NASCAR Loses Control

Today is one of the only times that I've been able to sit and watch an entire race.  I'm not sure if I picked a good one or a bad one to watch.  The end of the race was just ... ugly.

Before today's race, Jimmie Johnson was the championship points leader by a scant seven points over Brad Keselowski.  The two stayed very close to each other for the majority of the race, setting up what looked to be a great race for the championship during the last race of the season next weekend.

But then, a flat right-front tire put a damper on Jimmie's season.  With just over 70 laps left in the race, Jimmie hit the wall hard and sent him behind the wall for almost 40 laps.  What could have been a great finale to the season next weekend has turned into a task of Herculean proportions for Jimmie Johnson.  Brad needs to finish 15th or better in Miami to take the crown regardless of what Jimmie does.  It almost seems anti-climatic.

Jeff Gordon

But Jimmie's teammate, Jeff Gordon, decided to keep things interesting.  After Clint Bowyer slid up the track and into Jeff - something that happens often in NASCAR racing with no malice - Jeff decided to exact revenge on Clint.  He waited on the track, driving a damaged car, until Clint caught back up to him - and then spun him around, after talking about doing exactly that on his team's radio.

Had this been an issue of two drivers feuding between themselves, that would be one thing.  But Gordon's decision to take out his frustration on Clint ended up wrecking three other drivers who were doing nothing but minding their own business, and in the process, nearly caught Keselowski in the on-track melee as well.

If that wasn't bad enough, tempers continued to flare off-track, as the pit crews of both teams fought with each other in what could only be likened to a bench-clearing baseball brawl.  NASCAR stopped the race with a red flag to sort everything out.  After nearly 20 minutes, enough order was restored to allow the race to begin again, and fans had to wonder if the excitement was finally over.  There would be only three laps left in the race, so this had to be the end, right?

It wasn't.

Once the drivers got underway again, Jeff Burton managed to get a bit loose inside of Danica Patrick and spun her into the wall.  With her car damaged and smoking, incredulously, NASCAR failed to throw a caution flag and allowed the drivers to continue at full speed.  As the drivers raced full throttle to the checkered flag, Patrick's car continued to limp around the track, damaged and smoking, dropping liquid on the asphalt.  As the leaders approached the checkered flag, the inevitable happened, and a huge wreck took place right at the start-finish line.

Danica's car was lifted in the air by Kurt Busch's car.  Points leader Keselowski was hit, but managed to make it across the line.  Ryan Newman's car was hit multiple times at full speed.  Cars, and parts that belonged on cars, were strewn across the track.  Some drivers made it across the line, and others didn't.

NASCAR totally  lost control of the race.  Perhaps in their zeal to make sure the race ended with a green flag, they totally neglected to take into account the safety of the drivers.  Nobody wants to see an exciting, green flag finish more than I do, but not at the risk of a driver's injury.  Not throwing the yellow flag when Danica wrecked was a mistake of huge proportions, and one that could have had serious consequences.  NASCAR should be ashamed of themselves for putting ratings over safety.

Mike Helton

Jeff Gordon should be equally as ashamed of his actions as NASCAR should be of theirs.  To exact revenge on a driver is one thing, but to do so and ruin the day for three others is inexcusable.  Any respect I had for him has all but dried up after his actions today.  He may have been a champion in years past, but  what he did today was far from the actions of a champion.  He acted more like a vigilante who acts before knowing all of the circumstances of a supposed crime, and that cannot be tolerated when the players are driving 3500 pound vehicles at 180 mph.

There is one race left in the season, and NASCAR needs to get their poop in a group quickly.  Gordon needs to be disqualified for that race, at a minimum, if there is to be any semblance of credibility to their discipline.  Furthermore, NASCAR owes several teams - and their fans - a valid explanation as to why the caution flag was not thrown when Danica Patrick's car was clearly a hazard on the track.

The fans are the lifeblood of NASCAR.  Mike Helton says he knows and appreciates that fact.  Let's see what happens this week as fallout from what was truly an ugly and dangerous finish to the race in Phoenix.