Hey Scott,

Nice post but I have a little different view, oh course being a Kenseth fan I guess it is tainted.

1) Helton just made his comments about NASCAR getting tough on cheating and expect stiffer penalties. Well, at every track errrrr... most tracks (exclude WSB) taking the leader out is rough riding and thus breaking the rules or cheating.

2) Gordon was on probation and Helton could not penalize him because it would mean a suspension and they would never dare do that to their golden boy.

3) Gordon owed Kenseth for Bristol.

and lastly,

4) Gordon owns the #48 and could have been helping protect his point lead.

Gordon could have waited a half lap and would have passed him clean. Gordon showed no remorse for dumping him. As a minimum, he should have been put to the rear but NASCAR wants him in the Chase.

Just my .02

Steve

Hey Scott,

I agree with most of what you say but I am extremely frustrated with the whole WWF on wheels NASCAR we have seen evolve. Maybe WSB is closer to the big leagues than we know.

PS: fouind any cool old tracks lately? I miss your finds.

Steve

IMO,

the interest was dwindled because of the fact that nascar makes the valuation of the title worthless now,  just think of this for a minute,

in 2003 ryan newman absolutely choked for the 1st half of the year, simular of what tim rochmond did in 1986 stats wise,  and both of them did not win a race untill sometime in june,  all of a sudden ryan newman wins a race in may or june but by that time the title hopes are crushed,

by september newman is in 7th 8th in points,   but came in like 4th in points some 250 points behind by seasons end,  still winning the most of everyone that year with 7-8 races roughly,

rules of a perfect season if there was no chase

1.  do not go on a 4-5 race   skid because it will hurt you

2. a season should be 36 races and no chase,  if you blow off 2/3s of the year your not worthy of the title,

3.   ask DW terry labonte and alan kucwicki on what low number of DNFS and top 5s will do = championships

now theres the chase factor,

1.  you make sure your in the top 10 in the points at richmond, no matter if you are 700 points from the lead you still have a chance at the title, 

for that number 1 reason is why nascars fanbase has been dwindled<and so has mine for a bit> because of the fact that you dont need to see the whole race because in sept the points are gonna be reset anyways,   ok im going to turn the tv on watch the race for 10 mins and see if jimmy johnson is in the top, yes he is so im gonna watch badmitton,   i beleave that is the americas viewing of the races as of now,   BUT  come sept,   the ratings might jump a bit, but by then the damage was already done

scott

well add a little drama yes,  BUT

in my years of watching racing,   there has been walk aways, but some of the recent titles before the chase came down to the last race......  i pretty much remember the 1992 season when 4-5 drivers had a mathmatical chance of winning.......    with alan kucwicki winning and he was 278 points down as of dover........  and now there saying we might have a tweak of the chase.....  i heard 12 cars instead of our present 10......   that is a but too much.....  i think the perfect chace plan would be no longer either top 10 or 400 points...  but something like a 400 point cut off PERIOD,   SPECIAL THANKS TO JAYSKI,  heres what i mean

and that is true,

they want the "stars of nascar"  to be in the chase,  but as long as we have this going on,  there is going to be alot of people abusing alcohol in the worse way<pegging gordons car with beer cans>,    it was kind of funny last week where if i was gordons crew chief i would have past him a pastifier of his whining of "bump drafting"    but it was ok for him to do it yesterday,   this is why i think kenseth said "nascar will be conistaint with there desion"    maybe he knew that nothing would happen,  or was going to be surprised if something did come out of it......   later this evening,  INNC should be on and we will get a few more answers by then  :)

scott

BP caved under pressure bottom line,

honestly i like DW larry and mike joy,  they being somethjing onto the table that NBC would ever dream of, and that is racing knowlage!!!!!    the only thing that you dont hear or see is that bill webers papers shuffle when he gets out of place....  lol

nascar has to act quickly because what example does it prove that "we are going to stiffen peniltys if your outside the box"  what does that mean,  outside the pitbox = 3 lap penilty??  outside your garage while working on your car = uninproved adjestment to the rear????  or when the car is no more then a shreeded beer can,  you get the backup car out and they tell you know your car is fine = ????      they need to clarify on what the rules are so no drivers goes threw the cracks like last week

scott

I think the TV ratings dwindle because of the product the broadcast has become and not the racing. Sorry to say but racing is a soap opera and all these little hooks and twists is what hooks  the casual fan.

Then what drives them away is this big money TV deal has become more interested in advertising then the real product (and these damned boring half mile tracks) . I know more of Denny Hamlin's hobbies then I've seen green flag laps at times it seems, I know I've seen Jeremey's pinata more times then restarts.

The chase becomes something that was needed to bait old and new people into at least paying some attention and bailing the NBC side which has been terrible since the TV deal came in 2001. I'd honestly rather watch any NFL game then the 5 minutes of racing they show between commercials.