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And You Call That Racing?

Written on July 30, 2008 – 8:56 am | by Penni |

I apologize in advance for the shortness of this week’s column, but I have never been more embarrassed to be a race fan than I was Sunday. The race was a mockery to the sport.

A competition yellow every 10 or so laps, really, are you kidding me?

During the four practice sessions (two Friday and two Saturday) teams had noted the tires were wearing down too quickly — 10 laps in as opposed to the usual 30 laps in at Indianapolis. NASCAR wanted to prevent problems and in effort for safety said Sunday morning that they’d throw a competition caution 10 laps in to check tire wear. NASCAR also said they’d throw another competition caution several laps later to be on the safe-side. It was also noted that Goodyear had shipped tires for the Pocono race just in case they were needed.

Unfortunately, Paul Menard (No. 15 Chevrolet) and Michael Waltrip (No. 55 Toyota) got into some sort of a tussle on lap five. This lead NASCAR to make the competition caution lap 14 as opposed to lap 10 which didn’t really help because Kurt Busch (No. 2 Dodge) and Kevin Harvick got themselves into a tussle as well right before the competition caution was to be called.

The race restarted with the known fact that NASCAR would call the next competition caution at lap 30, which happened without an actual caution.

The tire wear was still the same and NASCAR continued to throw competition cautions throughout the 160-lap race for every 10 or so laps. The final tally was 52 laps under caution and 11 cautions — a disgrace to the sport.

With no real caution or interesting action, the race became predictable as each set of laps became heat races with Jimmie Johnson leading the way in a majority of them. Johnson did in fact win the race, his second this season and his second win at the Brickyard (Indianapolis Motor Speedway).

Tires were nearly torn to shreds, drivers were covered in tire dust inside their cars and NASCAR fans were fuming mad and embarassed.

How could NASCAR, or Goodyear, let this happen? Why did they bring the exact same tire they brought last year knowing the new cars weighed different? How come there was only a tire test with three drivers and not a mandatory test earlier in the season for the entire field?

These are questions everyone is asking. These are question I am asking. These are questions I am sure NASCAR, or Goodyear, will either answer or walk around. Regardless of the answers or lack of, something needs to be done before the drivers and teams return to Indianapolis next year.

I couldn’t believe what I was watching and I couldn’t believe our sport had come to this. I seriously felt ashamed to be a fan and to have to defend the weekend to those naysayers. It’s a difficult task when you, yourself, have to second guess your choice to be a NASCAR fan.

Let’s just hope this doesn’t happen again and move on to Pocono!

I will say that the only thing that made me happy was seeing my driver, Kasey Kahne, finish seventh in a race car that had something broken and irreplaceable. It also helped that he moved from 11th to ninth in the standings. I don’t care if he wins again, which I hope he does, I just want consistency and another run at the championship.

Is that really too much to ask for?

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