FIVE LAPS: Heading to Dover
Oh, boy! One of the worst parts of the season is coming up.
LAP 1: Dover had it right when it cut 100 miles off its race in 1997. You think maybe Pocono and Michigan can do the same? Five hundred miles of PocoNO! and another 400 miles at Michigan aren't exactly compelling motorsports viewing, which means I don't have much reason to tune in until Sonoma. And less of Bill Webber is a very, very good thing.
More after the jump ...
LAP 2: Why did NASCAR stick the two Haas/CNC drivers with 150-point penalties? Because they could. You can't really argue that they didn't get what was coming to them -- Junior got docked 100 points for something similar last year, and NASCAR has made it pretty freakin' clear that Thou Shalt Not Tamper with the COT. But these latest penalties are 50 points heavier than Junior's last year and Flippy McCrabby's missing oil pump cover earlier this season, and I'd argue that a cheater car used to win a race is in a whole different part of the rulebook than two field fillers that had to race in their Plan B-mobiles. In this current case, Scott Riggs and whoever is driving the No. 70 car this week are in no danger of making the Chase. If the two teams vanish at year's end -- the 66 is on the Top 35 bubble and the 70 is way behind -- NASCAR always can find some new sucker owner to take their spot. So, yeah, NASCAR can afford to beat up these two weaklings and steal their lunch money. What will NASCAR do if the next big cheater is, say, Kasey Kahne or Jimmie Johnson?
LAP 3: SMI replaces its No. 2 guy -- one of the best known and well-regarded people in racin' -- with the son of the CEO. No, that doesn't look bad at all. This story mentions that Marcus Smith is "well-regarded." By whom? SMI's top guy who also happens to be his dad? Please. Bruton Jr. may be the best thing ever to happen to LMS, but it doesn't look good.
LAP 4: Yes, Jaynelle, Joey Logano is the Second Coming. More importantly, he's news on a newsless week. When today's big headline is Jeff Gordon re-upping with Dupont -- a story along the lines of "Sun rises in east, sets in west" -- Logano is exactly what the media contingent needs.
LAP 5: Jay "From the Marbles" Busbee is a funny, funny man. Go read.
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