Monday Morning Crew Chief
Written by David Lamm · April 30, 2007
Days of Thunder at Talladega beat the alternative…
Leave it to a race weekend at Talladega to sum up so many things NASCAR.
The week before the race, Tony Stewart spoke out on the subject of cautions for debris, finally airing out a smoldering issue. But nobody debates the need for debris cautions at the 2.66-mile Talladega track, where the only way to race on it safely is to not race there at all.
Selling tickets or buying tickets to exciting races has always trumped safety, which is why the grandstands are always full at Talladega. If it weren’t a circus of thrills, nobody would bother to show up — including all those guys in the garage. As for those unnecessary debris cautions for such things as a piece of tape on the track in Phoenix, they’re all about selling exciting races on TV. So spare us, dear NASCAR, the pep talks on safety.
The Talladega race was decided ultimately by the caution thrown just before the end of the regulation distance for black debris, the oil put down from the smoldering Toyota of David Reutimann. The Camry crowd is blowing up when they do make the races, which usually is about 50 percent of the time. But the great equalizer — the Talladega draft — demonstrated that Toyota is at least gaining on it as Reutimann made himself at home in the lead draft before his demise.
The smoking Toyota set up the green-white-checker finish, where race winner Jeff Gordon was the beneficiary of the caution shortly after the green and long before the white or checkers. Why didn’t they let them keep racing at Talladega just as they did at the Daytona 500? Evidently, safety at Daytona wasn’t the key issue. We were down with that because it was a helluva finish for the Daytona 500. We’d be up for no yellows for a piece of tape, too.
Virtually all drivers are side-drafting and riding in the middle lane at Talladega these days, the real tribute to the genius of Dale Earnhardt. The inventor of both these tactics, Dale called it “raking” when it came to side-drafting. Alas, it’s not much of a thinking crowd that throws beer cans at Gordon for winning his 77th race and surpassing the mark of, well, a guy whose been in stock car racing heaven for over six years now.
“The people throwing the beer cans should go out in the parking lot and wail away at their own car with a couple of beers if that’s what they want to do,” said Dale Earnhardt Jr., making sense of nonsense as usual.
Everybody is side-drafting with the exception of Ryan Newman, who once again back-drafted Juan Pablo Montoya into the fence. Montoya’s Dodge ended up with a Talladega stripe, i.e. no paint on the right side. In this case, Newman can plead innocent due to the “momentum” of the draft. But in his heart, Montoya knows he owes Newman one. Everybody else knows this as well. So this situation could get interesting, including the car owner angle of Chip Ganassi versus Roger Penske.
In a sport all about speed and self-made men, it’s nonsensical to have guaranteed starting positions for the top 35 drivers based on a car owner’s point standings, especially at Talladega. With apologies to the limp-wristed comedy Talladega Nights, this sounds like a rulebook made up by an effete Frenchman. Not only does this rule keep out half the Toyotas. It means the guys who do qualify at Talladega have done so because they’ve spent every practice session in qualifying trim. When they make the races, their cars are nervous wrecks waiting to happen with qualifying set-ups underneath them due to the impound rules. So spare us the pep talks on safety and let it rip with the fastest 43 drivers. Then put the final practice session back in one hour after qualifying is over.
And speaking of safety, one of those irrepressible guys now behind microphones and no longer behind the wheel have suggested that throwing those beer cans during the cool down lap could hurt somebody. Yeah, somebody’s arm maybe. It hurts my ears to hear guys like Jimmy Spencer providing instant analysis without the facts about such things as just how Casey Mears crashed. As of Sunday evening, Mears and teammate Jimmie Johnson had two diametrically opposed stories, one of which cannot be correct. Should make for an interesting team meeting at Hendrick Motorsports between those two this week. Meanwhile, teammate Gordon can look forward to what is shaping up to be one of those years when the breaks fall in the direction of a championship.
Jonathan Ingram can be reached at jingram666@cs.com.
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It’s ironic that Stewart, who mouthed off so vehemently against the “scripted” debris cautions at Phoenix (my home track, by the way), got the lucky dog/free pass at Talladega on a debris caution. And anybody who thinks debris cautions are scripted has obviously never listened to the race control frequency during a race at a track. Drivers constantly report “debris” on the track, about which David Hoots, Nascar’s race director, seeks confirmation from the spotters positioned around the race track. If the report is that there is debris “in the groove” or “just outside the groove,” Mr. Hoots always responds “put it out!” meaning display the caution flag. If it’s “outside the groove” or “way up outside the groove” the response is almost always “keep an eye on it for me” or “we’ll pick it up next time.” Believe me, I have heard drivers (especially when they’re in the position to get the free pass) make numerous complaints about debris hoping that they get the break…especially when they’re right about to get put out of that advantagous position. But I have never heard a caution for debris that originated from the tower; it’s always from either a driver or one of the many spotters or others positioned to view the racing surface.
Good gosh, I’m so tired of the Ryan Newman bashing by certain members of the media. I’d like to send a quote from this morning’s Miami Herald which points out that once again, Newman is getting blamed for something he didn’t do?
MONTOYA FALTERS
Rookie Juan Pablo Montoya’s potential strong finish was spoiled late in the race when he appeared to brush Ryan Newman’s car as they fought for ninth position.
Montoya, a Miami resident, finished 31st and five laps off the pace.
”Something broke in the steering, in the suspension, and it went straight into the wall,” Montoya said. “I thought we had a pretty good run. We had at least a top-10 car.”
Montoya spent 25 laps in the top 10, but the incident with Newman resulted in damage to the left side of his No. 42 Dodge and a blown left front tire.
Good comments, Carol. Ryan is a very good driver who had nothing to do with the shortcomings of one overly-aggressive Juan Pablo Montoya.
Also, Jimmie Johnson needs to settle down, too. Another restrictor plate race with him hitting everything but the pace car…at least he didn’t hit the 24 this time, but too bad for Casey Mears…right car number, but wrong driver if you’re trying to get revenge, JJ.
Ingram needs to watch the race!!! right after montoya went into the wall he was apologizing to newman because he (montoya) had a tire going down and he slowed on the track. why cant you just report the truth instead of making things up that are not there. i was on newmans frequency when the montoya camp said the wreck was caused by montoyas tire going down. does ingram actually get paid as a reporter? give me a break.