Sunny day in Chicagoland for the race. Congratulations to John Hunter Nemechek on his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win. Congratulations also to Joseph Nemechek and Nemco Racing. It’s great to see a small team do well. Qualifying was rained/stormed out on Friday so Kevin Harvick led them to the green flag. A spin on lap 2 by Denny Hamlin brings out a caution. Long green flag runs follow the early spin. They typical, boring Chicagoland race is underway.
Apparently someone has been complaining about the restarts, because suddenly we’re subjected to a rehash of the restart rules. The Penske drivers have been gimmicking restarts for ages, then crying foul when their tricks don’t work. While they aren’t the only ones who will lay back to try to trick the second-place driver, they are definitely the most consistent and the ones who complain the loudest when NASCAR doesn’t call the second-place driver for jumping the restart. My respect for the Penske organization drops lower each time Keselowski gets them involved in cheap and tawdry situations like this. They repeatedly prove to be unworthy of a NASCAR Championship. I believe Joey Logano is a talented driver who doesn’t need to resort to do anything other than drive well to win. I hope he doesn’t continue to use the Penske bag of tricks and become another hack like Keselowski who will reach for the lowest, dirtiest option first, instead of using his native talent to become a champion the sport can be proud of and show himself to be a man he and the sport can be proud of. Joey, choose decency over desperation – be your better self. You are and will be a winner.
And by the way, I’ve not mentioned it recently, but I would welcome a return to the old style of NASCAR restarts. It would resolve this particular issue. While I recognized the double-file restarts resulted in some excitement at times, I also foresaw this particular issue becoming a problem. The old-style restarts made things more interesting to me and required more skill from the drivers.
NASCAR reminds me of the WWF in the 1980s. The WWF decided the future was in appealing to the youth. So they manipulated the product to appeal to the youth disregarding their strongest fan base. The marketing worked. In the 1990s the WWE became huge, so huge it became an issue for the World Wildlife Federation who complained about the World Wrestling Federation’s use of the acronym WWF in legal proceedings, resulting in a name change to the WWE. The WWE became a product, instead of a sport, targeting its programming primarily to young men. It worked, for a while. Then, that audience, as always, moved on to something else. I find it odd that the purveyors of pop music recognize that teen girls and young women will outgrow their tastes, but never notice that teen boys and young men do the same. They also seem to miss that young women and girls display a level of loyalty and commitment to the objects of their affection for longer and with more dedication than guys. As a result a product will capture the attention of the sought after 18-35 year old male demographic for a period of time – a relatively short period – then will lose it, usually never to regain that level of appeal again for at least a generation. NASCAR consistently seems to compare itself to stick-and-ball-sports. They neglect to recognize that stick-and-ball-sports still call themselves sports instead of products or shows. The WWE became a product and a show. It lost its core audience in the process and did a lot of damage to its industry. It is currently struggling to gain relevancy, and has done so since its heyday in the 1990s. NASCAR is travelling the same path. Instead of embracing their core audience and drawing more people into what NASCAR is, they’re trying to become what people who don’t watch NASCAR want. It seems counter-intuitive to me to take a sport with dedicated fans and turn it into the something that will appeal to people who aren’t interested in it. Education seems a better alternative – educate those who aren’t interested in why they should be interested and you will gain a life long fan. Catch the eye of someone who is just looking for the next distraction and you will have them until they find the next distraction. Donald Trump’s number one standing in the presidential polls is evidence of that, which is why no one expects him to remain in that position. I think they overestimate his fans’ ability to act in their best interest, but we’ll see. I’m not very confident in the American voter these days. I have less confidence in the American consumer. Loyalty is priceless, but you have to hit people where they live to gain and sustain lasting loyalty. Gimmicks may draw them in, but they will soon find the next big thing. Stepping down from the soapbox now….
Caution on lap 123 of 267 for debris.
Caution on lap 130 of 267, shortly after the restart, for Frankenstein (Austin Dillon) hitting the wall after blowing a right front tire.
Caution on lap 138 of 267 for Happy Harvick going for a spin. The 48 and the 4 made contact on the restart which started smoke coming from the left rear of the 4. He made a lap then spun out as he went into a turn and hit the wall. The 22 was pushing the 48 on the restart which caused Jimmie to go below the white line. He tried to come back up onto the track and Harvick wouldn’t give ground resulting in the contact.
Caution on lap 191 of 267 for debris.
KHarv is back on track after getting repairs in the garage.
Caution is out on lap 257 for debris.
Denny Hamlin wins
Jimmie finished 11th, Dale Jr finished 12th, Kasey finished 24th
Jeff Gordon tied Ricky Rudd’s record today making his 788th start. He finished 14th though he led the field to the green flag, on old tires, for the restart.
Can someone teach Dale Jarrett the word ‘when’? You know, it’s the word professional broadcasters use appropriately in sentences instead of whenever.
They showed video of Jimmie, alone, at Harvick’s bus after the race waiting to talk with him about the incident. Harvick was in no mood for a chat, quickly putting on his sunglasses and shoving Jimmie. Jimmie retained his composure and did not return the shove, nor strike out, though he seemed to have stern words for Kevin regarding the physical contact. Kevin was trying to get to Jimmie, but was being held back by a guy who drove eventually got into the front seat of a large SUV and drove Kevin and Delana away. Delana seemed to be yelling at Kevin trying to calm him down. While I see Harvick’s point of view, I’m totally proud of Jimmie for approaching Harvick privately and without a posse – though it ended up on tv – and for not physically lashing out when Kevin’s anger got the best of him.
In NASCAR news this week:
- Chicago Truck Race Postponed By Rain.
- Nemechek Scores First Truck Win.
- Busch Too Low, Too Furious at Chicagoland.
- New Venue for XFINITY, Truck Banquet.
- Bell to Run More Races With KBM.
- Final Chase For Gordon.
- Penske Questions Richmond Restart.
- Lowe’s Extends Johnson Sponsorship.
- Force to Honor Gordon With Special Paint Scheme.
- Teams Test at Kansas.
- Media Day Kicks Off Chase.
- Big Week for Johnson.
- Harvick Plans to Pound JGR.
- Restart Confusion Rages On.
- Aspen Dental Extends Partnership with Patrick.
- McMurray, Menard Ready for First Chase.
- Rain Washes Out Chicago Qualifying.
- Jeffrey Earnhardt, GoFAS Land Sponsor.
- Can-Am New Daytona Duel Sponsor.
- Iron Man Mark for Gordon.
- Daytona not changing fencing after review of July crash.
- Harvick on ropes after crash and confrontation with Johnson.