What to make of KHI-RCR merger?

    On Wednesday, Richard Childress Racing announced it would be merging with Kevin Harvick Inc. to run a joint program in the Nationwide Series next season. Basically, it's the reversal of a deal announced over a year ago in which RCR said its Nationwide programs would be run out of KHI.

   The question remains about how this merger affects the future of KHI as an organization. Team owner Kevin and DeLana Harvick have yet to announce their plans - if any - to field teams in the Truck series in 2012.

   With the Nationwide program at RCR and without a Truck program, in essence KHI would no longer operate as an organization fielding multiple teams in NASCAR's national series.

   Any way you put that, that can't be good for NASCAR.

   One of the things I thought that was always a bonus for NASCAR was drivers who made their way through NASCAR's lower-tier series "giving back" to the sport, so to speak, by operating teams in those series when they have moved on to Sprint Cup.

   Think of the wins and championships of the last several years in Trucks and Nationwide and the role KHI teams and drivers have played in them. That's a big contribution to see exit the playing field.

   Organizations like KHI, Kyle Busch Motorsports and Brad Keselowski Racing epitomize what is best about many of the sport's drivers. Racing is not only a hobby to them, but a way of life - and one they like to share with others like them.

   We don't know the future of KHI yet. We don't know all of the reasons for the decisions that have already been made.

   What we do know is NASCAR is worse off today than it was yesterday.

  

NASCAR deserves a caution

   NASCAR certainly does a great deal on safety, but one instance during Tuesday’s race was very perplexing. During a round of green-flag pit stops on Lap 174, David Gilliland spun out and his car came to rest at the entrance of pit road. Gilliland put his window net down indicating he was OK but also that he could not continue.

   However, NASCAR waited for three laps - presumably to allow teams to finish their green-flag stops - before waving the caution. The official race report lists the reason for the caution as “#34 spun frontstretch” but the first lap of caution is listed as Lap 177. A light rain developed during the caution period, but again, that is not what prompted the caution flag.

   If there was no issue of safety with Gilliland's car, why throw the caution at all? Otherwise, NASCAR purposely withheld the caution to allow teams that hadn’t pit to do so. That’s wrong. NASCAR should have no vested interest in whether a caution will hurt or help any teams during competition. Just as it should not matter to NASCAR whether some teams have pit or others haven't before a rain delay.

   There's a simple solution: Just call them if you need them, regardless who it effects.

Another Burton headed to NASCAR?

    Don't look now, but there's another Burton on the racing horizon.

   Harrison Burton, the 10-year-old son of NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Jeff Burton, races quarter midgets with the United States Auto Club (USAC) in an all-oval series for 5-16 year-olds. He currently leads the points in several divisions, including Light World Formula and Senior Animal.

   On Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the younger Burton was outfitted in a smaller version of his dad’s yellow-and-black CAT firesuit as he faced the assembled media.

   “It’s been really fun to go out and race,” Harrison said. “My favorite track was probably a banked track. It was really fun to race on that completely sideways track because it’s really good racing, and everybody was passing each other really often.”

   Jeff Burton said he has found racing a natural way for he and his son to spend time together, but it is Harrison's decision.

   “I have a passion for racing, and I love it, but he doesn’t have to,” Jeff said. “If he ever wants to quit, we quit. If he wants to play lacrosse, we play lacrosse.

   "Quarter midget racing is really a cool way to spend time with your son or daughter,” Jeff said. “It’s a safe, reasonably inexpensive way to get kids into auto racing. (The kids) are out there helping you work on the race car and see what it takes to be good at it, and I think there’s a lesson in life about that.”

Carl Edwards weighs in on White House NASCAR visit

   Carl Edwards, one of four Sprint Cup Series drivers who won't be attending a function at the White House next week to honor last season's Cup champion and Chase participants, explained why on Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

   Edwards actually makes at least four visits to the White House each year as a member of the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition.

   "I think that’s blown a little bit out of proportion. I proudly serve on the President’s Council for Fitness Sports and Nutrition. I spend a lot of time with Secretary Sebelius and Shellie
Pfohl and all the folks up there at the White House," he said.
  
   "This is not only the busiest time of the year, this is about the busiest time of my
life and the folks at the White House, I spoke with them. They understand and the NASCAR folks understand. If something changes, then I’ll be there, but, right now, I’m just not able to go.”

   Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle also declined invitations, citing scheduling conflicts.


  

Jack Roush: "Clint (Bowyer) has been on my radar screen"

   In an interview Wednesday night with Claire B. Lang during her show "Dialed In" on SIRIUSXM Radio, team owner Jack Roush admitted he has had conversations with driver Clint Bowyer and that Bowyer "has been on my radar screen for a long, long time."

   "We'd certainly welcome him to the Ford camp if he accepted (Richard Petty Motorsports') offer. That would certainly be, I think, in Ford's interest and I would be very happy about that," Roush said. "If he decided to take a look at one of our programs, and we had room for him, that would also be of interest.

   "The way the sponsors are going to line up for next year and which cars they're going to be on and which opportunities you might have, is not clear. We're having discussions on many topics."

   Bowyer, who currently drives for Richard Childress Racing, is in the last year of his contract with the No. 33 Sprint Cup Series team. He has been in contract negotiations for months, leading to speculation he may end up elsewhere when all is said and done.

   Roush said Bowyer was "a lot out of the Carl Edwards mold."

   "He's a Midwest guy and he has good judgment on the race track. He's earned a lot of respect from his competitors as well as a lot of insiders like myself who have been watching him during his career," Roush said.

   Roush currently fields four Cup teams with drivers Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Edwards and David Ragan.

   Asked if he really had a spot available at Roush Fenway Racing, Roush said, "I don't know what kind of sponsor lineup I will have for next year. It's just not clear. It's not clear the way all of our programs are going to shake down."

  

NASCAR goes to college this fall

    As students head off to college this fall, many will encounter the work of one of NASCAR's newest marketing campaigns.

   UNC Charlotte and UNC Chapel Hill are among the schools NASCAR has targeted this fall with its College Brand Ambassador Program, which will utilize student ambassadors to host events including viewing parties and trips to loca tracks to watch NASCAR events.

   NASCAR U CREW, with the assistance of two brand ambassadors per school, will help integrate NASCAR into the college lifestyle of 12 colleges and universities in the 10 Chase for the Sprint Cup markets.

   “NASCAR, and the social component of watching and attending races, lends itself very nicely to the college lifestyle,” said NASCAR Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Steve Phelps.

   Besides the two North Carolina schools, the pilot program will also debut at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; University of New Hampshire; University of Delaware; University of Kansas; Auburn University; Virginia Tech; University of North Texas; Arizona State University; Florida International University; and the University of Miami (Fla.).

   Responsible for establishing and executing at least 10 unique NASCAR events and integrating the sport into existing campus events, each school’s ambassadors will also be charged with working closely with their respective track to create and promote a college ticket package as well as a designated hospitality/tailgate area for local students.

   “NASCAR is a fast-paced, high intensity, adrenalin rush, and that is exactly why it is already so popular with 18-34 year olds. It’s a sport for the young and adventurous, and we just have to open more college students’ eyes to it," said Madison Phillips, a NASCAR ambassador at UNC Chapel Hill.

Can fans accept the ever-changing landscape of NASCAR?

   In many respects, advances in technology bring positive, beneficial changes.

   That is also true in NASCAR, particularly in the area of driver safety. The use of the HANS device and extensive work done on car chassis to make them more durable and help prevent serious injury – or even death – has been seen in countless examples over the last 10 years.

   But at its heart, NASCAR was always a simple sport.

   Build a car and engine that’s durable, run fast, outrun your competitors. Try to find an advantage others don’t have or ‘slip’ something by the track officials.

   Hopefully, make enough at the race to pick up your stuff and take it to the next one.

   It’s worked for over 60 years.

   These days, however, NASCAR – at least in competition terms – has been battling technology more than it has benefited from it.

   With changes in competition, technology and even society, rules have been changed or added in the sport affecting how races are run or even how drivers may act.

   The addition of a multitude of millions of dollars in corporate sponsorship has imposed greater demands on drivers and teams and greater responsibility, sometimes to the detriment of the once rough-and-tumble operation of the sport.

   The development of car technology has made them far more durable – thus eliminating the attrition factor once a part of 500-mile races – and also created unexpected problems in areas like aerodynamics.

   There are more big tracks than short ones, a trend which only adds to the aero problem and thus the cost of correcting those issues.

   NASCAR tried to keep its engines in line with its origins, but next year carburetors will yield to fuel-injection. Is there anyone who doesn’t think a whole new line of unpredicted issues will develop as a result in the years ahead?

   Yes, technology has done wonders for NASCAR competitors and fans, who now have access to more information than ever before about the sport they love.

   Yet, technology has also changed that once simple sport forever. I do not doubt that in some ways that’s occurred in every sport, but in NASCAR – where many argue equipment has more influence than the competitor – it’s far greater.

   The question remains: In the long term, will that be for the better?

   The answer is likely yes, but only if the sport’s fans are willing to accept the ever-changing landscape.