DAYTONA, PRACTICE, AND NASCAR.COM
NASCAR dot DOMINATION: As has become the norm since
it went online, NASCAR.com has unveiled a new look just in time for the Daytona
500. For a site that wants to be the only place a NASCAR fan needs to go
to on the internet, they’ve got a long way to go.
You want to see practice speeds? Good luck finding
them on the official site. I
suspect that they probably are there somewhere, but if so, I wasn’t able
to find them. Instead of diddling around for 15 or 20 minutes looking for them, I went to
Jayski.com and at least he had the top runners listed (Robbie Gordon?).
And would it be too much to ask to be able to click a link
and get a consolidated race weekend schedule? Turner/NASCAR.com seems to
have the same mindset as Disney/NASCAR.com did last year. With four of NASCAR’s
nine touring series at Daytona this week, you’d think they’d publish a combined
schedule. Maybe ISC has it on Daytona’s web site, but who knows, and why
should I have to go there to find out?
What’s the deal with the black background? Don’t they know
that makes it a LOT harder to read?
It also looks like the 6 "minor" touring series
will again be given short shrift on the site. Sure, there’s a drop-down for the different
series, and they have a blurb or two (my favorite so far is when you go to the
Slim Jim All Pro Series page, the first thing it says is that Gatorade is now
the Series Sponsor; guess they didn’t pony up enough money for the webmaster at
Turner to change Slim Jim to Gatorade).
NASCAR claims that Turner will be given complete editorial
control over the site. I’ve also read that NASCAR is selling some land in
the south of Florida, near the Everglades, pretty cheap. And that bridge in New
York, the Brooklyn Bridge? NASCAR has that for sale too… maybe check eBAY.
It’s also interesting that one of the first items in their
new "gossip" or "rumors" section takes a shot at WWF’s Vince
McMahon? You know, the WWF, which has consistently beaten the WCW (owned by
Turner, at least until the sale is finalized) in TV ratings for the last couple
of years. Hmm….
So if Turner is the exclusive NASCAR web partner, how much
do you want to bet that sites that are in competition with NASCAR.com will be
denied credentials or at least given a hard time?
DODGE BALL: After the Dodge factory test at Daytona
in January, all you saw on the net was "the Dodges are behind in
speed." About three weeks ago, I wrote
that you shouldn’t really make any judgments on those speeds.
Guess what? In Friday morning’s practice session, four of
the top ten speeds were….(drumroll): DODGE.
GETTING THE POINT(S): Kudos to NASCAR for not
fixing something that isn’t broke. The points system is just fine, thank you.
I always get a good laugh out of those folks who say that
the current points system, "while designed to provide close races,"
isn’t doing the job. They then go on to say that the winner of a race should get
more points than he does now.
So, you want Jeff Gordon to win the Winston Cup title by
1,000 points instead of 200? If a driver is dominant and wins a bunch of races,
the points race would be over in September. Is that what they really want?
HMM: In Friday’s second practice session, Michael
Waltrip was second fastest. Waltrip’s former car, driven by Mike Wallace, was 46th out
of 50. Drawing a conclusion from this is left as an exercise for the reader.
A DEERE IN THE HEADLIGHTS: Yeah, I know. John Deere
isn’t on the #97 anymore. Perhaps they’re glad they got out of that deal when
they could, based on Kurt Busch’s practice speeds today. And while we’re on the
subject of drivers making the move to Cup too early, Jason Leffler isn’t exactly
burning up the track today either.
DID NOT! DID TOO!: Smith vs. France
regarding the allegedly promised second Texas date continues. Bill France, Jr.
says that Smith wasn’t promised a second date for Texas, and Bruton Smith says
he was.
OK. I’m supposed to believe that a track
was promised a second date where the owner of the track had to buy out and close
down and existing track in order to get the first date? If NASCAR wasn’t going
to give him the first date, it certainly doesn’t make sense that they promised
him a second one, does it?