Nascar sucks!

[bobdrummond]

I've come to that opinion based on the following:
1) Provisionals. Why should teams and drivers that make an effort to make the race lose out to those who couldn't be bothered to try qualifying on the second day (Bobby Labonte, I'm looking in your direction). If provisionals didn't exist, then WC would be a little more exciting.
2) Why are the likes of Mark Martin allowed to race Busch? They gain more track time at the expense of the younger, hungrier drivers. If they like racing so much, why don't they follow Ken Schraders example and race anything with wheels. Or Craftsman Trucks, which could use a profile improvement.
3) Restrictor Plates. Winston Cup slower than Busch! Give it up, Nascar and let 'em race.

[TimD]

At the risk of sounding like a parochial Brit, can someone please tell me what the provisionals system is?

I hear Ned Jarrett talking about them on every telecast, but I still can't figure out who gets them, why, and how.

[bobdrummond]

I'm a parochial spud-muncher and though I don't know the value/exchange rates for provisionals, the basic principal is that by doing well (races,titles), both the driver and car owner gets credit which they can redeem when the s*#@ hits the fan and they are in danger of missing the show at other races. They're a hot topic right now because with multi-car teams like Roush's fleet a driver can be consistently poor and still make the race.
This weekend, a couple of drivers who'd not done very well in Fridays qualifying session and were in danger of not making the race, decided not to bother going out in Saturdays second session and instead rely on their provisionals from previous races. Because the size of the grid is fixed, this meant a couple of drivers who had legitimately made the race through speed alone had to go home.
I like to think of them as a Nascar equicalent of a Tesco loyalty card.

[TimD]

Ah. Never did like the idea of Tesco loyalty cards.

Wally Dallenbach Jr use them very often?

[bobdrummond]

I believe Wally likes to shoot his own dinner and not bother with supermarkets at all.
With the engines in those cars, I'll bet he gets a load of points from the petrol!

[Joe Fan]

Bob,

1) The last seven starting spots are provisional starting spots. They are based on current owner points for those who don't qualify 1-36th. Teams who qualify 37th or lower then have to get in line for a provisonal starting spot that are based upon their owners points accumulated for that particular car. Owner points are the same that the driver would have received in a race. Owner points are even rewarded to those who fail to qualify for the starting field so the last seven starting spots genearlly will go to the the teams that have made a committment to the series. This prevents someone who shows up for a couple of races a year knocking a full time team out of the field with a crappy qualifying session (ie. 37-43rd). It forces these teams to qualify in the top 36 to make the race. Also there are only so many provisionals a team can use in a year. After they use up their aloted number of provisionals, you have to qualify in the top 36 or go home. If there aren't seven teams who have provisionals, lets say there are only five teams that have provisional to use, then 37 and 38 positions would go to the fastest remaining qualifiers. I think it is a fair system. It keeps the NASCAR Winston West drivers from unfairly knocking out established Winston Cup teams out of a starting spot at Sears Point just because Sears Point is one of Winston West's home tracks. Back in the old days at some of the short tracks, there were only 30 or so cars allowed to make the field due to pit stall limitations. So this is where they came up the the ideal of 36 cars making the field on time and the rest on provisionals.

2) Winston Cup drivers in BGN? F1 drivers used to race in F2 races at one time. It serves as a good gauge to evaluate the talent in a lower series. Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. have both said that they have driven behind Mark Martin in BGN races and have learned from him. I see no problem with it. If you attended an International F3000 race at Silverstone, wouldn't it be cool to see a Schumacher or Hakkinen in the field? You would definately get more for your money.

3) The restrictor plate was supposedly created to keep the speeds down as cars were getting so fast that they were beginning to fly up into the grandstands when they were in a crash and got airborne. Bobby Allison's car almost went over the fense at Daytona or Talladega one year (I can't remember which track) and the following year restrictor plates were enforced at these two tracks. Winston Cup cars unrestricted could probably do 235mph at Talladega going into the corners. NASCAR felt fan safety was more important than speed. I agree and I bet that the new restrictor plates, which the hole is 1/16th inch smaller, needs to be thrown away after this race. 1/16th inch costs the engine 20hp. This has slowed the cars down too much. Talladega was built for speed and like I said, I think they will throw these away after this race. Even the drivers have said that they feel that this has slowed the cars down too much. If the fans and drivers complain, NASCAR will throw them away after this race.



[This message has been edited by Joe Fan (edited 16 April 2000).]

[bobdrummond]

Thanks for explaining provisionals.

As for cup drivers in Busch, It does get out of hand when all the races are being won by cup drivers. Why not limit them to a half dozen appearances, or something. When a busch champion goes to a sponsor with a string of thirds, fourths, or whatever, it isn't very impressive.

As for the restrictor plates, I think it was Talladega in '88 that Bobby Allison had his monster shunt in the Miller Buick. I remember watching it on tv and it was scary, a bit like Richard Pettys at Daytona some years after when the car rolled along the fence. But I understand a new, much smaller plate was introduced for this race. Nascar has done a lot for car safety on the big tracks such as the roof flaps which have been enormously successful.