The Sprint Cup boys descend upon New England while some side stories deserve attention. First, Danica Patrick, after completing the first leg of the IRL season, returns to race in the Nationwide Series in tomorrow’s race. Her IRL season has had its ups and downs, but she moves from one in the crowd to the center of attention when she enters the NASCAR domain.
A disagreement in compensation for police services has Bruton Smith at odds with the State of New Hampshire leading to threats to abandon next summer’s date which would give Smith the ideal opportunity to add his date for the Kentucky Motor Speedway that hosts a Nationwide race this time of year. How convenient, a little juggle of the Nationwide schedule, and there’s the one-two punch. Aside from Atlanta, it’s difficult to foresee another Sprint Cup track that could be reduced one race. However, until a date is established for Kentucky, Speedway Motorsports can use the threat of Kentucky as a bargaining chip just as NFL and MLB teams have used threats of moving to a city with a hot new stadium unoccupied to extort better deals from their current cities.
Matt Kenseth will have a new crew chief with substantial Roush experience. Jimmy Fennig takes over for Todd Parrott, who despite his championship credentials with Dale Jarrett, has not had an impact for Kenseth’s struggling team. There is no sugarcoating 2010 has been an all out disaster for the Fenway-Roush operation. Their loan bright spot was Carl Edwards’ Nationwide victory at Road America last weekend.
Turning to Sunday’s race, weather should be cloudy with a high temperature around 80 degrees at race time an escape from the brutal heat clobbering the south east for most of the week.
Today’s qualifying results show good results for the Richard Petty Racing teams using the new FR9 Ford engine but Roush continues to struggle.
Bobby Labonte quit TRG racing refusing to surrender to the fate of being a “start and park” driver. One wonders with the right support, how much top quality racing the ex-champ has left in him.
Sunday’s starting lineup shows some interesting surprises and one starter who will further shakeup the controversy about allowing teams that refuse to compete to qualify for starting positions in the field. Here are the top 12 racers.
1- Juan Montoya, #42, Chevy
2- Kasey Kahne, #9, Ford
3- Kurt Busch, #2, Dodge
4- Mark Martin, #5, Chevy
5- Ryan Newman, #39, Chevy
6- David Reutimann, #00, Toyota
7- Joe Nemechek, #87, Toyota
8- Sam Hornish, Jr., #77, Dodge
9- Clint Bowyer, #33, Chevy
10- Jimmie Johnson, #48, Chevy
11- Joey Logano, #20, Toyota
12- Marcos Ambrose, #47, Toyota
While it is a triumph for Juan Montoya who has not lived up to his 2009 season, and a good highlight for a number of teams, Kasey Kahne’s, Mark Martin’s, and Sam Hornish Jr’s. most notably, what really demands attention is Joe Nemechek in 7th position. How embarrassing and disgusting is it that the sport allows a team that will not compete and only run a few parade laps up to the first pit stop to qualify among teams that are giving their full effort to winning the race?
Further what a dreadful slap in the face this is to Travis Kvapil’s team that despite limited resources would have competed to finish the race but must load up and go home being bumped by the start and park quitters who have absolutely no business showing up to make a mockery of the sport.
Besides Nemechek, the clutter includes:
31- Max Papis, #13
35- J.J. Yeley, #46
36- Dave Blaney, #66
37- Michael McDowell, #55
40- Andy Lally, #71 (replaces Bobby Labonte)
43- Todd Bodine #64
We’ve heard little more about what efforts if any NASCAR is attempting to address this problem. Earlier in the year, the first car to pull out of the race without being involved in an accident or obvious mechanical problem would be subjected to the teardown procedure. Clearly, that has had no impact on nudging more teams to take their commitment to the sport seriously.
NASCAR must establish minimum entry requirements all teams must meet to be allowed to enter Sprint Cup, Nationwide, and Camping World Truck events.
1- The necessary number of spotters to safely guide the driver
2- Enough pit crew members to be able to conduct safe pit stops which do not interfere with other teams on pit road.
3- Enough tires allocated for the expected tire wear as established by Goodyear to complete the race.
Any team that withdraws from the race with no mechanical problems or driver health issues as determined by NASCAR medical staff will receive no points for the race and will forfeit their ability to compete in the next five scheduled races. Violations to any of these requirements will put teams on probation and their cars will be torn down after all future races for the remainder of the season to ensure that they meet competitive standards through out and no short cuts have been taken.
Should these requirements result in races not having the full 43 car field, so be it. Perhaps efforts could be made to assist competitive Nationwide and Camping World Truck teams not involved in Sprint Cup be offered the ability to compete in Sprint Cup. Perhaps the four car limit which reduced Roush-Fenway from five to four teams should be waved.
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