Waid's World
A NASCAR BLOG BY Steve Waid
NASCAR wants no role in the outcome of the Chase
I think NASCAR is trying to stay out of the game.
It does not want to penalize any of the teams in the Chase For The Sprint Cup and, as a result, dock them points, the loss of which could easily take them out of the championship hunt.
NASCAR has already set a precedent of the loss of 100 points for a rules violation, a penalty that would be devastating for any team in the Chase.
If it had to enforce such a penalty again over the last seven races it would surely affect the Chase and, possibly, ultimately determine the champion.
That does NASCAR no good. It realizes that. It wants the competitors to race for the title, and it wants to stay the heck out of the way.
I think the Chase teams know that. To me, that should be obvious to them after the sanctioning body warned the Hendrick Motorsports teams of Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin that they were very close to violating the tolerances granted in body measurement.
NASCAR announced that, after Dover post-race inspection and examination at its research and development center in Concord, N.C., it had found the No. 48 and the No. 5 cars to be dangerously close to tolerance irregularity.
They were not illegal, but the thinking here is that they were so close NASCAR felt it had to take action.
Hendrick engineers were given the benefit of seeing how NASCAR conducted its measurements, which, I assume, was different from how Hendrick’s group did them. The sanctioning body informed the teams that they should do the same lest they risk serious problems in the future.
When it comes to rules, teams always test the limits. But I think NASCAR gave Hendrick a message that should be heeded by all the Chase teams: “Push the envelope all you want but be informed we have our limits.”
It has been said that NASCAR might have found some real irregularities in the Hendrick cars and chose to ignore them because of favoritism.
Nothing new there. NASCAR has always been accused of playing favorites.
I can’t, for certain, say that it was not doing so with Hendrick. But if it was, it was incredibly stupid, which means I can’t buy it.
Again, I suggest that NASCAR may have told – or indicated by example - all the teams in the Chase that it does not want to have any role in the outcome through legislation.
Why would NASCAR court the risk of being the entity that played a big role in determining its champion? I would think it would much prefer to stand aside and let the contenders slug it out among themselves.
Which suggests that it would not only tell Hendrick Motorsports how close it has come to an infraction but also, if the need arises, the other teams in the Chase as well.
If a Chase team does something that is obviously illegal and gets caught during an inspection process, NASCAR has no choice. But I think it would much prefer not to deal with that.
Leave the outcome of the Chase to the teams. It’s what NASCAR wants – as it should.
And I think we can agree that is how it should be.
Steve Waid
Steve Waid is the veteran sports writer on the NASCAR Scene staff. He's been covering racing since 1972 and has been at NASCAR Scene for 26 years.
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Comments
12 responses to "NASCAR wants no role in the outcome of the Chase". Post a Comment.
melanschool said:
Oct 6, 2009 at 10:28 AMWhere is the call for fairness?
Report as AbuseThe go - or go - homers all go through a post - qualifying tech to make sure they are all within legal bounderies. If they mess up - they get sent home. If a top 35 team gets caught, well they just lose their qualifying spot ... but still can race.
All 12 chase teams should have to go to R&D after each and every chase race. Or at least each and every chase team put through a post - race inspection, not just the top 2 and a random. The closest to that fairness is Talladega inspection where ride height is measured.
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» Confirm Abuse Report42-Colombia said:
Oct 6, 2009 at 10:59 AMNASCAR does not decide the outcome of the race. If a team cheats, NASCAR must do its job and penalize. By turning away, NASCAR is deciding the outcome of the Chase, not the other way around.
Report as AbuseA Team decides their own outcome by deciding whether or not to follow the rules or push the limits.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportmikeyfan5599 said:
Oct 6, 2009 at 1:31 PMIt really doesn't matter now, the word was out that one car was out of tolerance and a warning was issued, to a lot of fans, points should have been taken and crew chiefs suspended. By not doing so will only taint the championship if either of those two drivers win the championship. The fact that it was a HMS car once again lends itself to suggest that NASCAR plays favorites to its biggest money maker. I guess if you can buy yourself a pardon, buying a championship should be easy pickings.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportSTP43FAN said:
Oct 6, 2009 at 5:42 PMNASCAR gave Hendrick the benefit of the doubt, and a 100-point penalty is meaningless to a monster outfit like Hendrick. A 1,000-point penalty is appropriate for them.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportjfultz-jfultz said:
Oct 6, 2009 at 6:00 PMAnybody that doesn't believe NASCAR isn't trying to get MM a championship is a fool. MM didn't become superman just by going to HMS. Does anybody believe Roush was giving him junk to drive all those years? NASCAR wants either MM or JJ to win this year & if MM doesn,t win this year, well he has an extension for next year. No way is MM better than JG in equal equipment. I believe if JR. had equal equipment he is a better driver than the old man with the 50's hairdoo.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportSTP43FAN said:
Oct 7, 2009 at 5:25 PMJFULTZ-JFULTZ - Junior has never proven he's better than anyone since the sport discovered how he was winning all those plate races - underside aero work in the transmission tunnel area.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportCCCANNON said:
Oct 8, 2009 at 6:15 AMIf Nascar wants no role in the outcome of the
Report as Abusechase then why did they tell Keselowski to
stop racing Montoya. Go back under your
blankie Waid.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportHammer said:
Oct 8, 2009 at 8:42 AMSteve get real. NASCAR has ways to manipulate races. Can Nascar or better yet does Nascar fix a race? No! However, through cautions; penalties; inspections; etc; they control to a degree the players (drivers; teams) to the outcome that NASCAR would like to see happen.
Report as AbuseNo difference between NASCAR and wrestling; only the configuration of the ring is different.
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» Confirm Abuse Reporttinynascarfan said:
Oct 8, 2009 at 3:52 PMNascar needs to be fair and consistent with their calls, just like a good umpire in baseball, he will give both pitchers the same strike zone. Nascar needs to spend some money and hire an outside officiating agency to run the race, in other words put someone in the booth who makes the decision to throw the caution who does not work for nascar and has no care to when the caution is thrown except to keep the track safe. Nascar is and always will be cheating when and where it suits their monetary purposes. They cant help Dale Jr. win the championship, but when the chips all line up right, they can help him win a race, 90% of fans believe this, and 100% of fans want it fixed!
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» Confirm Abuse Reportphillipwafford said:
Oct 8, 2009 at 5:48 PMput it like it is #8 hammer!!! Hendrick has hen-car in his back pocket! and everybody knows it. a person that believes any thing hen-car has to say is a fool just as I am for wanting to watch/go to races for racing that's why it's better to go to a race you can watch your own race so hen-car has me/us in their back pocket the reason they want to go to the R&D center is we can't see what the measurements really are then they can tell us anything to suit their wants. what is close? over or under? see Carl Long/J Mayfield story. hen car can ruin you! they just didn't have the money to run with hen-car.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportphillipwafford said:
Oct 8, 2009 at 5:52 PMa great idea # 9. but hen-car is not going to do that and there is no way to make them and they know it
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» Confirm Abuse ReportMeg said:
Oct 8, 2009 at 8:24 PMWho brought up about the green-eyed monster, jealousy, the other day ?? Some of you people need to just give up watching NASCAR or deal with your insecure emotions. Why watch if all you think NASCAR does is cheat ? That's just so dumb....
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