February 16, 2009
By Matthew Pizzolato
Matthew Pizzolato
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Just when it’s thought that the sanctioning body of NASCAR couldn’t possibly mess up another of its series, new rules are instituted for the Camping World Truck Series that are absolutely ridiculous. It was evident last Friday night when most teams were forced to pit twice under the same caution, once for tires and again for fuel.
The new rule change is an effort by NASCAR to allow the teams in the Truck series to save money by cutting their payroll. All crews are now limited to 12 members and only five men are allowed over the wall on pit stops, instead of the seven men required to change tires and add fuel at the same time. Forcing teams to pit twice under the same caution makes no sense at all.
What happens toward the end of a race if trucks have used up their tires and are running low on fuel with no caution flag in sight? Drivers would then have to decide if they would rather run out of gas or risk hitting the wall when their worn out tires blow up.
Also new for this season, Truck teams will not be allowed to run a new motor each weekend for more than three consecutive races, which means teams will have to build their motors to last for more than one race.
Still, the racing on the track Friday night provided a good show as Todd Bodine held off Kyle Busch to win his second consecutive Daytona Truck race and fourth straight win on a superspeedway. Bodine drove the unsponsored 30 truck to victory lane to become the first two-time winner at Daytona in the Truck Series. He hopes winning the biggest race of the season gets him a sponsor for the remainder of the year.
“It takes a lot of money to run these trucks,” Bodine was quoted as saying in an Andrea Adelson article for the Orlando Sentinel. “To come out of your own pocket is hard. I guess you could say its dire straits. We've got to get a sponsor to continue for the entire season.”
Bodine won the race despite being black flagged early and serving a pass through penalty for passing below the yellow line to avoid running into Colin Braun’s truck. He also admitted to causing a wreck later in the race because he was afraid to go below the line.
When making and enforcing some of its rules, NASCAR officials should use a little common sense. A driver dipping his left side tires below the line to keep from wrecking and a driver passing someone with all four tires below the line are two completely different issues.
Instead of saving teams money, the sanctioning body is actually gouging them by making them replace torn up trucks. All the new pit rule does is double the chances for carnage on pit road, which in turn makes the engine rule ludicrous. How can NASCAR honestly be concerned with saving teams money if they are purposely setting up wrecks on the track?
But then, maybe that is what NASCAR is after. More wrecks on the track and more wrecks in the pits because wrecks are what NASCAR officials believe the fans want to see.
If you would like to learn more about Matthew, please check out his web site at matthew-pizzolato.com.
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.