Following their usual quick exit from Cup races, the #66 Prism Motorsports team of Dave Blaney was met with a little surprise on Sunday at California. Lee Spencer of FoxSports.com first reported about Blaney’s Toyota being taken by NASCAR for inspection. Once the team was out of the race, the #66 was chosen as NASCAR’s “random” to be inspected following the race.
In case you aren’t aware of the normal post race inspection procedure, NASCAR usually takes the winning car, plus a few others back to it’s R&D center in Concord, NC. There, the cars are thoroughly inspected to ensure they are legal, and then returned to the teams when the process is complete. For more on what goes on during these inspections, see this piece Dustin Long wrote last season.
What has some people talking about this particular random pull, is this is the first time a start and park car has been taken by NASCAR, and this now leaves Blaney’s team with only one car to compete with at Las Vegas (barring a miraculously quick inspection by NASCAR which nobody believes will happen). Spencer even questions NASCAR’s motives in her article, saying:
Is NASCAR attempting to send the message to “start and park” teams — those that enter a race primarily to collect a check and don’t always try to finish — not to stink up their show?
The answer is most likely yes, and no.
First, I believe NASCAR wants these teams to be aware that the sanctioning body is paying attention to them, even if all they plan on doing is running in the back for a few laps, and then parking. If these teams are breaking the rules to beat out other teams and get into the race, they need to be caught. They should be under the same scrutiny as everyone else. So there certainly is a message being sent.
On the other hand, while I know NASCAR isn’t particularly a huge fan of these teams, they understand that on some level they do serve a purpose and that there really isn’t much that can be done about their existence. Until the economy picks back up and companies return to racing sponsorships, these teams will have a place.
I also wanted to point something out about the level at which some of these start and park teams appear they can compete at.
Before his quick exit on Sunday, Blaney had qualified fifth and even led a few laps. But that performance is deceiving. Understand that these cars are built to do nothing but qualify. These teams do things like run light weight motor oils, light weight transmission oil, and light weight rear end grease to make sure there is as little resistance as possible in the drive trains. That way, the cars can run very fast for a few laps. But the problem with setting cars up like this, is they would never last an entire race. Those lighter weight oils and components would fail before the car made it to the end of 500 miles.
But because none of these teams plan to run more then a few laps, reliability doesn’t matter. When reliability does become an issue for these teams, many would never even qualify.
So here we are talking about the start and parkers again. Frankly, I don’t really even notice them anymore. They don’t affect the actual racing going on, and as long as they aren’t taking the spot of a legitimate team, I don’t care if they do what they do. I think most of the fans understand the game now, and just accept it for what it is.
It is nice to see though that NASCAR is willing to hold these teams to the same standards as all the others. If you show up, expect to be under the microscope, regardless of your intentions.
I do wish though that just one of these owners would be honest with everyone and just come out and say they are just in it for the money. It certainly would be a refreshing change from the usual “we’d race if we had money.”
Yeah, I’m sure you would.
You’re not happy when he’s winning. You’re not happy when he’s finishing 38th, 129 laps down. What do you want out of Jimmie Johnson? We should hash this out though, because he’s not going anywhere for a while.
Over on twitter and on message boards across the Internet this week people have been angrily asking why Jimmie’s car didn’t get inspected and then they were accusing him of not maintaining minimum speed during the race.
As we all saw last weekend Jimmie wrecked in the opening laps of the race and spent the next hour in the garage as his team tried to fix the car. He came out, I believe, 113 laps down.
I’ve read during the race Chad Knaus came over the radio and told Jimmie that NASCAR told him, Jimmie was under minimum speed, which was 33.27 seconds, or 162ish MPH.
Of course everyone (well maybe not everyone) is calling foul.
The problem is, NASCAR generally warns a driver before throwing the black flag. Here was his warning. I’ll be honest with you, I’m not 100% sure how exactly they decide to throw the flag, but I don’t think this was a situation that called for it.
TC and I worked some calculations and found based on the number of laps he lost between when he came back out and the end of the race, he was losing a lap every 14 laps (give or take). If he’d been the five or so seconds off the pace that would have been necessary, he would have been losing a lap every six laps. That didn’t happen.
And then there are all those screaming about Jimmie’s car not getting inspected after the race. Why would NASCAR have inspected a car that finished 38th, 129 laps down? I suppose they’re also advocating for regularly sending Joe Nemechek’s, and Tommy Baldwin’s cars to be inspected too (you know to make sure it actually was a vibration that brought them into the garage). That makes sense.
At the track the top-five cars are typically taken in for an inspection. Here is a good explanation of both the pre and post race inspection process. In addition to that, the engines of the top two finishers are taken back to the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, NC to be inspected. The car of the winner and one randomly selected car are also brought to the R&D Center. Here is an explanation of what happens there.
So was it possible that Johnson’s car could have gotten selected? Sure. Did it? No. And let’s be honest, it wouldn’t have done anybody any good.
I’m not really sure where all the anger toward this team comes from, but I think it’s misguided. I understand you may not like Jimmie, and you may want to see him fail (that’s fine), but there is absolutely no reason to believe or suspect this team isn’t doing this honestly (at least as honestly as everyone else).
Likewise this idea that NASCAR wants Jimmie to win four straight championships couldn’t be farther from the truth. Jimmie’s dominance has not done any favors to their Chase format and continues to drive people off. If you think they want that you’re crazy.
I understand and respect the passion, but looking for trouble where there isn’t any is not a good use of time.
All three series have one more trip out West for the year. While the haulers make the long trek to Phoenix, we’ve got another question and answer post for you. If you don’t know what this post is, until further notice, we will be answering 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 Savannah:
Hey Guys, does the COT become airborne in accidents more than the old style car? In several wrecks, the cars seem to be flipping more than the older car. Does the wing on the back of the car cause it to loose the downforce and then the flipping starts? I am just curious. I apologize if you have already responded to this type of question in the past.
I’ll be honest with you, I can’t really give you a great explanation of this. Diandra over at Stock Car Science though does have a good explanation of why this is occurring with seemingly more frequency. By the way Stock Car Science is a great blog; the woman who writes it, wrote The Physics of NASCAR. – Journo
2. From Doug in CA:
I was reading about tire testing at Daytona. How much tire testing goes on? Do Cup drivers participate in most? Very little? It seems to me that there are plenty of drivers out there who don’t have rides (Blaney, Riggs, Raines etc.) who would appreciate picking up a few bucks for running laps for Goodyear. Why do busy guys like Johnson or Busch do this job?
It happens a few times a year. Goodyear will pick certain tracks they need to work on, and go from there. Tire testing happens for the Cup cars the most, but it does happen for the other series too. The thing to remember about driver participation, is that Goodyear doesn’t supply the cars. Teams show up with all of their own equipment, So out of work guys wouldn’t really do Goodyear any good. Guys like Jimmie and Kyle will do it because it allows them to learn, and to help their teams learn. Especially now with the testing ban, any extra track time is a huge positive for a team and driver. – T.C.
3. From Blair:
Sitting here watching the race and though I’m a little tickled at the fact that Jimmie Johnson is stuck in the garage it has made me wonder. As far as the car goes, what all can be changed during the race as far as engine pieces and all that? Obviously you can’t change the original chassis but what all can you change? Or maybe the easier list would be what can’t you change? Thanks guys! Love reading your blogs!
Outside of replacing the car (chassis) and engine, everything is pretty much fair game. Rear ends, suspension, body, really anything else is okay to work on. – T.C.
4. From Scott:
Hey Guys, following Jimmy Johnson’s big wreck on Sunday his crew really pulled together and did great work to get his car back out there. Clearly this shows part of the reason that he is in position to win another championship and highlights the team aspect of NASCAR, which I don’t think gets enough coverage. However, with all the parts being changed I was wondering about a couple of things. I heard during the race that you can change just about everything except the motor and NASCAR lets you back on the track for your attempt to get back up to speed. What I’m wondering is this, what allowances does NASCAR provide for how the car measures up in post race testing? While its doubtful that after that type of crash a car would havea competitive downforce advantage is this something NASCAR checks? As always, great website, great columns and commentaries, love Ask Wednesdays, keep up the great work!
Post race inspection usually only happens to the top five (I think) and a random. So unless NASCAR decided to be ridiculous, a team in a situation like Jimmie’s won’t have to go through tech after the race. There is no point in checking a team for cheating when they were a few seconds off the pace, 120 laps down. – T.C.
5. From windowlicker:
Hey guys. During the Busch race at Texas, a car (I think it was Justin Allgaier) came out after a wreck with no front end. NASCAR black flagged him for not maintaining minimum speed. He went back in they did something & he came back out & finished the race. I thought once you got black flagged for not maintaining speed, NASCAR parked you. You didn’t get a second chance.
I think that was his one chance. The car comes out of the garage, NASCAR sees it doesn’t make minimum speed, then you are allowed one chance to make it right. That is how I always understood it. When a car is wrecked and comes out of the garage, the team doesn’t really know what it has to work with. If the rule is as I understand it, NASCAR gives the driver and team one chance to feel it out and make the car better. – T.C.
6. From J and D:
After seeing some of the recent wrecks in NASCAR races, we got to wondering: when a car is torn up badly but still able to finish a race, how on Earth do they pass post-race inspection? We’ve seen some cars with no front ends, jacked-up rears and much more. What’s left to measure?
Like I said above, unless a wrecked car finishes top five, they won’t be inspected after the race. Once a car is wrecked and goes many laps down, there really is no point in inspecting them. – T.C.
7. From Red Kneck:
Why does Marcos Ambrose’s 47 car have yellow rookie stripes but is not listed in the Rookie of the Year Standings?
It’s because he ran too many races last season to run for the Rookie of the Year Award (11 in 2008), but he is still considered a rookie (hence the rookie stripe). – Journo
8. From Michael:
I know racing in general money is money no matter the funding entity. However, do guys like Conway, Nemechek (Extenze) & Martin (when he was sponsored by Viagra) face much ribbing in the garage area?
Yes, absolutely. I would say the crew guys are the ones that face the majority of the ribbing though. Can you imagine walking around the garage with Extenze or Viagra on your chest? I’m just glad it’s not me. – Journo
9. From Christopher:
During the Texas Sprint Cup race, we all saw the shots from the hour or so the 48 team was re-building Johnson’s car. It seemed that Jimmy stayed in the car the entire time. Is this normal? Is there any reason- knowing it was going to take awhile- that Jimmy wouldn’t have gotten out? Maybe to help- or at least take a stretch?
In this situation I think Jimmie was trying to make a point that he was committed to going back out. Likewise he was still very much in that zone, so I think he wanted to avoid distractions like the media. Generally, I would say whether or not a driver stays in the car depends on the driver and the situation. -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!