So, leaving Las Vegas, who is the NASCAR Sprint Cup leader?
Well, at the moment it’s Carl Edwards, red-hot and winner of two of the year’s first three races. But Edwards leads by only 21 points over Kyle Busch.
If NASCAR hits Edwards and his team with penalties similar to those handed out to five other NASCAR teams at Daytona two weeks ago for similar oil-tank cover issues - a $15,000 fine, a 25-point deduction, and a six-race suspension for his crew chief, Bob Osborne - then the man atop the standings when teams reach Hampton, Ga., this week would again be Busch. Unless Edwards and car owner Jack Roush appeal, in which case Edwards would be back on top, at least until his appeal is heard.
Confusing?
Ask NASCAR.
This might not be quite what CEO Brian France was thinking about in his back-to-basics campaign.
And those fines? Drivers are just realizing that NASCAR’s new policy of putting that money into the NASCAR Foundation fund instead of the drivers’ points fund - where the fines have traditionally gone - is costing them. It will be interesting to see if this sport’s television journalists pick up on that point.
It will also be interesting to see how the TV men handle the Hampton, Ga., crowd situation, if ticket sales don’t perk up for Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500.
And this car of tomorrow, this supposed cost-cutting, safer machine? Well, it certainly does look safer, as Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart may attest after their nasty crashes here Sunday.
But cost-cutting? Nope. The big teams have even more of an edge than they did before, because engineering is even more at a premium now.
As far as making for better competition, it looks like this machine has a way to go. Richard Childress’ teams have shown some progress. But Dodge teams were dogs again, and all those blown right-front tires and crashes have to be suspicious - is that just a remarkable run of bad luck for so many in the same camp, or are some engineers over-engineering something?
While Edwards, Osborne and Roush await NASCAR’s judgment, what to make of Dale Earnhardt Jr.? Yes he did win the Daytona Shootout, his first big win in almost two years. But he still hasn’t won a Cup tour race since May 2006, at Richmond.
He conceded he isn’t on top of his game.
“Man, it’s just a lot of work,” Earnhardt said of running the new winged car on these intermediate tracks. “Really couldn’t get the front or the back to hook up real good.
“Just had to beat it down in the corner and take whatever it would give you.”
While the Roush Fords are looking quite dominant right now, there is still considerable uncertainty about just how strong that the rest of the teams are.
Take Earnhardt, for example: Ninth in the Daytona 500, 40th at California after crashing, now a second at Vegas.
“I’ve waited and been lackadaisical,” Earnhardt said. “I’m not going to do that this year. I’m going to concentrate on every lap.
“We tested a lot at Atlanta, and it feels as good as it can, for it’s a car of tomorrow. The tire is pretty good for that track; we have pretty good grip there.
“Bristol redid the track, and everybody is still trying to pull some tricks there. Pretty crucial, both them races, to really set you up for the summer run.”
Earnhardt had Edwards right in his sights for a restart with five laps to go in Sunday’s race. But….
“I spun my tires, and Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon got around me,” Earnhardt said. “That was just my mistake.
“Then the red flag (20 minutes), and we weren’t as good on cold tires.”
Edwards then sprinted away, leaving Earnhardt battling Greg Biffle for second.
“I was outside of Earnhardt down in one and two, and he got pushed up the track a little,” Biffle said, somewhat magnanimously. “He came over and talked to me when he got out of the car, like a real gentleman, apologized.”
“Greg got on the outside of me (on the restart), and we pushed up,” Earnhardt said. “I saw him lift so we could get off the corner together. That was kind of cool of him, running me clean like that.
“But Carl wasn’t going to get beat.
“Still, it’s good just to put one in the bag after last week.
“I would have been glad if we had just run second under green flag, no crash. We were in good shape; I was running good times....
“I would have talked myself into being satisfied with a top-five finish no matter where it was. After last week, I just needed to get that kind of a finish.
“But we worked so hard to get to second, to get by Matt.
“You get so mad….
“I wanted a shot at Carl, but he was just so strong.
“You hate to see cautions, because you know guys are going to pull tricks out of their bag. Matt laid back on that restart when I spun my tires; I should have been laying back too, so I can’t complain about him.
“Shoot, I had a shot to try to beat Carl.
“We’d had some pretty good restarts during the race, and I should have been paying a little more attention to what Matt was doing. Carl slowed down real quick before he went, and when I jumped the gas, my car just spun like hell. The tire is so hard it’s hard to get hooked up on the restart.”
Well, at the moment it’s Carl Edwards, red-hot and winner of two of the year’s first three races. But Edwards leads by only 21 points over Kyle Busch.
If NASCAR hits Edwards and his team with penalties similar to those handed out to five other NASCAR teams at Daytona two weeks ago for similar oil-tank cover issues - a $15,000 fine, a 25-point deduction, and a six-race suspension for his crew chief, Bob Osborne - then the man atop the standings when teams reach Hampton, Ga., this week would again be Busch. Unless Edwards and car owner Jack Roush appeal, in which case Edwards would be back on top, at least until his appeal is heard.
Confusing?
Ask NASCAR.
This might not be quite what CEO Brian France was thinking about in his back-to-basics campaign.
And those fines? Drivers are just realizing that NASCAR’s new policy of putting that money into the NASCAR Foundation fund instead of the drivers’ points fund - where the fines have traditionally gone - is costing them. It will be interesting to see if this sport’s television journalists pick up on that point.
It will also be interesting to see how the TV men handle the Hampton, Ga., crowd situation, if ticket sales don’t perk up for Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500.
And this car of tomorrow, this supposed cost-cutting, safer machine? Well, it certainly does look safer, as Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart may attest after their nasty crashes here Sunday.
But cost-cutting? Nope. The big teams have even more of an edge than they did before, because engineering is even more at a premium now.
As far as making for better competition, it looks like this machine has a way to go. Richard Childress’ teams have shown some progress. But Dodge teams were dogs again, and all those blown right-front tires and crashes have to be suspicious - is that just a remarkable run of bad luck for so many in the same camp, or are some engineers over-engineering something?
While Edwards, Osborne and Roush await NASCAR’s judgment, what to make of Dale Earnhardt Jr.? Yes he did win the Daytona Shootout, his first big win in almost two years. But he still hasn’t won a Cup tour race since May 2006, at Richmond.
He conceded he isn’t on top of his game.
“Man, it’s just a lot of work,” Earnhardt said of running the new winged car on these intermediate tracks. “Really couldn’t get the front or the back to hook up real good.
“Just had to beat it down in the corner and take whatever it would give you.”
While the Roush Fords are looking quite dominant right now, there is still considerable uncertainty about just how strong that the rest of the teams are.
Take Earnhardt, for example: Ninth in the Daytona 500, 40th at California after crashing, now a second at Vegas.
“I’ve waited and been lackadaisical,” Earnhardt said. “I’m not going to do that this year. I’m going to concentrate on every lap.
“We tested a lot at Atlanta, and it feels as good as it can, for it’s a car of tomorrow. The tire is pretty good for that track; we have pretty good grip there.
“Bristol redid the track, and everybody is still trying to pull some tricks there. Pretty crucial, both them races, to really set you up for the summer run.”
Earnhardt had Edwards right in his sights for a restart with five laps to go in Sunday’s race. But….
“I spun my tires, and Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon got around me,” Earnhardt said. “That was just my mistake.
“Then the red flag (20 minutes), and we weren’t as good on cold tires.”
Edwards then sprinted away, leaving Earnhardt battling Greg Biffle for second.
“I was outside of Earnhardt down in one and two, and he got pushed up the track a little,” Biffle said, somewhat magnanimously. “He came over and talked to me when he got out of the car, like a real gentleman, apologized.”
“Greg got on the outside of me (on the restart), and we pushed up,” Earnhardt said. “I saw him lift so we could get off the corner together. That was kind of cool of him, running me clean like that.
“But Carl wasn’t going to get beat.
“Still, it’s good just to put one in the bag after last week.
“I would have been glad if we had just run second under green flag, no crash. We were in good shape; I was running good times....
“I would have talked myself into being satisfied with a top-five finish no matter where it was. After last week, I just needed to get that kind of a finish.
“But we worked so hard to get to second, to get by Matt.
“You get so mad….
“I wanted a shot at Carl, but he was just so strong.
“You hate to see cautions, because you know guys are going to pull tricks out of their bag. Matt laid back on that restart when I spun my tires; I should have been laying back too, so I can’t complain about him.
“Shoot, I had a shot to try to beat Carl.
“We’d had some pretty good restarts during the race, and I should have been paying a little more attention to what Matt was doing. Carl slowed down real quick before he went, and when I jumped the gas, my car just spun like hell. The tire is so hard it’s hard to get hooked up on the restart.”
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