If you've never visited Thunder Valley I would highly recommend it. They don't call it the fastest half mile in the world for nothing. I've been to just about every style of NASCAR track there is and you just can't beat that short track racing. For those of you who just watch racing for the wrecks you might not get what you're looking for here. The wrecks aren't spectacular but the racing is. And even though I preferred the racing on the old surface and banking, the new track is still far better than going to Charlotte and watching them play follow the leader for 600 miles. The new progressive banking and concrete make for 2-3 lanes of racing, which is a good thing. The old bump-and-run that we used to see at every Bristol race is no longer an effective or needed move, at least not yet. Give them a little time to wear that new concrete in and I bet you'll see it again. I hope so.
While the racing is always good, there was no question who held the dominance in Tennessee this weekend. Kyle Busch had by far the best car in Saturday's Nationwide race, but a late pit mistake cost him the win. Even though it had to suck for him, it was pretty awesome to see them loosen up his car and watch him make a charge from the back of the field the last 25 laps of the race. Whether you love him or hate him you have to admit that the boy can wheel a car. I'd have to deem him the most electrifying driver in all of racing right now.
On Sunday he made up for his bad luck from the day before by spanking the rest of the field. The big eared boy wonder led 415 of 503 laps and never really left the top 3. It seems that you just can't keep the #18 down. If things keep going the way they have you'll soon see Kyle Busch start racking up some Cup Championships. And I doubt that there will just be one or two of them.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The Off Week
There are three off weekends through out the Sprint Cup season. There's nothing wrong with that as far as I can see. A break is always nice. I think it's good for the drivers, the crew, and also the fans. It means you can plan a Sunday event without having to miss a race that weekend.
My only question is why all three of these weekends come in the first half of the season. Now I can see why you wouldn't want one in the last ten weeks of the chase for the cup, that makes sense. But wouldn't it be a good idea for the sport if they used one of those off weekends right before the last ten? I can think of a few reasons why it would.
1. NASCAR is always looking for ways to gain suspense. A week before our "playoff" would do that; much like the Superbowl has a week or two break before they play.
2. It would be a good time for drivers, crews, and race teams to catch their breath before the final run at the cup. I'm sure they wouldn't mind a week to regroup.
3. And finally, and most importantly I think, it gives you a rain out buffer. I'm not 100% against finishing a race on Monday, but what if it's raining Monday? I think it just makes sense to have a weekend set aside for those "just in case" scenarios. This would be the perfect weekend to do it. 9 times out of 10 they wouldn't have to use it, but it's always good to have a plan B.
My only question is why all three of these weekends come in the first half of the season. Now I can see why you wouldn't want one in the last ten weeks of the chase for the cup, that makes sense. But wouldn't it be a good idea for the sport if they used one of those off weekends right before the last ten? I can think of a few reasons why it would.
1. NASCAR is always looking for ways to gain suspense. A week before our "playoff" would do that; much like the Superbowl has a week or two break before they play.
2. It would be a good time for drivers, crews, and race teams to catch their breath before the final run at the cup. I'm sure they wouldn't mind a week to regroup.
3. And finally, and most importantly I think, it gives you a rain out buffer. I'm not 100% against finishing a race on Monday, but what if it's raining Monday? I think it just makes sense to have a weekend set aside for those "just in case" scenarios. This would be the perfect weekend to do it. 9 times out of 10 they wouldn't have to use it, but it's always good to have a plan B.
Monday, March 9, 2009
The Yawn Factor Is High.
Every race has it's good and bad points and yesterday's race was no exception. I've always been a loyal Chevy fan, but it's good to see someone other than Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, and Carl Edwards competing for wins. My hats off to the blue deuce, those guys were unstoppable and deserved the win, and that was one of the good things. Another surprisingly good thing was that the race started less than an hour after the broadcast aired. I remember the good old days when the green flag dropped within a half an hour of the broadcast start, but those days are long gone. 45 minutes is the best I've seen in a while, and I hope they can make that happen more often this year. After all, there's only so many stupid comments that DW can make before the green flag drops and I wish someone would put a bullet in digger's head.
I also have to give some credit to the tires. Atlanta is hard on them and they seemed to hold up for the most part. By no means do I think that Goodyear has done all the right things, but it was good to see a race in Atlanta that wasn't marred but tire issues for every team.
Now the bad stuff. The race was boring. It had it's parts that were all right, but man I get tired of watching follow the leader for 500 miles. And then to make matters worse you've got an idiot chasing tires down the front stretch that ruined what was already shaping up to be a mediocre race. Common sense is not this man's forte, and had he been hit and killed it would have brought up the median IQ on pit road. I know that's harsh, and I never want to see anyone hurt but come on. If Charles Darwin ran NASCAR there wouldn't have been a yellow flag for that situation. What's it going to take to keep guys like that out of the way? Maybe next week the sanctioning body will instill a rule where all "over the wall" guys will have to wear a 25 foot tether for their own good. I really hope that his team gets a penalty of some sort because his actions were definitely detrimental to stock car racing.
But that was a one time deal. What really needs to be done is get to the "meat and potatoes" of this issue; races are too long. Why do we race 500 miles? Every NASCAR fan I know, and I know a lot of them, don't watch most races in their entirety. If they're like me they're napping after the first hundred miles, and catching the last 100. Now I'm not saying we need to take all the 500 mile races and make them 200, that would be overkill. But there isn't a single reason why 90% of the long races couldn't have 100-150 miles cut out. At the very least it would not affect anything. At the very best it would make the racing better and keep fans more interested. I don't want to watch 1000 miles of the Pocono Parade every summer. The fact that we have two races there a year is bad enough, but 1000 miles? Give me a break! I don't want to tune in at 1pm and wait to see a race finish at 6:30. I know it's tradition, but honestly NASCAR sailed that boat out to sea a long time ago. Tradition no longer means anything unless they want to use it as a crutch. It's time to shorten races. It's time to improve racing. I'm not saying that you can't keep your Daytona 500 or the Coke 600. If a race is ran 500 miles for a good reason, and the racing is good for all 500 miles then by all means leave it alone. But races like yesterdays are long and boring and it's time to make a change for the better.
I also have to give some credit to the tires. Atlanta is hard on them and they seemed to hold up for the most part. By no means do I think that Goodyear has done all the right things, but it was good to see a race in Atlanta that wasn't marred but tire issues for every team.
Now the bad stuff. The race was boring. It had it's parts that were all right, but man I get tired of watching follow the leader for 500 miles. And then to make matters worse you've got an idiot chasing tires down the front stretch that ruined what was already shaping up to be a mediocre race. Common sense is not this man's forte, and had he been hit and killed it would have brought up the median IQ on pit road. I know that's harsh, and I never want to see anyone hurt but come on. If Charles Darwin ran NASCAR there wouldn't have been a yellow flag for that situation. What's it going to take to keep guys like that out of the way? Maybe next week the sanctioning body will instill a rule where all "over the wall" guys will have to wear a 25 foot tether for their own good. I really hope that his team gets a penalty of some sort because his actions were definitely detrimental to stock car racing.
But that was a one time deal. What really needs to be done is get to the "meat and potatoes" of this issue; races are too long. Why do we race 500 miles? Every NASCAR fan I know, and I know a lot of them, don't watch most races in their entirety. If they're like me they're napping after the first hundred miles, and catching the last 100. Now I'm not saying we need to take all the 500 mile races and make them 200, that would be overkill. But there isn't a single reason why 90% of the long races couldn't have 100-150 miles cut out. At the very least it would not affect anything. At the very best it would make the racing better and keep fans more interested. I don't want to watch 1000 miles of the Pocono Parade every summer. The fact that we have two races there a year is bad enough, but 1000 miles? Give me a break! I don't want to tune in at 1pm and wait to see a race finish at 6:30. I know it's tradition, but honestly NASCAR sailed that boat out to sea a long time ago. Tradition no longer means anything unless they want to use it as a crutch. It's time to shorten races. It's time to improve racing. I'm not saying that you can't keep your Daytona 500 or the Coke 600. If a race is ran 500 miles for a good reason, and the racing is good for all 500 miles then by all means leave it alone. But races like yesterdays are long and boring and it's time to make a change for the better.
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