Happy Hour: NASCAR’s rules, Roush, Indy and road courses
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
If you haven’t had a chance to read Brad Keselowski’s latest blog, it’s a must. We can’t imagine how frightening the experience was for his girlfriend Paige and him and we’re glad that Scarlett is doing well.
We found this tweet Wednesday night by NASCAR to be, uh, something.
You’re not going to find many sports asking the (rhetorical) question of “to heck” with their own rule books. But it’s especially dangerous in the case of a sport that has added an extra driver to the Chase because it was the right thing to do just two years ago. And in a sport that has taken the liberties of changing the rules in the middle of the season in an attempt to improve the racing.
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We’re not saying that Kyle Busch would be added to the Chase by NASCAR CEO Brian France if he didn’t make the top 30. But given what happened with Jeff Gordon in 2013, it’s not something you can rule out entirely until the Chase begins, either.
Apparently y’all ran out of gas with everyone else at Pocono this week. We’ve got an abbreviated mailbag. We blame it on the midsummer slog.
Trevor Bayne said the team is behind when it comes to computer simulations. But if you look at the team’s 2014 performance, the gulf that existed between Roush Fenway Racing and NASCAR’s top teams wasn’t going to evaporate in a year. However, it may not have evaporated at all.
Greg Biffle is fighting to stay relevant in the Chase picture while Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Bayne are, well, simply fighting to stay relevant. When Stenhouse crashed at Pocono with Sam Hornish Jr., he and Bayne were running with the Front Row Motorsports cars. Nothing against Front Row, but Roush should be better than that.
Penske is clearly the top dog in the Ford camp and the manufacturer needs a clear No. 2 to keep up with Chevy and Toyota. Roush isn’t that right now.
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I’ve been to every Brickyard 400 except one so I’m batting .954. What is all the fuss about? The Brickyard 400 has been a track position contest since the beginning. Year #1, Jeff Gordon won on attrition. Ernie Irvan got a flat tire and Geoff Bodine wrecked. Year #2 there was passing under green, BUT HOW did that race end? Dale Earnhardt got around Rusty Wallace thanks to a car slowing Wallace in the pit lane. Wallace couldn’t pass Earnhardt on the track and vice versa. Third place Dale Jarrett might have been the fastest car out there, but he was pushing in dirty air. In the fourth Brickyard in ’97, Ricky Rudd skipped a late stop hoping for a caution, which he got! Is passing tough at Indy? Yup! The best guys still get it done. – Don
Indianapolis is never going to be a track with a ton of action. Maybe NASCAR should put restrictor plates on the cars there?
We just made ourselves shudder. Ugh. Hopefully that never happens.
YOU ASKED THIS QUESTION IN JUNE.
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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!
