COMPETITION AND ENTERTAINMENT

I didn’t get to watch most of the Cracker Barrel 500 live. I had to leave
for an appointment around the time Jeff Burton cut a tire and hit the wall, so I
taped the rest to watch later. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to watch the rest of
it Sunday night like I’d planned. So I figured I’d avoid any news of the race on
Monday to be surprised by the finish.  Much to my surprise (and dismay), I inadvertently
saw the results on a political web site! 

There it was as plain as day: “Earnhardt wins in photo finish.” On a
political site! The last race this site had mentioned was the Daytona 500, so I
was hardly expecting to find the “spoiler” there.

Then Paul Harvey even had a comment the finish of the race. It was quite a bit
different from what he said about the Daytona 500.  Basically he commented
on how close the race was after a distance of 400 miles.

So, before I even see the rest of the race, I know that there’s a photo
finish and that Earnhardt wins by a few inches over Bobby Labonte.  As I
watched the rest of the race, it became clear that really the only exciting part
of the race was about the last 20 or so laps.  If Mike Skinner hadn’t have
blown up, he’d probably have won by a several second margin.

It
was refreshing however to see a lot of new faces towards the front.  Steve
Park, Joe Nemechek, Chad Little, and Todd Bodine all had good runs. Matt Kenseth
and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. took turns at the front, as well as Bill Elliott and
Elliott Sadler.

Now I suppose we’ll hear from the Ford fans about how NASCAR gave Chevy too
much with the new front valence. I’m not an aerodynamic expert, so all I can go
on is how the racing was. I’ve harped over the last few weeks about competition
and entertainment, and the choices NASCAR has to make to keep those two aspects
of the sport in balance. If you ask me, they were certainly in balance at
Atlanta.  Fords led, Chevys led (and not just because the driver stayed out
under caution), and Pontiacs led. There were a whopping 30 lead changes among 17
drivers! By my calculations, there were 22 lead changes under green. Oh, I understand
that Earnhardt didn’t even use the full 2" that NASCAR allowed.

Chevrolet dominated in the laps led category, with 243 over Pontiac’s 46
and Ford’s 36. But, I don’t think this was because of any aero advantage. Jeff
Burton was running away from Skinner when he cut a tire, or he would certainly
have been a factor at the end.  Rusty Wallace and Tony Stewart were both
involved in accidents, but they could have been factors as well. Mark Martin
also led and had the race been a few laps longer, could have been a contender,
and Dale Jarrett pretty much took himself out when he ran into Stacy Compton on
pit road.

Although the middle parts of the race were somewhat
boring, with Skinner just running away from the field, the finish was one of the
most exciting in recent memory.  This is the kind of racing that NASCAR fans deserve and should expect. But
some drivers still don’t get it. Mark Martin chalks it up to
“coincidence.”  You’d think that with about 50,000 empty seats at Atlanta,
someone would get a clue: boring races = lower attendance. Granted, Atlanta has
other “challenges” to contend with that might have caused the lack of a sellout
(e. g. horrendous traffic, weather), but I’d be willing to bet that if the first
three races of the year were as exciting as the fourth one, there wouldn’t have
been an empty seat in the house.

NASCAR can put on a
race that has both entertainment value and close competition. It’s frustrating
from a fan’s standpoint when they seem to settle for less.