Rain Tires- Everyone wants to know why the Sprint Cup Series won’t pack rain tires with them when they make the trek to the two road courses. Many fans are sick of seeing Kyle Busch start from the pole position due to rain-outs on Friday afternoons. If the teams were able to bring rain tires with them to Watkins Glen, the starting grid may have been much different. Here’s the catch; Due to the lack of funding in the Nationwide Series, many teams are not able to stay over for another 2 days to race on a Monday. In the Cup series, teams have almost a bottomless pit of funding they can pull from to stay over for just another day. To battle this dilemma, NASCAR has made a decision to allow the Nationwide Drivers the option to run in the rain. Granted, this is the last ditch effort to run the Nationwide race, but it seems to be the only option.

My opinion: There must be a chance granted to teams to test the new cars with rain treads on them. You can’t expect drivers to experience the feeling of rain tires on a race weekend. If the tires are tested and proven to allow the cars to handle good enough to run side by side, then NASCAR should seriously consider allowing for rain tires at road courses. From what I saw last week in Montreal, there wasn’t much passing with the rain tires on unless someone went off the course. Both drivers and fans alike appreciate good side by side racing, and with rain tires on these stock cars I don’t see how this could be possible in the near future.

Qualifying procedures- For the 5th time this season rain has soaked a NASCAR event, canceling qualifying. Owner’s points have decided the lineup in these 5 races. Many fans are sick of seeing the #18 starting on the inside of the front row. Qualifying being rained out on a road course attracts some special attention to the field. Because of the fact that there were 5 drivers, (P.J. Jones, Marcos Ambrose, Boris Said, Max Papis, and Ron Fellows) that are considered “Road Course Specialists” in the field this weekend, it drew attention to the qualifying procedures. If Petty Enterprises hadn’t welcomed Boris Said into their camp, the “Said-Heads” would have gone without seeing their driver ever hit the track in a Sprint Cup Series car. Without any owner’s points the #60 No Fear machine had to pack up and head back south for the weekend.

My opinion: If it works, don’t fix it. Only 2 teams were forced to pack their cars up and head back to their respective shops this weekend. Could this be the payoff to racing 36 races in a year instead of 2, YES. If you fail to make the race, don’t complain about not having a spot in the field if you only plan to run 2 races a year. You never hear about teams that pack their cars up week in and week out after they fail to qualify on time. Their spots are taken by past champions or provisional positions, and no one says a word. When a “road course specialist” misses a race due to rain, there is a huge push to re-organize the rain-out procedure. Solution: compete every week and work your way into the top 35 in owner’s points. A.J. Allmendinger left Watkins Glen on Sunday evening with a guaranteed spot in next week’s race in Michigan for the first time in his career.

We should be praising what an outstanding weekend it was at Watkins Glen International instead of criticizing it. The “Tasmanian Devil” Marcos Ambrose put on a show, unparalleled to any other driver. With his very first win in 59 NASCAR starts, Ambrose put to rest all the speculation on whether or not this guy could drive. Driving full time in 2009 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Ambrose will seek to become the first foreign-born driver to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title. A respectable 3rd place finish on Sunday is certainly nothing to shake a stick at. After starting dead last in 43rd, Ambrose moved through the field extremely clean, also putting to rest any talk of being a “dive-bomber”.