Top 4 stories from the Life-Lock 400 weekend...1st gear -- The finish: According to NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter, a car does not have to maintain pace car speed under the yellow flag, and that includes when coming to the checkered flag during a caution period. Greg Biffle was credited with Sunday's win, just as he should have been, despite the fact that he was running slower than the pace car on the frontstretch coming to the checkered flag, allowing Clint Bowyer and Jimmie Johnson to pass him. Hunter said that all a car needs to do is maintain "reasonable speed." NASCAR deemed Biffle to be doing just that.
2nd gear -- Restarting after rain: Can't believe the conspiracy-theorists found fault with NASCAR's decision to dry the track and restart the race with just less than half the race still to be run. NASCAR's certainly been at fault before for the way in which it's handled rain before, during and after races, but they were right here. Chase race or not, teams come with the expectation of running a certain distance -- or, short of that, having every effort made by the sanctioning body to get to an advertised distance. Kudos to NASCAR for giving it a shot.
3rd gear -- Good move/bad luck: Tony Stewart and crew chief Greg Zipadelli undoubtedly believed they had the race won when they stayed out during a round of green flag pit stops for the leaders that came just as the skies opened up a second time. But as the sunshine rolled in and the race restarted, Stewart was forced to pit. That put him back in traffic, and his day fell apart from there, eventually crashing out after getting a tap from Kurt Busch.
4th gear -- Was that an apology?: So, did Denny Hamlin or didn't Denny Hamlin apologize for the incident with Kyle Petty last week at Dover. Hamlin said that the pair didn't talk during the week, only that he learned a lesson. But Hamlin hardly sounds contrite or sincere when he says, "No matter what you do, Kyle is going to be right and a lot of what he did was right. It's tough. You never want to be involved in an incident, especially with Kyle because he's respected a lot." In other words, if it was Jeff Green or John Andretti back there that Hamlin ran into, they wouldn't be as respected so it wouldn't matter? Hamlin was right about one thing -- "I've just got to learn to grow up as far as that's concerned."
5 comments:
The end result is that NASCAR in spite of itself saw a point race fall into its lap that it can hype to promote its contrived Chase format.
Perhaps. But the "Chase" format is a different discussion entirely as it pertains to Sunday's race.
TB
I was interested in the race to the chase, than I am the Chase. Could be due to the Patriots, Red Sox or some of the great end of season local racing going on, or maybe even the lack of Junior in it (I hate to admit that last one). Anyone else not to hyped up over "The Chase"?
meant to say "I was more interested than the race to the Chase, MORE than the Chase itself"
Clint Bowyer got robbed, he crossed the finish line at a reasonable pace. Biffle didn't.
Remember when Kevin Harvick raced to the checkered flag against Mark Martin at the Daytona 500 because the yellow didn't come out? That got me to wonder why NASCAR deems one situation one way, another in a completely different light.
Had NASCAR done what it did at the Daytona 500, Bowyer wins. Had NASCAR followed the letter of its own law concerning a reasonable pace, Bowyer wins.
I agree with Jeff Gordon on this. Bowyer should have been awarded the victory in his home state.
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