Spingate, Restarts, And The Chase
9/13/13
Kevin Abraham
This week has been marred by actions preformed in
the Sprint Cup race in Richmond. This
past weekend’s race was not the most exciting ever watched, but it has more
drama than a TNT show. We had four
drivers competing for two spots in the Chase: Joey Logano, Jeff Gordon, Ryan
Newman and Martin Truex, Jr. At lap 393
of 400, it looked like Ryan Newman was going to win his second race of the
year, thus guaranteeing a wild-card when Clint Bowyer mysteriously spun and
brought out a caution. Bowyer was by himself,
and after reviewing the replays, there is no question that he looped it on
purpose. After the caution was coming to
an end, both Bowyer and his teammate Brian Vickers were brought to pit road. Vickers was confused by the orders given to
him by spotter Ty Norris, but he obeyed after Norris said that Vickers had a
tire going down. Both Michael Waltrip
Racing cars stayed on pit road until Joey Logano passed them on the track. This was done due to Jeff Gordon being one
point ahead of Joey Logano for tenth in points.
This was significance was that Logano had a win, and Gordon did
not. If Logano finished eleventh in
points, it meant he would be able to use the wild-card to enter the Chase, and
Truex, Jr. would have been out. When the
race ended, Logano finished in tenth in points, Jeff Gordon finished eleventh
without a win, and Truex, Jr., and Newman finished tied for twelfth in points,
with Truex, Jr. holding the tie breaker.
As soon as the race ended, questions were raised
about actions on the track that night.
NASCAR announced that they would review what happened and go from
there. After 48 hours, NASCAR ruled that
Michael Waltrip racing did in fact use team orders to try to get Martin Truex, Jr. into the Chase.
They made it a point to make sure something like this never happened
again. NASCAR fined Michael Waltrip
$300,000, docked each MWR driver 50 ‘pre-chase’ points, along with each MWR
team 50 owner points. They also placed
MWR’s three crew chiefs on probation for the rest of the year, and suspended Ty
Norris indefinitely. The point deduction
allowed Ryan Newman into the Chase, and removed Martin Truex, Jr., but the
point deductions did not make a difference for Clint Bowyer or Brian
Vickers. NASCAR did nothing for Jeff
Gordon, who is the one that lost the most in this situation, due to having a
top ten in the Chase in sight, only to have it taken away by MWR manipulating
the race.
Many times this fan has accused NASCAR of favoring
Hendrick Motorsports, but after this past week, that is no longer the
case. NASCAR did right in penalizing MWR
for its actions on the track, but to not to add Jeff Gordon as a thirteenth
driver into the Chase due to the cheating, is ridiculous. NASCAR needs to re-evaluate the whole story,
and make it completely right for all involved.
Speaking of NASCAR making things right, they need to
strip Carl Edwards of his Sprint Cup win and Brad Keselowski of his Nationwide win at Richmond last weekend. Both drivers on the last restart of the race
passed the leader of the race before the Start/Finish line, and neither gave
the position back, and according to past precedent by NASCAR, both should have
been black flagged for jumping the start.
The rightful winners of both races was Brian Scott in the Nationwide
race, and Kurt Busch in the Sprint Cup race.
This is an atrocity that has been covered up due to the blatant cheating
done by MWR.
The final topic today is the start of the Chase this
week. What should we expect to see this
weekend? First look for Jimmie Johnson
to ‘magically’ come out of the slump of the last few weeks, and watch for him
to contend. Second, watch for on-track
retaliation to the MWR cars for trying to point fix at Richmond. Do not be surprised if one or more of those
Toyotas are involved in incidents.
Third, keep an eye on Kurt Busch.
Busch has something to prove, and making the Chase with a single car
team is not all he wants out of this season.
Kurt wants to win. Watch for him
to contend for the win this weekend.
Finally, remember that no matter what happens this week, the wild-card
in the Chase, Talladega is still coming up. If your favorite driver has a rough
start to the Chase, there is still a chance for them to make up lost ground.
What are your thoughts about this past weekend’s
race? Also who is your pick to win the
Chase this year? Please share your
thoughts below.
I can be found on Twitter @Kevdogg329