If I was a Cup driver, I’d want eight minutes of my own with John Darby, Jim Hunter and the rest of the big wigs who frequent the shiny Sprint trailer every weekend. NASCAR’s authoritarian method of controlling drivers is hedging on disaster, and with no drivers’ union to negotiate with, the situation could get ugly down the road.

Debris cautions are still an issue. Long green runs without action are not part of the racing NASCAR wants everyone to see. 43 cars on a two mile track will eventually get spread out. If the action has to be forced through bunching up the field, maybe NASCAR should frequent the 1.5 milers less often. It’s hard to recall a debris caution at Bristol, Martinsville or Richmond.

NASCAR should also examine the way in which they bring out the caution. The trigger is pulled quickly compared to just a few years ago. All solo spins bring out a caution, and sometimes the yellow isn’t thrown until the spun car is rolling in the right direction again.

Case in point: Sam Hornish Jr. spun into the grass with two to go in the LifeLock 400. Hornish never reentered the racing surface above the white line and drove away from the accident. A caution is brought out, changing the entire strategy of the race for drivers trying to make the scheduled 200 laps on fuel.

Pocono saw a similar situation. Harmless spins into the grass off turn one by both Kurt and Kyle Busch brought out yellow flags. Kyle’s spin on lap 177 allowed a totally new cast of characters to see the front, and once again changed the face of the Pocono 500. The no. 18 went on the finish an irrelevant 43rd.

Last Saturday at Kentucky Speedway saw one of the lamest yellow flag causes…ever. Kenny Wallace slowed his no. 28 Border Patrol Chevrolet. He did not spin, did not smoke, and did not touch another car before the field cleared his slowing vehicle. Hello, yellow flag. What a hazard he was…not.

With the Cup race in Sonoma coming this weekend, NASCAR’s road course officiating can be questioned. NASCAR does not practice the use of a local yellow flag; something which professional road racing series use to keep an area of the track safe while remaining under green.

An excess of full course cautions makes not only for long laps under yellow, but ruins any chance of proper road course pit strategy from playing out. Stock car road course races are a ball to watch, but NASCAR is quickly becoming the laughing stock of road course enthusiasts across the country.

What about the Car of Tomorrow? It’s fine, but nobody knows it yet. The car drives like an oval car with no left weight - because it is. There are a lot of new traits seen in the new car that teams didn’t have to deal with on the old car. The wing and splitter change the aerodynamics, and anyone who’s anyone has implemented bump stops in their race cars.

Instead of telling the drivers to “shut up and drive,” NASCAR should meet them half way. More testing is needed, and as much green flag racing as possible can help teams acclimate to the new car. That means no more debris cautions, and if a harmless spin happens, let it happen and continue racing.