2010 NASCAR running thread

I understand that fans want to see a close finish with crazy racing at the end, but sometimes it doesn't work out that way. How about this? In the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, no one is allowed to be up by more than seven so we can guarantee an exciting finish. It's the same concept.

 

Don't worry, that will give them time to repair some pot holes while you nap and then they'll cook up a scheme to make the ending look exciting.

 

You can have a very good race with no wrecks. Perfect example: Talladega, spring 1997. Fastest 500 mph race in history (winner's speed 188.354 mph, a record which still stands) and a great race to watch.

But Fontana? Bleah. Has nothing to do with wrecks or no wrecks. Suitable for curing insomnia. Dull, dull, dull track way out in the MOFNW. Come on out to the boondocks and watch NASCAR's greatest stars ride around for 200 laps because our track sucks!

 

Or maybe more comparable: say a team is down seven or less in the last six minutes of the Super Bowl and, oh, the quarterback throws an interception that gets run back for a touchdown. But the score is wiped out AND the QB gets the ball back at the original line of scrimmage for two more chances not to throw a pick.

 

Better to watch 43 cars go single file for 500 laps around a 1/2-mile track in that thriving metropolis of Bristol, Tenn.
Of course, at some point one guy will bump the guy in front of him and cause an exciting 22-car pile up that will cut the field to a more managable number of cars.

 

This.

There are games in MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL that end in blowouts. It happens. You don't see those leagues artificially adding extra time/innings at the end to create an exciting finish.

Sure, fans hate it when the race ends on yellow. But you know what? There are also times that the race ends with an exciting finish. And neither is contrived.

Adding laps because of a late caution is, in essence, fixing the race. Not fixing the winner. But fixing the honesty of the event.

 

So is throwing a yellow for "debris" on the track with 15 laps left when one guy has a 15-second lead.
Then you bunch the field, go green 5 laps from the end and you create an instant exciting finish.

 

spnited pontificating about auto racing is like me pontificating about the NBA.

 

Why is that?

 

I find the NBA brand of basketball pointless, dull, tedious and irrelevant. "Hate" might be too strong a word, but it's damn close.

But I don't go on the NBA threads and bray endlessly about how stupid I find it.

You don't like auto racing? Cool by me. But all this endless bitching and moaning makes you look bad, is nothing more than exercising your finger muscles to no good end and won't change anybody's mind. Why not just leave and go discuss something you enjoy watching and talking about?

 

I read a Jeff Gordon interview a while back in which he said that the drivers knew that if they had a good car to not zoom out to too far of a lead because NASCAR would do exactly as you said. They claim debris on the track and put out a yellow.

 

That can't possibly be true Baron, 2MCM said I don't know what I'm talking about.