Media Tour Day 1: All-Star Race a preview of 2016?
As the media tour for the Sprint Cup Series kicked off Monday, NASCAR delivered its “State of the Sport” address. The sanctioning body said there would be no changes to the Chase, flared sideskirts would be outlawed and that the 2016 rules package would hopefully be delivered to teams by the time of the All-Star Race in May.
According to NBC Sports, not only could the race serve as a deadline for the rules guidelines, but it could also serve as a showcase. There have been discussions about building the cars to the 2016 specifications for the race.
An official with direct knowledge of the All-Star Race proposal said Charlotte Motor Speedway and Sprint were supportive of using the 2016 rules because it also would prevent teams from getting a jump on preparing for the Coca-Cola 600 and increasing the likelihood of a lackluster race. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plan wasn’t finalized.
The Sprint All-Star Race could use a jolt of relevance. In nine editions since the repaving of Charlotte in 2006, there has been one lead during the final five laps of an event billed as promoting a no-holds-barred style. In the past three Sprint All-Star Races, the winner has led the final 10 laps.
But a potential drawback for NASCAR could be whether the sneak preview of the 2016 rules delivers a better version of the racing than with the current rules that will be featured over four hours the following week at Charlotte in the season’s longest race.
• Kyle Busch once again reiterated his displeasure with the lack of cooperation between Joe Gibbs Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing. And we still think the man has a point. Hendrick and Stewart-Haas cooperate a bunch and it leads to eight teams’ worth of data sharing. Six cars’ worth of sharing would be a big benefit for both teams, especially in the case of MWR, which only has two.
“I think progress was being made, and all of a sudden it came to a halt,” he said. “I’m probably saying too much and I’ll probably get yelled at, but I’m very vocal about it. I feel like we’re idiots by not continuing to work in the right direction in order to put our companies together to do the right thing for Toyota and for all of us collectively. It just makes me mad every day that they say nothing has progressed.”
• Here’s some TV news for you. Dale Jarrett will be part of NBC’s pre and post-race after serving as an analyst with NBC. And Fox has scored Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick as analysts for Xfinity Series races. The three Sprint Cup Series champions will serve as analysts on a rotating basis.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
