sparkyc

sparkyc's Comments

Posted Wednesday August 27, 2008, About: Shootout changes help carmakers
Whether Waltrip deserved to be in the Shootout once upon a time is irrelevant. No reasonable person could look at what he has done the last two years as any kind of positive accomplishment, from either an individual or manufacturer standpoint. Having him in the Shootout while excluding drivers who actually won poles and races this year will be an embarrassment for NASCAR, and for Toyota.
Posted Wednesday August 27, 2008, About: Shootout changes help carmakers
Remember guys, this is done by TEAM OWNER POINTS. Tony Stewart won't be in the Shootout, the #20 car will (i.e. Joey Logano). Ryan Newman won't be in the Shootout, the #12 will.
Posted Wednesday August 27, 2008, About: Shootout changes help carmakers
This is horrible. Michael Waltrip in the Shootout? Newman, and Tony Stewart out of it? By the way, because the decision is made based on owner points, this system replaces Clint Bowyer with... you guessed it, Casey Mears.
Posted Friday August 08, 2008, About: Harassment suit getting nasty
Dear NASCAR,
Digging up irrelevant dirt on people who are suing you makes you look desperate, guilty, and asinine. Quit whining like a 3-year-old and face your problems like an adult. You're embarrassing your fans in front of all their friends.
Posted Sunday July 06, 2008, About: NASCAR looking for new owners
The top 35 rule definitely needs to go or be altered substantially. The only benefit to it as it stands is that a driver won't be knocked out of contention by a freak accident during qualifying. And there IS some benefit to that in my book. So, I would propose the following: Any car in the top twenty may, ONCE per season, use an exception to get in a race it did not qualify for. That car must (naturally) start at the rear of the field AND give up any winnings that race to a communal pot to be divided among those that failed to qualify (or given in total to the car whose spot was taken). At the beginning of the Chase, the counter resets for cars that are in it, and goes to zero for all other cars.

The idea is to ensure that the championship is decided by the races, rather than qualifying. Screw up once in qualifying and you can still race, BUT it costs you. This would probably have to be paired with a universal impound rule to keep teams from putting in extreme, unraceable setups for qualifying. By limiting this option to Chasers only during the Chase, it levels the playing field for everyone else, meaning that some smaller teams may be able to put together some momentum at the end of the season to help attract sponsors.
Posted Wednesday July 02, 2008, About: Ganassi pulls Franchitti's ride
Wow, the whole Ganassi operation is just imploding this year. What a mess.
Posted Thursday June 26, 2008, About: Johnson OK with fifth position
The bonus points don't accomplish THAT much, really... just look at last year, when my man Clint practically squeezed into the Chase and ended up third. Which wasn't bad, considering how the Chase turned into the Jimmy & Jeff show.

The Chase should probably be tweaked by having bonus points for season ranking AND for wins. If you get 25 points for ranking and 10 for each win that probably puts #1 in the chase about 300-400 points ahead of #12. That's not insurmountable over 10 races, but it's not a cakewalk either.
Posted Thursday June 19, 2008, About: NASCAR flip-flops on drivers
The Politburo would like to remind drivers that only approved forms of free expression will be tolerated.
Posted Thursday June 19, 2008, About: Smith mum on Kentucky race
Look, Pocono isn't going to be the track that loses a race because Smith doesn't own it and the people that do aren't selling. I'd prefer to see him take a race away from Atlanta or one of the other 1.5 mile cookie-cutter tracks. It seems pretty clear that for whatever reason Atlanta can't sell out the place twice a year, even with SMI manipulating the ticket market, and you know Kentucky will sell out a Cup race easy. From an economic and racing perspective, stripping a date from Atlanta is the best choice.
Posted Tuesday June 17, 2008, About: Kentucky won't get '09 race
I'm with Red Zone. The season has more than enough 1.5 mile tracks already. Kentucky deserves a Sprint Cup race, but don't take one away from the quirky, interesting tracks. Strip a date from Atlanta.
Posted Tuesday June 17, 2008, About: Why NASCAR suspended officials
The thing is, France never denied that it had happened. He only denied that it had been reported. If he's right about that, then it leaves him room to save the company's cash (and image) by dumping these two. If he's wrong, then he can burn off a supervisor or two and achieve the same end. You're right, though, that he should do whatever he can to keep this out of the courts and away from subpoenas.
Posted Monday June 16, 2008, About: Why NASCAR suspended officials
These guys were suspended as a prelude to being thrown under the bus. NASCAR's liability goes up if the complainant can prove that there's an institutional problem. The company is still on the hook, but for much less, if there were some real problems mixed with poor reporting policies. Expect a supervisor to go down in the next couple of weeks, followed by a settlement for a much-reduced amount. NASCAR won't risk a trial; even if only a fraction of the claims are true the trial will just be too damaging. Remember, this is the same lawyer that raked the Knicks over the coals.
Posted Saturday June 14, 2008, About: NFL meets on proposed LA stadium
Problem is, bumout, that expansion is out of the picture. That means the only teams that LA can get are those that are owned by mercenary jerks who care more about money than the community or the team identity.
Posted Saturday June 14, 2008, About: Officials named in suit suspended
Suspended for violating NASCAR policy, huh? The "bad apple" defense is in full swing.
Posted Saturday June 14, 2008, About: NASCAR to drivers: Quit griping
The first rule of NASCAR is "You do not complain about NASCAR".
Posted Thursday June 12, 2008, About: France responds to racial lawsuit
If France was certain the allegations were false, he would probably have said so. What he's doing instead is probably the setup for a classic bad-apple defense. France and his lawyers will argue that the problem wasn't institutional but rather a case of a few misbehaving employees. The he said/she said on the issue of reporting probably means her supervisors will be accused of sitting on her complaints or destroying the paperwork, and thus take the fall for the whole organization. NASCAR will settle for a much-reduced judgment, fire a couple of people, and institute a new reporting policy and/or compliance officer.
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