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With record purse, rabid fans, racing outside U.S. makes sense
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NASCAR on FOX: Las Vegas
Sun., March 13: Las Vegas 400 on FOX, 2 p.m. ET Photo Galleries... NASCAR's Sexiest Driver 2005: Earnhardt Jr. Ordinal out of range Photos: Mexico 200 race Ordinal out of range Also... Analysis... McREYNOLDS: Roush rules Las Vegas SPENCER: HAMMOND: Gordon to rebound at Vegas |
With more 50,000 people in attendance for qualifying and a support race and then around 100,000 people for the Busch race, the trip made a lot of sense. Other than the late summer race in Bristol, those are unheard of crowds for a Busch race. Ten Hispanic drivers attempted to make the field and when one of them went out and sat on the pole on Saturday, the crowd roared.
It was expensive for teams to go down there. But a $2 million purse with over $40,000 just to start the race is basically unheard of in the Busch Series.
NASCAR chartered a jet that picked up our broadcast crew in Charlotte on Friday. We had two vans with six guys that were with us from the time we got off of the plane until Sunday night when we got back on the plane. They carried us everywhere we needed and wanted to go, and we had great accommodations.
I'm glad that I was part of this first Busch points race in Mexico, and I didn't hear any complaints from anyone, not even the truck drivers who left home roughly two weeks ago. It'll be another week before they get back home after Las Vegas. UPS handled transporting the equipment, trucks and trailers into and out of the country.
It was a great race. A lot of different stories unfolded, and I was pleasantly surprised by how well some of the Hispanic drivers competed. Adrian Fernandez finished 10th in a backup car. Carlos Contreras ran in the top 10 all day until he had engine failure. Jorge Goeters sat on the pole and led until he had to make an unfamiliar green-flag pit stop. He had engine problems, too, but he had the car to beat.
NASCAR family moves forward
As members of the NASCAR family, teams, manufacturers, track promoters and fans are creatures of habit. Sometimes we don't like change, but we are also the same group that wants to get bigger and better with more competitive racing and bigger purses for the teams.To grow, you can't just do the same thing. You can't have the same points championship. You can't go to the same venues, and fortunately the people in Daytona Beach like Bill France Jr. and in particular now Brian France, George Pyne, Jim Hunter and Mike Helton have a vision. As much as we think they just wake up one morning and say, "I think we're going to race in Mexico next year with the Busch Series," it goes way beyond that.
| Speed Mail Larry McReynolds |
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There's a fine line. You want the sport be content for a little bit and leave things alone, but it just seems like they put enough thought into each change that it works out for the best 99.9% of the time. I can see nothing negative about the event in Mexico.
Some questioned whether the Busch cars should return to road-course racing. It's an additional expense for the teams. That's why they decided to do two instead of just one. It made much more sense to run a second road race at Watkins Glen so teams aren't building road course cars for just one race a year.
FOX race analyst Larry McReynolds has more than 25 years of NASCAR experience as a mechanic, crew chief and broadcaster. He and his fellow Crew Chief Club members take you behind the wall at www.crewchiefclub.com.
"Larry McReynolds: The Big Picture" is on bookstore shelves now, or you may order your own autographed copy from www.DWStore.com.
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