Dual Duel’s, And Misused Tools
Friday, February 16th, 2007 1:44am CST
By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Published on Thunder Lounge.
In what was an inspirational day at Daytona for some, it was a heart breaker for others as they loaded their trucks to head for the house. Also, not a day without it’s controversies, and the underdogs coming from the back to live a dream.
First up in the day was Tony Stewart who lead the field to the checkers in the first heat. Strong in the field were several cars, but in the end nothing was in the way of that orange machine and finding victory lane at Daytona for the second time in less than a week.
Kyle Bush had a pretty good run, as did Jeff Burton although his finishing position doesn’t really show what the car could (or was) doing. Ah, the comfort of knowing you’re in the show. Unfortunately, we can’t say the same for brother Ward.
This guy here, who’s had probably the worst 5 days in his life recently, maneuvered his way into one of the two available transfer spots in the 500, for a start just ahead of mid-pack. Granted the Red Army is going to be a little hot, when Waltrip spun Junior into the infield. Junior recovered for a top 5 in the heat. It wasn’t deliberate, and all was well between the two at the end of the event. A mistake was made, but all forgiven. Of course, had the outcome been different, who knows.
So now were on to the second heat. Duel #2, if you will.
With a winning dodge of Kurt Bush’s Dodge, who tried to block, Jeff Gordon again lead the field to the checkers at a Daytona event. In a less caution filled event than the first, the “controversies” were less, and although the racing wasn’t exactly boring, the drama was less than in the first. Up until the final few seconds, which saw Mike Wallace come out of almost nowhere to end up sliding into the 500 yet again.
With the factor between zero and hero being less than 3/10ths of a second in both heats, it was a nail biter.
Now we come back to Mr. Gordon, who will be starting the 500 from the 42nd position Sunday.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, you ask? Well if you’ve been under a rock this evening since shortly after the conclusion of the second heat, or perhaps trying to figure out why there’s two characters on your screen when you know darn well you only pushed the button once, you missed the #24 failing post race inspection.
Ah, but it goes further. Before some of you get up on your high horses, let the neutral opinion of Thunder Lounge interject. It wasn’t due to an intentional circumvention of the rules, meaning it wasn’t intentional, says NASCAR Director of Competition Robin Pemberton.
During post race inspection, the 24 came through the height sticks about an inch too low. This obviously called for further analysis, and Robin was even under the car a few times.
Here’s what happened. NASCAR, as we all know, mandates rear shocks and hands them out for installation. Well, the bolt that secures it to the shock mount failed. It wasn’t an illegal bolt, it either got cross threaded or whatever, and started failing. Read that as coming apart.
So the reason, as deemed by NASCAR, for the 24 being too low was part failure. However Robin said that since it was a failure which could have lead to serious safety incidences, that the 24 would be starting from the 42nd spot (tail end of that line) instead of the 4th position behind Ricky Rudd. No further penalties will be handed down, and the matter is closed.
What I don’t get, personally, is why a penalty for a part failure? When someone gets their front end, or rear end for that matter, knocked around and the templates don’t fit in post race, isn’t that a part failure in a sense? I mean, deification occurs, so a penalty for a part failure which wasn’t intentional (which is what they said) makes no sense to me. But, OK. Whatever.
So what this comes down to is that now a team can be penalized for a part failure? This could have an impact somewhere down the road. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Filed Under: Atlanta, Daytona, Drivers, Evernham Motorsports #19, Frank Morrison, Guest Authors, Hendrick Motorsports #24, Jeff Gordon, Joe Gibbs Racing #20, Matt Kenseth, Michael Waltrip, Michael Waltrip Racing #55, Nascar, Nextel Cup, Press Releases, Scott Riggs, Teams, The Chase, Tony Stewart, Tracks
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NASCAR is shooting themselves in the foot with all of these rules and knit-picking. Even my non-Gordon-liking mates agree that he got shafted. I mean, which is it? Intentional or not?! If not, then don’t penalize at all!
Man I miss the days, when you could buy a car just like your favorite racers’. “Race on Sunday, Buy on Monday!”
Bring back “Stock” car racing, not this sub-IRL crap!
Patrick in MN said this on February 18th, 2007 at 11:09 am
You know Patrick, you’re not far off on that.
I don’t get it either, and I don’t care what driver it is. The point of the matter is that a part broke. According to NASCAR’S own mouth, it was a part failure and unintentional. OK, so be it. No penalty, at all. We’re not talking something rigged to move body parts around to make the car go faster, 48, we’re talking something broke.
So now NASCAR has set another standard, that they can impose a penalty for part failures. That and they are showing that they will also be interpreting intent as well.
It’s getting crazy.