April 18, 2011
By Matthew Pizzolato
Matthew Pizzolato
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One of the byproducts of NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow is the phenomenon known as the two-car draft at the restrictor plate tracks of Talladega and Daytona. Instead of the entire field racing together in one huge pack, it is broken into two car segments. As is the case with any significant change, some people like it while others don't.
Or more specifically, Dale Earnhardt Jr., doesn't care for it.
“I don’t really like the two-car stuff. It’s, I don’t know; just silly," Earnhardt was quoted as saying in a press conference at Talladega. "I’m hoping this kind of racing goes away fast so we don’t have to talk about this no more. It’s a mess."
"I mean everybody thinks it is cool now 'cause it's new and it's neat and WOW, what is going on, Everybody is getting a big kick out of it. Over the long haul, man, it's not the best. It is not as good as 40 dudes in one pack racin' like hell tryin' to get to the front. It is nowhere near as good as that (pack racing)," Earnhardt said. "Give me that any day over this. Over the long haul people will realize it and go 'Yeah, ok.' The novelty of this...once new of all this wears off how interesting this is and how unique it is, wears off, I think that people will start to see."
Not only has the two-car draft drastically changed the restrictor plate races, but NASCAR officials have reduced the size of the restrictor plates in an effort to slow the cars down. But how slow is too slow?
It was in 1987 that Bill Elliott set the record at Talladega of 212.809 mph, of course that was before NASCAR introduced restrictor plates and it (and Bobby Allison's wreck in 1988) was the reason they did. This year's pole time set by Jeff Gordon was 178.248 mph, the slowest in the history of the track.
Not that long ago, the opinion of its drivers would have mattered to NASCAR officials. Whenever Dale Earnhardt Sr., spoke his mind about something, people listened. In recent times, several drivers have been slapped with quite significant fines for making comments that are deemed "detrimental to the sport," or in other words, disagreeing with the way that officials want to run the series.
It's never been more apparent how much the status quo has changed in NASCAR when the most popular driver in the sport has to temper and defend what he says. Earnhardt Jr., was asked at a Talladega press conference if he thought NASCAR was going in the wrong direction with the restrictor plates.
"I don't know. I think NASCAR is doing what they think is right and I don't want to say what they are doing is wrong, 'cause I don't know. I don't know whether I'm right or wrong. I just know what I prefer; what I like. It's my opinion; I'm entitled to one. Everybody's got one. I don't know what's right or wrong."
Historically, the huge pack of cars is what has drawn fans to those tracks. If that is taken away, what reason is there for fans to watch?
In the past few seasons, officials have changed just about everything that could be changed, very few of which have gone over well with either drivers or fans. How long will it be before NASCAR officials start listening to the fans?
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