I HATE PIT STOPS

The title says it all. I hate races that are decided by
the pit crew. I daresay that most people go to a race to watch the drivers
compete, not their crews.

How many times have we seen a Winston Cup race decided by
a fast pit stop? The driver comes in in 5th or 8th place, they decide to put on
two tires, and he comes out in the lead and goes on to win the race… It’s not
racing when the driver is taken out of the equation.

In today’s Bud Shootout qualifier, Dale Jarrett’s pit crew
got him in position to win the race. Sure, he went on to blow the field away,
but we saw when he was running with Darrell Waltrip that he wasn’t able to
really do anything back in the draft. And that was brought home in the Bud
Shootout itself, when he languished at the tail end of the field until again,
his pit crew got him out toward the front. Just as in the qualifier, that put
him in a position to win the race.

Take a look at the Craftsman Truck Series. That series
took off like a rocket when NASCAR introduced it. But in the last couple of
years, the popularity of the series has diminished. It’s diminished to the point
where NASCAR has decided to run more truck races in conjunction with Winston Cup
races in order to give it more attention. That’s a complete reversal of what
they initially said was one of the Series’ goals: to take NASCAR racing to new
and different markets.

The big question is why has the Truck Series’ popularity
gone down? I think you can trace it to the point where NASCAR decided that
they’d do away with the "half-time" break and make the truck teams
perform conventional, green-flag pit stops, or at least not stop the race so the
pit stops could be done with no pressure.

With the half-time break, you didn’t need to have a pit
crew that could bust a 17 second stop. The pit crews were not a factor, at least
during the race. The races were decided by the drivers, not by the pit crews.
The races were more exciting and when you have exciting races, the fans love it.

NASCAR should do away with the mandatory pit stops during
the Bud Shootout and the qualifier. It’s a needless interuption to the race, and
as we saw today, it’s a needless danger to the pit crews. Mark Martin’s jack man
was very lucky today after getting hit by Martin’s car during the useless pit
stop. And because the pit crews are so critical, he’ll be at a major
disadvantage next Sunday.

I think NASCAR should also seriously consider adding the
half-time stop back to the Craftsman Truck Series. That would reduce the cost to
the teams and add excitement back to the actual races.