With the Cup cars being off this weekend, the Truck and Nationwide Series take center stage at Gateway. They will race under the lights on Friday and Saturday night. Before they do, we’ve got the 83rd edition of Ask The Insiders Wednesday. If you don’t know what this post is, we answer any and all reader questions every Wednesday, right here. So if you’ve got one, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send one to us. On to the questions…
1. From yankeegranny:
With all the ideas being floated regarding the chase changes, if you could pick the racetracks that you would put in the chase, what would they be and in what order? Please use just the tracks that are on the schedule right now, even though you probably would like to add Rockingham or a dirt track.
In no particular order: Talladega, Darlington, Infineon (or Watkins Glen), Martinsville, Bristol, Las Vegas, Homestead, Phoenix, Pocono and Charlotte. In those last ten races I want as much variation as possible. If we’re going to have a 10 race playoff we need to be putting driver skills to the test every weekend. You could honestly float in and out another mile and a half for Las Vegas and Charlotte – but I think those are great venues. I’m not holding my breath on Darlington, but I think adding a road course could be in the cards. – Journo
2. From Allen:
Why do the drivers run passenger side windows on some tracks and not on others?
The only tracks where cars aren’t required to run side windows are the short tracks and road courses. Everywhere else they are required because if a car turns sideways, a side window will help keep them from going airborne. – T.C.
3. From Bob:
I know I’m not the first to notice, but why is it that the RPM cars seem to be faster than Roush-Fenway? You would think it would be the other way around, as RPM is considered the little brother team of the two, i.e. less funding and greater turmoil. Any thoughts?
While RPM has certainly become a satellite organization for Roush Fenway, I’m not sure it’s fair to call them the “little brother.” RPM has some seriously talented people working for them and it’s not fair to say they have less funding. With them getting support from Ford and Roush, they are most likely able to use their resources better than when they were a Dodge team. The word from Chicago was that the RFR cars were actually running RPM’s setups, and it seemed to work very well. They had three cars finish in the top 13, and Edwards was closing on Reutimann at the end for the win. – T.C.
4. From Garry:
We are watching The Chicago race, and Jimmy Johnson on lap 136 DID NOT wreck his car. I am not sure how or why, but I have watched a lot of NASCAR, and JJ was wrecked, done for the night, sideways at 190 mph… and he saved it. That is unreal. I am still not a fan of his, but that was amazing. How did he save it?
Traction control…just kidding. He’s good a racecar driver. I don’t really know what else to say. There’s a reason those guys are out on track in NASCAR’s top series, and you and I aren’t. – Journo
5. From Dee Dee:
You guys rock! I have a question about what exactly happened at the end of the Nationwide race Friday night. When Keselowski ran out of gas coming to the green flag on the G-W-C restart, why was Kyle Busch allowed to move up into second from fourth? Isn’t there a rule that you can’t pass before the start/finish line? In this case, he passed David Reutimann, who was in third. It seems to me that David got the bad end of that deal. Also I’d like to congratulate Beak on his win Saturday night in the Cup race. Good guys really can finish first!
NASCAR’s own policy is that if a car has to duck out of line or go to the back for any reason, the line just moves up. It’s much easier to do that, because choosing the alternative would mean that all the cars would have to flip flop their inside and outside positions from, in this case, second all the way back to the tail end of the field. That would have required NASCAR to put the caution back out and allow the cars to run at least another lap so they could get sorted out. It’s just easier for everyone involved to do it the way they do. – T.C.
6. From Anonymous:
With teams signing drivers that they don’t have rides for (Kasey) where does this leave Elliott Sadler?
In a tough spot. If RPM doesn’t re-sign him, which is looking increasingly likely, I’m not really sure what would be available to him. Elliott’s performance through the years has waned, with his last win coming in the 2004 season. Now no matter your thoughts on the quality of his equipment, it’s undeniable there hasn’t been much in quite a while to prove to one of the big teams that he’s worth taking a chance on. We’ll see what happens (as of right now he’s very frustrated with where he’s at), but I think he’s in a tough spot. – Journo
And that brings yet another “Ask The Insiders Wednesday” to a close. Thanks to everyone who sent in questions. And remember, if you’d like to be a part of next week, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send your question in!
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