Coming off the heels of a very disappointing race this weekend at Indianapolis, it got me thinking of what some of the biggest factors can be to ruining a race for us - the fans. Of course, we’re always unhappy when our driver finishes outside of the top-ten, or even worse, when the driver that we adamently root against wins the race … but, I’m thinking of things beyond that. I’m talking about the actual elements that help give the race a lackluster feel to it. Here goes …

5. Multiple Cautions for Debris - These are obviously a part of racing that is more often than not well out of the control of NASCAR or anyone else. You get one or two of these, fine, no biggie - let’s move on. But, when you start getting 3, 4, or even 5 of these things, then you’re just left with an unwanted lull in the action.

4. Red Flags - I don’t really care what it’s for. Whether it’s for rain, a huge wreck, or a portion of the track coming unsurfaced, an extended period under red can take the wind right out of the race’s sails.

3. Rain - There’s obviously nothing you can do to ward it off, but when Mother Nature strikes the NASCAR track, she pretty much dictates the entire event. Teams have to start working different strategies based on when they thing the rain will come, and if it does, all too often we’re left with a guy standing in Victory Lane that really didn’t deserve it.

2. Over-Abundance of Commercial Breaks - We all know that the networks make the bulk of their money off advertising, and personally, I’m okay with that. But, at some point you’ve just got to draw the line. Take this past weekend for example. ESPN knew that NASCAR was going to continually run their competition caution periods, and even if they didn’t, there were going to be enough tire issues to fill the caution quota anyway. But, as if 11 caution periods weren’t enough to get in all the advertising they could hope for, the network still decided to cut to commercial at least once during every green flag run. I wasn’t counting, but I’d imagine that there were AT LEAST 20 commercial breaks … in  a 160 lap race. Do the math.

1. Bringing the Wrong Tire Package - This past weekend at Indy was obviously about as bad as it could possibly get, and kudos to NASCAR for doing their best to work around Goodyear’s blunder. But, even when it’s not the absolute worst, the wrong tire package can absolutely destroy a race. Whether it results in a race filled with competition cautions (Indy) or it results in multiple cars blowing tires for no real reason (Las Vegas) or it hinders on-the-track passing to the point of sheer boredom (Atlanta), the tires themselves play a major role in determining what the cars look like out there on the track.

Okay, so they’re actually pretty good friends and probably the furthest thing from being rivals with one another, but still. It’s pretty abnormal for Smoke to run this deep into the season without a Sprint Cup win to show for it, but so far in 2008, he’s managed to do just that. Of course, the racing Gods haven’t really seemed to help Stewart out much in that department, either. What … a pit road speeding violation during the last round of stops at Pocono … the cut tire at Charlotte … the late race wreck at Talladega … the mid-race wreck at Vegas … and, of course, the last lap pass at Daytona … all races that Stewart could have won - but, didn’t.

But, wait … I believe there’s two more, the most recent of which came this past Sunday at Infineon Raceway at the Toyota Save/Mart 350. With only a small handful of laps remaining and Stewart 2nd and Kevin Harvick in 4th, Harvick got into the turn to fast and clipped the no. 26 Ford of Jamie McMurray. McMurray then got into Stewart, once again taking a winning opportunity out of Smoke’s hands, though he did somehow manage to come back for a top-ten finish.

That wasn’t the first time that Harvick took the race out of Harvick’s hands this year, though. When the series ran at Bristol back in March, Harvick was racing Stewart for 2nd place in the last five laps of the race when Harvick got down on the apron going through turn 2, and he climbed up the track and got into Tony, sending him from 2nd to 14th just like that.

Despite attempts from the media, Stewart refused to show any angst towards Harvick following the incident at Sonoma this past Sunday, and all indications are that the two are still on good terms. But, of course, anytime they feel that their friendship has hit a rough patch, I’m sure Kevin will be more than willing to wax Tony again. Eeeewww.

Image details: The Dan Lowry 400 Practice served by picapp.com

Richard Childress Racing has announced that their brand new number 33 team - not scheduled to go full-time until the 2009 season - will be fielded in the running of the Coca Cola 600 two weeks from now at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, and that NASCAR veteran driver, Ken Schrader, will attempt to qualify the car for the event.

Schrader was left without a full-time ride when, earlier in the season, BAM Racing announced that they would be taking a sabattical from the sport until the Fall due to sponsorship woes. Since then, Schrader ran the no. 70 Chevrolet for Haas CNC Racing to a 42nd place finish at Talladega, and failed to qualify the no. 40 Dodge for Chip Ganassi Racing two weeks ago at Richmond.

Schrader has run in four races this year, with a season-best finish of 21st back in March at Las Vegas and currently sits 47th in points. In his 44 career starts at Lowe’s, he has accumulated a win, 6 top-five’s, and 13 top-ten finishes. The most recent top-ten finish in Schrader’s career was a 7th place finish in the Fall of 2006 at Richmond.

One has to wonder if: a) There could be a potential matchup between Schrader and RCR for Childress’ fourth team in 2009, and b) Schrader can piece together some decent runs with solid equipment beneath him.

For quite some time now, Jack Roush has been battling his former employee and current Toyota Racing GM Lee White in a rather harsh and uncharacteristic battle of words. The feud between the two really came to light only a couple of weeks into the new NASCAR season, and escalated in the public eye at the beginning of March through an article posted on nascar.com.  The article went into lengthy detail about Roush’s opinion on the entire Toyota setup this year as he accused them of dumping more money into their NASCAR operations than any other teams are able to – or, at least willing to – afford. The end result, he insinuated, was a lot more horsepower than the other manufacturers are capable of running on race day.

“I think the chassis dynamometer inspections that NASCAR has done has shown that they’ve got more power than the other manufacturers. Again, that’s a reflection of how much money they spend and what NASCAR has approved for them to have in terms of configuration of the engines,” says Roush. He later went on to add, “There is a limit to what you can reasonably afford to spend given the tradition of sponsorship and the traditional level of support that comes from the manufacturers, and the traditional level of support that comes from the decals on the car. If Toyota is upsetting that, if they’re spending more money, which I’m given to believe they are, then they’ve got an advantage. But, it’s not unfair, because if we wanted to spend or could spend that much money, we could do the same thing. The problem is that nobody can match Toyota dollar for dollar over the long haul.” He harped on the issue some more by adding the finishing touches, “They’ve got a history of spending their money wisely, and in quantities that outspend or outstrip the other manufacturers. And, I’ve got every reason to believe they’ll do it here. It’s been their practice to do that in Formula One and open-wheel racing.”

Jack Roush has openly been against the transition of Toyota into NASCAR since the plans were first put into motion a few years ago, and doesn’t appear to be letting up on the issue. He feels that with Toyota suddenly in the fold, they could change the shape of NASCAR forever in a way he doesn’t seem to feel is beneficial to the sport. NASCAR has stated that there hasn’t been anything in their dyno testing that would suggest that Toyota has any significant advantage in horsepower over any of the other manufacturers.

All the talk about Toyota’s horsepower came after the series ran their scheduled events at Daytona and California, and despite not winning either race, Toyota appeared to be a dominant factor in both. The next week, however, all of the Toyota star drivers either struggled with their cars late in the race or ran into various issues on the track, and Kyle Busch was the highest finishing Toyota in the race in 11th place. Carl Edwards won that race, but shortly after was the focus of NASCAR’s post-race inspection in which they discovered the lid on the no. 99 car’s oil tank to be missing. Suddenly, the focus shifted from Toyota over to Roush Racing.

Although I didn’t pick up on any commentary from Lee White in response to Jack Roush’s criticism of their program a week earlier, White didn’t appear to have missed the articles and was now ready to take aim at his own issues. He was very prompt to throw allegations in the direction of Roush-Fenway Racing following the UAW-Dodge 400 in Vegas, accusing the team of intentionally leaving the lid off of Edwards’ tank in an effort to allow for better air circulation through the engine and create additional downforce, or to give the car an extra bit of push to put it simply.

White reported to USA Today that in wind tunnel testing that Toyota had done in Germany, they discovered that removing the cap could actually result in 170 lbs of extra downforce for the car. Additionally, he stated that a video replay of one of Edwards’ stops on pit road revealed a member of his pit crew tugging on the fender to open a 3-inch gap on the inner panel, which Toyota’s tests had shown could create yet another 70 lbs of downforce.

Roush responded by questioning the integrity of the Toyota group, wondering why they would test a car with a missing oil lid and a 3-inch gap in the inner panel when both are illegal setups. “Why would they do that? I wonder how many times they tested the rocket fuel on Michael Waltrip’s car before they decided to take the chance at Daytona?” he asked, referring to the incident that disqualified Waltrip from competing in the 2007 Daytona 500.

Jack accused White of being a cheater when he was with the organization in the late 80’s, and that was the primary reason for him not bringing him along when he made the move to NASCAR. White obviously had a different recollection of events, stating that Steve Hmiel and Robin Pemberton had a problem with White tagging along. Although he didn’t want to accuse his old friend directly of being a cheater, he did also state the following on the day that NASCAR announced their penalties on Edwards and Roush: “There’s absolutely something going on there where someone knew what they were doing. I must applaud NASCAR. Given the safety implications of opening that oil tank to the driver, the penalty could have been more severe. I guarantee you the cover bolts didn’t fall out, because if they fall, the engine leaks and you can’t run. If you want something to fall off, you fix it so it can.”

This battle between former friends has certainly kept many fans entertained through the first four races of the season, and that was all prior to Toyota being able to actually win their first Cup Series race. Now that Toyota has won (referencing Kyle Busch’s victory in Atlanta) and sits atop the Sprint Cup Series points standings, this ongoing saga is sure to keep popping into the NASCAR columns every now and again for quite awhile.

DYN Imposes … This week, Do You NASCAR also asks its readers:

1) Has Toyota’s success in 2008 been a result of extra horsepower they’re getting from their cars that other manufacturers are unable to produce? If that is the case, should NASCAR be putting restrictions in place to level the playing field?
2) Did the no. 99 team of Carl Edwards intentionally leave the lid off of the oil tank during the UAW-Dodge 400 in Las Vegas?
3) How many drivers will Toyota field in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, and who will be the highest finishing Toyota in the points standings?
4) Roush-Fenway Racing vs. Joe Gibbs Racing … which is better?

Tony Stewart came into this past weekend of NASCAR action riding on as hot of a hand as anyone in the garage as he sat first in the Nationwide Series points standings and third in the Sprint Cup Series.  Lady luck played an evil trick on the man known as “Smoke” and took an ugly turn for the worse … twice.  On lap 138 of the Nationwide Series’ Sam’s Town 300, Stewart – who at the time clearly had one of, if not the, dominant cars in the race - made contact with David Reutimann and the two cars slid simultaneously into the outside wall of Turn 4. Both drivers emerged from the crash okay, but Stewart later complained that his ankle was sore. He reported that he hit the inside of his right foot against the pedal during the accident causing it to bruise.

Tony entered Sunday’s UAW-Dodge 400 showing no signs of pain, though … or, at least you couldn’t tell from a fan’s perspective, because despite starting back in the 25th position, he charged his way to the field and was running in the top-five. After slipping back to 7th place, on lap 109 Stewart cut a right-front tire in Turn 3 that sent his no. 20 Home Depot Toyota cruising straight into the wall in what he described as the hardest hit he’s experienced in a very long time. After the accident there was some concern when he took several minutes to climb from his cockpit and used track officials as crutches as he hobbled away from the scene. He complained of the same soreness in his right ankle, but also that his legs were tingling and felt half-numb.

All reports at this point indicate that Stewart has recovered from his accidents nicely and that there should be little to no room for concern as the Sprint Cup Series heads into Atlanta this Sunday. The only alarm currently going off in the Joe Gibbs Racing camp is the fact that last Sunday’s accident slid Stewart from third to eleventh in points.

Just hours after Carl Edwards won the UAW Dodge 400 in Las Vegas to garner his second Sprint Cup Series victory in a row, NASCAR inspectors found an issue with his no. 99 Ford in post-race inspections. The issue was that the lid on his oil tank box was off. Earlier in the season at Daytona, NASCAR docked five Nationwide Series teams for their lids being loose.  There’s absolutely no talk about Edwards’ victory in Vegas not standing, nor was the incident sufficient enough to cause him to fail the post-race inspection.  However, each of those five Nationwide teams were docked 25 driver and owner points, so similar action is expected to be taken against Edwards.  Carl currently boasts a 21-point lead in the points standings over the no. 18 team of Kyle Busch, so such a penalty would drop him back down to second in points should that happen.  According to nascar.com, NASCAR will be sending the car back to their R&D department to evaluate the car with an announcement regarding potential penalties coming sometime this week. Crew Chief Bob Osborne will wait to comment on the matter until NASCAR makes their determination on the situation.

NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series kicked off their first race of March with a bang this Sunday in Sin City when they visited Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the UAW Dodge 400. Heading into the weekend, Kyle Busch and his no. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team was the talk of the town as he came into the race as the series’ points leader and turned in the fastest lap during qualifying to win the Coors Lite Pole Award at his hometown track where he held a current streak of three consecutive top-ten finishes. But, alas, as is the case with so many races, by the time the checkered flag waived there was a new name at the tip of NASCAR fans’ tongues as Carl Edwards pulled away from the field in the closing laps to secure the win for his no. 99 Roush Racing team for the second week in a row.

Kyle Busch looked like the car to beat early in the race as he led the first 21 laps, but was soon overthrown by eventual race winner Carl Edwards. Carl surrendered the lead on lap 48 during a round of green flag stops that gave the cars of Scott Riggs, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Robby Gordon the opportunity to lead laps as they had all pitted during the race’s only caution to that point back on lap 9. Once the pit stops cycled through, however, it was Edwards right back to the front. During those stops, Kurt Busch and Elliott Sadler were both penalized for being too fast on pit road and were pushed a lap down.

The next caution came on lap 69 for debris, and with only 17 cars on the lead lap, Jeff Burton stayed out to lead the race, but Kyle Busch regained the helm about 11 laps later. At this point, Joe Gibbs Racing’s dynamic duo was looking pretty solid yet again with Busch leading and Stewart charging through the field, but on lap 109 Stewart blew a right front tire that sent him sailing into the wall, cutting his race short for the second day in a row.

Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, and Dale Junior all exchanged the lead throughout the course of the next three cautions before Edwards took control again with 73 laps to go. Edwards had been shuffled back through the field earlier when NASCAR penalized him for having a tire roll across pit road during an earlier stop under caution. After battling fiercely to regain his track position, it appeared as though maybe it just weren’t meant to be, because when the 7th caution came out for debris in turn 2, Edwards’ crew lost yet another tire on pit road, but this time NASCAR determined that a cameraman had inadvertently interfered with Edwards’ pit crew, and thus no penalty was handed down and Carl was able to restart third.

Matt Kenseth won that race off of pit road on lap 219 and was the new leader once again with 48 to go.  Two cautions and 18 laps later, it was Edwards back to the front, and he just took off from the rest of the field. Kenseth then lost the second position to Earnhardt with just 14 laps to go, but then Kurt Busch – who had battled all day to regain his position on the lead lap and finally did – blew a tire and smacked the wall to bring out the 10th yellow of the day with just 11 laps left.

The restart came with five laps left and the field lined up behind Edwards, Junior, Kenseth, and Jeff Gordon. In an odd occurrence, Junior spun his tires on the restart causing the cars of Gordon and Kenseth to split him. Once both cars had cleared the 88, Gordon’s car barely slid up the track, but it was enough to make slight contact with Kenseth. The rub sent Kenseth spinning around on the track – although he was able to not touch anything or anyone – but, it sent Gordon hard into the inside wall and his entire radiator actually came out of the car and shot across the track. After a red flag was flown to give the track crew ample time to cleanup the radiator fluid, the green flag dropped for the final time with 2 laps left. There was never really another race for the top spot after that, but it was fun watching Junior and Greg Biffle fight for second, which Junior won.  The Richard Childress cars of Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton rounded out the top-five.  Kyle Busch went onto finish 11th. Also of note is that Denny Hamlin was the highest finishing Toyota in 9th, Kasey Kahne had the highest Dodge in 7th, and to everyone’s surprise, Jimmie Johnson – who won this event for the previous three years running – finished in 29th despite not having any on-track incidents the entire day.  All in all, I thought it was a pretty exciting race, and definitely the best showing we’ve seen from NASCAR so far in 2008.

Grades (on a 100 point scale):
The Race: 94%
The Drama: 89%
Coverage: 81%
Pre-Race Ceremonies: 78%

Overall Grade: 88.8%
*Note - the Race accounts for 50% of score; Coverage & Drama is 20% each; Pre-Race is 10%Race Results (credit nascar.com):

It was a good news / bad news type of day for most NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers today.  The good news – there were no rain clouds in sight in Las Vegas on Friday, and the series actually got their qualifying event in at the scheduled time. The bad news – Kyle Busch is the hottest driver in the sport, and he’s starting Sunday’s race from the front of the field in front of the hometown crowd.

Busch turned a fast lap of 29.613 seconds in qualifying to earn himself the Coors Lite Pole Award, just 0.125 seconds faster than last week’s race winner Carl Edwards, who will start on the outside of the front row.

AJ Allmendinger, Johnny Sauter, John Andretti, and Joe Nemecheck all failed to make the race while Mike Skinner, Patrick Carpentier, and Ken Schrader will be racing for the first time this season. Kyle Busch’s teammate Tony Stewart will start the race 25th, but brother Kurt will start 9th. Jimmie Johnson, the defending winner of this race, will out of the gates in 33rd.

Race Lineup (courtesy of nascar.com):

1/26 – Richard Childress has signed Stephen Leicht to compete in at least 2 races for his no. 21 Nationwide Series team.

1/26 – Dover International Speedway – known to racers as “the Monster Mile” – now has a 46’ tall statue known as “Miles” that will stand in the track’s newly created Victory Plaza.  The monument will be the largest attraction at any NASCAR track.  Read More.

1/26 – As Greg Biffle enters the final year of his contract at Roush Fenway Racing, he’s made it a point to state that while he’s listening to all options, staying with Roush is his first choice.  Biffle also talks about how the promotion of Robby Reiser is a huge plus for the organization.  Read More.

1/26 – Kenny Wallace has finally landed a ride in the Nationwide Series with Fitz Motorsports. The car number and sponsor have yet to be announced.  Read More.

1/26 – Team owner Chip Ganassi set a new record by winning three straight Rolex 24 events, this year with the team of Montoya, Franchitti, Rojas, and Pruett.  Read More.

1/28 – This year’s Daytona 500 will carry a record purse of $18,689,238 (about $300k more than 2007’s race).  Read More.

1/28 – The no. 19 Dodge driven by Elliot Saddler will have a tri-mary sponsors in 2008 with McDonald’s, Best Buy, and Stanley Tools all sharing the primary sponsorship role this year.  Read More.

1/28 – Dale Earnhardt Jr. is reportedly upset with the fact that DEI has supposedly removed any indications of his stint with the company since his departure from the team, though DEI claims it’s all a result of a mix-up.  Read More.

1/28 – Kyle Busch has announced that he will participate in the Track Walk at Las Vegas Motorspeedway on March 2. The Track Walk is an event held by the NASCAR Foundation in support of various charities.  Read More.

1/28 – NASCAR rookie Jacques Villeneuve has parted ways with his long-time agent, Craig Pollock.  Villeneuve stated that he no longer needs a manager to handle his affairs.  Read More.

1/29 – Juan Pablo Montoya turned in the fastest lap in the 2 days of Sprint Cup testing at Las Vegas Motorspeedway with a lap of 28.914 in the Tuesday afternoon session.  Read More.

1/29 – Max Papis, a car tester for Hendrick Motorsports, is reported to be looking for opportunities to run the road courses in the Sprint Cup Series this year in addition to his part-time Nationwide schedule for Rusty Wallace Inc.  Read More.

1/30 – Darlington Raceway has announced the debut of their “all-you-can-eat” ticket package.  Read More.

1/30 – “Inside Nextel Cup” on the Speed Channel has changed its name to “This Week in NASCAR” with Steve Byrnes taking over as the new host.  Drivers Michael Waltrip, Ken Schrader, and Greg Biffle will remain as panelists and will be joined by various Crew Chiefs, including Chad Knauss.  Read More.

1/30 – Braun Racing has signed Cup stars Brian Vickers, Kyle Busch, and Denny Hamlin to all run part-time schedules in the no. 10 and no. 31 Toyota Camri’s sponsored by Dollar General in the Nationwide Series this year.  Read More.