RacinDeals – Bristol Wrap

THE UNDO CREW: One minute, Casey Atwood is in the top ten. Then he pits, and
comes out in the 20’s? And the car never really manages to run good the rest of
the day. What’s the deal?

Well, hopefully, next Saturday Casey will be the master of his own domain.
He’s coming back to the Fairgrounds Speedway at Nashville to run the 100-lap
Late Model race. Will be good to see him run at the track again.

Last year Atwood became a car owner at the track, and plans on running one of
his cars Saturday. A good run Saturday might bolster his confidence on the Cup
circuit. With the seeming lack of support he’s getting from the Evernham/Smith
organization, he needs a good run about now.

OUT OF RETIREMENT: I’m all for Darrell Waltrip trying to make a truck race.
But does he have to do it on the weekend of a race at Nashville Superspeedway?
He should be broadcasting then. Why not run the Truck race at Nashville
Superspeedway? Or do what Atwood’s doing and run a Late Model this weekend?
After all, he’s now in a tie for the all-time win record at the Fairgrounds. One
more win there couldn’t hurt.

HARVICK: Didn’t see the Busch race at Bristol. I was at the track all day.
Congratulations to former Fairgrounds Speedway champion Jeff Green on the
victory. But his teammate needs some attitude adjustment apparently. I’ve seen
the replays and Harvick was way out of line. Suspending him from the Busch
Series won’t really amount to much, since he’s not running the full season.
Fining him is not a big deal either, since his car owner would probably pay that
anyway. So what do you do?

Well, NASCAR could suspend him from any NASCAR event for a race or two. That
might get his attention. But then maybe he has a short attention span. Looks
like they "fined" him $15,000 and put him on double secret probation.
Let’s see, he’s got what, one or two more Busch races to run this year? Yeah,
that’ll get his attention.

FINING DRIVERS: Robby Gordon did another one of his temper tantrums in the
pit road at Bristol. How many times is NASCAR going to allow him to get away
with this kind of childish behavior? Sure, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. brushed the side
of Gordon’s car on the cool down lap (which should also be dealt with by
NASCAR), but at the end of a race people are already out on pit road and ramming
cars there could get someone hurt.

NASCAR should make a singular example of Robby Gordon by suspending him for a
race or two. And if I owned the #8 car, I’d send Richard Childress a bill for
the repairs. But they’ve just given Gordon a slap on the wrist. A $10,000 fine
and "probation" for five months is nothing. It’s certainly not a
signal that dangerous and potentially DEADLY behavior will not be tolerated.

THE #6 TEAM WINS: You gotta think Mark Martin must be racking his
brains right about now. Basically, the team he couldn’t do anything with last
year picked off the victory at Bristol. So, what does that mean?

Team with Martin = no wins.

Team without Martin = one win.

They say it’s chemistry, but that sure looks like math to me. I’d say that
Martin’s old team is very happy that they begged Roush to be moved away from
Mark Martin, wouldn’t you?

THE PASS FOR THE WIN: Jimmy Spencer nudged Kurt Busch just enough to
get him loose and make the pass. That takes talent.

Busch bulldozed his way past Spencer, causing Spencer to almost wreck. That
doesn’t take much talent.

THE MIDAS TOUCH: Am I the only one who finds those Midas commercials
offensive?

FIRST, ADMIT THERE’S A PROBLEM: Before you can solve a problem, you
first have to admit there’s a problem. So the folks at New Hampshire
International Speedway have finally admitted that their track has a problem. No,
not a problem that kills drivers. But a problem that causes boring racing.

The track operators are going to extend the bottom of the turns by 12 feet.
The idea is that this will add a lane. What I see happening is that the groove
will be even lower with the new pavement, so we’re still in for a boring race at
the track.

And won’t this shorten the track’s length?

THE MEMORIAL DAY 1100: If you need any proof that a driver is not
committed to winning the championship in your race car, all you have to do is
watch what he does that affects his performance in your car. That includes
racing in a 500 mile race the same day as you’re supposed to race in a 600 mile
race. Tony Stewart is showing a remarkable amount of intelligence by avoiding
the Indy 500 this year. Robby Gordon isn’t.

Bruton Smith should move the start time up on this race so we can avoid this
nonsense.