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This past weekend at Texas Tony Stewart notched his fourth win in the Chase – it was an impressive feat considering that prior to the first Chase race in Chicago it had been 32 races since he’d last seen victory lane. Despite the late string of success, Stewart still finds himself second in the championship points standings. For some that’s inexplicable.
This fundamental question of what’s more important in the push to a championship is something that’s dogged NASCAR and motorsports for a long time. Do we want a champion who the had the best overall Chase, or the one who had the most wins? Often times they are not one and the same.
NASCAR, prior to this season, retooled the points in an effort to simplify and put slightly more emphasis on winning. The new system gave three extra points to the top finisher in addition to another point for leading a lap. NASCAR also gave the two teams outside of the top-10 but inside the top-20 with the most wins berths in the Chase.
The result of the points changes, while certainly an improvement and much easier to understand has been pretty insignificant this season. But is that a bad thing?
Championship success in NASCAR unlike other sports is not and never has been solely based on winning. It’s of course important, but consistency and good finishes are often the key. Consider Carl Edwards has an average finish of 9.7 on the season, with one win, and 5.6 in the Chase with no wins. Tony Stewart on the other hand is averaging a finish of 12.6 on the season and 7.3 in Chase. For Stewart that includes those four wins.
Carl has without a doubt put together the better, more consistent season. He’s even put together the better, more consistent Chase. And that’s why he finds himself leading the points.
I’ve always been of the belief that the best team should win the championship no matter how it gets there. In this case I want the team with the best Chase performance to win it all. Whether that means the championship winning team has the most wins or the most number of better finishes.
So what do you think should get the emphasis? Consistency? Or wins? Does NASCAR need to restructure the points again? Should Tony Stewart be leading the points?
Over the last couple of years, there has been quite a bit of discussion on this website about Jeremy Mayfield’s situation. The failed NASCAR drug tests and the subsequent lawsuits have been the topic of more than a few TNI blog posts. And those posts attracted dozens of reader comments with some being good, some bad, and some ugly. But now, with knowing what we know today, I’m wondering how many out there have changed their view of Mayfield and his predicament. And can we finally say definitively that Mayfield has a problem?
From the very start, Mayfield has contended that he is innocent and his failed tests were caused by a mixture of medications. The science of his argument never really added up, but that didn’t stop him from continuing to fight anyway. Mayfield’s pursuit eventually spawned a lawsuit against NASCAR. Years of litigation and ridiculous accusations aimed at the sport and it’s brass ensued.
At one point in the not too distance past, Mayfield literally had it all. He was a young, attractive, rich, and talented race car driver with a boundless future in front of him. Now, he faces a very difficult road. Everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but Mayfield is in serious trouble here. From the news reports there appears to be quite a bit of evidence against him, not only for the drugs, but for theft as well. He is most likely facing some sort of jail sentence.
Jeremy Mayfield, welcome to rock bottom.
At the end of the day, I’m only left feeling bad for Mayfield and his family. The guy clearly has problems and needs real help. And what’s worse, is that all of this could have been avoided. There were plenty of opportunities for him to make things right along the way, but he just wouldn’t give it up. So instead of admitting he has what appears to be a serious drug problem, getting help, and working to get reinstated by NASCAR, Mayfield chose to continue propagating the lie. I hope it was worth it.
Superspeedway racing tends to bring out the worst in everyone and this weekend in Talladega was no different. We had accusations of team orders, then subsequent denials, crew chiefs telling drivers to wreck on purpose, blatant cheating and complaints from everyone on track about the driving. There has been shock and outrage from the NASCAR press corps and the sport’s fan base. After all, who knew any of this went on?!
We’re Shocked Someone May Have Been Cheating
SBNation’s Jeff Gluck posted a story yesterday with audio from #48 crew chief Chad Knaus. Knaus is heard telling Jimmie Johnson to “crack the back of the car” if they win. Presumably they were beyond the allowed tolerances for whatever reason.
Knaus admitted the intention saying he was, “ Just being proactive, I just told Jimmie, ‘Look, man – we’ve just got to make sure there’s a tire mark or some type of visible damage.’ Just because cars do move when you race them like that.”
This ended up being the story du jour on Wednesday. It was unbelievable that a team could be working in the gray area – no one does that! Of course we already knew Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus were cheaters…
The Roush Team Orders
Jack Roush telling his drivers to stick with Ford teams!? Ridiculous.
This was the outrage of the weekend after word seeped out that Ford and Roush had, at the very least, made it clear that their teams should stick together at Talladega.
Ford and Roush both denied “orders” were issued, but it was pretty clear what the expectation was.
The way the talk was this weekend though you would have thought Roush was the only one that made this expectation clear. Of course anybody with two eyes and a basic understanding of the sport could see every other team on track had done the same, and why wouldn’t they? As I wrote on Monday, you draft with who brought you.
You Feel Double Crossed?
Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon were both beside themselves after the race Sunday. They had committed dancing partners who they felt abandoned, or sabotaged them in favor of teammates. It’s a cruel world.
Stewart told SB Nation:
“It’s a shame, because I’ve never seen more politics in a race go on in my life than what I saw this weekend…I think the car owners are to blame, the manufacturers are to blame and the fans don’t deserve that.“
Gordon echoed Stewart, saying after the race:
“I don’t think [Trevor Bayne] really ever had any intentions of pushing me, and if he did, the Ford folks told him to do something different. It’s politics, that’s part of it.”
As they say, it’s business, it’s not personal. And of all people I would expect Gordon and Stewart to know that. It’s true it’s unfortunate for the fans, it stinks for those who got the shaft, but the fact is it’s reality. Welcome to NASCAR boys.
Hey Trevor, Cool It With The Hyperbole
Speaking of distraught, Trevor Bayne. He’s young and apparently doesn’t know when to go light on the hyperbole. In an interview with SceneDaily he said:
“I was caught in the worst situation I could have ever been in.”
Devastating. I’ll bet there was some cringing at Roush after that interview.
He did go on to say that he wasn’t forced to switch drafting partners but felt it was his role as Kenseth’s teammate. Either way, nobody can fault him for making the decision he made – not even Jeff Gordon. He’s in a precarious position at Roush and needs to do what he has to do to keep the bosses happy and his butt in a ride.
A lesson though (not for our interests but his own) when you’re trying to make a good impression, toe the company line.
This whole week has left me shaking my head and rolling my eyes. While we don’t necessarily get to be witness to some of this stuff on a weekly basis, it happens that often. No one should be surprised about ANY of this. Consider this week a window into NASCAR reality.
Now on to Martinsville and a decidedly less controversial setting.
Ford and Jack Roush made waves this weekend after word seeped out of the camp that the teams were directed to draft exclusively with their manufacturing counterparts. With two Roush Fords in serious contention for the championship it wasn’t a surprising edict – especially not from Jack Roush.
At the end of the race we saw what appeared to be the edict in action as Trevor Bayne gave up drafting with Jeff Gordon to draft with Matt Kenseth. The move was bad news for Gordon who ended up finishing way back in 27th. Bayne and Kenseth finished 15th and 18th.
The help kept Kenseth in contention, moving him to second in the points just 14 back from teammate Carl Edwards. And after everything, not doing damage is the most important thing at a place like Talladega.
The track serves as THE wild card race in the Chase where literally anything can happen. That uncertainty leads teams to do everything they can to control the things they can. This is why you see teams like Roush and manufacturers like Ford letting their drivers know where loyalties need to lie.
In this instance there seems to be some surprise that Bayne switched dancing partners choosing a teammate over a potentially better pairing. But it makes sense when considering what was at stake: a championship, a precarious future and a whole lot of money. Would you not have done the same?
Success in this sport involves reliance on those who are around you. That goes for the Ford teams, the Chevrolet teams, the Dodge teams and the Toyota teams. While the Roush and Ford team orders are the only ones that made the press this weekend there were no doubt similar understandings at organizations throughout the sport. Consider the other teams on track. Who was working with whom?
The Fords were with the Fords, the Chevrolets with the Chevrolets and on and on.
At superspeedways you draft with who brung ya – it’s true for EVERY manufacturer and EVERY team. While it’s unfortunate for those left out, it’s a cold hard fact.
This week NASCAR’s at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Virginia for the annual Drive for Diversity Combine. The event brings together some of motorsports best young female and minority drivers to compete for a small number of spots in NASCAR’s D4D program. This year the class includes 26 drivers from 10 states, Mexico and Puerto Rico.
The drivers, according to NASCAR:
“will be evaluated by a select committee on multiple fronts including on-track performance, marketing and media aptitude, physical fitness and personality.”
The ultimate goal for the drivers is of course a ride, in this case for the NASCAR backed Revolution Racing, while for NASCAR it’s to attract more minority and female drivers and fans.
This season the program has been among the most successful with prospects Sergio Pena and Darrell Wallace Jr. winning a combined six Pro Series races. It’s the most NASCAR wins of any D4D class to date.
Even with the success, NASCAR is now finding the limits of the program. Pena and Wallace, both in their sophomore year of the program, are reaching the end of what they can do in the series. Both are conceivably ready for opportunities in ARCA or the Nationwide or Truck Series but with a stagnant sponsorship market and shrinking teams, finding a ride independent of NASCAR is no easy feat.
Continuing as it is under the direction of Max Siegel and John Story at Revolution Racing, the D4D program is… what it is. It’s true that it’s a great opportunity to identify and cultivate talent. But if there is nowhere for these drivers to go once they’ve grown out of the program, has it really been successful? Has it really accomplished anything?
It was a step in the right direction when NASCAR put more resources and more emphasis into the program a couple of years ago. It had, up until then, been pointless. Even now though, after eight years, the program has yet to produce a regular competitor in a national series.
Still, I think it more important than ever for the sport find ways to build diverse audiences and fields. I’m just not sure, even with the added emphasis and added resources, the current model is going to work.
Jimmie Johnson had a rough few weeks. He was involved in an on-track altercation with Kurt Busch at Richmond – he finished 31st. He went on to Chicago and had a respectable, but not overwhelming 10th place run. Then he struggled at New Hampshire, finishing 18th.
The driver found himself 29 points back in 10th, the farthest back he’d ever been in a Chase at that point. And to top it off, it looked like there was trouble in paradise between Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus. Surely Johnson was done for – or so some would have had you believing.
Barring another miraculous comeback – which is not out of the question – Jimmie Johnson’s five-year reign as NASCAR Sprint Cup champion may finally come to an end this season.
And then we got to Dover. Johnson qualified sixth, led 157 laps and ultimately finished second. That seemingly insurmountable 29 point deficit was cut to just 13 and Johnson picked up five spots in the Chase.
Not a surprising feat for this team.
For the last several seasons the “is Johnson done for?” parlor game has been especially popular for the NASCAR press corps – this year, with Johnson not quite as hot as he has been, the speculation has been just as strong (fair disclaimer, we’ve admittedly been guilty of it). But it seems, just when everyone starts counting them out, team #48 starts making its ascent.
It’s happened a couple times mid-season over the last five years when the team soured, and it happened during Johnson’s inaugural championship run in 2006 when he overcame four straight finishes under 13th (including a 39th and 24th). Still Johnson and Knaus always got it together and came out on top.
We’re just three races into the Chase, and we have one of the strongest Chase fields we’ve ever had, but if last weekend was any indication, this year may not be any different. The fact is, Knaus and Johnson are good, very good. They’ve proven that season after season. And despite the occasional bickering and disagreement the two have chemistry like few before.
For me, after five straight, I’m done counting Jimmie and Chad out. That is until we’re sitting in Las Vegas with someone else at the head table. It’ll happen sooner or later.
You heard him say it. Sure he was angry and it’s not true – Waltrip did win two Daytona 500s after all – but it definitely adds an uncomfortable element to the Clint Bowyer to Michael Waltrip Racing rumors. Strange bedfellows?
We often say around here not to burn bridges – the community is too small and you never know when you might need someone’s help. While that’s especially true for crew members and other team employees, it also applies to drivers.
Beyond the obvious awkwardness, Bowyer generally finds himself in a very difficult spot.
In a year where a driver like Greg Biffle acknowledged he took a cut in pay with his new contract, Bowyer, according to some reports, was asking for as much as $7 million a year and helicopter rides to the track. While that may not quite be the case, we keep hearing the number is high. It’s no wonder he hasn’t locked anything down.
Even with sponsorship from 5 Hour Energy, a deal rumored to be just a partial season, Bowyer’s position isn’t a whole lot better. I think what we’re seeing is Bowyer without any really good option left, looking for a team willing to take a chance that it can close the gap. Enter Michael Waltrip Racing.
If all goes according to plan it looks like Bowyer will make the move. In reality the team represents a step down from RCR. In five full NASCAR Cup seasons MWR has just two wins and has firmly cemented itself as a weekly field filler with performance that can best be described as mediocre.
To Bowyer’s credit, he represents the hope and aspirations of an organization that has struggled through the years. Is he the answer for MWR? Only time will tell.
But what about that comment?
Even Denny Hamlin jokingly asked Waltrip about it last night on Inside NASCAR. An awkward exchange ensued where Waltrip half-laughing pointed out that Bowyer called him the worst NASCAR driver EVER. Yikes.
Obviously this is pretty meaningless in the grand scheme of things. And with the right amount of money, anybody can get over anything. I suppose it’s not like Bowyer called Waltrip the worst owner in NASCAR ever. That might have been unforgivable.