Should have known I was going to start a thread about this one. http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?seriesId=2&id=2849024 Here is a little background info from Siruis Radio NASCAR channel. Just about every race this year has had an exciting finish. Problem is, some of them have been pretty controversial. At least 3 or 4 times this year NASCAR has waved the yellow with a few laps left for "debris" on the track. "Debris" that no one could seem to find, not any drivers, none of the media, and not even one of the 50 something cameras they have at the track. You have to admit that's pretty fishy. Alot of fans calling in and even the radio show hosts say that they think NASCAR may be doing this to tighten up the field to make more exciting races. Now this past weekend their were 6 cautions, 5 were for "debris" and 1 (at the end) was because of an accident. Curiously enough all those cautions were about 50 laps apart. Now all day Smoke was pretty much dominating the race. He got passed by Jeff Gordon at the end because Jeff made a great move and was able to take the air off Smoke's spoiler and pushed him up the track to pass him. I think the point is that situation would have never come up if those "debris" cautions were never thrown. Now everyone knows Smoke's temper. After the race he was supposed to go to media center for post race interviews but he chose not to. Since then he has been called a "crybaby" (not just by you orlando). I think this was actually smart, just think of what he might have said on camera, we would be talking about how Smoke dropped an f-bomb on live TV. On his show last night, he basically said he's tired of these cautions that no one can justify. I personally agree with him, not just because I'm a fan. But its true.
What time does his show come on qball? I think Smoke may be on to something. It seemed on Saturday that everytime the leader stretched the lead out to over two seconds that a caution would arise cause of debris.
I have SOOOO many opinions about this one but I don't have time to get them all in right now! I will say number one I love Smoke and wouldn't call him a crybaby unless I liked him!!! :hihi: I have to go to the State of LOusiana fire headquarters and then to Lakeveiw Harbor for a burger and then start driving to BR to see my parents and then probably out for drinks with 327 and wife...nevermind I will be back tomoroow and let you know my expanse of knowledge!!! :lol: :lol:
NASCAR channel on Sirius Satelite Radio Tuesdays at 7pm, they replay a couple time a week but I'm not sure when.
Don't know if anyone else saw it. On NASCAR Live on SPEED channel they showed Smoke's press conference after being called to the NASCAR trailer at 6am this morning. Funny enough he said "I'm a little to tender to be sitting right now." They say NASCAR will anounce a penalty this afternoon. Boy I hope its just $$$ and not points or races!
Just anounced he got fined $10,000 and he's on probation till the end of this year. They also "invited" him to go up to control tower next week at Richmond to observe how things are done during the Busch race. Kinda like a slap on the wrist if you ask me. But I am glad that's all the did.
OK got a little time before I leave for NO to catch my flight! So, here it goes. Yes I agree that the cautions for debris were overdone but NASCAR is going to blame it on making sure the track is safe for the drivers. If they thought they saw something but weren't sure and didn't call the caution and one of the drivers lost a tire on it or even worse got hurt the WHOLE sport would be in an uproar. On the other hand I see where Smoke is coming from. He wants to race and it did seem like everytime he was out front by any amount of time a caution was thrown but once again good luck arguing it because NASCAR has the safety card to pull whenever they feel fit. In addition because some (including some here:wink: ) have claimed the COT races have been boring what better way of getting it exciting again by bunching up the cars together. So I don't believe the NASCAR was "picking" a winner as much as to make it exciting to the fans and maybe a little bit of safety! JMO though!
I say it's one more example of why nascar sucks. I'd rather go to the dirt track and watch some real racing. There's just too much control in nascar..too many rules. And now, changing the cars the way they have, they've gone way over the line from "stock" car racing. The only difference between nascar and indy racing now is I can pronounce most of the nascar drivers last names. Flame away nascar fans. :hihi:
On Sunday at Dega, Smoke was a lap down because of speeding on pit row. There had been no wrecks and no cautions. So guess what happens? Yep, a caution for a hot dog wrapper on the track. Who gets their lap back? Yep, Tony Stewart. NA$CAR must have been paying him back for retracting his words on Friday.
The debris wasn't a hotdog wrapper, it was a big chunk of rubber or something black. I did find it funny that the network was going out of the way to show the debris this time around.
