Pace Speed

[eagle_3464]

It seems NASCAR has a hard time with consistency and their decisions are solely based on politics. Not to take anything away from the good run of the Biff but why does his victory stand when he clearly did not maintain pace speed and was passed long before the finish line. Whether he was out of fuel or just made a bad choice in slowing should be irrelavant. Fact is he did not maintain pace. NASCAR's defense is that the field was frozen. It wasn't long ago that a less popular driver was dumped under caution but was not granted his position back within a so-called frozen field. NASCAR's defense was failure to maintain pace speed. NASCAR is quickly becoming a high priced political joke...... Congrats to Biff on the win.

[VMS]

No doubt there were a bunch of things that SHOULD have been done...like calling the race when you cannot finish the full race due to rain, etc.

Not sure how I feel about the whole end, though.. By rule, when a caution comes out, the field is frozen no matter what speed a car takes. You'd think pit road speed would be maintained, but is there a rule that states such?

As I see it, the field being frozen, and I believe Biff crossed the finish line too when he went to the grass, so although a couple of other drivers passed under caution (which is a big no-no "normally") they are still frozen in their respective positions...and biffle takes the win (My "arm-chair" ruling)

I had to laugh about Jimmy J's comment about biffle slowing down, though... Funny that he kind of "whined" about it (I'm not a fan of his anyway, so just got a chuckle out of it...)

Bet there is a change in the rulebook on running out of gas under caution on the last lap of a race now...

As my ruling of the race, tomorrow, I will impose a fine of $250,000 on NASCAR under Rule 24-7-365 (actions detrimental to finishing a race properly) for failing to accurately define the end of the race.

Steve

[eagle_3464]

Or Rule #24-7-365.3 (actions detrimental to the future fan base of NASCAR).

I believe there is a rule that even under caution when the field is frozen a car must maintain pace speed to keep its position. Had Biff pitted for fuel coming to the white flag or ran out on the backstretch there is no question he would have lost position.

[PierBridge]

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No doubt there were a bunch of things that SHOULD have been done...like calling the race when you cannot finish the full race due to rain, etc.

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I knew there would some Whining about that, to bad for the anti Hendricks and Tony Stewart crowd on that one.....

[LMITOUT]

According to Jim Hunter of NASCAR, race cars must maintain a REASONABLE speed under caution. That's his words, not mine. If Biffle's car would have stopped before the finish line he would not have won.

The field is "frozen" when the caution is displayed to prevent racing back to the finish line, but that doesn't mean that if a car stops somewhere on the track that it's guaranteed it's original position if it re-fires after the pace car takes the field around again, because technically it's a lap down at that point.

I find it ironic that the Hendrick boys were whining about the finish. Hmmm.....they are lucky that the race continued after the second red-flag because had the race not restarted they would have finished at the back of the field for the day! I think they should shut their mouths, take what they got, and go home happy they still have a chance in the Chase. And they wonder why people don't like them. geesh.

[harvey lee]

I would agree that Johnson and Gordon were very lucky that the race continued as their finish ended up much better. Now, Stewart and a few others ended up pretty bad after the race started again.

[PierBridge]

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I find it ironic that the Hendrick boys were whining about the finish. Hmmm.....they are lucky that the race continued after the second red-flag because had the race not restarted they would have finished at the back of the field for the day! I think they should shut their mouths, take what they got, and go home happy they still have a chance in the Chase.

And they wonder why people don't like them. geesh.

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Actually Gordon was second in the most popular driver again not sure if you knew that so I'll point it out again.

I wouldn't call what Johnson said whining here is his quote " "I feel bad for the 16, but in my opinion that's your winner," he said, nodding toward Bowyer "We'll just have to see what the rule says." he along with many knowledgeable Nascar people/followers thought the same thing....not everyone knows everything like you... "kidding"

Yes they "HENDRICK" were real lucky the weather didn't wreck the race and it was decided on the track instead of making a mockery of the chase with a rain shorted event.....

[harvey lee]

Yes, it was decided on the track but I'm very confused on how they came to change the rules numerous times.

All I could see that they accomplished was to get some of the other Chase cars back up to the front after they had pitted. Was it 225 laps or wait maybe now 210 or wait, lets just call it. Too many changes for me to believe that there wasnt funny business going on.

Seems to me that second is the first of the losers. I didnt realize that second place was even kept track of.

[LMITOUT]

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Yes they "HENDRICK" were real lucky the weather didn't wreck the race and it was decided on the track instead of making a mockery of the chase with a rain shorted event.....

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Yep, you're right. Why make a mockery of the chase when they can make a mockery of the entire sport. That's a great idea.

[LMITOUT]

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I wouldn't call what Johnson said whining here is his quote "

"I feel bad for the 16, but in my opinion that's your winner," he said, nodding toward Bowyer "We'll just have to see what the rule says."

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You obviously didn't hear his post-race interview and you also obviously didn't hear what Gordon said either.

I would say it's pretty safe to claim whining was in full effect.

[PierBridge]

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I find it ironic that the Hendrick boys were whining about the finish.

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Yes I did listen to it....all of it.

Guess Johnson and Gordon should listen your unbiased veiw with the ruling that none of the drivers thought Biffle abided by.

[LMITOUT]

Apparently not because it what they said was unquestionable griping about who should have won.

``Let me tell you what, he didn't win the race,'' said fifth-place finisher Jeff Gordon. ``Clint Bowyer is the winner of this race in my opinion, no offense to Greg Biffle.''

Doesn't sound like any sour grapes there?

Like I said, they should be grateful they got what they got instead of crying about it.

[Sutty]

They should be grateful? With 20 laps to go Gordon was at the end of the lead lap. He passed an awesome amount of cars (not that we saw it the coverage was lame) he was behind the wreck and could have got caught up in it to. At the end Gordon's position would not have changed even if they moved Biff back. He still crossed the line before Gordon. So he wasn't whining, Sounds like he was supporting whom he thought was the real winner. If they would have thrown the green white checker he would have gained more spots and I did not hear him whine about that.

[LMITOUT]

Re-read it. I said after the 2nd red flag when he and his boy uni-brow were in the back waiting for the rain to quit and hoping that NASCAR didn't call the race like they should have.

Yes, they should be grateful about not finishing at the back instead of whining about a couple of positions.

[Sutty]

I don't think they need to be great full that when the sun came out they went back to racing. They were there to race after all.

[PierBridge]

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I don't think they need to be great full that when the sun came out they went back to racing. They were there to race after all.

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That makes too much sense Sutty and your not factoring the Hendrick hatred here in this forum!

[VMS]

WOW!!! I just got a chuckle out of the comments made at the end about biffle slowing down...never expected it to explode like this... WOW!!!