Just Racing

We could take the entire length of this column and begin listing all the things that are supposedly wrong with the sport of Nextel Cup Racing. It seems that every time you turn on the TV or read the paper another driver or media personality is expressing his displeasure with one aspect of the sport In the last week I have read or heard that Chevy has an unfair advantage in the sport and that NASCAR used caution flags to keep the racing close at the end of a race. I know everyone is entitled to their opinions and I would be the first to agree that there is nothing like hanging out the sport’s dirty laundry on Monday mornings with my fellow race fans. But, lets not forget the bottom line is that the racing on the track isn’t all that bad. Going into Sunday’s race at Talladega, the sport had already provided us with at least five races that you couldn’t predict the winner before the final lap was in the record books. Sunday’s race ended under caution as NASCAR tried to finish the race under its famous green-white-checkered (or as DW and the boys would say, “green, white, wreckers”) but you have to admit as the field took that final green flag you were sitting on the edge of your seat for what was sure to follow. I would have liked to have seen what would have happened if the race ended under green but anytime you finish a restrictor plate race with a green-white-checkered finish, I agree with DW that you might as well warm up the wreckers. It’s just the nature of restrictor plate racing and we will find out when the series returns in October that even though it will be with the Car of Tomorrow, the results will probably be the same. Nextel Cup racing dictates that if you want to stay in the upper echelon of the sport that you can’t afford to stay where you are. Richard Childress will be the first to tell you that all of the success that he and the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. had caused him not to want to make many changes in the way he did business and eventually he found himself having to play catch up with several other teams that continued to make changes that improved their operations. The same may also be said about Dale Earnhardt Inc. that is struggling to enjoy the success that it had several seasons ago when Michael Waltrip was wining restrictor plate races and Dale Jr. was always a threat to visit victory lane. Those days are gone in fact they are several years removed and the operation seems to be stuck in the mud unable to turn the corner on its own. Dale Jr. is no doubt DEI’s best asset and the two have been in negotiations all season long trying to hammer out at deal that would keep Jr. with his late father’s company. Jr. knows that DEI has fallen behind in the sport and he wants control of the organization to make sure that not only his team but also all of DEI’s teams have the resources to make them competitive. Apparently DEI feels that it needs more than Jr. to ensure that the organization is competitive within the sport. It was announced last weekend at Talladega that DEI has held talks with Robert Yates Racing about the possibility of forming a partnership which would allow DEI to field a fourth team by 2008 or 2009. What makes this story so intriguing is that Yates has long been identified with Ford and that the relationship between Chevrolet and the Earnhardts goes back over two decades. Yates was the long time lead team for Ford until Jack Roush began putting together the pieces of his five-car super team that now carries the banner for Ford’s involvement in the sport. Winning is all about resources and technology and apparently both DEI and RYR are not completely satisfied with where both of them are at the present time. Chevrolet has put an offer on the table to DEI, but Jon Story an executive with DEI said that before signing with any manufacturer that it would make sure the organization’s future was secure and put it in a position that it could remain competitive in the sport.