The COT is The Car

Rarely do I pray during a NASCAR event. With all the issues in the world and in my life in general I think it’s almost selfish to ask God to take time to help Jr.’s “tight in and loose off” condition. On the rare occasion that I do, it is in fear and shock to what I’m seeing. In the past few years I can think of a few times I have done what could almost be considered begging to the Lord during a race. Labonte’s car on fire at Chicago, Mikey on fire at California, Jr. with a neck brace on lying on a back board at California (I think it was there), Reutimann’s hit at California as well. This past week watching Jeff Gordon smack that wall live I felt a deep dark feeling. I leaned forward and almost in a trance started saying, “Please drop the window net. Please drop the window net. Please drop the window net!” I was genuinely afraid we had lost another legend. Come race day I’m liable to shoot several profanities at Kyle Busch and hope he loses a tire, smacks the wall, bends his suspension, but casually walks out of the infield care center for an interview. It’s fun to root for someone and its fun to have a rival to root against. However, there is no circumstance in the world where I would want to see harm befall any of these drivers. That brings me to the Car Of Tomorrow/Today…the current car.

Thank you NASCAR. The hit Gordon took in Las Vegas was ridiculous. If his angle was a little different, I’m not sure any of the safety equipment could have done a bit of good. It’s amazing that after all this time people still find a way to complain or question this car. The number one fact is that this car is safer for our drivers. “Oh, it drives a little tight?” Really? I bet those dirt cars you drove were a little free. I bet those late models didn’t have the best “front end geometry” in the world. The driver’s are adapting and the crews have adapted fairly well. It just seems like the fans can’t adapt.

Why in the world is anyone having an issue adopting this car? It seems like every COT race I can think of ends with a side by side finish or at least with drama in the finish. Yes there are some runaways, but that will always happen. When I think of the current car I think of Jimmie and Jeff at Martinsville, Burton and Busch at Bristol, and tons of other good finishes. Not to mention some great side by side racing and passing. Carl may have ran off at the end of the Las Vegas race, but that was because Jr. and Biffle were locked in a pretty tight battle for 2nd.

The COT is here and more important than anything else it is keeping these drivers much safer. Not only that, it truly is giving us better racing. The drivers and crews may have to adjust, but as long as the product is better then that’s something those healthy paychecks should take care of.

Off with his head!

"Seriously?"

That was the 1st word out of my mouth when I saw the penalty levied against Robby Gordon. For full disclosure I'll admit that I have never really cared for Robby Gordon. He's just rubbed me the wrong way a few times. However in the past couple of years he's earned a lot more respect from me. I've always known he can drive, that's never been a question. In time thought I've seen some maturity. For example, after responding a bit foolishly and way over the top during the Canadian Busch Race last year he stepped up and made a tremendous peace offering to Ambrose. I think it said a lot about his character.

It has to be nearly impossible to be the last of an all but extinct breed. The owner/driver just doesn't exist in this sport anymore and surely not on a successful and competitive level. Kyle Petty hasn't been a factor in so long that when he knocks out that 1 top 10 for the year we all smile with pride. He'll hand over his ride soon enough. That leaves Robby trying to put it together like so many of the drivers from history have done. Competing against mega super power teams like Hendrick and Rousch-Fenway every day. He's on his 3rd manufacturer in as many years.

I'm impressed he's still in business, let alone competitive.

And competitive he was at the 500 to open the season. He stayed out of trouble and rode out a long day where the contenders were finding themselves spinning through the infield and slamming into walls 1 or 2 at a time. In the end he locked up a nice top 10 finish and started out the season with a tremendous advantage over a number of teams trying to get into the top 35 before Martinsville.

The problem was that he didn't keep his nose clean before the race. The fact that the #7 Dodge had template issues less than 3 weeks after changing manufacturers doesn't shock me. The fact that it was the nose shocks me even less. With today's cars, the nose is the only manufacturer specific part on the entire body. So it makes perfect sense that there could be a template issue, but apparently NASCAR saw it as something more.

$100,000
To most teams, that is the most insignificant part of any penalty. My guess is that to a team like Gordon's this is a ton of money and it will affect them tremendously.

Crew Chief out for 6 races
This is a issue for most teams, but for Robby it is going to hurt. As a team they don't have the depth and tools that a Hendrick has. Chad Knaus was sent home from the Daytona 500 2 years ago and his team still won. Why? Because Hendrick has about 3 guys per team that can crew chief for almost any other team. They've also got 17,325 engineers set aside for the left front shock. My guess is that at Robby Gordon Racing the Crew Chief handles more than about any other team.

100 driver & owner points
This could be the nail in the coffin for a team that is going to fight for a top 35 spot. Look at Michael Waltrip last year and see what a 100 point penalty will do. Coming out of a whole is nearly impossible with todays competition level. However, Robby is guaranteed starts in all of the 1st 5 races and he's offset his penalty with a very solid finish in the 500.

I understand NASCAR's stance of ruling with an iron fist over today's car. After all the fuss people are starting to see that this new car is going to help with cost and competition, but I think that they missed the mark a little bit here. Some things are situational and need to be looked at from a different vantage point. Robby has said he will appeal, but we've seen time and time again how productive that can be. If I were him the 1st thing I would point out is that Dale Jr.'s team had an illegal deck lid and spoiler on their car, it was placed on after inspection, and the received far less of a penalty.