Robby turned a lap on the track and was corrected. The inappropriate nose held no competitive advantage and Robby’s team had mere days to make the switch from Ford to Dodge. While many write that, in fairness, NAZICAR can not take intent into account. Funny thing is, they did just that last year with the Jeff Gordon shock problem and only sent him to the back of the pack.
Here’s the deal folks. The Super Bowl is on and team A has the ball with third and ten on their own twenty. The quarterback drops back to pass and a flag is thrown for offensive holding. Penalty, five yards and a do over. Same circumstance but the flag is thrown for holding by the face mask. Penalty, fifteen yards and loss of down. Even if the guilty player didn’t intend to grab the face mask there is an inherent danger there and thus, the more severe penalty. Both plays involved illegal offensive holding but carry two distinctively different penalties. It seems to me that the NA$CAR rules must be applied in the same manner where the penalty matches the infraction. Imagine every penalty in football having fifteen yards and loss of down instead of allowing for the severity of the infraction. We’d see a ton of games ending seven to three or three to naught. Since King Brian seems to think he’s in direct competition with the NFL isn’t it time he take some lessons from their success? As Robby so aptly points out, “It’s like someone stole my car, robbed a bank and I go to jail for bank robbery.” NAZICAR is treating this as if Robby loaned his car to the robber with foreknowledge of his intent. That would make him accessory before the fact and guilty as charged. There was no intent.
I$C done jumped the shark and sold the naming rights to California Speedway. Teams, drivers and fans entered the facility Saturday morning to find the infield water tower and other signage declaring it to now be the Auto Club Speedway. I don’t buy into this money grubbing crap and to me it will always be CA or Fontana, Charlotte will never be Lowe’s and Sears Point ain’t no Infineon. They say Daytona and Talladega will not suffer the same disrespect since their names are synonymous with their location and greatness. Since California needed a new name I guess they ain’t all that great as we may soon find out.
The rains lifted long enough to run the Truck race on Saturday. Sadly, it was a two truck race between Rowdy and Onion and didn’t live up to the usual excitement of The Trucks. I have a confession to make. Yours truly actually rooted for a Toy. While their dominance in Trucks disappoints me, I had to root for Rowdy to beat the Onion since none of my Chevies could get up there to fight for the win. Love or hate him, Rowdy Busch can drive the wheels off anything where he occupies the drivers seat. His car control is quite reminiscent of Dale, Sr. in his early years. As DW points out, he’s the only driver out there who can go three wide by himself. He now leads the points in the Truck Series and could leave California with the lead in all three series, making that a first. The thing that impresses me most about Rowdy’s Truck win is he did it for free, simply for the chance to win. What’s not to like?
I turned on the TV at 3PM to SPEED for the Truck race and they weren’t showing it. I was in a panic until I looked at the TV listings. While I pay attention to the TV scheduling I simply wasn’t aware that FOX had the telecast. My question is why? SPEED does a much better job and provide us with a pre race show while FOX did not.
I turned on my TV to ESPN2 for the CUP Lite race and saw rain. It looked like they were doing a good job of track drying and the race might be delayed but still run but it wasn‘t to be. My hat is off to the ESPN crew for a very entertaining three hours of rain delay coverage. For me, the highlight of this impromptu event was the interview by Rusty and crew of the two Wallace brothers. The heavy rain returned and ESPN stuck with the coverage with great interviews of numerous drivers and crew chiefs. They hung in until NA$CAR announced the postponement of the race until 10PM EST. SPEED, on the other hand, ducked out of live coverage earlier in the day with reruns of Back In The Day which seemed odd until I finally realized FOX had the race coverage. NA$CAR announced the CUP race would be ran Sunday, weather permitting, with the CUP Lite race to follow one hour after conclusion of the CUP race.
[What did I miss? I keep hearing Roger Penske referred to as “The Captain.” Captain of what? Where did this title come from?]
As we’ve all seen by now, the sputtering start, stop of the CUP race finally ended at 2AM EST. I gave up around 11:30 and woke up to find out the race will be ran Monday at 1PM EST. What little racing we got to see showed Jeff Gordon had a rocket ship of a car with Kyle Busch a strong contender. Sadly, Casey Mears hit a weeper, the wall and Junior before being hit and overturned by Sam Hornish. Kudos to the NASCAR official who jumped over the flames of Hornish’s car to check on Casey. What bothers me is the need for Casey and Junior to be torn up and the official needing to be put at risk. Funny how Texas was threatened with the loss of their, at the time, single race date for the same problem. Uh oh. Lost my head there. Texas is Bruton’s track while CA is an I$C track.
One thing I couldn’t help but notice during the rain delay. Several times the cameras focused in on Junior, as usual. The one difference this time was when he was seen talking to Rick Hendrick you could tell Junior was truly happy. His smile literally lit up the garage area. What a difference a year makes. As I checked the weather radar for Fontana and it’s clear. NA$CAR can smile also, just a day too late.
Finally, the skies clear and the racing resumed
Monday. Carl Edwards took the win with Jeff,
Jimmie and Rowdy following. Rowdy’s fourth
place run puts him in the CUP points lead and
it’s on to the CUP Lite race. That one was won
by the Stew Pot in a Toy with Rowdy second.
That second place finish wasn’t enough to give
Rowdy the points lead so the possibility of him
leaving Fontana with the points lead in all three
series went by the way. The one thing his
weekend performance proved is watching him
race, bob, weave and dash is worth the price of
admission. There is no question, this kid is for
real. Real enough he had me pulling for a
dreaded Toy. The end result of the sad weekend was the resurrection of the Hendrick cars, strong runs by the Fords and the Dodges being respectable.
Some years back there were questions as to whether Talladega was under an Indian curse. It looks like any existing curse has transferred to California. I’ve read dozens of articles relating to the track and its management. It seems no one can mention it without Darlington entering the picture. Not many actually rise to the position of defending the track or its dates. Sadly, I$C owns that dead horse but they aren’t about to take the saddle off it until it starts stinking more than now. To me, the stench is overwhelming so let’s hope it gets a decent burial.
Until next we meet, God bless and be safe. Watch over those precious little ones and never forget 911.
Always remember: We Are the Land of The FREE Because of The BRAVE.
Mom, Apple Pie, John Wayne and NASCAR racing, now that’s America.
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