WATKINS GLEN, THE TRUCKS, AND … CART?

THERE’S A LOOSE NUT IN THE PITS: So
the NASCAR official tells you that you only put 4 lug nuts on the car. What do
you do? Do you think of the driver’s safety and bring him in like NASCAR has
instructed you to do? If you’re Tommy Baldwin, you don’t.

NASCAR was extremely lenient in their
handling of that situation. Ward Burton should have been black flagged, period,
end of story. Instead, they caved and let Baldwin negotiate a deal where Burton
would come in and be able to resume his spot if all the lug nuts were there. But
they reneged on the deal, and Burton was black flagged anyway.

Baldwin should get a fine at the very
least. He doesn’t have the right to ignore a NASCAR directive, even if he thinks
it’s wrong.

THE WINNER OF LAP TWO GETS…NOTHING:
Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart both seem to think that you get paid for winning
each lap. But they both discovered Sunday that the only lap that pays is the
last lap.

The question is now that Stewart has
admitted blame, will Gordon take back his threats to put him in the wall? I
think he has more sense than to try to follow through at Michigan, but Bristol
is another story.

CHAFFIN’S REVENGE: Chad Chaffin
started out this year with a full time ride in the #77 Busch Series car. The
team seemed to be able to qualify well, but the race setups were not exactly
optimal. Chaffin was the easiest one to scapegoat, so he was fired.

About that time, he’d been contacted by
the owners of the #84 Craftsman Truck to see if he had any interest in driving
for them at Nashville. He jumped at the opportunity.

Right off the hauler they turned the
second fastest lap in morning practice. He started in eighth, and ran pretty
much in the top ten all night and was able to stay on the lead lap. He ended up
battling Joe Ruttman and Steve Grissom for the third spot, and was able to make
the pass stick with just a few laps to go.

Interestingly enough, the driver who
replaced Chaffin in the #77 car, Mike Wallace, finished 13th, two laps down to
Chaffin.

Chaffin has a lot more laps on the old
speedway than Wallace, but Wallace has more experience in a truck. Friday’s
first practice was the first time Chaffin had ever been in a truck.

Put Chad Chaffin in some decent equipment,
get him a team that will listen to his input on the car, and get out of his way.
He has the talent to take a car to the front and deserves better than what he
got from the #77 team.

CART GETS IT RIGHT: I saw where
CART has completely eliminated in-season testing for next year, and they’re
moving qualifying to Saturday, leaving Friday as a practice day.

CART runs about half the number of races
that NASCAR’s Winston Cup series does, but with their globe trotting, the teams
probably travel as much as if not more than Winston Cup teams. With the
elimination of in-season testing, this should give them more time at home.

NASCAR needs to follow suit. Eliminate all
in-season testing, give the teams more time on Friday so that rookies can get
more track time, and make qualifying one round on Saturday. And while they’re at
it, start enforcing the two-car ownership rule.