Harvicks new ride

Pretty Sweet

Talladega

Out of a loop for about a month. Sorry to all of my faithful readers! :) Even in the offseason, I should be able to write about something each week...Anyways on to 'Dega.

Talladega is always an exciting race to watch, especially in the final laps and the positions shuffle like a deck of cards on poker night. And this years fall race was no different. We got to see Dale leads some laps, we got to see Johnson not lead many laps and there was no huge wreck that took out many people. My biggest gripe has to be with the finish. The rules are that if the leader has taken the white flag that the race is final if the caution comes out. Fine that's cool, but my deal is with the call that was made (or not made) at the end of the race.

I like to compare the sport to other sports and here is another example of this. How many sports is there not a call for several minutes while they decide who is the winner? None that I can think of. They at least make a call and then review the play if it is deemed necessary. However, I stared at the tv in disbelief because they would not make a call on who won the race for several minutes. You have to make a call.

At least Bowyer did something for his case by doing a burnout while Harvick sat and watched him. Harvick should have been burning donuts at the same time and acting like he won the race. One two finish for RCR was great, it should have been a 1, 2 3 if Burton wouldn't have been ran over by JR. All we can do from here is watch next week at TEXAS.

Kansas

Let the chase continue...Greg Biffle wins at Kansas followed in second by Johnson, who did not have much of a car until it really matter. All of the top seven were chase contenders, which did not include then points leader Denny Hamlin, who finished twelfth. Worst chase finisher was Kyle Busch in 22nd, whose day was ruined by David Reutimann. He retaliated to Busch getting into him and spinning him earlier in the race when Reutimann checked up. Still Busch went on to limp home on the lead lap and not a completely dismal day.

Points standings leaving Kansas:
Johnson
Hamlin -8
Harvick -30
Edwards -53
Gordon -58
Kurt Busch -70
Kyle Busch -80
Biffle -85
Burton -101
Stewart -127
Kenseth -149
Bowyer -252

The race was a good one though. There were few stupid penalties, especially from the chasers and at the end there was a great battle between several cars for that second place position. Plus seeing a full grandstand is always great, and that is why Kansas deserved that second race next year.

RCR appeal

Yesterday, Richard Childress Racing was unable to get the 150 points taken from Clint Bowyer back through the appeal process. He was fined by NASCAR after his car failed inspection at the NASCAR R&D facility. This is the same car that passed inspection before and after Bowyer's win at New Hampshire. It's pretty cut and dry when a car is too high and when it is too low.

But in order to govern that, I feel that the post race inspections should be mechanical inspections. This is because of what goes on out there on the track. Cars bump and bang into each other on the track and that is going to "modify" the car. There is advantages that have occurred over the years during races that have caused the car to actually get better. It's pretty wrong to judge a car that has raced 400 miles and was pushed to victory lane by a wrecker on if it meets a height requirement.

I'm not sure exactly when the pre-race inspections are but let's move those to when the cars are parked on pit road before the race. If the car has a problem at that point, make a judgment as to how severe the infraction is and access it a penalty that fits. Move the car to the back of the pack at the start, put them a lap down or just plain park the car until it is fixed and deemed qualified for the race. This would put a damper on infractions. In order to better allow the teams to be ready for the race, go through the exact same inspection the day before the race so that teams are allowed to make the changes that are required.

Kansas Speedway

Each week I'm going to go a little more in depth on the track that the Cup circuit is going to feature this week.

I'll start this week with the track that I've been to several races, Kansas Speedway. It's a 1.5 mile track located in Bonner Springs which is the Kansas City area for all you non-Kansans. The track has been host to a chase race every year since 2004 when the chase began. It's inaugural race was in 2001 with Jeff Gordon winning. Here's a look at the which drivers have performed the best at Kansas.

Wins	2	Tony Stewart & Jeff Gordon
Top 5s	6	Jeff Gordon
Top 10s	7	Jeff Gordon
Poles	3	Jimmie Johnson
Most Laps Led	304	Jimmie Johnson
Best Avg. Start	5.6	Jimmie Johnson
Best Avg. Finish	8.2	Rusty Wallace

The biggest news that has come out about Kansas Speedway is that the track will host an additional race in 2011, adding a date June 5th. It's a good move by NASCAR because the track is either sold out every year or at least close, a far cry from what I saw at Dover last week or Atlanta ever. Some may not be as excited because the track nearly mirrors Texas and Chicagoland but hey, if the fans are showing up, something must be going right.

The track is also host to the Nationwide Series, Craftsman Truck Series and the IndyCar Series.

Mark Martin

2010 has not been a kind year to number 5 Chevrolet. After coming up just short in 2009 of the elusive championship, he finds himself outside of the top 12. At this point in the season he can only look towards next year which very well may be his last year full time in the Sprint Cup Series when Kasey Kahne will be moving to the Hendrick camp to most likely replace Martin.

I notice that there is only one top 10 finish since June 6th, a 7th place at Pocono. But even there he never threatened to win and never led a lap. It just seems that overall he has consistently been mediocre and has never find a great set-up that was to his liking.

He had a good run this last week coming from 42nd the finish 12th but 12th just is not getting the job done. It takes top 10 after top 10 (only 7 thus far) to run with the big guys in the series as you can see from Kevin Harvick (18 top 10's) and the Busch brothers (both of which have 16). That is why he is stuck fighting the not so inspired fight for 13th. I wonder, do they still pay a million to the 13th place driver like they paid to the 11th place driver in the first few years of the chase?

I don't feel that Mark's heart is in it to make another million.

More Change - Not Necessary

Here is my public cry to NASCAR - to stop the changes! Over the course of the last decade, NASCAR has imposed countless changes to the sport ranging from the lucky dog to a new points system, and then revamping of that points system. And the only reason they are doing it is to TRY to bring more fans to the sport by making it "more exciting".

Okay so the NFL has the Super Bowl and the NBA has Game 7 but NASCAR is neither of those sports. No matter how you slice it, it comes down to the right equipment, the right driver and team and the right luck at the right time. If the goal of every sport is to make every sport more exciting, then lets have NBA change the rules so that there is only three players allowed on defense and 5 on offense or in baseball let all the batters cork their bats.

It's the integrity of the sport that is important. People want to see the same rules 60 years from now so they can compare the 1946 Cardinals to the 2006 Cardinals just like they want to compare Joe Weatherly to Tony Stewart. But how do you do that rightfully when you are comparing the way the system is set up now versus then.

It makes it a little blurry to me.