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Post Pocono Ponderings

I have to admit, this was a difficult week to think up anything witty, interesting, or even remotely attention-grabbing to write about.  Kind of a plain-vanilla race, in this blogger’s opinion.  Pocono can do that.  For such a unique, interesting track, it really can put on a lackluster show.  In any case, I’ll try and salvage a few thoughts worthy of the reader’s time.

• To start completely away from Pocono, on Saturday the Nationwide Series saw the debut of Goodyear’s rain tire and it was, in the driver’s opinion, a rousing success.  After all the controversy surrounding the brickyard fiasco last week, this has to make the Goodyear executives happy.  I wonder if anyone asked the fans if they were as elated.  I’ve attended many many races in my short time on this earth, and suffered through the occasional rain delay.  One word to describe those experences is ‘miserable’.  Sitting in the stands while being soaked is not the most fun way to spend a weekend afternoon.  With all the talk over the years of “why doesn’t NASCAR run in the rain?” one has to wonder if the people who pay money to attend the races were asked if they would rather spend their time in the rain, or wait it out and see a race under sunny skies.  I commend NASCAR and Goodyear for putting on the best show they could under the circumstances they were given.  It was pretty neat to watch that in the comfort of my own home, at any rate.
• Speaking of tires, Goodyear has asked NASCAR to allow them to change the size of the tire on the new COT.  As I mentioned last week, it is pretty apparent that the new car needs a wider tire, and I hope, as alluded to in the broadcast this week, that NASCAR allows them to bring their thoughts to the table and make a change for the better.  It was also nice to see Robin Pemberton publicly apologize for the mess that was Indy.  Too many times NASCAR digs their heels in and refuses to admit they make poor judgements, when it is very apparent that the decisions they make are the wrong ones.  This time, they admitted they made a mistake, and told us, the fans that drive the sport, they were going to make it right.  Kudos to them.
• One final thought, post-Indy: NASCAR did an excellent job last week, dealing the with hand they were dealt.  All told, things could have gotten very ugly, and they avoided that for the most part.  Many, many things that NASCAR does on a week to week basis are to be commended, but rarely brought up.  This is the nature of us as human beings, we like to stand up and yell when something goes wrong, but loathe doing it when things go right.
• I thought it was particularly funny during pre-race interviews when Carl Edwards was put on the spot to answer the question of whether their team was full-on in “experimentation mode”.  He kept looking over at Bob Osbourne with that “I’ll get you for this” look on his face.  In the end, the joke was on all of us, as Carl and the Office Depot Ford was the first to pass under the checkers.  Personally, I loved the quote as Carl fumbled for an answer, saying that while they might not be in “experimentation mode”, they were definitely going to “go for it” if the win was at all in their reach.  Honesty does make for good TV.
• Mark Martin was the class of the field at the beginning of the day.  His car would run well down low, and could march to the front at will, it seemed.  Which is something that he would have to do 3 separate times, when his crew dropped the ball in the pits, putting him back in traffic.  In the end, the car went away from him, but during those trying times Martin showed the class act that he is, calmly reminding his crew that they were the best, and that they would come out on top.  Normally the crew chief is the cheerleader, but today, Martin was both driver and motivator.  Good stuff.
• At the mid point of the race, I had scribbled down “is Tony Stewart distracted?” on my notepad.  One has to wonder if he has checked out, or if the team’s focus is elsewhere, considering that the future of the #20 is up in the air as of Miami later this year.  Luckily for you Stewart fans out there, the team pulled together today to bring home the runner-up prize, but I still have my doubts for that team’s chances this year.
• Another week, another points shakeup.  This is what I love about our sport’s “new” playoff system.  There is drama every week about who is in and who is out.  And it looks to me like there is going to be a lot of drama that will play out all the way to Richmond.  I can’t wait to see who makes it and who doesn’t. Stay tuned.
• Pocono needs to be set back to 400 miles, as do many races.  500 miles is just too much to ask fans to sit through.  A four to five hour sporting event is over the top.  Three hours seems to be the perfect number so that we as fans don’t get too bored.  Baseball and football keep their events as close to the 3 hour mark as possible, and so should auto racing.

That’s about all the thoughts I have for this week.  Hopefully next week will provide more blog fodder.  I certainly am excited to watch the drivers wrestle the cars around Watkins Glen.  I know many despise the road courses, but I personally love them.  As someone said on a radio show I listened to this week, road courses are an acquired taste.  Once you get that taste, though, it’s hard to shake.

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