The New Bristol?

I tuned in to watch the usual Bristol fireworks, and a race broke out. What happened? After the exciting racing in the Busch race, I was expecting an action packed Cup race. The race was enjoyable based on what your definition of "action" was.

The old Bristol track had one groove, and cars were going fast, so the only way to pass someone was to bump, bang, and gouge your way past them. The result was more or less like organized mayhem, or "Ben Hur" style chariot races. There were frequent yellow flags, frequent cars spinning out into the wall, and always angry drivers after the race.

Bristol replaced its old concrete track with a new progressively banked concrete track. The goal was to make more than one groove to race in. If that was the ultimate goal, then mission accomplished. In Saturday's race, we saw cars driving side by side all night long.

There were a few problems though. One, the race was dominated completely first by Kasey Kahne, and later by Carl Edwards. Whatever action there was on the track, it was never around the leader.

Second, the racing bore no resemblance to the "typical" Bristol race. The main draw to the old track was that its "flaws" created a unique racing experience. Now those flaws are gone, and the new progressive banking turned Bristol into a smaller Homestead.

Maybe the problem was the combination of the new track, the new Car of Tomorrow, and a Goodyear tire that seemed a little too durable. Fresh tires seemed to provide little benefit. The old ones just wouldn't wear out enough.

I'm all for side by side racing, and driver safety, and fewer cautions. But I also admit that much of the excitement of Bristol racing seemed missing last night. I wonder if Bristol will continue to be the hardest ticket on the Nascar circuit. I wonder if the next Cup race will live up to the last Busch race. I wonder if Nascar is nervous about how easy some drivers made it around the track all night, and will try something like softer tires to add some strategy.

After the race, the drivers were all smiles, which is the surest sign that something is wrong at Bristol.

Bristol Busch: Two wide racing, Kyle Busch robbed

The racing at Bristol for the Busch race was really good. Much better than in previous years. Cars were easily able to race two wide, and sometimes even three wide. The trucks enjoyed similar racing Wednesday night, so there should be a lot of racing action for Saturday night's Cup race.

Speaking of which, congratulations to Johnny Benson for winning the truck race. He is a class act, and all around nice guy. It's great to see him having success in the truck series.

The big story from the Busch race was the bizarre ruling against Kyle Busch. I'm not a "Rowdy Busch" fan, as a matter of fact, any race that Kyle is in, he's usually not among my top 40 favorite drivers in the race. Nonetheless, Nascar's ruling against him was terrible, and could have easily been corrected.

Busch seemed to have one of the better cars, and was a strong contender to win. Then, under a yellow flag, he faked diving to pit road, and pulled back on the track. Nascar decreed that he made a commitment line violation, and penalized him, effectively moving him from the front to the rear. A move that he would never recover from.

The bizarre part is that the replay immediately showed that Nascar's ruling was completely wrong. Busch obviously did not touch the commitment line, or the cone.

Why couldn't Nascar correct their mistake? Everyone saw the bad call. Nascar uses videotape all the time to determine positions, especially under caution. And given the length of cautions, would it have killed Nascar to take another minute to rectify their blatantly blown call?

The entire episode was very strange, and fueled the usual conspiracy theories. If that call had been made against Junior or Gordon, would Nascar have bothered to fix it?

Nascar has had a few odd calls this year. It's fine to screw up now and then, but it's not ok to let the mistake stand, when it would be simple to correct it.

Watkins Glen: DEI dilemma

Watkins Glen provided a wonderful day of exciting and eventful racing. Anyone who calls for the removal of Watkins Glen from the schedule has obviously never attended a race here. The setting is beautiful, including the northern approach to the town, driving through miles of vineyards down the shore of Lake Seneca. The facility is great, and improved in some matter every year. Access is relatively painless. Even the pre-race flyover is the best of any track I've been to.

Furthermore, the Car of Tomorrow seems to really suit road racing. Case in point being Tony Stewart, who was able to survive a mid-race spinout, and still have the chance to get his car back up through the field. If he had been running the old car style, there's no way he could have passed 20 cars in that span of time.

Jeff Gordon appeared to have the race won, but he made the same mistake Stewart did, wheel-hopping off the track in Turn 1. Unfortunately for Gordon, his mistake came with two laps left, and no time to recover.

The other excitement was provided by a late race skirmish between Montoya and Harvick. The real culprit being Truex, who nudged Montoya in the corner, causing him to take out Harvick in the process.

The untold story of the day is the situation with Junior, Truex, and DEI. Junior was already in danger of missing The Chase, and his blown engine on Sunday knocked him back to 14th place in the standings, 4 points behind Newman in 13th, and 100 points behind Kurt Busch in the 12th and final Chase spot. His teammate Truex is in 11th, 158 points ahead of Junior.

A 100 point deficit with 4 races before The Chase is not insurmountable, but it's also getting to the point where it has to be a big concern for DEI. Or is it? With Junior jumping ship at the end of the year, would DEI rather see its marquee #8 car in The Chase, or would it rather see Truex get in, given that Truex will likely still be driving for DEI in 2008 and beyond?

This is just a rhetorical question, since both teams will be battling to get in. DEI has always revolved around Junior, with the other drivers being "the other drivers". It will be interesting to see how it plays out over the next month or so. Will there be a shift in resources and rooting interests at DEI? Will the employees be happier to see their committed driver make The Chase? Is Junior already starting to be considered a lame duck driver in the DEI camp?

In an ideal world, DEI would get the #1 and the #8 in The Chase, but if it comes down to those two teams battling each other for the final position, it could be surprising to see where DEI loyalties fall.

Pocono Race Report: Good weekend for the Busches

A 500 mile race at Pocono reminds me of watching a baseball game, it's more of a pastime than anything else. You're rarely, if ever, on the edge of your seat. You find yourself settling back, half paying attention, doing other things while the race is on in the background. You can mow the lawn, come back 20 laps later, and not much has changed.

One of the great mysteries of Nascar is why the gates are padlocked at Rockingham, a track with awesome racing action, while we spend 1,000 miles a year drowsily watching cars go around this dull 2.5 mile triangle.

The race this weekend was no exception. Kurt Busch seemingly led every lap (not really, but not far off). On each restart, the cars immediately spread out, and any passing was done more as a matter of attrition and superior horsepower than driving skill. Kurt Busch had the best engine package and downforce, therefore his victory was a foregone conclusion, just like a baseball game that is 13-1 in the 5th inning.

Junior made the race mildly interesting by once again unloading a horrible race car, then making wholesale seat-of-his-pants changes to it. Really, I have no idea why Junior bothers to test anywhere, it seems like they use the first half of each race as their test session. They actually changed the shocks under yellow, staying on the lead lap, and suddenly went from a back marker to a front runner. However, it was still not enough to outlast Kurt Busch, who drove the Blue Deuce to its first victory in quite a long time.

The race put Kurt Busch into 12th place in the standings, just 7 points ahead of Junior. The driver who should be more worried is Martin Truex Jr., who is only 38 points ahead of Busch, in 11th place.

As good a day as it was for Kurt, Kyle Busch may have had a better day, rumored to have signed with Joe Gibbs Racing. To borrow an old cliche, Kyle has a million dollar foot, and a ten cent head. If any Nascar owner has found the magic to get the best out of a talented but sociopathic driver, it is Joe Gibbs. And Tony Stewart is Exhibit A.

Gibbs seems to find the perfect blend of tough love and live and let live mentality. If Kyle can't find success at Gibbs, it's hard to imagine where else he could go after that to give him a better shot. JGR may be the perfect time and place for Kyle Busch to finally grow up.

Busch Report Montreal: Go away Robby Gordon

This race was absolultely ridiculous. A great afternoon of racing ruined by Robby Gordon, and terrible officiating by Nascar.

First, the good...Montreal provided a memorable setting and a beautiful track, along with legions of avid race fans. The event was a lot of fun, and looked great on TV. The international flavor of the road course ringer drivers was cool too.

The bad...Caution laps took forever. Good lord, the last 10 laps of the race took almost an hour. Circling a 2.7 mile track at 30 MPH provides for a lot of dead air time.

The ugly...Robby Gordon. Period. This guy has been a scourge on Nascar for far too long now. Get rid of him, please.

The racing was pretty good throughout. With 10 laps to go, all hell broke loose. There was a huge pileup of cars from about 5th place on back. At the front of the field, Gordon and Ambrose were battling for the lead as the caution flag flew. It was hard to tell who was in the lead at the point of yellow, but Gordon muscled past Ambrose, and Ambrose retaliated by spinning out Gordon.

The cars lined up behind the pace car, with Ambrose in the lead. Gordon was farther back in line, but started passing the field under yellow until he caught up to Ambrose and rammed his rear bumper. The two drivers menaced each other as they drove around for what seemed like 20 minutes under caution.

Finally, Nascar ruled that Ambrose was the race leader. They told Robby Gordon to go back to 12th place. Gordon refused to go back, and maintained his spot in 2nd. Nascar allowed the race to go green with Gordon right behind Ambrose, even though it was obvious what Gordon's plan was. Sure enough, the green flew, and Gordon immediately wrecked Ambrose from behind.

The last two laps of the race were a bizarre circus of Robby Gordon out in front, ignoring the black flag, while Harvick "won" the race behind Gordon. Both cars did side by side burnouts, as Gordon continued his charade that he won the race.

The real loser is Ambrose, who would have won easily, and gave the classiest post-race interview I've ever heard under the circumstances.

Nascar officials are totally to blame for this fiasco. There is absolutely no way that they should have allowed the race to go green until Gordon was back in his proper position, especially since everyone knew that Gordon was planning to wreck the leader. Nascar turned the finish of an exciting positive race into something that looked like a staged WWF conclusion.

The legitimate winner of the race, Ambrose, had no chance to win because Nascar allowed a car to wreck him. A car that should have been back in 12th place.

Robby Gordon's act is so old and tired, it's amazing to me that Nascar allows him on the track. How many times has he been "on probation"? It's one thing for a talented driver like Stewart to behave like a child at times, but Gordon flouts the rules more than any driver and his talent level is far too low to compensate for that. His arrogance and disrespect for the sport is tiresome.

No one goes to a race to see Robby Gordon. No one cares how he finishes. Gordon's only contribution to Nascar is to wreak havoc on races and racers every year. Nascar should park Gordon for a very long time. He brings nothing to the sport.

Personally, I'd love to see Gordon banned for at least long enough to drop him from 27th in the Cup standings to out of the top 35. There is talk tonight that he may not be allowed to race at Pocono. Let's hope that Nascar finally has the stomach to crack down on Gordon. It's long overdue.

Erin Crocker's Legacy

I share a hometown and an alma mater with Erin Crocker, so I've been following her fledgling Nascar career with some interest. Being from the Northeast, there has been virtually zero coverage of her in the local press, which is amazing given the usual fanfare given to any dubious achievements of local people. The fact that she has maintained her anonymity is a testament to how little my media outlets care about Nascar.

When I read last year that Ray Evernham had signed her, and put her on a fast track to success, I was really excited. I watched all her early Busch races, cringing each week as she either was over matched, or roughed up by the Busch regulars. Shortly thereafter, she was demoted to the Truck series, and it was more of the same. She qualified pretty well, but it was obvious that she was out of her league, or maybe just pushed too far, too fast. She crashed often, and was rarely able to stay on the lead lap.

Still, it was nice to imagine that maybe she was a natural, and would soon be representing my small home town in the Daytona 500. In 2007, or 2008, or beyond.

Then came the pictures of her always at Ray Evernham's side. Sitting with him on pit road on Sundays. Then the rumors. Then the accusations of Jeremy Mayfield. At first, I was disgusted with the allegations. As if a woman could never be judged on her talent, there had to be some cheap innuendo about her being romantically involved with her older boss. But pretty quickly, it was obvious that the rumors were true.

She disappeared from the Nascar radar screen as quickly as she arrived. Let's face it, the standard press coverage of Nascar is about as controversial as Pravda. They toe the party line. Evernham's personal relationship with her was rarely mentioned, nor were the business implications.

I lost track of Crocker this year. I had to search to find that she was dropped down to Arca, and was trying to work her way back up that way.

This week, the mainstream media finally got wind of the juicy story of the Evernham-Crocker situation, and there have been a few articles about it. The whole situation has felt very uncomfortable, fraught with conflicts of interest, and poor judgment.

The final straw, in my estimation, came this week when Evernham publicly admitted that Crocker should drive for someone else, and he made the outrageous claim that Crocker was somehow a "good role model" for female drivers trying to make it in Nascar.

Nothing could be further from the truth, and I'm embarrassed for both Crocker and Evernham. Crocker has singlehandedly set back the cause of any woman who is trying to break into Nascar. Women were not taken seriously to begin with, and now it will be even worse. What will the Nascar community think about the next young talented female driver who signs a contract with a rich male owner?

What if Evernham identifies an amazing young talented driver next year, who happens to be attractive and female? Could he possibly sign her? Or would the implications be too great for him to handle?

Every female developmental driver will have to bear the stigma of proving that they got their chance with their driving skills, and not because they are involved personally with their male boss. Crocker-Evernham's situation has played into every hackneyed old stereotype under the sun.

Evernham and Crocker are entitled to their personal relationship, that is no one's business but theirs. At the same time, it has no place being maintained between a boss-employee in a high profile business like Nascar. Crocker should have immediately resigned, and driven for someone else, anyone else, while she was involved with Evernham.

Maybe someone else will sign Crocker. Maybe she will pan out as a good driver someday. But she will have a very long way to go to undo the damage that she has done to the future of female Nascar drivers. At this point, no up and coming female racer would want to be tagged with being "the next Erin Crocker", and that's a shame.