NASCAR precedent is nothing to tout

   When a multi-car wreck erupted on the next-to-last lap of the Coca-Cola 600 and NASCAR decided not to throw a caution, there was an outcry from many fans and media.

   But there were a group of defenders who were quick to point out, “NASCAR has done this before.”

   Indeed it had.

   Unfortunately, NASCAR’s track record with precedent isn’t something to tout.

   Rewind to October 2008. Regan Smith dove below the yellow line to complete a pass of Tony Stewart at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway to win his first Sprint Cup race.

   Why would he do that? Because in February 2007, when media questioned how a three-wide finish in a Truck race could stand with one truck below the yellow line, NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said, “When the drivers can see the checkered flag, you can get all you can get.”

   But NASCAR disallowed Smith’s pass anyway.

   Soon afterward, NASCAR President Mike Helton issued this edict: “To be clear, as we go forward, there will be no passing under the yellow line at any time during NASCAR races at Daytona or Talladega, period. This includes any passing below the yellow line near the start/finish line on the final lap.”

   One wonders why Helton needed to be “clear” if as NASCAR officials claimed at the time of the Talladega race the rule was common knowledge to all. But I digress.

   Now fast forward to February 2010. NASCAR announces a new policy of using up to three green-white-checkered overtime periods in a race if necessary. Why would they do this?

   “We want to do all we can to finish our races under green-flag conditions. The fans want to see that, and so do the competitors,” Robin Pemberton, NASCAR’s vice president of competition, said at the time.

   The accident Sunday night occurred on the first lap of the first two-lap overtime. Had NASCAR thrown a caution, it still – under its own rules – would have two more attempts to finish the race under green.

   Instead, it held the caution flag. Why? To ensure a green-flag finish.

   Huh?

   Rule changes are announced but not written down. Some rules – the yellow line rule for instance – aren’t written down anywhere. Rules are added then not utilized for the circumstances for which they were designed.

   The problem isn’t with NASCAR trying to have it both ways.

   It’s NASCAR trying to have it every way.

Jeff Burton on cautions: "They have certainly thrown them for less."

   Stuck in the middle of a multi-car wreck, Jeff Burton wanted to see a caution on the next-to-last lap of Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600.

   Now, he’s not so certain.

   Burton’s No. 31 Chevrolet was among the most seriously damaged in the incident which was triggered when race leader Kasey Kahne suddenly ran out of gas on a restart on Lap 401.

   “I assumed the caution was coming out because there was a wreck,” Burton told the Observer on Monday. “At the time I thought there were more cars down there stopped (on the apron) than just me.

   “When I got home (Sunday night) and replayed it, as it turned out, there really wasn’t. It seemed everybody else cleared out.”

   Burton said his first instinct was that the caution ‘no-call’ wasn’t right and he complained about it over his team radio at the time. In retrospect, he thinks in terms of safety, NASCAR made the right call.

   That doesn’t mean, however, the debate on whether a caution should have been thrown is settled.

   “It’s tough because if the track is clear then they need to let the race continue,” he said. “On the other hand, that’s not necessarily what they do with 200 (laps) to go.

   “The big question is does NASCAR understand everyone has fuel issues? Should NASCAR care? I don’t know what the answer to that is.”

   Burton said NASCAR officials have been hesitant to throw cautions during green-flag pit cycles to try to keep it fair for all competitors.

   “You can debate all day long if NASCAR should have thrown a caution for a reason other than safety on Sunday night. They have certainly thrown them for less,” Burton said.

   “I think they knew everyone was short on fuel and they were trying to do everything they could to take care of everybody. I don’t know that for a fact, but I think that probably played into their mindset.”

   NASCAR has said in the past it would hold the caution flag at the race’s end as long as drivers’ safety wasn’t compromised. However, NASCAR also has a multiple green-white-checkered flag restart policy in place to ensure green-flag finishes.

   On Sunday night, the race ended in the first two-lap overtime. Had the caution been thrown at the time of Burton’s wreck, two more two-lap overtimes were still possible.

   It is likely several more drivers – including race winner Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was leading entering the last lap – would have been forced to pit for fuel in that instance.

   “Throwing the caution isn’t like an out-of-bounds call. You’re either out of bounds or you’re not,” Burton said. “When to throw the caution – there is no definitive answer.”

    

One-on-one with Rick Hendrick

   I recently spent some time with Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick discussing a story about the uncanny parallels between the careers of Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. You can see that story here.

   We also covered some other topics, not directly related to that story, including Hendrick's thoughts on when Gordon may retire.

   What makes Jimmie Johnson a special driver?
   Hendrick: “You’ve seen some phenomenal moves and such and he’s just smart and can drive a car out of control. Carl Edwards beats himself a lot of the time when he gets pissed off. Kyle Busch beats himself a lot of times when he gets angry. You can lose control in the race car. You have to learn to deal with it. Jeff (Gordon) tried to carry it on his shoulders a lot, too - he drove the cars and we would just take one of Jeff’s cars and put Jimmie’s seat in it. I will say Chad (Knaus) has a butt load of intensity. He eats, sleeps and breaths racing. If you took the kid who drives the 6 car (David Ragan) and you put him with Chad and you put his crew chief with Jimmie -- which one would run better? Would they run better together - yes. Can Kyle Busch get in almost any car? I think you have to have the talent. I think talent -- there’s a whole lot of guys with talent. Car control -- there’s a whole lot of guys with car control. There are not a whole lot of them that are as smooth as Jimmie is when it comes to performing in the clutch.”

   Do you think Jimmie Johnson would want to win a championship with a crew chief other than Chad Knaus?

   Hendrick: “I don’t think Jimmie -- I think Jimmie is more focused. Jimmie may one day in his career, but not right now because they know that they know each other. They know how to pull each other’s trigger and they know what they like and dislike about each other. They’ve been together and the team has been together a long time. I’ve told them before that the toughest part you guys are faced with is how you can stay united when you don’t win. You’re not going to win them all and you can’t win them all -- there’s bad luck or somebody’s outsmarted you or whatever. You can’t win them all and how you handle not being the top dog is the deal.  They know how each other thinks and Chad knows how to adjust the car, Jimmie knows how to drive it."

    Can you believe it has been 10 years since Jeff Gordon has won a championship? 

   Hendrick: “I know two or three times that he was right there. He’s been so close. You have to think that for the last five years Jimmie has just been damn unbeatable. Four of the five anyway.  Jeff still has the fire, he’s got the talent and I think he and Alan, when we get to the Chase - he’ll be there. I think he’s going to win some more races and I think there are still championships left in Jeff. I think this car has been a bug-a-boo to him. He had a mindset that he didn’t like it. He’s got a fire in his belly.”

   What do you think will determine when Jeff Gordon is ready to retire?

   Hendrick: “I think he still really enjoys the racing. I think Jeff still loves the competition and I think when he feels like he’s not competitive, he’ll quit. I know him that well. He’s so competitive that he will quit. As long as he feels like he’s got a shot and he can run up front then he’s going to do it. I think drivers know when it’s time and he won’t be one of those guys that runs around.”

   Are you worried about Jeff Gordon retiring anytime soon?

   Hendrick: “No.  It’s kind of funny, every time we re-up a sponsor I go to him and say, ‘Jeff, I need a commitment for two more years beyond next year.’ That’s the way I hook  him up. I need at least two more after this. I keep throwing the carrot out there and I keep telling him that he has to commit to do this. We have a good relationship and I respect him a ton and his talent and the kind of person he is. He’s special.”

Mark Martin talks 2012 ... sort of

   Mark Martin, who is in his final year with Hendrick Motorsports driving the No. 5 Chevrolet, was asked on Friday whether he was close to the time he needed to make a decision about where he might be racing in 2012.

   From his responses, it doesn't seem Martin has settled on anything in particular and may not have received any concrete offers as yet.

   Q: YOU PREVIOUSLY TALKED ABOUT THAT NOTHING IS REALLY SET FOR NEXT YEAR, THAT TYPE OF THING, AT WHAT POINT DO YOU HAVE TO START TO FOCUS ON IT OR DO YOU JUST LET IT PLAY OUT ALL SEASON LONG THE WAY IT PLAYS OUT?

   Martin: “It is not really time to focus on it yet. I like I said in a quote not too long ago and it is pretty true. I don’t need a job so therefore I don’t have to focus on it. I’ll let one come to me. It is getting to time when little rumblings start happening behind closed doors but I am not in a big hurry because I am really in a good place in my career and in my life. I truly believe that something really really, I don’t know how to describe it, fulfilling, fun, exciting, the right deal is going to come along for me. They are out there starting to swirl, starting to come together with some ideas but the biggest thing is that the sport is trending toward a little later in the year for some of these things coming together. This is still May so it is pretty early right now yet. Earlier than like it was in ’08 when this was coming together to go to the No. 5 car. I thought that was really early. I got the deal done early in the season. I think that deals get done later in the season now and they did in ’08. Nothing to report. Nothing going on. Not pursuing anything. Just kind of letting the pieces of the puzzle  start to fall into place.”

   Q: SO ARE YOU SAYING AT LEAST A FEW THINGS HAVE BEEN PUT ON THE TABLE FOR YOU TO AT LEAST BEGIN YOUR THINKING?

   Martin: “What ifs. It is like ‘what if’. There has been a handful of what ifs. And you guys have all been in this business and you know how it takes 100 what ifs to make one deal happen. So, there has been just a few what ifs starting to pop up.”

Worker hurt at CMS unloading tires

   CONCORD, N.C. – A contracted employee of Huggins Tire Sales Inc. was injured Tuesday morning at Charlotte Motor Speedway after falling off a pickup truck in the garage area.

   The employee, Marvin Near, fell from the back of a slow-moving pickup truck as it was delivering Goodyear racing tires at the track for this weekend’s NASCAR races, according to a statement provided by Goodyear officials.

   Near was transported by ambulance to Carolinas Medical Center-Northeast, where he continues to receive medical attention.

   The accident occurred about 11:45 a.m. Tuesday and was investigated by Concord Police. No charges have been filed.

   Huggins Tire Sales serves as the distributor of Goodyear’s NASCAR tires to tracks across the Southeast.

Patrick: "No truth" to report of fulltime NASCAR schedule

    IndyCar Series fan favorite Danica Patrick on Wednesday said there was "no truth" to an ESPN report that her and her management team were working on plans for a fulltime NASCAR schedule in 2012.

   SI.com's Bruce Martin, in a previously-scheduled interview with Patrick on Wednesday in Indianapolis, asked her for her reaction to the report.

   Here was Patrick's complete response:

   "I'm watching TV and see it scroll across the bottom of the screen. I don't know where it came from but it's all speculation. Anybody can speculate that and write that. I don't know where it came from but there is no truth to it; it's just speculation," she said.

   "It's no different than it was last month or even last year. There is nothing new in it."

   Patrick also told Martin she was curious about the timing of such a story coming out a few days before the Indy 500.

Kyle Busch: 128 mph car 'just a toy'

Kyle Busch's citation for going 128 mph in a 45 mph zone (click to enlarge):