"Rain, rain go away come back anoth... oh lets just forget it and cancel Qualifying altogether!" a NASCAR Official was quoted as saying today. Actually, no one said that, but it does seem appropriate.
The mix of rain and NASCAR's qualifying rules has left some, especially Boris Said, with dampened spirits. This is the second race in a row for Said that qualifying has been rain out and he has missed "The Show" as a result.
One can't help but to feel sorry for Said, and others like him. "For a part-time team, you don't get to race that much and two races in a row get taken away," Said said. "I don't understand why the schedule can't be adjusted and just qualify [Saturday] when it's going to be sunny. It's just hard for a small team -- it pretty much puts us out of business, it puts me out of business. It's just a lot of income lost." - source: Dave Rodman at nascar.com
It costs a lot of money to prepare these cars and bring them to the track along with all of the equipment and manpower too. Not to mention the crew's hotel is also paid for in full for the whole weekend whether they qualify or not, so if a team fails to make the show on Friday they can pack up and leave yet still have to pay for at least 2 more days worth of hotel accommodations - unless they are also working in some other capacity for another team, and/or racing series that is running the same weekend at the same track.
What has happened to Said so far this year is a good reason to bring back second round qualifying, especially after the Dayton 400 where he was sitting on the pole with only a handful of cars left to qualify when the rain started and washed out qualifying thus sending Said home.
I'm all for it, I think it makes it a little more fair for those "go or go home" drivers who must qualify on speed because they are not in the top 35 of Owner's Points. Klaus Graf, who ran fast enough in practice to qualify today at The Glen, is another example of why we need second round qualifying again.
Another notable driver that will not be racing this weekend in the Cup Series is Marcos Ambrose. All that Robby Gordon goodwill has gone to waste this weekend. What had all the markings of being a true Cinderella story this weekend for both Ambrose and Gordon (not to mention their sponsors) has ended up looking like a poorly scripted satire.
What was shaping up to be a strong Cup race on Sunday with all of these road racers being involved has now become the watered down version. Pun intended.