Q: I’ve never been so embarrassed to be a NASCAR fan in my life. I live in Charlotte and I’ve been coming to races here forever, and this place is a mess. I was afraid we were going to be down to four or five cars by the end of the night. The surface of this track is too smooth, too fast and it’s no longer conducive to good racing.
I know a lot of fans love the wrecks but I like seeing a good race, and what I saw Saturday night was two fast cars out front and everyone else praying they didn’t end up as dog meat. I hope the next Charlotte race is better. – Panther Man
A: This wasn’t Charlotte’s shining moment, that’s for sure. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it an embarrassment, but it could have been better and yes, they’ve done a lot of harm to this track with the “levigation” and now the repave. Unfortunately, I don’t see how things could be improved significantly by the time they race here again. I almost hate to advocate restrictor plates, but it’s not as crazy an idea as it first sounded.
Q: This track used to have bumps and the racing was better. Can’t they put the bumps back in somehow? – Stodgy Old Guy
A: I doubt they would want to do that at Charlotte, but it has got me thinking about what people do when they build new tracks. Why not go uphill/downhill a little? A slight kink to the right in the middle of the backstretch? Purposefully rough up the pavement? It’s clear that tracks with character give us better racing. I hope, if anything, that the mistakes Charlotte made with this track serve as an architectural lesson to other builders.
Q: Is there any doubt this is Jeff Burton‘s year? That guy has a rabbit’s foot stuck up his (expletive). – Grossman
A: I wouldn’t write Kevin Harvick or Matt Kenseth out of it yet, nor Mark Martin, although the latter looks a lot less likely than last week. But yes, it does appear to be shaping up to be Burton’s year.
Q: Last time I checked, Jimmie Johnson has wrecked about 40 cars now at Talladega. Guess he finally got what was coming to him. What Brian Vickers did wasn’t intentional, and I suppose the same could be said for Johnson’s past transgressions, but Vickers handled his situation a hell of a lot better than Jimmie ever did. Remember after he wrecked half the field hitting the No. 38 and whined/lied about being hit first?
All I can say about it Jimmie’s lucky that sponsorship has buttoned down NASCAR or he would’ve gotten a couple of (expletive) whoopings by now. What a no-class punk. Hey, I guess he learned from the best though, his car owner, ha ha. Another case of a guy who would’ve/should’ve gotten some (expletive) whoopings by now.
Congratulations to Vickers, who has represented the Hendrick organization with class and deserved a better deal than to be shunned from team meetings and getting the short end of the stick on organization resources and equipment. – 333
A: As several comments and letters proved this week, Johnson didn’t get a lot of sympathy following Talladega. I still can’t absolve Vickers of fault in that wreck, but at the same time, it should be noted that Johnson hasn’t been the most popular driver at that track in recent years. I guess the worst part of it all is that Dale Earnhardt Jr. got caught up in this one – and was really the only one of the three I felt handled things properly afterwards.
Q: Was the Martin post-wreck interview not the strangest thing you’ve ever seen? Do we need to test him for happy drugs? – Melene
A: As soon as Mark hit the wall, I was hoping he would just be conscious. Then, I was afraid he was about to do the Carl Edwards backflip off the windowsill of his car – crazy old man. And then, when he was being interviewed, I started to wonder if the doctors shouldn’t invite him back inside the care center for a concussion check. Surreal.
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