Cheating is good

Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are the latest teams to get caught in the inspection drag net on the "Car of Tomorrow". They are losing their crew chiefs for 10 races.

The Daytona 500 brought the topic of cheating to the forefront again, after Michael Waltrip was caught with one of the more blantant attempts at cheating in recent years.

My question is, what exactly is "cheating"? According to everything I read, Gordon's car fit the Car of Tomorrow templates, but Nascar didn't like how the nose looked on the car, so they considered it a violation. Nascar is the judge, jury, and executioner, so they were given the same penalty that Tony Eury Jr. was given earlier this year for playing around with Junior's spoiler.

I've heard some media reports that the nose on Gordon's car was no big deal, and others that said that it was a blatant attempt to get around the rules. Either way, it seems confusing.

Or maybe it's not confusing. Maybe Nascar is finally saying that it doesn't want crew chiefs doing anything to the Car of Tomorrow. Any sort of improvement or tweaking within the specified templates will be considered cheating.

Is that a good thing? If that's the new rule, then what exactly can crew chiefs do to the car's body? Nothing? Are they left to only deal with the engine package? Nascar already mandates springs and gear now, so it's getting to the point where I'm wondering what's left.

Not to mention that Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Toyota all fit the same template now. The only difference is the shape of the front grill. How long before that is mandated too?

It seems like Nascar is headed to a point where they supply the exact same cars to every team, the only difference will be the engine, and the decal that says "Chevy" or "Toyota".

Personally, I like the idea of stock car racing, not IROC racing where all the cars are identical.

And I like that crew chiefs try to find obscure, innovative, or sneaky ways within the rules to gain an advantage. If two competing cars fit the template, but one crew chief has discovered a slight edge by tweaking the nose, why shouldn't he get to enjoy that advantage?

For all the screaming about cheating, I think fans are going to be sorry when Nascar gets to that day where nothing can be done to improve the car's. So be careful what you wish for.