This Just In: Fire and Brimstone May Be Frozen

By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Published on Thunder Lounge.

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That’s right folks. Stick your thermometers in the ground and you may find “it” has frozen over.

In a rare, make that extremely rare, case the National Stock Car Racing Commission has overturned the penalty previously assed to the #5 team in the Busch Series from post race inspections at Kansas.

To be flat honest, NASCAR looked at an exact duplicate of the manifold that sparked the penalty the week before that race. If there were a problem, they would have spoke up then and should have. Hendrick had a strong case for this, and to be honest its being overturned is not too big of a shocker in this particular scenario.

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Filed Under: Busch Series, Drivers, Kansas, Kyle Busch, Nascar, Tracks





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By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Wednesday October 3, 2007
3:41pm CDT
Published on Thunder Lounge.

Welcome to the first edition of WTF? Wednesday™.

A brief synopsis: Every Wednesday, we’re going to go the extra mile (and possibly throw “the flag”) to ask the all inevitable question that is lurking on everyone’s mind. WTF? If it’s smelling funny, and has to do with NASCAR, we’re going to ask it.

On to this weeks column.

Kyle Bush and his manifold of gold

As you may or may not have heard, NASCAR failed the #5 of Kyle Bush after he swept through (again) to Victory Lane in the Busch Race at Kansas.

They “deemed” his intake manifold to be “illegal”. Yet, here it is Wednesday already and there hasn’t been a word about it since Sunday. WTF?

Hendrick says it’s legit, and that it’s no different than other times. In fact, they even sent one into NASCAR and they inspected it for 2 days earlier last week.

So, what’s “good to go” this week may be “illegal” the next? WTF?

Late this afternoon, NASCAR announced a “fine” of $10,000 for Mike Bumgarner, the crew chief for Kyle Bush in the Busch Nationwide Series for violations found post-race at Kansas.

Bruton Smith “may” build a new “Charlotte”

Bruton wants a drag racing venue at his current location in the capital of NASCAR. Cool, he’s done it at Bristol and Texas to name a few. He gets the required zoning, and begins.

All of a sudden, the City Council (we’re talking Concord, not “technically Charlotte”) decided the other night to overturn the zoning for the area, leaving Mr. Smith in the middle of a project which (currently) can’t be used. WTF?

Supposedly the “City Council” wanted to pull the reins on all the “noise” in the area, as it’s building up around the track in terms of both business and residential neighbors. OK, whatever.

So, Bruton laid out the terms for all to see. If that’s the way it’s going to be, and “noise” is such a concern, I want my tracks together. If I need to relocate my venues to another part of town, I will.

Huh?

Mr. Bruton Smith went on to compare it to a stick/ball team building a new arena in town. It’s still there, just in a different location. This isn’t a ploy or a threat. It’s the facts. If he has to move it to another area of town, he will. He’s already scouting land around the Charlotte area, and I’d bet there’s a few communities welcoming the move with open arms.

So you’ll hear about Charlotte closing, but really it’s just moving to another side of town.

The question is, what would the track be like? Would it mirror the current configuration? Let’s hope not.

Bruton Smith has a few things at his disposal now. He’s got raw data from various sources, and I’d be willing to bet that if indeed a deal can’t be reached, and he does build a new facility, that it will be the best one on the circuit. He knows what is working, and where the future is headed. Expect the facilities to be top notch, and something viable for not only today, but for decades to come.

What about the track itself? Would it be the same thing, or could it be something unique? Here’s a chance to shine. Do something that hasn’t/isn’t being done. Make that track even more special than it already is. 1.5 miles in length? Nah. 2 miles? Maybe, but Michigan and Cali-bore-nia already do it. 1 mile? Dover, New Hampshire. 1.75 miles? 1.25 miles? Hmmm, 600 miles is divisible evenly at 1.25 miles, 1.75 is a tick off, but almost another full lap.

With all the data available, the chance to truly make a “Beast of the Southeast” exists. The fans would dig it (who wants another cookie?), the drivers would dig it, and most of all it would be something different.

We’ll see what happens on that front, but for now in terms of this “out of nowhere” deal, WTF?

Kansas

We aren’t in Kansas anymore, but thoughts sure haven’t left there.

Why was a race that had not a chance of ending before darkness resumed? WTF?

OK, if I had paid to be there, I’d want as much show as possible.

“Technically”, if all the remaining laps went green it could have made the distance. NASCAR isn’t that dumb, so they said we’re going to 225. WTF?

The thing is, when has there been an opportunity to restart a race at all? It would either:
a) go way into the night
b) not enough daylight left, and no lights available
c) wasn’t enough left for it to be worth it.

Kansas was what, 12 or so laps past halfway? NASCAR made the call to continue with as much of a show as possible, which was a good call for fans, just maybe not for your driver. Then again, maybe your driver came out better than if it had been stopped? Then again, the one who would have benefited most from not resuming, ended up with the bonehead move of the race. “Hey Smoke, there’s smoke coming out of your tire.” But, I digress.

Then you have the finish. Biffle cut the motor off coming out of 4 on the final lap, to make sure he had enough fuel to do a burn out. He had half a gallon left, by the way, but NASCAR made him walk over to Victory Lane. WTF? Why couldn’t the guy do a burnout? WTF?

“Da rules” state a reasonable speed, and NASCAR said it was. Some of the competitors didn’t think it was, so they passed under yellow. NASCAR said the field was frozen, so that was that. OK, but also if you pass under yellow, don’t you get a penalty? So if that’s true, and Biffle wasn’t maintaining a reasonable speed (almost half the pace car speed as he crossed the line), then wouldn’t Casey Mears have won with Jeff Gordon finishing second? But, the field was frozen and Biffle maintained a reasonable speed. WTF?

Not even the mighty scoring loops of NASCAR got it right. It had Bowyer listed at 1st, followed by Johnson. Talk about a Charlie Foxtrot drill. Anyone want to wager about a slight modification to the wording in “Da Rules” about this for next season? If there isn’t, we have our last WTF?

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Filed Under: Busch Series, Casey Mears, Charlotte/Lowe's, Clint Bowyer, Drivers, Features, Greg Biffle, Hendrick Motorsports #24, Hendrick Motorsports #25, Hendrick Motorsports #48, Hendrick Motorsports #5, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Joe Gibbs Racing #20, Kansas, Kyle Busch, Nascar, Nextel Cup, Richard Childress Racing #07, Roush Racing #16, Teams, The Chase, Tony Stewart, Tracks, WTF? Wednesday's





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