Click Here To Find Cool Nascar Items!

Why is it when a driver cries foul they’re always correct (drivers are of course the pinnacle of impartiality and infallibility)? And why is it so many people think NASCAR has an agenda with every call they make (after all this is the WWE right)?

Take Saturday night. Kyle Busch wins in the closest finish in Truck Series history and what’s everybody talking about? Him having a tire, or two, below the yellow line as he crossed the start-finish line. That of course means he should lose the win (or maybe not).

NASCAR’s position was that Kyle was forced sideways due to contact, which was why he went below the yellow-line, and why they wouldn’t penalize him.

“He wasn’t forced down there because of a lack of room,” NASCAR Vice-President of Competition Robin Pemberton said. “He got down there because of the door-to-door contact…We looked at it two or three times. We had three or four camera angles and there was absolutely no question whatsoever.”

After watching the video of the final laps over and over and over (and over) again, Kyle was in fact a bit out of control as he went below the yellow line. On top of that, it appears to me Kyle may have had the lead before he crossed below the yellow line (here is the video).

Did Almirola get ‘hosed’? I don’t think so – and I think the video backs that up.

I have to wonder though if the situation were reversed, would people be screaming as loudly about Almirola winning? Or is this just a side effect of Kyle-fatigue? I tend to think no in the former and yes for the latter.

You are of course free to disagree, but the fact is, no matter what you feel, the sanctioning body had to make a ruling on the matter. And as with a lot of on track rules, there has to be discretion. From the beginning, the yellow line rule has not been (and can’t be) a black-and-white rule. There are absolutely incidents where a driver shouldn’t be penalized for crossing below the yellow line.

Now before you jump on me for being a NASCAR homer I will say I haven’t always agreed with NASCAR’s yellow line rulings. Case in point, Regan Smith. I thought he was forced below the yellow line, NASCAR didn’t. To be fair though to the call in the Regan Smith incident, he crossed below the yellow line (why that happened is of course under debate) and continued under the line to pass Tony Stewart. That didn’t happen here.

Just like in any other sport, there are going to be rulings you agree with and rulings you don’t. That doesn’t mean they’re wrong or there is some vast conspiracy to put away a driver, or to let a driver win.

As I said here a couple of weeks ago, you can please some of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all the people all the time. This is definitely one of those situations.

*COMMENT DISCLAIMER: As usual, no name calling, vulgarities, personal attacks, or offensive speech. If we decide your comment contains one of those it will be deleted. If you intend to comment, we ask that you be respectful of your fellow posters and positively contribute to the discussion.*

TheNASCARInsiders.com

Follow the Insiders on Twitter or be a fan on Facebook!

Click Here To Find Cool Nascar Items!

Is it possible to be a successful, competitive team and not be located in Charlotte (or near it)?

This is something I was thinking about today as I saw the announcement that Regan Smith had re-signed with Furniture Row Motorsports through 2012. The Denver, Colo. based team has fielded a car in NASCAR since 2005.

Now don’t get me wrong, I write this not to bash the guys at Furniture Row. They certainly are able to do a lot given the difficulty of their situation. The fact is though, being in Denver is not ideal for any part of the operation of a NASCAR team.

While Furniture Row gets their chassis and engines from Childress, they are at a distinct disadvantage being away from the geographic center of NASCAR. They don’t have the pool of personnel to draw from (heck, even Petty Enterprises, in late 2007 moved closer in to Mooresville, NC because of difficulty in finding/retaining quality help willing to commute to Randleman), and they aren’t close to the equipment suppliers. Perhaps most importantly, they don’t have easy access to the technical support (the wind tunnels, k-rigs, shaker rigs, etc.) that all of their competitors do.

That said there are a couple of relative success stories.

Orleans Racing operated out of Las Vegas for years. Brendan Gaughan, driving for his family owned team, scored eight Truck Series wins and came very close to winning a championship in 2003. Though the team didn’t have as much luck upon Gaughan’s return in 2005 (they shut down in 2007), they ran a tight ship and maintained solid equipment. Still, the Gaughans spent a lot of money keeping up with their counterparts back in North Carolina.

Another relative success story is Thorsport Racing out of Sandusky, Ohio. The team has fielded a truck since 1996. While they haven’t been prolific in victory lane (they have just two wins in 464 starts), Matt Crafton has finished in the top-10 in points in four of the last five seasons (including second in 2009).

Still, running in the Truck Series is vastly different than running in the Cup Series. Thorsport gets a lot of technical support from Kevin Harvick Inc. and the Gaughans have a lot of money (thanks to the Coast Casinos, Southpoint and Boyd Gaming) – not to mention the length of schedules and lower budgets across the board.

Even with stable funding, I think there is a limit to how successful a team can be when they’re not in the area. You’ve got to hand it to Barney Visser though he is committed to making his race team work.

TheNASCARInsiders.com

Follow the Insiders on Twitter or be a fan on Facebook!