Post-Brickyard Blues

The Brickyard 400 came and went, and frankly it had less than usual to show for itself. The attendence was noticably down, with some stories circulating that scalpers were taking it harder than usual with inability to sell tickets. Granted, 225,000 people is a tremendous audience, but it nonetheless brings further confirmation that NASCAR Mania peaked a few years back and is on a downward drift.

Aggravating the drift is the anticlimatic nature of the race at the end. One thing those who follow the sport closely over many years can do is detect subtlties that can have a bearing on the outcome. One such telling subtlty lay in Jeff Burton's run. Despite leading half the race, at no point of the race did he ever look secure in the lead, as though he knew that once he lost the lead he was done. I got that sense when he lost the lead to Matt Kenseth after Lap 100 and tried to repass right away and couldn't, even with drafting help.

Once Jimmie Johnson had the lead, I wonder how many people left to their cars, as there was little credible prospect of him losing the race after he got the lead. Of course Bill Weber made it worse by committing the worst insult to viewers' intelligence in years when he brought up the Hendrick plane crash from 2004, as if it has any relevence to anything today and as if anyone really needs to know about it. Rick Hendrick loses his brother, son, and others in a plane crash, and that makes his race team worthy of nonstop adulation? As tragic as the plane crash was, it doesn't change the reality of the skeletons in Rick Hendrick's business closet, skeletons badged with Honda logos and dripping with the ink of bribery greenbacks paid to former American Honda honchos Jack Billmyer and Jim Cardiges; these skeletons also say a lot about how he's become the biggest Chevrolet team in NASCAR, a team that has consumed such a disproportionate percentage of GM racing efforts as to have greatly weakened Chevy's overall NASCAR program - the question needs to be asked about where Chevrolet was when Richard Childress was struggling with horsepower; also, where is Chevy with DEI struggling even more, and where was Chevy when Andy Petree's organization was in financial trouble, and where is Chevy with Morgan-McClure in comparative bankrupcy?

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Of course it doesn't help matters when Dodge's program is underachieving as it is due to chronic mismanagement by Stuttgart aggravating organizational mistakes with Ray Evernham Motorsports, Petty Enterprises, Penske Racing, and Ganassi Racing - never mind the hopeless status of Tony Morgenthau's #49. Ray Evernham lost two cars while a third motor of his went up in Bobby Labonte's DNF, capping a dismal end to what had started as a promising day for Evernham and Petty. Now the musical drivers game has begun with Jeremy Mayfield's firing; Bill Elliott will drive the #19 at Watkins Glen, mostly because he has the past champion provisional to get into the field.

With former champions Elliott, Dale Jarrett, and Terry Labonte all but locked into a field, the absurdity of a starting field limited to just 43 starters becomes more and more obvious. NASCAR's mealy-mouthed response is they won't expand the starting field, but that may backfire on them as former champs get into races and new blood gets shut out. As it is, too many of their policies have backfired on them.

Expanding the starting field ultimately remains the only fair way to address the many issues involving qualifying and provisionals. Ultimately qualifying should determine where you start, not whether you start.