The Rock On A Roll

The Carolina 400 is always among the toughest races in the season, a marathon
of ground-up tires, a small group of cars that hit the setup and a pile of cars
who look like they’re down 200 HP, and at least three grooves that the field
runs through the day.

2002’s running of course proved its toughness – tough like a rock, if you
will. It started with a crash-torn Grand National 200 initially dominated by
Jeff Green but seized with authority by Jason Keller. The ride of the race was
taken by Steve Hmiel’s son Shane, one of the unsung heroes of the Daytona 300;
at The Rock Shane hit the wall, got pretty high off the ground, then did it
again – that he didn’t tumble into traffic was something of a miracle.

Some comments on the Carolina 400 –

– Robert Yates Racing took it in the chin. Dale Jarrett was among those
avalanched by The Rock, blowing up in a rare engine grenade for Yates; Ricky
Rudd ran away up front for awhile, then gagged on the ensuing stop and thus it
was all tossed away. Doug Yates was decidedly
PO’ed about Jarrett’s blown engine: "No, we didn’t abuse it, and heck,
if we can’t make it through Rockingham we’re really in trouble for next week at
Las Vegas."

– Ward Burton’s Daytona glow went away when he hit the wall twice in one lap;
he nearly took out half the field after smacking the concrete off the
always-treacherous second turn. He still salvaged a good finish (13th) and this
serves well in the title chase with the track that re-ignited his career (Las
Vegas – remember his runner-up finish there in 1999) coming up.

– Swervin’ Gordon struck again, and Casey Atwood took a nasty ride down the
backstretch, getting T-boned by Kyle Petty and then Buckshot Jones in the
process. Those who whine about "the big one" at Daytona and Talladega
ought to remember that crashes like those at The Rock – where impacts, as in the
Atwood melee, tend to be harder – are the real killers.

– While not exactly panic time for Chevrolet, it is curious that Chevy has
not come out better than it has so far; only Jeff Green showed any muscle among
the Chevys at The Rock. The top ten did have a decent diversity – Ford, Dodge,
two Pontiacs, two Fords, Chevy, Ford, and two Chevys.

– Remember Harvick accepting blame for the Daytona crash? Turns
out he was thoroughly ticked off with Gordon and tried to approach the #24
but was held back by a firefighter. I smell PR people going to work on Harvick
after the crash. It is worth mentioning because people will say "Casey
Atwood checked up in front of Gordon." You see, with Jeff Gordon it’s never
his fault, it’s never him, it’s ALWAYS the other guy’s fault.

– With Jimmie Johnson’s tire carrier David Bryant rammed at Rockingham and
Jeff Burton’s jack man hit at Daytona, Mike
Mulhern noted that "NASCAR still has no penalties for drivers who hit
pit crewmen" and also wrote that NASCAR has "declined to make any
other rules (for pit safety) such as ordering track owners to widen their pit
roads." Widening the pits isn’t necessary; the change needed is to stop
closing pit road and make cars pit at staggered intervals as was done before
1989; it was the practice of closing pit road that led to the spate of pit
collisions to begin with.

– The one-engine rule worked well at Rockingham, but NASCAR needs to keep an
eye out for teams that skip practices to keep their motors fresh. The purpose of
the rule is to put an end to the "trick part" engines teams would use
and thus force them to build for longevity, not speed; if they skip practices to
keep the motor fresh, it defeats the whole purpose of the rule. NASCAR should
fine teams that skip practices.

– The whining over the yellow-flag finish reminds me of some New England
Patriots fans: "Drew Bledsoe sucks! We won the Super Bowl! Why wasn’t
Bledsoe at the rally?" We’ve seen several pieces over the past year
bemoaning red flag usage in the final laps of races to ensure green flag
finishes, and while NASCAR probably could have made an effort to red the
Carolina 400, they’re being criticized for not using the red this time. The
"consistency" argument doesn’t take into account that races themselves
are never "consistent."

– Did those grandstands look full to bursting? Didn’t it used to be that
Rockingham didn’t draw that well? So much for that justification, schedule
changers.

– Finally, the Rebel 400 at Darlington may be the return date for Steve Park
pending the outcome of an Atlanta test. Ironic that he may come back at the
track where he got so banged up last September.