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2009 -- A different kind of year
Around the track
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Obviously we have seen Chrysler (parent company of Dodge) and General Motors (Chevrolet) seek bankruptcy protection. That's affected our sport as we have seen the manufacturers cut support in the Camping World Truck and Nationwide series', plus cut back their support in the Sprint Cup series. One of our biggest fears starting the season has already been realized with the major drop in support by the manufacturers.
Teams have cut back their expenditures. Teams have laid off people. NASCAR in a lot of ways tried to react. The pit procedure changes made in the truck series, which is really struggling when it comes to sponsorship dollars, has been disastrous in my opinion. I hope and pray they will change it back to the way it was while at the same time instituting double file restarts in that series. It's just my opinion but I think they hurt the quality of the race. So hopefully they will put it back the way it was. But getting back to what a year it's been so far, let's go back to February and Daytona. Our biggest race of the year is rain shortened. Matt Kenseth in a backup car wins the race. Calling the race because of weather upset a lot of people including all of us on NASCAR on FOX. You can't wait for the Daytona 500 to roll around every year and then to have it shorten due to Mother Nature isn't a lot of fun. We simply can't race in the rain. It's physically not possible to race in the rain with the cars we have and the tracks we race on.
We had a couple feel-good stories come out of Daytona and that was good. You had guys like Tommy Baldwin, Jeremy Mayfield, Joe Nemechek and a couple others were showing up with a limited amount of funding and trying to make a go of it. The economy and this new standardized car were going to give some of these smaller teams a chance to compete.
The problem is that you run out of resources pretty quick in this business, I don't care how big or how small you are. These teams have all struggled trying to get on the track. Mayfield, as you are well aware, has had drug policy issues with NASCAR. He's had to park his car. Jeremy's failing the drug test marks the first time we have had that happen to a Cup driver. We've had a few problems in the past with crew members or drivers in the lower series, but never in Cup.
The people at Goodyear have worn themselves out getting the sport a better tire. NASCAR won't change the car, so the burden fell on Goodyear and they stepped up and helped out. They have done an incredible amount of testing and when Jeff Gordon guarantees there won't be a tire problem at Indy, well that is good enough for me.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s struggles have been another top story so far this year. It all started at Daytona with missing his pits, causing a big wreck and on and on and on. It was inevitable that folks were going to be hollering for a change and sure enough, after the Coca Cola 600, Tony Eury Jr. was replaced as his crew chief.
The resurgence of Mark Martin has been a great storyline to follow this year. He's 50 years old out there driving like he is 19 again. It sure has been fun to watch. He has three wins already and has a shot a being in the Chase.
It's funny how people say you can't pass in this new car, but Kenseth has done it and won. Tony Stewart has done it and won. Kyle Busch started in the back after changing an engine and won. So starting in the back is not a bad thing when you have good pit strategy.
Pit strategy? No wait, that's not how you win a race these days. Its fuel mileage isn't it? This year has seen some interesting scenarios as to how you win a race. The biggest thing is to make sure you are in front when it starts raining. David Reutimann did it in the Coca Cola 600 and young Joey Logano did it last weekend at Loudon. So being in the lead when the skies open up seems to be the hot tip.
At Talladega you had Carl Edwards and his wild ride up into the fence. The yellow line at Daytona and Talladega will always lend itself to creating controversy. We had, in my mind, one of the best All-Star Races in history. Those double file restarts proved that it makes restarts exciting. We have been saying it for years that NASCAR needed to institute it in the Cup races and they finally did, so that is a positive.
Unfortunately our second biggest race of the year for the FOX crew was rain shortened as well. As I mentioned earlier, Reutimann pulled that one off for his first win of the year. You had Brad Keselowski getting his first win at Talladega and then again, as I mentioned earlier, Logano wins last Sunday at Loudon. So that's pretty cool to have three first-time winners in the same year.
This year we have also seen NASCAR hold a Town Hall meeting which let the owners and drivers meet as a group face-to-face with NASCAR and voice their opinions on a number of things. NASCAR supposedly took everything to heart and we will see what kind of changes that leads to. We headed to our first road course race of the year and Kasey raised Kahne on it ... get it ... Kahne ... oh never mind.
Despite the win Sunday, I still think Joey Logano has a long way to go. He has a lot to learn. He has a great crew and a great crew chief. For the crew chief to make those gutsy calls like what you saw Sunday, shows what a team sport it really is. The driver has to do his part in trying to save fuel obviously, but all eyes are on the crew chief to make the call in that scenario. The crew chief is either going to be a hero or an idiot.
If they make it and win the race, the driver gets all the glory. The crew chief gets a pat on the back and a "great call" from everyone. If they don't make it, then everyone calls the crew chief an idiot for making the call. So that's the kind of situation the crew chiefs find themselves in when they make those kinds of calls.
Oh, by the way
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| Darrell Waltrip is a finalist for the NASCAR Hall of Fame. (Darrell Waltrip Racing / Special to FOXSports.com) |
The NASCAR Hall of Fame is unveiling its full list of the 25 finalists for the first-ever induction class of 2010. They have announced the first two names of those 25 and I am very proud to say it is myself and Bobby Allison.
As you know, for years I have been beating the drum that NASCAR needs to have its own Hall of Fame like all the other major sports do. Well, we will have it with the grand opening next year. There's no greater honor in my book than being called a Hall of Famer in your chosen profession. Someday maybe I will have my name mentioned that way. I worked very hard for my accomplishments on the track and am very proud of them. Now it's for others to judge my record. I am humbled and thankful to be included in this first list. Be sure to watch SPEED on Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET as the other names are revealed. I am excited to see who they are.
Oh, by the way II
You are hearing a lot of talk of other foreign manufacturers looking at coming into NASCAR. I think we will have to change our engine package to attract them though. We don't have enough technology in our sport to appeal to the Hondas, BMWs and Mercedes of the world, I don't believe. They like to be challenged with technology that we just don't offer yet.
Oh, by the way III
Richie McDonald, the former lead singer for country music group Lonestar, has a new album coming out before Christmas and you have to hear the song on there called Raceday.
Of all the songs I have ever heard about racing, well this is it. This is the one. So keep your ear out for it.
Oh, by the way IV
I am going to Daytona and will be hanging out with my brother this weekend. A lot of people have read more into it than there really is. I am going to be in his pits because I think he will win the race. We don't get a chance to hang out that much anymore other than an occasional golf game, so I am really looking forward to Saturday night.
Hopefully at the end of the night on July 4 with the fireworks going off, I will be in Victory Lane hugging my brother's neck.
One final oh, by the way
I thought it was really brave for the Indy drivers to publicly apologize to the fans after the race at Richmond. They sure didn't do much passing, let alone racing. Follow the leader was the name of the game unfortunately for that event.
Folks, I have to tell you, everyone has the same engine and same chassis. It's like it is in NASCAR where everyone wants parity. But the downside is, when you get parity, this is what you get. You have everyone running the same speeds just following each other on the track. Now the only way to beat somebody is strategy in the pits. That's simply not very exciting to watch. You have to have innovators. You can't put NO into innovation and be very successful in my mind.
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