May 22, 2007
By Brian Watkins

Brian Watkins

So we were off line for a bit, and in the time we were gone, well, not much changed. Well, except a little something about Dale Jr. leaving DEI or something to that effect. Since every motorsports writer and their brother has already covered what there is to cover regarding the facts of the long overdue exodus and even with more writers, bloggers and commentators having speculated Dale Jr’s next ride to be anything from the #3 Chevy to a tricked out Mack truck, I will leave that subject alone and write about all the other things that have changed in NASCAR since last we met. Oh wait… nothing else has changed. The drama in the courtroom and the post race comments are the same as they were two weeks ago.

After the Darlington race, two more voices were added to the call for “caution consistency” that has been echoing through the turns since even before Tony Stewart brought it to the forefront of the garage. The funny thing about this time, is that it was the race WINNER that made the comments, followed closely by the #2 finisher.

Both Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin complained publicly that the caution flag waived when it shouldn’t have, and didn’t when it should have, falling in line with what a growing number of fans, drivers and media types have been complaining about since Daytona.

But, just like every other publicly made comment critical of NASCAR, the guys in the NASCAR hauler had a quick reply. Two of VP for competitions Ron Pemberton’s comments really stuck out to me.

The first, "We don't throw cautions for no reason, we really don't… …To me, the cars are just dots on a screen. There are no numbers or names associated."

That statement is telling for two reasons.

First, they have never been accused of throwing cautions for “no reason”. They have been repeatedly accused of throwing or not throwing cautions for the reason of either keeping or making a finish exciting.

Second, commenting that the cars are just dots on a screen really clarifies nothing, as NASCAR has not been accused of flapping the yellow to help any particular driver or team. I’m sure that 99 races out of 100, NASCAR doesn’t care who wins; just so long as it’s an exciting finish.

In the same interview, Pemberton made the following, almost laughable statement: "We are always going to err on the side of safety”.

The humor that I’m sure most of you see as well, is the image we all still have burned in our heads of the wide angle shot of the Daytona finish, green flag rippling in the wind as cars were bouncing and tumbling behind the leaders.

I could go on about the inconsistencies that NASCAR has displayed in area of the yellow flag, but honestly, I’ve harped enough about it over the past few weeks. NASCAR is going to do what NASCAR is going to do. They don’t listen to fans as long as fans yell “More! More! More!” with their wallets and TV remotes.

I’m certainly not knocking disgruntled fans from still going to or watching races. I’m as fed up with the provisionals and cautions as anyone (well, except maybe Micheal Waltrip… I’m betting he’s a bit more frustrated by the inexplicable ‘top 35’ rule than anyone) but I’ve already purchased my tickets for the Fathers Day race at Michigan, and I’ll be back at MIS in August (unless NASCAR bans me -- as some readers have suggested).

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.