NASCAR's rain dance

NASCAR loves to say that it's working in the "best interest of the fans," but I don't buy it.

Two pet peeves from me here, folks.

The first is when they line the field up behind the pace car following some inclement weather and begin a race by running the field under the combined green and yellow flags to continue the track's drying process. Then NASCAR applauds itself for doing it "for the fans." You know, because all those people paid money to see the cars turn laps at caution speed.

If they wanted that, they'd go see a Busch East Series race.

My other, bigger pet peeve is what we saw last Sunday at Pocono. Starting a race that traditionally takes all of four hours to run from start to finish after 5 p.m. local time is unacceptable. Turning around and telling me it's for the fans is embarrassing.

NASCAR started that race last Sunday with one intention and one intention only, and it had nothing to do with the fans. NASCAR wanted to get to lap 100, call it a day and get its teams back to North Carolina and beyond.

But, they'll tell you, at least the fans got to see the race on Sunday.

Poppycock. They didn't see a race. They saw a rain dance.

Hey, fans are smarter these days. Most (most, I said, not all) take Monday off after a race when they can -- to allow for rainouts and added travel time. A NASCAR race should be an experience, and many people plan vacations around these races well in advance.

Don't tell me that when you booked that trip to Pocono in the winter that you were just hoping to see "half a race" for that 100 bucks you each shelled out. If it's me, I'd much rather come back at 11 a.m. on Monday and see the whole race I both planned on seeing and paid to see.