The Mason-Dixon 400 was rained out for Sunday, with Monday the rescheduled day. With the wait before the green flag flies, some miscelleneous observations:
**** Why is it always a shock when a bad rules package proves its weakness year after year? NASCAR testing is suddenly considered "out of control," but the fact is it's been a problem for years, and is the inevitable spawn of the biggest mistake NASCAR has ever made. NASCAR first began limiting testing in 1990 and one year into this policy teams were protesting, with Harry Hyde providing the best argument against limits on testing - "What kind of plays would Broadway put on without rehersals?"
The more NASCAR tries to restrict testing, the worse it makes the problem, and the new angle of rival tire companies getting involved in testing looms in the sport, with a potential removal of exclusivity clauses in sponsorship contracts in the offing in the wake of the AT&T brouhaha.
One needs to ask why it's any of NASCAR's business to police testing at all. A key failing of the sanctioning body is that more and more of what it tries to police it has no business getting involved in.
**** With Dover at 400 miles we got a few comments about how much better is supposedly is that this race is 400 miles, and how some other rtacks should shorten their races. This is the ADD brigade talking again; the reality is that longer-distance races like 500 milers and Charlotte's 600-miler are a better test of machinery and racers and are more competitive than 400 milers.
**** It's another SpecCar/COT race, and given waht we've seen in the first five, the notion that we'll get better racing with this car still gets pushed by acolytes of the COT despite the reality that they remain wrong.
4 comments:
Compelling thought regarding testing...why does FranceCar stick their nose into it?
Nascar stuck their nose into testing because many teams complained that they did not have the funding to keep up with the power house teams. Nascar had to do something to limit this, and while testing limits did help for a few years, it was only a band aid. What started out as good intentions has morphed into something bad.
NASCAR didn't have to do anything to limit testing - all they did was bankrupt single-car teams and in effect rescue Hendrick Motorsports, which insisted on fielding three cars but wasn't going anywhere as far as a championship went until testing was restricted.
Hendrick did their homework while others set on their hands. While RYR, DEI and Roush were cutting back on their R&D programs, RHR built and tested at every opportunity, and the results are showing this season.
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