QUALIFYING LAPS CAN MEAN A TON
by Siddy Hall
It’s a good thing for the Detroit Lions that the NFL doesn’t play by NASCAR’s rules. They certainly wouldn’t be securing the second best player in the upcoming April draft. Their best talent, on and off the field, would have fled long ago to better situations. If the NFL were NASCAR, the Detroit Lions would probably be out of business.
Unlike other team sports, NASCAR does not award franchises. So if you can’t motor quickly enough, your team crashes and burns. Lacking some success, the value of a team can be reduced to the resale value of its auto parts and shop equipment.
To survive in NASCAR and be assured of living for at least another year, a team’s car needs to be in the top-35 of the points standings. Teams in the top-35 are guaranteed a slot in the next race. Currently, with two races in the books for the 2007 season, NASCAR is reverting to the 2006 final standings to determine the top-35 guaranteed spots. This is done for the first five races of the year. Then at race six, Martinsville, the 2007 standings are used to determine the guaranteed spots. One slot in the starting grid is also reserved for a former champ, the so-called “Champion’s Provisional.”
The remaining seven car slots for each race are determined by pre-race qualifying. At California this past weekend, fifty-two cars showed up trying to make the show. Sixteen cars were trying to fill the final seven spots. At Daytona, twenty-five cars attempted to fill those same seven starting grid spots. This sort of pressure will lead people to do desperate things.
This is why Michael Waltrip’s race team added jet fuel to its race car at Daytona. Waltrip’s NAPA Auto Parts car did not exist last year. It’s a new race team. They have no points from last year and no top-35 safety net to fall back on for the first five races this year. They have to get in based on speed. Those two lonely qualifying laps, where a simple change in cloud coverage or an air temperature change can help send a team home before the race even begins, is its key to survival.
Waltrip: No safety net led to jet fueling
Former racer and current TV guy, Rusty Wallace, said of Waltrip’s cheating, “What I don’t understand is that this is only qualifying. It’s not that important.” Hey Rusty, that’s easy to say when you always own a Champion’s Provisional.
After the embarrassment of Daytona and a 100-point penalty, Waltrip failed to make the California race. His current point total is sub-zero. This means that when 5 races are completed, he will likely be out of the top-35 cars. His team will continue to sweat and pray while trying to pull a quick two laps at qualifying.
Looking ahead, Michael Waltrip’s goal should be to finish in the top-35 at year’s end – just so they can plan on entering races in early-2008 without sweating. That’s something that his team can build on. If he fails, Waltrip’s team could go out of business.
NASCAR INTEGRITY: NASCAR tooted its own horn quite a bit at Daytona by issuing numerous fines and penalties to protect the “integrity” of the game. During Race # 2 at California, a questionable caution, which arrived with only 23 laps remaining, raises a question about NASCAR’s own integrity to officiate a race.
Prior to the caution, the green flag had been waving for 106 laps, or nearly one-half of the 500-mile event. Defending series champ, Jimmie Johnson, appeared to have a comfortable lead and a trip to Victory Lane looked probable.
NASCAR preferred a more exciting finish. Thus, a caution flag appeared for “debris” on the track. The yellow flag forced pits stops which re-shuffled the cars and helped produce a different outcome as Matt Kenseth won. A perturbed Johnson, who finished third, said afterwards, “NASCAR had one of those debris cautions. Five trucks drove around and they didn’t find a thing.”
ESPN INTEGRITY: The phantom caution for debris also set the stage for a horrific hit suffered by rookie driver, David Reutimann. Greg Biffle nudged Reutimann’s Domino’s Pizza machine, sending his car head-first up the track and into the wall. After the wreckage, his in-car camera showed Reutimann slumped towards his steering wheel.
ESPN included this footage during its recap of the race on SportsCenter. The anchors said amid much laughter, “How do you like your pizza? Extra charred?”, and “Pizza’s not going to get there on time is it?”
Reutimann's crash was comic fodder for classless ESPN blowhards
Why was this wreck funny to these people? Were they broadcasting from a pub while having a drink? Head first wrecks are what kill drivers. At most, a driver is allowed two hits like this before hanging up the steering wheel and calling it a career. NASCAR now records the G-forces on collisions and they called this wreck one of the worst ever.
Meanwhile the ESPN anchors are yucking it up. Next time, a hockey player is lying on the ice in a pool of blood I want to hear these same loser announcers laugh about how the injured player is painting a new face-off circle. That would be really classy.
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