5 Points To Ponder

Five Points to Ponder: Keselowski, Road Courses and “Real Racing”

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*ONE: Brad Keselowski Speaks the Truth on “Real Racing”*

Anyone that wasn’t thrilled with Sunday’s finish likely doesn’t have a pulse. Whether a fan had a dog in the Busch/Keselowski/Ambrose finale or not, the beating, banging, and sheer unpredictability of the last lap was easily the most compelling end to any race NASCAR has seen in 2012, and the best finish the Glen has seen since Kurt Busch and Robby Gordon off-roaded their way to the checkered flag in the 2006 Nationwide race.

Five Points to Ponder: Bring Back Racing to the Yellow Flag

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*ONE: Scoring Errors Call for Racing Back to Yellow*

Yes, the restart melee that ended up the conclusion of Sunday’s abbreviated Cup race at Pocono was the purest example of mayhem seen on TV since the latest Allstate commercial. That being said, with race cars that are chock full of transponders, TV cameras all over the damn place and officials whose sole job is to manage the ongoing race, NASCAR still managed to create controversy in resetting the running order. Jimmie Johnson triggered the entire wreck and all but spun his car out, yet he got to restart ahead of Greg Biffle, who accurately represented his situation as merely slowing to avoid a wreck. It took nearly a half-hour after the race was red-flagged before NASCAR reset positions 16-19 on the results sheet.

Five Points to Ponder: Send the Brickyard Packing (and the Restart Rules…and the Points System)

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*ONE: The Brickyard Has to Go*

Back in 1994, when the Brickyard 400 was an inaugural event, there’s a reason it sold out and was instantly one of the sport’s marquee moments. Taking the green flag there was more than tackling a storied oval. It was a story of triumph for how the backwater racers of NASCAR had surged from down south, become prominent in a way open-wheel racing used to be, and brought their beating and banging onto Indy’s home turf. It was the equivalent of planting the flag in the enemy’s capital city.

5 Points to Ponder: Driver Development Hits and Head-Scratchers

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*ONE: Where’s the Development Opening at Penske Racing?*

Yes, Ryan Blaney had a hell of a Nationwide debut at Richmond earlier this spring. Yes, the younger Blaney has all the makings of being the hottest prospect the 2012 season has found yet. But the question has to be asked: Why, exactly, is Penske Racing in the market for his talents?

Right now, the team has one seat up top in flux–the beleaguered No. 22 car. Sam Hornish Jr. seems to be all but a lock for the seat the remainder of this season (the chances of ‘Dinger’s test results coming back clean are about the same as Joe Nemechek running at the finish of a Cup race). He’s the safe choice for sponsor Shell/Pennzoil and a longtime Penske loyalist that has made his desire to return to Cup racing no secret.

5 Points to Ponder: Talking NASCAR Trash, Tires and Tracks

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Yes, Sunday’s race was far from a classic, with rock hard tires again making track position the sole dictator of everyone’s race strategy. But this one was shaping up awful nice before a communication breakdown between Denny Hamlin and Darian Grubb put the No. 11 car that was the class of the field back far enough in the field that even a brilliant late-race charge couldn’t produce a checkered flag. And there’s not many race tracks out there that can overcome hard tires anyhow…or the mentality that every driver that didn’t win had, that they’d win in September…when it counted for something.