If it ain't broke, fix it anyway: NASCAR 2017 Thread

This Brickyard 400 has had enough twists and turns (and even late-race action) to be interesting, but I'm starting to wonder if they'll finish before dark. I think we're pushing the six-hour mark.

EDIT TO ADD: And now a 30-minute red flag before we resume the overtime. Joy.
Megyn Kelly hasn't gotten this much promotion since she feuded with Trump.

 

That Brickyard 400 was stupid. Unfucking watchable for the last hour.

 

NASCAR drops controversial 'overtime-line' designation

 

Seriously, why don't they screw around with the rules at the Xfinity level before trotting them out. What would be fun if the winner(s) of the first two segments got lap bonuses meaning they didn't have to run 500, only 499 or 498. They've done stupider stuff. Figure they could "use" the lap if they got a lap down or just race out of sequence the rest of the way.

 

NASCAR is turning into the media business. Older and expensive getting shown the door to be replaced by younger and cheap.

Matt Kenseth likely done at Joe Gibbs Racing after this season

Report: Stewart-Haas Racing declines to pick up Kurt Busch's 2018 option

Target's dropping sponsorship of Kyle Larson. Danica's future is cloudy at best. NASCAR continues to shoot itself in the foot by making its two stepladder series even less relevant by keeping "big name" drivers out -- although 35,000 at IMS shows "big names" aren't much of a draw when the product is brutally bad.

The whole thing needs an overhaul. But that would require Brian France and company to admit they screwed the pooch for the past 15 years.

 

Can NASCAR save itself when Dale Earnhardt Jr. is gone?

This is a quality read.

 

NASCAR is its own worst enemy. Lack of driver availability. Drivers not doing a lot to put themselves out there in a time when it has never been easier. Too many gimmicks.

Every time I think of NASCAR, I go back to a few years ago when a local radio show could only get Paul Menard before the Brickyard. He went on the show and talked about a lawn mower sale at Menards for the entire segment.

 

It was a good piece, and I applaud the efforts of someone without insider NASCAR knowledge to try and analyze where things go from here. Understand that I spent much of my professional career with a set of earplugs in my pocket, so ignoring Richard Petty, west coast racing at Riverside for decades and not recognizing that the sport existed before 2001 are like nails on a chalkboard for me. And while the portions with Elliott and DiBenedetto were illuminating, the stereotypical NASCAR fan responses were not. Is that all that's left at the track now?

The 800-pound gorilla is hiding in plain sight and nobody seems to want to either expose it or deal with it. If you've ever covered a race at Talladega when Junior goes out early, the grandstands are half empty by the white flag. Losing Gordon and Stewart were body blows to a sport already reeling. Junior's going to be like taking an uppercut to the jaw.

Brian Z. and Lesa ought to drop to their knees every night and thank the Lord for stupid people at ESPN (Disney) and NBC (Universal) who have dropped huge amounts of cash since 2008 to keep their sport from completely spinning down the drain. They're the sporting equivalent of Krispy Kreme: grew too fast and too far, and thought the double-digit growth gravy train would never end (even when major sponsors were already bailing because NASCAR PR was spinning fairy tales about reach and ROI).

Even the biggest teams are talking about serious budgetary cutbacks. Unfortunately, unless those cuts include public relations, driver access will remain elusive. That was the most asinine thing -- having to court gatekeepers just to get five crummy minutes with someone like Paul Menard.

NASCAR used to have a rule that every driver in the top 10 in points must provide a media availability. Due to the quirkiness of the Daytona 500, Menard was in the top 10 at Phoenix one spring. And he promptly blew us off, to which I think we were unanimous in our relief. Too bad he wound up winning the Brickyard or he might have gone an entire career without visiting the media center.

Tony Stewart was the best at scheduling his avails at the hauler during the time when mechanics were doing their pre-practice plug checks in the garage. It'd be so loud, you couldn't hear the questions, yet alone his answers. Helped to have some lip-reading skills.

 

I saw a recent photo posted on social media of the "cool kids" table at Bristol. Bob Pockrass, Jenna Fryer, Jeff Gluck and Nate Ryan. That may be the entire extent of beat writers, not counting Lee Spencer.