NASCAR's Lucky Logano

NASCAR rules handed Joey Logano the New Hampshire race. Don’t get me wrong. I like Joey Logano. I believe he will have a long and successful career in NASCAR. But, he was not worthy of his first win.

NASCAR’s “Lucky Dog” rule gave Joey his first win. He was the recipient of a free lap not once, but twice. Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, and others were far more deserving of getting the win. I have no quarrel with the fuel conservation strategy Joey and others used. That is part of racing. But, the gift of the “Lucky Dog” rule determined the race winner. It is such a bad rule.

Joey wasn’t even in contact with the leaders either time when he was awarded a lap back. This is called racing? This is a contrived show that NASCAR wants us to believe is a competition. It looks more and more like IROC.

For now on we must call Joey by the name “Lucky” Logano.

Double File Restarts at Infineon

NASCAR got away with the double file restarts at Pocono and Michigan with little comment from the drivers. For those two tracks was it very much different? Such wide tracks with a significant distance from the start/finish line to turn one made the double restart benign, regardless of the TNT crew gushing over them.

The next two races (Infineon and New Hampshire) may be a little more interesting. Late race restarts, when the drivers are thinking it is time to “go”, may produce a lot more beating and banging. The result of that may be some bruised drivers’ feelings. When someone up front gets turned as a result of these close restarts with only a few laps to go, expect some angry words.

This may be fun for the fans, unless your favorite is the one that lost out. I think that the double file restarts are a good thing until the race is past its half-way point. After that it needs to go single file. Fairness cannot be totally sacrificed for fan excitement.

NASCAR's "Wave Around" Gift

NASCAR’s new “wave around” policy seemed to go without problems at Pocono. TNT seemed to have a little trouble keeping up with everything that happened under caution and didn’t stress enough that these “wave around” cars were receiving a big gift. After all, they were over 2½ miles behind, then suddenly they were only 100 yards behind.

There appeared to be only a few cars that took advantage of the gift. I think that will change dramatically at a track like Bristol. At Bristol, where many cars go a lap down, we will see many cars take advantage of this racing oddity that NASCAR has invented.

I guess that NASCAR’s ultimate goal is to keep all cars on the lead lap. Is that racing? If that is what fans want then I have totally lost touch. Even if it becomes obvious that this change was a mistake NASCAR will never admit it. We are stuck with it.

NASCAR's Latest Manipulations

So, NASCAR went ahead and instituted double file restarts. This may be fun to watch. There will be unintended and very unfair consequences to this latest attempt to manipulate racing.

The most interesting thing to watch may be when lapped cars remaining on the track instead of pitting will be “waved around” the pace car to pick up a lap on the leader. Wow! Losing a lap now becomes insignificant. With so many cautions it will be easy to get a lap back.

I cannot grasp the reasoning for this change. True, those cars that did not pit started at the tail end of the lead lap ahead of the rest of the field and frequently caused fan confusion and difficulties for the race leaders. But, I can see instances where everyone a lap or more down will not pit so they can gain a lap back and hope another caution comes out quickly. Essentially, any car a lap down can become a “Lucky Dog”.

This is not racing. It’s a contrived show. Real race fans will not like it. Once, again NASCAR is showing that it cares nothing about its base fans. It’s really odd how NASCAR keeps going farther and farther away from the racing that made it a strong series. Their attempts to make things even do not ring well.

NASCAR Ruins Carl Long Team

What NASCAR has done to Carl Long is unthinkable. Essentially it has ruined his NASCAR career forever.

His crew chief, Charles Swing, will not be allowed to obtain his 2010 NASCAR license if the $200,000 fine is not paid. So, Charles Swing has been booted from NASCAR for all intents and purposes, never to return. This team doesn’t have $200,000 in their annual budget!

The basis for this fine and suspensions makes NASCAR appear to be looking for a reason to get the Carl Long team out of competition. The rule on engine size is 358.00 cubic inches. Supposedly, NASCAR will allow up to 358.09 based on heating/cooling. Carl Long’s engine was 358.17 cubic inches. So, his engine was .08 of a cubic inch over what NASCAR allows.

Do you know how big .08 cubic inches is? Get out a ruler and try to measure it. That’s less than .5 inch by .5 inch by .5 inch. The engine was oversize by a whopping 0.02%!

In 1991 NASCAR suspended Junior Johnson’s team 4 weeks for an engine larger than this. Carl Long’s team is suspended for 12 weeks. Why the severity for Carl Long? Although it will never happen, what if it were Earnhardt Jr., or Jeff Gordon, or Tony Stewart? NASCAR doesn’t have the courage to apply this kind of punishment to anyone on a significant team.

NASCAR on FOX

NASCAR on FOX is finally over for this year. The overnight ratings for Dover are down 14% compared to last year. For the part of the schedule that FOX has, the ratings are down 12%. The reasons noted are more cautions, fewer lead changes, and lower average speeds.

NONSENSE!

There are many reasons for lower ratings, but not any of the above. See my previous blogs.

Before next year FOX needs to make the following changes:

- Get rid of Digger (but keep the in-track camera)

- Get rid of the Hollywood Hotel

- Rotate announcers each week – not the same three in the booth

- Start the race within a half hour of air time

- As much as possible have the same air time week to week

- Keep the top five car numbers on the screen at all times

Here’s hoping that TNT does a better job.