|
|
More
Editorials

Off The
Press

|
|
Posted on March 24, 2008
As We
Head to Martinsville
This season really is
confusing. First off, we've gone through
the first few races and we still do not
have a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in
the winner's circle. In fact, none of
the super team's cars have even really
challenged for a win. Who would have
thought that? The fact that Carl Edwards
has won two races and Jeff Gordon has
won none is just the icing on the cake.
I was wrong. There has been some serious
catching up.
You could see it at Bristol. Although
Jimmie Johnson and Gordon started on the
first row, it became obvious as the race
unfolded that a lot of cars were much
better. Tony Stewart was the class of
the field. The Childress Chevrolets were
the 1-2-3 finishers, but they were very
fortunate in the end. A bad decision on
tires left them in the perfect position
to get the laurels at the end. It didn't
hurt that Kevin Harvick gave that nudge
to Stewart that sealed the No. 20's
fate, but as Richard Petty is famous for
saying, that's racing.
What have we learned over these first
five races? One could say that Joe
Gibb's Toyotas are fast. that's a
no-brainer. That's a no-brainer, but
they still only have one win. On the
other hand, the technology hasn't
transferred to Michael Waltrip's cars or
bill Davis' for that matter, not to
mention Red Bull. The Ford teams have
looked strong with Roush-Fenway's
entries winning two and the newly formed
Yates Racing's teams being competitive.
It's a better competitive season than
2007 and TV rating show that people like
some competition.
the only thing that bothers me is the
NASCAR antiquated Top-35 rule. As it
stands now, the Wood Brothers may go
broke trying to field a car and the
Pettys are in trouble too. That rule
simply does not respect speed, but
protects sponsors. It's time for a
change. When teams can swap points among
their teams so that favored drivers can
compete without regard to speed or
ability, it's time to take a look at
what we're doing.
The Woods have long been a part of the
history of the sport and a lot of bad
decisions have left them in the position
of maybe going out of business, but the
cars have always had the speed to make
the field, but the silly Top-35 rule has
kept them out. Isn't it time to let the
fastest 43 qualifiers race? It makes
perfect sense, but that would go against
NASCAR logic, I guess.
Everyone is predicting that the Hendrick
cars will shine at Martinsville next
week, and I do not have a good argument
to dispute that. They have a track
record at the paper clipped shaped
track, but we've been hearing that since
Daytona. I really think that nothing is
certain in NASCAR's top series these
days. It's wonderful, to tell you the
truth. for the past two seasons, you
knew who was going to finish in the top
five, you just didn't knwo the order.
This season, you simply don't know.
That's as it should be, but a lot of
fans are just waiting for things to go
back to the way they were. Of course,
the legion of Dale Jr. fans are hoping
that this is the race. The dedicated fan
stands at Bristol proved that more
Junior fans exist than we ever thought
possible, but I have a feeling that one
of the other Hendrick drivers will run
away with this one. If not, this will be
the first season in many that the season
has gone this long without one of the
Hendrick Chevrolets winning. We may have
us a wide open championship race. I
hope.
You can
contact Ron at
ron.fleshman@verizon.net
The opinions expressed
on this site are not necessarily those of the publisher. All
comments other than website related problems need to be directed to
the author. Copyright 2000-2008 SpeedwayMedia.com.
More by
this author:


Click here to
discuss this story at our forum!
|
| |
|
|
|

|

Junk Car to Charity -
Free Nationwide Towing |
|
T I C K E T
S |
|
 |
|
NASCAR Race Tickets
from Coast To Coast
|
|
NASCAR Travel
from
Sportstravel.com |
|

Check out
these
cheap NASCAR tickets,
Wicked tickets,
Red Sox tickets,
MLB &
Indy 500 tickets here.
Find
Indianapolis &
Daytona Speedway tickets,
Jersey Boys,
Lion King, and
Super Bowl tickets at
this place. |
|

NASCAR tickets,
Cubs tickets,
Tigers
tickets,
Red Sox
tickets,
Yankees
tickets.
|
|
|
|

NASCAR Tickets
for all speedways.
Bristol,
Daytona,
Las Vegas
and the
Brickyard
from
gotickets.com. |
|

NASCAR packages for all races.
Daytona 500,
Brickyard 400,
Las Vegas NASCAR,
Bristol Motor Speedway &
Texas Motor Speedway. Get your
NASCAR Schedule from
Sports Travel. |
|

StubHub is your source for
all
NASCAR Tickets.
Including
Nextel Cup
Tickets,
Busch Series
Tickets,
Craftsman
Truck Series Tickets, and
Motorsports
Tickets |
|

Coast to Coast
Tickets
has
NASCAR race tickets for the
following tracks:
Darlington Raceway tickets,
Lowes Motor Speedway tickets,
Dover Int'l Speedway tickets,
Texas Motor Speedway tickets,
Michigan Int'l Speedway tickets,
Daytona Int'l Speedway tickets,
Indianapolis Raceway Park tickets,
Bristol Motor Speedway tickets,
Las Vegas Motor Speedway tickets,
Atlanta Motor Speedway tickets.
|
|
RazorGator.com has
premium
NASCAR
tickets! Purchase your
Daytona 500 tickets,
2007
Indy 500 tickets,
Busch
Series tickets as well as
other
sports tickets. |
|
Get premium
NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Tickets
at Cheappremiumtickets. Find all
Daytona 500 tickets,
Brickyard,
Bristol,
Texas Motor Speedway tickets,
Las Vegas Motor Speedway tickets and
Dover International Speedway tickets. |
|

We have
NASCAR
deals, and
NFL
tickets. Our
Dallas
Cowboys, Atlanta Falcons,
Philadelphia Eagles,
and
Pittsburgh Steelers tix are hot! |
|
|