ï»¿2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Race Thirty-Five Phoenix

Sadness is filtering in as the NASCAR season is drawing to a close. In spite of the boneheaded moves of NASCAR this season, I still love the sport, though my ardor has waned a bit with some of the most recent decisions. I am cautiously optimistic about the 2016 season hoping:

that the NBC announce team will improve in year two of their tenure and learn the value of letting the pictures tell the story instead of babbling incessantly
that the FOX announce team will shine without Larry McReynolds and that Michael Waltrip’s days are numbered
that NASCAR will wake up and put marketing and chief marketer Steve O’Donnell in their proper places, that NASCAR will honor their roots and return to their solid foundation
that the fans – the current/rabid/traditional/long-time fans, NOT the potential fans – will once again become important to NASCAR
that the gimmicks will be reduced in favor of treating NASCAR as a sport instead of a product (stopping the trend towards turning NASCAR into professional wrestling that has been underway during the O’Donnell era).

I don’t know if I can take another season like this one thought and remain the avid fan I’ve been for the past eight years. Cautiously optimistic. I will miss Jeff Gordon on the track in 2016, but I’m glad to see him leave while he can still walk and play with his children. They deserve that and more. Be nice to see him go out on top though.

A rain delay begins the day in Phoenix. Rain in the desert. Hmmm. The boos resounded for Joey Logano and “It” (Brad Keselowski). I also have hope that Logano will wake up and smell what Keselowski is shoveling and stop being his chump. I’ve always thought Joey wasn’t dumb, but the way Keselowski is playing him and leading him around by the nose makes me wonder at this point. Maybe I’m wrong and his goal is to be as hated as Keselowski with as little respect from fans and fellow drivers alike. Just doesn’t seem likely to me.

Jimmie will lead the field to the green flag. He captured his first pole of the season. Maybe the 48 team has finally figured out this gimmicked qualifying format. I continue to miss the old format, but I recognize that format doesn’t fit into a small time slot as easily as the current format and therefore wasn’t as marketable and since it seems marketing matters more than anything, especially more than the desires of the dedicated fans, in NASCAR these days, a beloved qualifying format has no future. Sigh.

Looks like the rain has stopped. The pit crews are doing a bit of clean up and uncovering the cars.

The rain is back and the cars are once again covered.

KyBu did his usual domination of the Phoenix Xfinity race yesterday. Congrats to Kyle Busch.

Rain delays make me desperately miss the ABC NASCAR broadcasts. They had the most entertaining rain delays. FOX isn’t bad at it, but NBC sucks – but then again their desk crew is third rate.

312 laps of racing was supposed to begin at 3:45 eastern time – so we’re an hour into the delay right now.

Just watched a round-table discussion of Matt Kenseth’s actions at Martinsville and the driver code. Steve Letarte, Jeff Burton, Ray Evernham and Kyle Petty took part. It was an interesting discussion. Several people brought up good points. The one I found most surprising was Kyle Petty’s comment that “it’s how you were raised, the values you were raised with”. I agree with him, but surprised to hear him say it. If we judge Joey Logano’s values by how he races, one would think he was raised by wolves. I can’t imagine he would want to represent his family’s values in that manner and I hope he heard those words and understood them. He’s young, and immature for his age. He has not shown much comprehension of what people say so far, and even less comprehension of the consequences of his actions, but I really hope he gets this lesson. Burton said he believed everyone agreed Kenseth went too far – I don’t believe that, but they all seemed to agree they understood why Kenseth did it.

They had a segment earlier with scanner audio from that race. The reactions of the various teams were hysterical during the Kenseth-Logano incident, much glee. For a sport dependent on the enthusiasm of the fans, a driver should seriously understand the fans’ reaction in that incident. The fans are human, most decent human beings who don’t want to see anyone injured, yet they cheered Kenseth’s actions, because they thought they were appropriate under the circumstances. We typically only see that sort of reaction when Dale Jr takes the lead. That speaks volumes. Joey Logano and NASCAR should recognize there’s a reason for that reaction – a valid reason. By instituting the harsh penalties against Kenseth NASCAR disregarded the opinions of the fans and allowed Logano to let a parental figure handle his misbehavior. Maybe one day Joey will grow up and man up and act like a married adult, instead of a perpetual kid. That Todd Gordon, Joey’s crew chief, had to hold back Joey’s biological father was ridiculous and telling. He isn’t adult enough, responsible enough, nor of championship caliber to represent NASCAR.

At 17:16 eastern Rick says NASCAR let them know we’re four minutes away from pre-race ceremonies.

The anthem has been massacred and Rick says the track is in a holding pattern right now, so the command to start the engines is delayed at 17:24.

The rain is back.

Jeff Burton said he doesn’t think they’re “too good at this”. Nice to hear that someone in that booth is self-aware. It gives me hope though that he, if no one else, will work to be better next season.

I find it interesting that Ray advocates one human being hitting another, but feels the cars are too valuable to crash for revenge. I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt that he is thinking of the effort expended by human beings working long hours in the shop during the week and counting those as more important than the need for revenge.

Drivers have been told to get in their cars at 20:50 eastern time. At 21:00 eastern time the command is given by General Scott Royce.

Competition caution is scheduled for lap 40 of 312.

KuBu has a penalty on the start of the race. The 41 of Kurt Busch beat the 48 to the Start-Finish line. NASCAR is calling for a pass-through penalty. He does the pass through on lap 8 sending him to the back of the field.

Competition caution is out on lap 42 of 312.

Sleep wins. I’m off to bed – got work tomorrow.

So, I wandered by the tv and found out the final four – of the choices, those were the four I’d hoped for. Congratulations to Jeff Gordon, Martin Truex Jr, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick. The Penske boys didn’t earn a spot and don’t deserve a spot. God don’t like ugly. I would’ve been extraordinarily disappointed if either of them had made the final four with all of the tricks they pulled.

In NASCAR news this week:

ï»¿2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Race Thirty-Five Phoenix

Next Race: Homestead

GO 48!!!!