The top 35 teams in points being guaranteed a spot in a race has always irked me. The top tier of NASCAR--the Cup racers--are supposed to be the best in the business. That said, NASCAR's instituting the top 35 rule a few years ago has never made sense from the sporting standpoint or the fan's standpoint. The rule was put in to help 'guarantee' sponsors would have their cars in the race.
It's really very simple. The top 43 cars in qualifying should be the 43 cars in the race. No provisionals, no 'special rules.' The fans deserve to the the best/fastest cars race. If a team cannot make the race on time, then they should not be allowed to run. And, that includes if a car does not attempt qualification for whatever reason (wrecked in practice, etc.). We've seen a few cars race that did not qualify on time.
As they used to say--you can't win the race if you don't qualify. And, if you can't qualify on time, you shouldn't be in there anyway.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Shane Huffman Ousted by JR Motorsports--WHY?
Shane Huffman was running 13th in Busch Series points, and 5th, if you were to exclude all the cherry pickers from the Cup Series who have invaded the Busch Series once again. Add to that the fact that team owner Dale Earnhardt, Jr. qualified the #88 Navy car (after giving Huffman notice earlier last week) quite poorly, and was candid that the car and equipment was not nearly as good as he had thought it was. So for that Shane gets fired? Now Junior is going to put Brad Keselowski in the car--a far more inexperience driver than Shane. Oh, yes. This should be fun. Nothing against Brad, who is definitely a talented, up-and-coming driver--but this move makes little sense in light of Shane's performance is subpar equipment.
What a raw deal for a very talented racer. Shane Huffman deserved better of JR Motorsports. Perhaps the bigger issue was that for some reason DEI did NOT have a Busch car entered for the Friday night race. So, was this the real reason Shane was ousted? Because Junior needed a Friday night ride to prep for the Saturday Cup race at Daytona?
That's the most likely scenario. Hopefully some of the other team owners have taken note of Shane's success in what is now admittedly below par JR Motorsports race cars. He's a good, solid racer and needs a break. And, apparently, some decent equipment.
What a raw deal for a very talented racer. Shane Huffman deserved better of JR Motorsports. Perhaps the bigger issue was that for some reason DEI did NOT have a Busch car entered for the Friday night race. So, was this the real reason Shane was ousted? Because Junior needed a Friday night ride to prep for the Saturday Cup race at Daytona?
That's the most likely scenario. Hopefully some of the other team owners have taken note of Shane's success in what is now admittedly below par JR Motorsports race cars. He's a good, solid racer and needs a break. And, apparently, some decent equipment.
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