News-Record.com

I remember last year that they (USA Today) expressly stated that they counted an incident as anything that brought a yellow flag out that could be linked to a driver and also included any wreck a driver was involved in, their fault or not, Therefore, I think all the results are misleading.

Using Robby as the case in point, I can think of two wrecks off-hand this year that he was involved in as a direct party. The Waltrip incident & when he wrecked Marlin in retaliation at Richmond (I believe it was Richmond). Hardly a 59% WRECKING rate.

I think USA Today, for the purposes of the pieces above, is agnostic on who causes a wrecks. So if you caused it or just got caught up in it, it counts.

Too bad for Robby. He causes his share, but the ones he doesn't cause always seem to seek him out.

Any chance in 2006 that RG could become Wreck-less Robby?

Per NASCAR.com, Robby was out of a race five times due to an accident. Five wrecks in 29 races is approximately 6%. Not a good figure but, again, how many of those were his own doing vs. getting caught in someone else's mess?

If you count all his DNF's (13 including accidents & mech issues) as incidents, that does even out to what USA Today figured.

They can't afford to be agnostic because they are presenting it as a study of wrecks and that isn't what it is. It's a study in involvement and the way they present their information is false and misleading.

Hmmm, Carrie, interesting.

Anyone else want to pick a driver and see if USAT is confusing wrecks and DNFs? Any race fan will tell you they're not always the same thing.

I forgot to say, if this was last year, I wouldn't even be trying to defend Robby (or debunk the study itself) because even with adjusted stats, he would have been the lead guy. I won't defend what I consider to be indefensible.
But this year?

This year, I know better. The races he did manage to finish this year (esp. the ones that were problem free) he probably could have finished better were he still "It's Not My Stuff, Who Cares If I Scuff It Up" Gordon. He's not that guy anymore. I don't think he'll ever be that guy again even if, Lord forbid, he have to go back to driving for someone else.

Do I ever think he'll be Wreck-less Robby? Not a chance. Changed man or not, he's still Robby and he also can't escape getting caught up in other people's stuff. I do think he will be, and has been, much more careful than he ever was.

To be honest, does the stats REALLY matter? It's so last season. How about betting on how many wrecks Jimmy Johnson causes in 2006? LOL...Oh Lordy I can hardly wait to read the responses to this comment. It's all in fun people...Happy Frickin Holidays.

John, USAT clearly isn't counting ONLY DNF's in the equation because then Waltrip's math doesn't work out. What I'm getting at is they are counting things up to and not excluding wrecks in their percentages and that doesn't give a true picture of what they are presenting as the amount of wrecks in NASCAR this year.

They state that Robby was in 17 incidents this year. I'd like to see the evidence of that because I follow every move the guy makes and I don't remember 17 incidents. Even in taking their word, they misrepresent that information by not laying out fault etc. It's really not fair to add to a stat like that if a guy is an innocent by-stander.

Antonette - Jimmie caused what? Two, three wrecks this season? What a menace. Let's ban him for life.

Geesh calm down. There is always someone who takes things way to seriously. Bah humbug. Pfffffffft. I'm so done commenting over this. Obviously I touched a nerve. Oh well. Hey John, have a wonderful Christmas!!!!

I was being facetious, Antonette. Bah humbug, indeed.