Happy Hour: Indy’s rules, MWR, our beloved commenters and more
Throughout the week you can send us your best questions, jokes, rants and just plain miscellaneous thoughts to [email protected] or @NickBromberg. We’ll post them here and have a good time.
Welcome to Happy Hour. Have you woken up from Indianapolis yet?
We kid. We kid. The race featured one more lead change than it did last year!
NASCAR said that it’s going to try the Indianapolis rules changes at Michigan as scheduled despite the lack of action and poor reviews at Indy. And that’s the smart move. NASCAR is trying to portray itself as being very pragmatic when it comes to changing the rules, even if their actions aren’t totally backing the public statements up (more on that in a minute).
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Michigan, as you know, is a totally different track than Indianapolis. So NASCAR might as well give it a go and see what happens. Our big question for the race is if the slower speeds on the straightaways created by the larger spoiler will mean that teams are going flat out in the corners. If that happens, or comes close to happening, Michigan could be like a smaller version of Talladega or Daytona. It’d be the pack racing that NASCAR CEO Brian France has said he wants to have.
We’re respected?!?!?!
Oh, they totally got it wrong. But when you make changes, you’re not guaranteed to get them right. Consider it the minus to Kentucky’s plus and we’re now back to square one.
The answer to getting the Indianapolis rules right seems pretty simple. Testing. NASCAR tested at Indianapolis in April and speeds were very, very high. So NASCAR made the changes to the rules after seeing what happened in the test. And while they were run through many simulations, they weren’t tested on the track. And that’s ultimately what got NASCAR in the predicament it was in on Sunday.
We’re not saying that simply testing makes the race a super-entertaining one to watch, but NASCAR and the teams then know what to do to prepare for the race weekend and the sanctioning body can make further changes. It didn’t have the opportunity by taking action without on-track testing to evaluate it.
Based on what’s been reported, MWR co-owner Rob Kauffman could take the No. 15 and Clint Bowyer with him to Ganassi as part of his purchase of part of Ganassi Racing. A move like that would mean MWR would be left with one car, as Ganassi co-owner Felix Sabates has said the team wants to have three cars, one more than its current two-car stable.
It’s important to repeat that Kauffman has been the financial power behind MWR. If Waltrip wants to stay relevant in the Cup Series as an owner he’s going to have to get an infusion of capital and/or align with an existing team.
He also would have to keep Aaron’s for 2016 and beyond or find another sponsor for the No. 55. And figure out the driver situation. Furniture Row has been considered a candidate to move to Toyota and so it stands to reason that “hey, MWR could align with Furniture Row!” Aaron’s being a competitor to Furniture Row quiets those thoughts pretty quickly.
The company said Thursday it is evaiuating its options.
There are still a lot of unknowns with this situation that’s only recently gone from smoke to fire. One of the knowns, however, is that Toyota isn’t going anywhere.
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I just finished reading the comments to your recent Power Rankings. In spite of that I still have some faith in humanity. My vacation must have really relaxed me. So do you think that someone will eventually inform us that the Trilateral Commission and the Free Masons are in charge of NASCAR (like everything else, no doubt). – Paul
Despite the common absence of common sense, the comments section has it all figured out, doesn’t it? If you need a NASCAR conspiracy theorized, just scroll down to the bottom of a post, especially after a win by a driver not named Dale Earnhardt Jr. Or heck, even after Junior wins. You’re bound to see some posts about how the race was rigged for him.
Hey, we love the creativity. Maybe one day the black helicopters will actually take flight.
TV runs the show, so when it comes to TV vs. in-person attendance, the needs of exponentially more watching at home is always going to come first. And that’s why Sunday’s race started so late. It was a chance for NBC to get some eyeballs tuned to NBCSN on a late Sunday afternoon. And the television rating reflected that.
While the rating was good for NBCSN, it was low compared to previous races. The channel is not as widely available as ESPN (part of the reason why the race is on it) and you’re undoubtedly aware of the loud minority who is willing to tell anyone and everyone that they can’t watch the race.
But you also have to keep in mind the changing habits of viewers. More and more people are going to keep cutting out cable and satellite packages. Online streaming is already up and running (NBC’s app is pretty good) and you can get that to your TV with simply a cable. Sooner, rather than later, we’re going to have an idea of how many people watched a race on TV and also streamed it.
Love this question.
Hendrick may be a buyer as its cars have been a tick slower than the Penske and Joe Gibbs Racing cars. Stewart-Haas Racing is clearly a buyer for two of its cars. Can they find the magic potion to get either Danica Patrick or Tony Stewart a win?
As far as sellers go, well, MWR may be in the unfortunate situation of actually selling or something similar. And Roush Fenway could be in the selling mode too. Not that the team should be for sale by any means, but that with Ricky Stenhouse and Trevor Bayne buried in the standings, it may deem some changes are necessary to experiment before 2016.
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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!
