Did You Notice? … Ryan Blaney could have failed to qualify for a Chase race? That’s certainly a loophole NASCAR was looking to shore up by its decision this week to ensure every team that qualifies for the Chase is guaranteed a spot over the final 10 events. Officials looped this adjustment in the rules in with a new policy that leaves owner points, not practice speeds the primary way starting lineups will be set in the future when weather cancels qualifying.
“These changes provide a more even competition field for both Charter and Open teams, rewarding strong performances over the course of a season,” said Jim Cassidy, NASCAR senior vice president, racing operations in a press release announcing the move. “Earning a berth in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup is extremely difficult and requires consistent elite performance. Those teams should be guaranteed an opportunity to race for the title, and this ensures that will be the case.”
Current rules backed NASCAR into a corner due to the strong performance of Blaney this season. The rookie sits just three points outside the Chase and could easily make the 16-driver postseason field; he’s been remarkably consistent in the Wood Brothers car, finishing all but one race and has the resources of Team Penske to pull from.
So let’s say Blaney makes the field, heads to Chicagoland and blows an engine in qualifying. Under the old rules, he’d fail to qualify while the other 15 cars would automatically make the race no matter what. Even if you don’t like the provisional system for everyone it’s easy to see how the system would be incredibly unfair.
What would be more interesting is if Charters became guaranteed (or non-guaranteed) for the following season based on performance. Let’s say all 36 Charter teams come back next season but Blaney makes the Chase with the Woods. Should he miss out on a guaranteed spot if he was eligible to run for the championship? That seems pretty strange and you wonder if that’s an area NASCAR will address next. Would they bump up the Charters to 37, perhaps expanding the field back to 41 cars (or more) or would the worst-performing Charter team from 2016 lose their spot?
Did You Notice? … Two debris cautions getting called at Sonoma? On a road course? Not too long ago, even small wrecks or spinouts on this wide, nearly two-mile racetrack were declared as nothing more than “local yellows,” situations where cars need to slow down in the particular area of an incident. Now? A tiny piece of debris spotted anywhere brings out the yellow as officials operate “under an abundance of caution.” (How ironic!)
The way in which debris cautions have increased at Sonoma is pretty noticeable. From the 1989 through the 2002 seasons, the first 14 Cup races held at the track only two yellow flags were called for debris. During the last 14 races, from 2003 through 2016? We’ve had eighteen yellow flags thrown for debris. One of them made the difference in track position that sent Tony Stewart skyrocketing from the middle of the field straight to the front of the pack Sunday afternoon. Certainly, crew chief Mike Bugarewicz should get credit for gambling under such conditions, but the fact he knows to do so in the first place is a little concerning.
Just think for a minute that you’re trying to explain what happened to a potential new fan of the sport. Staying out because of impending weather? Everyone totally gets that. Fuel mileage gambles? Sure. But rolling the dice to see if NASCAR will find a piece of metal on the track? A spring rubber? That’s a little weirder sell — great strategy but not exactly a shining moment for your sport.
“A hot dog wrapper! A small piece of plastic! See which one will jumble up the field at Racetrack X on Saturday night!”
Of course, Stewart’s victory turns the storyline sentimental and the debris caution that bunched up the field will be quickly forgotten. But did NASCAR turn toward this method of officiating, like it has at other tracks because the racing at Sonoma was so clean? Not a single driver spun out over 110 laps of the race; just three cars failed to finish, two of them stalling on track to cause a caution. Does the sport feel like it needs to occasionally bunch up the field to keep fans entertained?
That’s a question only the head guys in Daytona Beach can answer. But the caution clock in the Truck Series, the sport’s latest experiment, is the latest in a long line of decisions – yellows for simple scrubs of the wall, a rogue tire, etc. – that lean toward aggressive use of the yellow flag in questionable circumstances rather than putting it away.
The problem with throwing these “random debris” cautions, like I’ve said in the past, rather than using a caution clock is they can truly be subjective calls. Especially at a place like Sonoma, where pit strategy ruled the race exactly when you call it could be the difference between leaving a driver in the lead and trapping them back in 31st. It’s a variable officials control in the tower that is taken out of the competitors’ control. So if NASCAR feels like they can’t stay green for long? Just stop the madness, move the caution clock to the Cup Series or create a “competition caution” to occur over a set number of laps. If you don’t want to look like you manipulate the race, the answer is simple … just don’t do it.
Did You Notice? … Quick hits before taking off…
- Sunday’s race at Sonoma pulled in nearly 3.9 television viewers, making it the most-watched race on cable (second in sports behind Copa America’s combination of viewers). However, compared to 2005, the Nielsen rating was less than half what it was at NASCAR’s peak. With the NBA Finals plus MLB on FOX all marking increases in viewership, along with the NFL holding steady, it’s getting harder to say the problems of stock car racing match the same “depression” in ticket sales and national following we see in other sports.
- I try and avoid commentating on the television broadcasts due to my past and present relationships within that compound. I do believe, though after Sonoma Darrell Waltrip’s “Boogity, Boogity, Boogity” shtick has outlived its usefulness and FOX would be wise to revisit that in the offseason. A main complaint of the NASCAR on FOX broadcast within the sport’s fan base is that the booth is out of touch with the average viewer. I’d be interested to do a survey of a random 100 fans in the sport’s target audience, 18-to-34 year olds, play those three words for them and ask whether it gets them psyched up to watch a race. I’m hard-pressed to believe the “boogity” believers are going to win out; even those who remain fans of DW appear to be growing tired of it. It’ll be interesting to see if the Cup Series ratings, which still declined many times during the second year of this new contract will be more stable with an NBC broadcast team that has been lauded for its by-the-book, more standard approach for covering the sport.
- 45 teams are competing for 40 spots at Daytona in an XFINITY field that’s dealt with multiple start-and-parks all season. The answer is not hard to figure out; independent teams will cherry-pick races in which they have a shot of staying competitive and winning extra money. Plate races provide them with that opportunity. The trick is for NASCAR to figure out how to level the playing field elsewhere….
- AJ Allmendinger’s starting position the last three races at Sonoma? 1.3. Laps led? 56. Average finish? 29.3. He has to be frustrated.
- NASCAR CEO Brian France said Sunday the sport is on pace with negotiations for a new title sponsor. Keep in mind Sprint (then Nextel) was announced as a formal replacement for Winston in June of 2003, a mere six months before the contract expired. Where are we now? Six months before Sprint leaves the sport.
About the author
The author of Did You Notice? (Wednesdays) Tom spends his time overseeing Frontstretch’s 40+ staff members as its majority owner and Editor-in-Chief. Based outside Philadelphia, Bowles is a two-time Emmy winner in NASCAR television and has worked in racing production with FOX, TNT, and ESPN while appearing on-air for SIRIUS XM Radio and FOX Sports 1's former show, the Crowd Goes Wild. He most recently consulted with SRX Racing, helping manage cutting-edge technology and graphics that appeared on their CBS broadcasts during 2021 and 2022.
You can find Tom’s writing here, at CBSSports.com and Athlonsports.com, where he’s been an editorial consultant for the annual racing magazine for 15 years.
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The caution clock would still not keep NASCAR from being able to manipulate races, they could still call a fake caution at any time (in addition to the clock). So shame on you for even suggesting that they start using the clock in the Cup series. The clock undermines the whole concept of racing. Let us never speak of it again.
I’ll be very curious to see which sucker Brian has been able to con into ponying up a ton of $ to sponsor the Cup series considering that I don’t see where it is nearly the attractive property that it once was. Of course then again NBC & Fox both were willing to spend a lot of $ to try and attract viewers to their cable stations. I don’t know if it has worked that well, at least based on the ratings, but then again both FS1 and NBCSN were pretty low in ratings anyway.
Bill B is right about the caution clock. NASCAR throws the caution whenever it most benefits their script, not based on reality or fairness.
Honestly, I’ve been tired of the Boogitys for the entire time I’ve had the Couch Potato Tuesday column (7.5 years now, cripes!), if not longer. I did notice that Darrell did not do it at Michigan, though. As far as I’m concerned, it was getting played out by maybe year No. 4 or 5, long before I thought about writing about NASCAR. Now, in year 16, it’s ridiculous. Cut it sooner than later.
I do agree on the cleanliness of Sonoma. I don’t want to say that I’ve never seen anything like it because I think the 1995 Bud at the Glen was just about as clean (Note: That race was Wally Dallenbach, Jr.’s to lose). I mentioned last week in Friday Faceoff that Sonoma races in recent years just aren’t as exciting. Sonoma was the epitome of what that recent form would lead to.
Really Sonoma only got 3.9 people to watch? Well between you me and Phil that’s three of us. (I have an excuse. It was raining so I couldn’t ride anyway.) Who was the .9 and why did he miss the start of the race?
Common sense logic should have fox adjusting their broadcast team. The rateings have been in decline all year. DW has become obnoxious, he’s making mistakes left and right and makes nonsense statements.
As far as a new sponsor, who will spend mega bucks on a declineing fan base, both tv as well as ticket buyers.
It is quite ironic that a small piece of debris at Sonoma will draw a full-course yellow in the name of safety while you have to set an over/under on how many cars will become airborne in the race six days later.
The cars are already the most challenging things you can put on a road course. They were having to be so easy on the power. They’re just very good at it now is all. With accurate sims like iRacing providing ample practice too.
As for the Boogity. god yes please stop that already. It feels so forced and unnecessary anymore.
Its quite sad that we are even discussing adding a caution clock in the Cup series. How about putting the flags away unless they are needed. Such a novel idea that it worked since the advent of racing flags at an auto race. And it still works today in other motorsports. Caution clocks? Really? Is this what Nascar has evolved to? Its really quite embarrassing. Do you really think that would stop the manipulation of Nascar? Get real. Its not a sport anymore. It run as purely entertainment and the real fans are gone. Only those that enjoy the gimmicks are still around. 300,000 people at the Indy 500. Wonder if they will even fill the frontstretch at Indy for the Cup race.