Jun 14, 2010 - You know the feeling you get when you pack for a trip and feel like you've forgotten something? That's how I felt when I left Michigan International Speedway yesterday.
It seemed like something was missing from the race. So I replayed the events of the day in my head.
To sum it up: The race started, the Red Bull cars wrecked, Denny Hamlin had the lead, Denny Hamlin won.
Had I forgotten something? Typically after a NASCAR race the last couple years, there's some sort of water cooler topic to carry through to the next week.
So I got back to the hotel and flipped on ESPN to watch the race highlights.
ESPN's summary was the same as mine: The race started, the Red Bull cars wrecked, Denny Hamlin had the lead, Denny Hamlin won.
Yep. That was about it. Huh.
It turns out that Sunday's race was strange in that it just seemed completely unremarkable.
There was no major drama, no big wrecks, no exciting finish, no potholes or malfunctioning caution lights or rain, no controversial comments about firesuits or golden horseshoes, no nothing.
The best car won, the race finished in a tidy two-and-a-half hours and that was it.
Weird, right? The race was so normal, it was abnormal.
We've gotten spoiled, it seems. After the new car was introduced, there were a couple years of blah-blah boring races. But not lately, mostly thanks to double-file restarts and multiple green-white-checkered finishes.
Because of those rules that inject some action into the show, it seems something always happens. There's always something to talk about.
Hell, even POCONO gave us some interesting material.
But what are we talking about after Michigan? Not much.
Sure, Hamlin's story is interesting. But he just won last week, and we're in a middle zone right now where it's still too early to tell if certain teams' successes will last through the Chase. So it's tough to get overly enthusiastic about Hamlin's No. 11 team out-performing Jimmie Johnson's 48 just yet.
The race was a bit of a dud. At least you know NASCAR tried to make it better with that iffy debris caution.
Many fans say they saw the debris on TNT's online "Race Buddy" camera. And that's fine. But since several drivers said they didn't see it, I'll stick with calling it "iffy."
Don't agree? Well, let's talk about what a "caution" means. A caution in the traditional sense is for when there's some sort of danger to the drivers on the track where they need to slow down to avoid trouble.
Everyone knows NASCAR plays with cautions depending on the circumstances. The drivers openly talk about it, as Hamlin did after the race.
Officials will hold off on calling a caution for a crash on the last lap to try and get a good finish, but a piece of rubber will be three feet off the track during a long (read: boring) green-flag run and they'll say "Put it out!"
Purists may not like it, but as I've written before, I'm perfectly OK with so-called "show" cautions. All the other recent rules are made to provide for more entertainment for the fans (and have), so why not? They're not for sport, they're for the show.
If you want to argue that point with me, explain how a "free pass" after a car has been lapped is fair. That rule is there to keep more cars on the lead lap and, thus, provide more of a reason to watch.
But like I said, I'm all for the entertainment value. That attracts more fans and makes it worth watching. And NASCAR needs people watching right now.
Besides, when NASCAR throws these late cautions to bunch up the field, isn't that what most people tune in to see? A crazy double-file restart with action and controversy and excitement. That's the fun part as a spectator.
As long as officials don't play favorites with who wins, I'm OK with them maybe pulling a couple strings to entertain us.
The only problem I have is that calling cautions for non-threatening or non-existent debris is disingenuous. If NASCAR wants a caution to spice up the race, why not be public about it?
I've said this before, but NASCAR could call a competition caution to make a shootout with 10 or 20 laps to go (depending on the size of the track) at the end of every race.
Even that doesn't guarantee a memorable finish, as Sunday's Michigan race will be forgettable except for Adam Sandler and Kevin James' wild "Start your engines" command.
The bottom line is none of us can have it both ways. If you complain about boring, single-file racing, you can't turn around and criticize NASCAR for trying to make it more interesting.
Yeah, the late cautions aren't the most fair, purely sporting thing to do. But for the fans who paid for tickets or invested their time on a weekend afternoon, a good finish is a just reward.
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…NASCAR as a sport has been snowballing into entertainment hell, and noone seems to know what to do to stop it, let alone reverse it.
by DRLDeBoer on Jun 14, 2010 1:03 PM EDT reply actions
NASCAR has been snowballing into entertainment hell as DRLDeBoer said. It’s crazy. Last week was exciting at Pocono sure… but was it exciting for Kahne, Martin, Gordon, Newman, etc. who was caught up in that wreck? A wreck that was manufactured by the mysterious “debris” cautions? I don’t mind a race being boring like yesterday. The best car won. Sometimes, you’re just gonna have that.
I think it takes away from the value of the sport, manufacturing cautions, manufacturing the ending. And when they throw these cautions at the end to ensure of a G-W-C aren’t they picking who wins or doesn’t win? Because they are almost ensuring that say Denny Hamlin won’t win. Or whoever is in the lead that is either pulling away, sustaining the lead, and no one is gaining. He was undoubtedly going to win, now there is a caution and now that 6th place car is going to win.
As for the free pass, I hate that rule. And the lucky dog. Why should you get the lucky dog if you’re 10 seconds behind the leader? It was way better when you raced your way to get your lap back instead of just riding around in the lucky dog spot and having it handed to you on a platter. As for the entertainment value of the free pass… surprised NASCAR didn’t keep those cars in front of the leader. That’s asking for a caution. And those big wrecks and bruised egos are what NASCAR wants to up their ratings.
They need to stop giving us a show and give us a race, IMO.
by jr88freak on Jun 14, 2010 1:23 PM EDT reply actions
I totally agree with jr88freak. Also, perhaps they should look at improving the racing throughout the entire race. When I go to a race, I want to see a good race throughout the whole race. I didn’t come just for the last 10 laps. And yes, NASCAR does play favorites in some of these mysterious debris cautions.
by kkohne on Jun 14, 2010 1:58 PM EDT reply actions
Time for Michigan to go?
Its like this a lot at Michigan…too bad SMI doesn’t own it, because the decision on what track could make room for another would be easy.
…I don’t get NASCAR’s excuse about the schedule being too packed…Michigan is just one track that could lose one or both dates to make room for better tracks, … such as, I don’t know…IOWA SPEEDWAY. Iowans like their racing, and sold out both races last year in the Nationwide and Truck Series standalone events. No to mention, you have Kentucky which provides pretty decent races. But tracks like Auto Club and Michigan definitely don’t deserve two races a season…and that’s because of what you said in your post Jeff…races lack story lines because everyone is spread out in a long 2 mile line in about five or ten laps.
by kyleocker on Jun 14, 2010 6:00 PM EDT reply actions
“They’re not for sport, they’re for the show.”
That says it all. NASCAR is far more interested in being a “show” than a legitimate sport, and as long as they manipulate the outcomes of races by throwing “debris”/show cautions whenever they feel like it, it never will be a legitimate sport. It doesn’t bother me at all if one driver/car/team dominates the race. The point of the race is to win, and if someone is the class of the field that particular day, so be it. A dominant driver/team should not be punished simply because they’re better that day. Throwing “show” cautions to bunch up the field is basically the equivalent of the NFL resetting the score with five minutes left in the game because Team A is beating Team By by three touchdowns.
I don’t believe that NASCAR plays favorites or tries to “fix” races for certain drivers (after all, seems like they’d throw Dale Jr. a bone every now and then), but there is no doubt they manipulate the races by manufacturing “drama” by bunching the field together, and that’s unfortunate. I don’t speak for all fans, but watching multiple crashes at the end of a race isn’t why I watch and isn’t exactly my idea of entertainment, and the same can probably be said for drivers, crew members, and owners as well.
In summary, I’d rather see an honest, straightforward race rather than the manufactured nonsense that we now see during every race, but to each his own.
by Reven on Jun 14, 2010 6:36 PM EDT reply actions
Why is there a 2 minute warning in football? It’s to give the players a break and TV a chance to get a last commercial before the most important part of the game. Sure you sometimes have 1 team well ahead of the other and that last 2 minutes doesn’t matter; but so is the same in nascar. Nobody was going to beat Hamlin at the end of that race Sunday; however, something nascar has that every other sport has is multiple battles all over the playing field. I saw some great racing the last 10 between Burton and Earnhardt and between Logano and Biffle.
I think Jeff’s point is, nascar is going to throw these late races cautions because TV likes it and the “casual” fan that watches the first 20 and last 20 laps of a race like it. Instead if disguising it as a debris caution, call it what it is. It makes nascar look like buffoons when all the drivers are questioning the cautions at the end.
by jshaunburke on Jun 15, 2010 12:02 PM EDT reply actions
Absolutely no comparison between the two minute warning in the NFL and NASCAR’s show cautions. In NASCAR, positions that drivers have worked for and gaps that they have built up on their competitors by being better are completely wiped out unlike in the NFL where the score is not reset.
I agree that NASCAR would be better off just calling them what they are (show cautions, commercial cautions) instead of pretending their drivers and fans are complete idiots by daring to say it is for “debris.” Either way, manipulating the outcome of races is just so cheap. I’d much rather it be decided on the track between the drivers instead of NASCAR deciding they don’t want Driver A to run away with the win just because he happens to have the best car that day. Defeats the whole purpose of sport.
Of course, as Gluck pointed out, it’s not for sport, it’s for show.
by Reven on Jun 15, 2010 6:51 PM EDT reply actions
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