I spent the day reflecting on yesterdays Lenox Industrial Tools 284 yesterday, and while drying out in traffic, found myself with plenty of time to ponder.I keep thinking back to the start of the season when we were told that NASCAR was getting ‘back to basics’. Despite what seemed like genuine enthusiasm that drivers would be able to express themselves, I have heard a ton of criticism about the Juan Pablo Montoya/Kyle Busch incident in the closing laps of the race. In case you missed, it, Montoya and Busch were racing for position for a solid 50 laps, and with that comes the requisite banging and bumping. Rough racing, sure, but evidently just before the final caution brought out by the Bowyer/Hornish wreck the two had kicked it up a notch on the backstretch. As they entered turns 3 and 4 just behind the wreck, the yellow flew but it wasn’t over yet. Coming down the frontstretch under caution, Montoya turned into Busch and spun him sideways. In a twist of fate, while trying to avoid the wall, Busch turned Montoya forcing both to pit road and effectively preventing Kyle from a shot at winning the race. At the time, Kyle was running in the high teens, while Montoya was a lap down.
After the race, Montoya, in a refreshing display of brute honesty (and the delight of Dale Jr fans), admitted to purposely spinning Busch because of how he was being raced.
"On the restart, I got around the outside of [Busch] in Turn 2 and he just went wide like I wasn't even there -- he crowded me towards the wall," Montoya said. "Down the backstraight he hit me on braking for Turn 3 like he was trying to wreck me.
"I thought we had a decent car and I don
"I have no idea, I got a run on him earlier and I got on the outside and he kind of kept coming up a little bit. I didn
"We came to that caution flag and he thought he beat me to the caution flag and I was just trying to get around the 40 car, who was in front of us there. I touched him on the door and he just turned left and spun me down the front straightaway. I don't know what his beef is."
So who's right and who's wrong? In listening to the post race show on Sirius as well as reading multiple blogs, it seems pretty split down the middle. Obviously, the Busch fans and Montoya haters will tell you one thing, while the Busch haters, Montoya fans, and certainly the Dale Jr fans will tell you another.
So here's my two cents… done under caution, it was wrong. Also painfully stupid. But under green, then its what makes racing as great as it is. We were all happy to see NASCAR get back to basics, and that includes letting the boys do a bit of rubbing to settle their differences. And NASCAR was correct in their two lap penalty for rough driving. There's no need for anything else, be it probation, points, money or anything else. This is good PR for NASCAR and helps generate interest, it seems as though it has become a bigger headline than the race itself.
So here's my two cents… done under caution, it was wrong. Also painfully stupid. But under green, then its what makes racing as great as it is. We were all happy to see NASCAR get back to basics, and that includes letting the boys do a bit of rubbing to settle their differences. And NASCAR was correct in their two lap penalty for rough driving. There's no need for anything else, be it probation, points, money or anything else. This is good PR for NASCAR and helps generate interest, it seems as though it has become a bigger headline than the race itself.
The real question is whether the message Montoya was trying to deliver to Shrubby was heard by Busch, that his driving style isnt appreciated by his counterparts. And lets hope that if the message was heard, that it will be ignored.
Postrace Thoughts:
Does anyone know if the metal bleachers are somehow grounded against lightning strikes? I shudder to think what would have happened had one of the many bolts that were cracking around us struck the stands. I may be a dedicated fan, but when the red flag came out, we left before knowing if they would attempt a restart when it cleared. It took hours to dry out once we got back to the car.
Like him or hate him, you have to feel bad for the bad luck that Tony Stewart has had this year. And on a related note, it was nice to see some of the guys who have had bad years take a chance and have the luck come their way for once. I’m specifically thinking about Elliot Sadler who managed a 5th place finish, which is about where he would have finished last week at Sonoma had he not ended up with a flat tire while the race was red flagged. Kurt Busch, Michael Waltrip, JJ Yeley, Martin Truex Jr and Reed Sorenson also needed and got big points days.
Casey Mears ended up with a 5th place finish last week and topped it off with a 7th place yesterday. Sadly for Mears, its coming a few weeks too late since he was given notice that he was going to be released by HMS at the end of the season after a disappointing start.
New England fans received some good news from Bruton Smith yesterday when it was announced that he had no immediate intention of moving a race date to Kentucky or Las Vegas. This of course makes one wonder where he intends on getting two dates. Speculation is that he still intends to try to purchase and shut down Pocono Raceway, thus moving the two dates to the two tracks, but that doesn’t seem likely. For starters, track owner Dr Joe Mattioli has insisted that the track is not for sale, and unlike the publicly traded Dover International Speedway, no may simply mean no. Further, its unlikely that NASCAR will suddenly approve moving a date to Kentucky since they have insisted all along that it just wont happen. Additionally, Pocono Raceway is just 80 miles west of New York City, the largest media market in the world. I can not imagine a scenario that NASCAR would allow a race to move from that market to Kentucky or anywhere else, at least without an alternative track in place which has proven to be an impossible task so far. So until this all shakes out, I remain very cautious about the intents that Bruton has for NHMS.
As far as the speedway, I do need to compliment Smith on his first NH race date. I spent the entire weekend there and my experience went off without a hitch, as pleasant as it ever was under the Bahre family. New signage and fresh paint has certainly given the track a new look and may be a sign of good things to come. According to Smith, he is going to concentrate on improved fan amenities, such as more seating, more restrooms (thank God!), more camper parking, and best of all, lights! There is also a very serious talk about bringing an IRL date to NH as early as next year (I’m in!).
As far as reconfiguring the track, such as adding banking, increasing or decreasing the size or shape of the track, or even building a brand new track next to the existing one, no decisions have been made. Whatever is done, lets hope a second or even third groove is created. The lack of passing in yesterdays race was nothing new and really cant be attributed to the new car, its been an issue in New Hampshire since they started racing there in 1993.
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