Atlanta Race... In-Person Review

Thank goodness there were some impressive wrecks, Goodyear tire problems, and intentional wrecking at the Atlanta Sprint Cup race. The rest of it was just plain boring.


As I sat in the grandstands, I hoped that the race would be comparable to the Labor Day weekend race. Well, needless to say, it wasn't. The race was the same-old Atlanta with long, drawn-out boring segments where the leader seemed to lap a car every couple of times he came across the finish line. There was even a time where I nodded off and almost fell asleep. I don't know about everyone else, but the race really didn't truly get interesting until the end of the race. The intensity seemed to have been kicked up a notch, which always makes things interesting... too bad it wasn't until 30 laps before the checkered flag dropped.


Throughout the race, at least a dozen teams had issues with their Goodyear tires. What surprises me, though, is that Goodyear seemed to deny the claims altogether, basically implying that the drivers who had problems had a bad set-up. Goodyear Racing chief Stu Grant said, "It's a tire the guys are happy to run on. They're comfortable and they're fast if the setup is good. The leaders are running great. If you look at (Kasey Kahne) and (Busch), their tires have looked great all day" (Jayski.com). It's highly doubtful that 12 of the best teams in the sport ALL had completely bad set-ups. I listened to Tony Stewart on the scanner, and his tires were basically what held up his progression on the track throughout the entire race. Also, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman, Robby Gordon, and 5 others were affected. Of course, it's important to have a set-up that's a good combination to incorporate grip and speed that won't blister the tires, but come on, Goodyear. Maybe something really was wrong with the tires? It just says something when Goodyear specifically tests tires at a track (ahem, Atlanta), yet there are still problems with them there.

Everyone's been talking about Carl Edwards' intentional move to wreck Brad Keselowski, so I'll just cover it briefly. Carl usually seems to be a level-headed guy, so that's probably why the media is blowing up this altercation between him and Brad. Two things: A) You really shouldn't really wreck anyone because of safety reasons and B) if you're going to wreck someone, don't wear white gloves! It was obvious that Carl intentionally wrecked Brad because you could see his gloves moving side-to-side. It's evident that Carl had a lapse in judgment, but he shouldn't be suspended a race for it. If you really think about it and put all of the wrecks together that Brad's caused in the last year or so, it probably wouldn't even add up to amount to this specific incident. We'll just have to wait until Tuesday to see what Nascar thinks.

I will say, though, that I really like the fact that the races will end under the green flag and not under a caution. Kudos to Nascar for making the call to change that rule. If the really old rule was in place, the race would have finished under the caution flag after Carl and Brad's incident. I know the fans who paid to attend this race definitely wouldn't have been happy about that... this one, in particular.

New Rule Change... Surprise, surprise

Nascar isn't a stranger to rule changes.


One of the latest changes in the Nascar rule book is that the lowest-finishing car that didn't wreck out of the race will now be inspected by the officials at the conclusion of the race.  This change is supposed to encourage the start-and-park teams to put more effort toward actually participating in the race instead of dropping out after 30 laps.  There is more to this rule change, though, that might actually backfire on Nascar's efforts.

This rule change can prove to be devastating for under-funded teams because of the monetary implications that accompany the inspection process.  Just think for a minute: Cup Series engine rebuilds can cost several thousands of dollars, most likely in the upwards of $30,000.  For under-funded teams, this can be fatal.  That's like one person's salary for an entire year!  The cost of rebuilding an engine, much less a car, is extremely expensive.  If that rule wasn't in place, that money could have been used for research and development programs that could simply make the team more competitive. 

Not only does the money concern come into play, but also the question of whether or not the start-and-park teams will risk their equipment to actually enter into the field.  If there's no way to be competitive with the other 42 cars, why even enter and risk being the car that gets inspected and possibly torn apart?  We might not have to worry about qualifying to actually get into the race if there aren't 43 cars for the field!  That can lead to a whole plethora of new issues for another day and time, though.

You never know what can happen...  Nascar always keeps things interesting!