr. who were in, and Gordon and Newman who were out.
Immediately, it started. As Truex, Jr. and Bowyer are team mates, and Bowyer was already locked into the post season and had nothing to lose, did he spin the car on purpose to help his team mate try to secure a better finish, thus getting into the Chase for the Championship as well?
After the race, the accusations flew. Fingers were pointed and lips were pouted out. There was acceptance and denial, celebration and dejection, and understanding and frustration. That was just in the garage and pit area. Above all else was what was going on outside of the track. On a weekend when NASCAR should have been in the positive light, three instances on two separate days left a black eye which could take weeks, perhaps years, to heal. NASCAR, from its most humble beginnings as a sport organized and competed in by outlaws to the ever changing rule book and inconsistencies in the enforcement of it, is always under scrutiny for reasons of credibility. Now, after this past race weekend, not one, not two, but three separate actions have not only the mainstream media questioning that credibility, but its own competitors and fans. In fact, it might appear to the outsider or casual fan that sometimes the only consistent thing about NASCAR is the inconsistency.
Sounds like politics…
NASCAR officials have to make judgment calls, and they have to do them under immense pressure and usually on the fly at high speed. Sometimes those judgments are deemed correct, and other times, well, you have what we have going on today. Two judgment calls were made on the fly this weekend regarding the restarts, and both were allowed to stand as executed. As far as Bowyer spinning on purpose, we have been told that NASCAR is “looking into it.”
Okay, while NASCAR is looking into it, anyone with a vested
interest in the sport throughout the rest of the world has already tried the
case in the court of public opinion. Innocent. Guilty.
Undecided. Indifferent. We are interested in your opinion of the
events of the weekend at Richmond. Feel
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