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A Six Pack Down And A Thirty Pack Left To Go (Or Some Thoughts On The 2017 Season So Far) 04/06/2017 |
I
am a believer in NASCAR, regardless of the fact that I disagree with some of
their decisions as to what makes ‘good’ racing versus ‘bad’ racing. This sport did not become what it is, or
currently isn’t, because a bunch of dummies were in charge. Well, at least for the most part.
First
of all, I want to extend my congratulations to Brad Keselowski for his
impressive come from behind win Sunday at Martinsville. Kyle Busch had the best car all day, but Brad
got to the front when it counted. I do
not feel too bad for Busch, getting bumped from the lead when Ricky Stenhouse
Jr., fighting to remain on the lead lap, tangled with Kyle and allowed
Keselowski into the lead. Mr. Busch,
you’ve been around long enough to know that just because you’re hardly ever in
Ricky’s position, it doesn’t mean that Ricky doesn’t have the right to race you
hard to stay on the lead lap. It’s
called racing for a reason. To
paraphrase a line from an old sit com, “Work is called work. You have to work. If it wasn’t work, we’d just call it
wonderful happy fun time.” Kyle, racing
is racing. You fight for every
position. Just because you’re in the
lead doesn’t mean that cars on the tail end of the lead lap should stay the
heck out of your way, unless it’s the last lap, and the driver you are trying
to pass won’t actually lose a position.
Ricky
finished 10th, by the way.
That entanglement with Busch got him a pretty good finish, when the day was
done.
Congratulations
to Chase Elliot, who won what I think will be the first of many grandfather
clocks in the Truck Series race on Saturday.
Chase drove a smart race both days, and his first Cup victory is going
to come this year, and if not, I will be greatly surprised.
NASCAR
has achieved probably as close to manufacturer parity as they can hope for so
far in the first six points races of 2017.
All 3 brands have won, with Ford with 3 wins, Chevrolet with 2, and
Toyota with 1. Compared to the last few years, Ford is getting its best start
for a Cup season in a long time. Last
year, it seemed that Toyotas dominated, though a Chevy ended up winning the
championship. This year, unless NASCAR
makes some drastic changes, which can never be ruled out, Ford stands a chance
of winning a championship in 2017. Ford
hasn’t done that since Brad Keselowski won the whole shooting match in
2012. (Please note, I’m not talking
about the Manufacturers’ Championship here, I’m talking about the manufacturer
the Cup Champion drives for.)
I
can’t say that I’m a fan of the stages yet.
The one redeeming value that they might have is that they infuse a bit
of excitement in the middle stages of the races, since drivers will fight to be
at least in the top 10 at the end of a stage.
My main criticism remains that cautions, whether because of accidents,
debris, or should they are planned, are not always a good thing in any race.
Cautions break the rhythm and momentum of the race. Cautions also breed cautions, as Larry McReynolds
will be happy to tell you. One of the
most terrifying moments in any race is a restart. You have up to 40 drivers all hard on the gas
pedal at the instant the green flag flies.
Accidents will and do occur, as we have seen over and over. Adding extra cautions, in my opinion, does
not exactly enhance safety. It’s
exciting to watch the drivers race for stage points, but I’m not sure it’s
worth it from a total safety standpoint.
Speaking
of safety, I really don’t understand NASCAR’s fetish with pit road
speeding. Drivers are penalized when
their speed is even a fraction over the speed limit on pit road, and NASCAR
knows about it, because it seems they have loops every few feet now. On Sunday at Martinsville, several drivers
were mystified how they could have been speeding, when they had dialed in pit
road speed during practice, and several seemed to believe they were under the
maximum when NASCAR tagged them for it.
I understand why NASCAR does it, but penalizing drivers for going maybe
1 mph over the limit and potentially costing them a win and valuable points
seems ludicrous. Most bored police
officers, even here in the South will give you a few over the limit before they
hit the lights! Safety is all important,
but I have a feeling that by the end of 2017 there will be more than a few
drivers smarting over some of the speeding penalties they’ve already incurred
even this early in the season.
(Editor’s note: NASCAR allows drivers to
exceed the posted pit road speed by 5 miles per hour before assessing
penalties. Drivers all know this, so 6 mph over the speed limit will garner a
penalty every time)
To
NASCAR’s credit, I think the actual racing this year has been good. Last week’s race at Martinsville featured
some spectacular racing, but then again, Martinsville races have almost always
been a delight to watch. I like short
tracks, and sometimes wish there more tracks like Martinsville or Bristol on
the schedule. I wish Darlington still
had another date, but that’s something I’ll save for later. 1.5-mile tracks are NASCAR’s bread and
butter, so to speak, at least these days.
Texas will be one of those tracks, and generally, the racing in Fort
Worth is well worth seeing.
I
wish you all a happy week, and hope you’re favorite driver wins at Texas Motor
Speedway this weekend! If not, I hope
mine does!
Ok,
actually I was just being nice. I hope
my favorite driver wins. Period.