The world of NASCAR according to Brian France...

[woodyjdh]

Man, what won't this guy do? Now there is scuttlebutt of cancelling "happy hour" practice. The cars will be impounded, allowing no one to work on the cars after practice! All for the sake of saving some money.

I personally don't know what to think of this guy. I don't mind changes, but it seems to me that he changes the wrong things!

Now they will also be allowing hard liquor companies to sponsor teams, which is ok, except this decision could have come sooner when Jack Rousch tried to get NASCAR to change their mind so he could get a sponsor for Jeff Burton. But honestly, things worked out for the best in that case! Jeff hasn't run better in years!

What I would like to see is a rulebook published, and for sale each year.

Nascar needs to set the rules prior to the racing season, print them and sell them to the public. This way the rules are set, and none of this "making things up as we go" garbage. Their current rule system is too inconsistent. Nearly every week someone is fined, it is written up as "Actions detrimental to stock car racing". What is this dump? How about a little specification?

Also it seems the rules do not always apply to everyone. For instance, a couple of weeks ago, (don't remember the race at the moment), NBC was following Kurt Busch as he was having problems, and was heading to the pits for a green flag stop. Then the camera shows the 24 car in his pit (green flag stop), and he somehow isn't counted a lap down for his stop as the caution comes out, but Busch is! I couldn't believe my eyes! This is only an observation/example of NASCAR's inconsistancy. (I am not bashing any particular driver, I have many favorites)

I simply don't understand all the hypocricy of NASCAR.

Oh, and soon NASCAR will be announcing a new TV contract, supposably this will be even bigger than the one signed with the NFL. I miss the old days when drivers we allowed to race.

A thought I had was have an independent group be the officials of the races. Somehow they'd have to be unbiased towards the drivers/teams. Just a pipe dream perhaps.

[lawdog]

I'm no Brian France fan, in fact I think he is awful, but there are a couple things in your post to note.

First, there is a published NASCAR rule book. The problem is, all racers from Cup guys down to guys like me at a local dirt track ALWAYS work in the grey areas and they need catch-all rules like "actions detrimental to racing". I really think they have done better than in previous years as far as being consistent.

As for the Gordon/Busch in the pits deal, that isn't even a judgment call. The computer scores where the cars are and Busch must have been already passed by the leader when a caution came out and Gordon not. I don't remember the specifics, but there is no judgment call there now since they went to the computer loop scoring.

I do think the move to completely abandon their roots in Rockingham and Darlington in particular is apalling though. That along with the whole "Chase" fiasco is my big beef against France.

[sirsunnyslayer]

I kind of like this new rule. You qualify on your race setup. That way you don't get guys like "Front row Joe", Brian Vickers, and Scott Riggs that can drive one heck of a fast lap in a loose racecar but not race it. Thats always dangerous when you have the cars upfront fading to the back and guys like Kenseth that cant qualify but always runs a fast race setup moving forward.

I personaly would have been happy to see qualifying done through a happy hour type deal. You have two hours to run your fastest lap in traffic, then quarantine the cars.

I still think that only the fastest 43 cars should start and they should start upfront. This rule should also keep the "fillers" from knocking any full time guys out.

Oh yea, qualifying now will be done on Saturday before the companion race so you will get a little less on Friday (only practice) and a little more on Saturday.

[Cyberfish]

Hey Joe won a race this year! I don't know whats up with Vickers.I thought he was gonna do good. Tho I thought Johnny Sauter would be the next big thing too after whoopin everyone in ASA . I can't figure out why some like Vickers dominate the busch series and do not do so good in cup, while others like Jimmie Johnson do so so in busch and come to cup and are championship contenders in their rookie year.

[sirsunnyslayer]

Yea, I know. I thought Vickers was going to be good to. I like Joe N. (I'm not going to attempt the last name), but for the most part he is a 20th place racer in cup, but really good in Busch. Even Spencer is a pretty good Busch driver but not in cup. I think if a guy could figure out who would be good you could make alot of money off of that. Even Casey Kaine (sp?) was not all that good in Busch last year.

Want to know my fix to the point system? I say you give one point for every position. First gets 43 points and last gets one. The kicker is you get one point for each lap led. Could you imagine the fight for the lead then? So you are 200 points out of first the last race? Lead all the laps and win. It's so simple.

[slick814]

Lawdog -

NBASCAR went away from it's roots years ago when they eliminated the short tracks like Hickory & North Wilkesboro. To eliminate the Darlington September race (SOUTHERN 500) is just another example of things that Mike Helton & Brian France are doing that Bill France would never have done. He knew where his base was, how the sport was grown, and how to keep the hardcore fans interested while gaining new fans.

He also wouldn't have added some of the races that they've done. As much as I'd LOVE to see a race here in MN, I would hope that it would be a 1 mile track, maybe something like the Milwaukee Mile. Sopmething different, a little character. Not the generic tracks like Homestead, Vegas, California, Kansas, Chicago, Texas... How many times do you hear, "That's the same car he drove at track X"? OR Usung the same setup... you didn't have that 10 - 15 years ago.

As far as coverage goes, I'll tell you the big difference between NBC & FOX. Mike Joy Vs. Alan Bestwick . Joy covered racing for ESPN 15 - 20 years ago, and actually adds to the broadcast, along with DW & LArry Mac.

Bestwick calls a race like he's only been doing it for this season. He asks things that are redundant, and for the most part, depends on Benny & Wally to carry him through. I honestly didn't notice a dropoff when he was out for those 3 or 4 weeks this year and Bill Weber called the races.

NASCAR has changed, and sometimes changes are not for the better... they're in danger of becoming a lot like the old CART racing series. They didn't listen to what their baseline fans wanted or didn't want, and look at them now...

[JohnMickish]

Hey slick, you said it perfectly. When a sport loses touch with it's base and all the bandwagon fans fall off then they are left with nothing, just like you said, CART..

[FISHINJAY]

If they cut a race at Darlington or the Rock they are going to add another race to Chicago or Kansas City .They own those tracks and its all about the money........

[kato811]

if i was running the show id add a few dirt track races to see who the real drivers are.bet some big names would be shaking in there shoes if they done that

[FISHINJAY]

Your right Kato .. I would love to see some dirt track action ..I was lucky enough a few years back to work on a pit crew for an arca team at a 1 mile dirt track race in DuQuoin, IL (southern Illinois) ..It was an off weekend for winston cup so Tony stewart , Ken schrader and a few other big names raced .. Its always an awesome race . The year I was there Old timer Red Farmer took the checkered flag and Stewart took second..It was Great!!!!!!!!