DRIVERS, TV, AND 2001
LITTLE H: If you’d asked me four
years ago if I thought Bobby Hamilton, Jr. had a career in racing in front of
him, I’d have probably told you you were wrong. I’d have been wrong.
Bobby Jr. raced Late Models at Nashville
Speedway USA, starting out the same time as Casey Atwood. Both teams were
fielded by Bobby Hamilton, Sr. Casey didn’t win any races in 1996, but he
did finish in the top 10 in points. Bobby Jr. ran out of cars due to all
the wrecks he was in.
After dropping out of the Late Model
division, he ran for rookie of the year in the NASCAR All Pro Series in 1997. He was mediocre at best and didn’t make all the races.
But when he got to the Busch Series, it
was almost as if he were a different driver. Perhaps the heavier cars fit his
driving style better.
And now it seems that his performance in
his two Winston Cup starts have gotten some people’s attention, enough so that
there’s talk of him taking the #01 ride in Winston cup next year. Would be
interesting to see Bobby Jr. and Casey as "teammates" again (both
driving Dodges) and competing for Rookie of the Year in 2001.
It’s interesting to be able to watch a
driver get his start in racing. Even though I’ve lived in Nashville almost 20
years now, I didn’t start going to the weekly races at the fairgrounds until
1994. So I missed Sterling Marlin coming up, I missed Bobby, Sr.’s rise through
the ranks, Mike Alexander, and Jeff Green. But I’ve been lucky enough to
see Casey Atwood, Bobby Hamilton, Jr., and Chad Chaffin race on a weekly basis
as they learned their craft, and what it takes to be a driver in NASCAR’s big
leagues.
2000 ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Matt Kenseth
was named the Rookie of the Year. Kenseth finished higher than Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
in the points chase, despite Earnhardt, Jr. winning two races to Kenseth’s one.
So, where was the "outrage" that
we see about the points system? In other words, why aren’t we seeing calls to
change the points system for the Rookie of the Year race? Doesn’t it make sense
that a driver who won two races should be the ROY over a driver who only won
one?
Ah well. We didn’t see those calls to
change the points for Rookie of the Year, and I’m glad. It’s obvious that Dale
Earnhardt, Jr. has had a year of ups and downs, and while Matt Kenseth’s year
has also been full of ups and downs, he’s had a more consistent year.
Oops. There’s that word again: consistent.
A driver who consistently finishes
higher than another driver should be higher in the points than the
non-consistent driver. Period, end of sentence. That goes for the Rookie of the
Year as well as the Winston Cup Championship.
The folks that say that winning should be
worth more are just wrong. I don’t know how else to say it. They say "for
the last few years, the championship has been decided before the last race, so
the points system must be fixed." Huh? By giving the winner of a race more
points than they now get, the championship could be decided even earlier. Surely
that’s not what they want.
NO MORE KODAK MOMENTS: Robby Gordon?
FX: I keep hearing complaints that
no one has FX. Ok. Call your cable company and complain, or spend a hundred
bucks and get a satellite dish. Geesh. You’d think that we’d never had
this happen before. Does ESPN2 ring a bell? Hello?
I think ESPN2 was on the air 2 years or so before our
cable company started carrying the channel. So I missed all the racing coverage they
had during that time. The local cable company was in the middle of a massive
infrastructure upgrade that would enable them to expand from the 35 or 40
channel capability they had to our now 70 or 80 channel capability (or 100+
digital cable capability, which is the only way I could get Speedvision). They heard
all the calls of people wanting ESPN2, and as soon as they had the hardware in
place, we got ESPN2. I think we got FX at the same time.
MORE THOUGHTS ON NEXT YEAR: TBS is
taking over NASCAR Online next year. I hope they do a better job with it than
ESPN is doing. Since the local Nashville NBC affiliate didn’t broadcast
the Busch race, the only way I could keep up with it was listen to the radio and
NASCAR Online. Half the time when you clicked on the link to show the
scoring, the running order they had was completely out of whack.
After 26 laps, they showed that Mark
Martin had led 26, Jeff Purvis 3, and Kevin Lepage 1. Hmm, Homestead is in Florida.
There’s no technical reason I can think of
for them to not offer the links when they pull out on the track for the pace
laps. And it should go without saying that when the links go live, the data
should be accurate.
FINALLY: We have a saying in the
south: Even a blind pig gets an acorn every now and then. NASCAR just got
another acorn. They announced on Thursday that they’re doing away with second
round qualifying. That’ll put everyone on equal footing for qualifying
(more or less).
But provisional starting spots are going
to be even more important next year because of this, I think. How many
times this year did we see one of the top ten in points wreck during qualifying?
If they thought they could get the backup working as good as the primary, they
took second round qualifying. They won’t have that opportunity next year. A
wreck during qualifying all but guarantees you a provisional starting spot.
WASSUP WITH THE SHOOTOUT?: Looks
like NASCAR really wanted to get a Dodge in the Budweiser Shootout (last year
known as just the Bud Shootout; I guess it grew up?). So guess what? They
changed the rules to allow former Bud Shootout or Busch Clash winners into the
field. And they’ve eliminated the qualifying race for second round qualifiers
(course that’d probably have to go away next year anyway).
So the new rule allows one Dodge to be in
the Shootout, Bill Elliott. And that also puts both Earnhardt’s in the field.
They’ve also increased the length. Looks
like that was done specifically for TV. I guess with a length of 175 miles
they’ll have to count cautions and make a pit stop or two. I really think
it was a better race with a shorter length.
AND THE PRESIDENT IS: Hmm, Mike
Helton as the NASCAR president?
Will Helton be able to take NASCAR to the
next level (whatever that is)? Who knows? He says that he’ll continue to focus
on the quality of the competition on the track, and if you ask me, that’s
NASCAR’s squeakiest wheel right now.
I really wonder if he knows what
constitutes quality competition? At the state of the sport address, Helton said
"The year 2000 proved that this vision for success based on a good race is
correct. One thing we know for certain is that the quality of competition this
season will be hard to top." NASCAR touts the 14 different winners
and four first-time winners as further "proof" of the competitive
year.
I’m sorry, but the 2000 Winston Cup season
(and the 2000 Busch Grand National Series season too) was one of the most boring
I can remember. There were really only three "great" races: the spring
Atlanta race, the fall Charlotte race, and the fall Talladega race. And the only thing that saved
the Atlanta race was Earnhardt and Labonte battling side by side for the win in
the last laps.