Another Clash is in the can.
Hopefully the kind of racing we saw Saturday night will turn out to be an anomaly, or at least limited to restrictor plate tracks. However, it appears Mr. Stewart may try to take it upon himself to shake things up. A Charlotte Observer editor wrote the tease for a “That’s Racin'” column about the race: “Harvick wins frantic Unlimited”. Nice try. Fortunately, the writer of the column was a bit more realistic. Speaking of Mr. Harvick, that was a masterful performance in keeping the lead. Shades of Tony when he had more car control.
I love the idea of distinctive looking brands of cars, and Nascar has done its best to make that happen. But it’s been about 20 years since the manufacturers have built instantly distinguishable cars. Oh, except for Chrysler. But of course the Challenger is no longer an option. If Saturday was any indication, we could be left with very little passing. Apparently having different looking grilles and names and logos on the windshield isn’t the final answer.
Just wondering, if Nascar’s target audience is the “coveted” 18-34 age bracket, why are there so many E.D. and testosterone building drug ads during the race?
It also occurred to me that there’s a little Polish child out there who’s slated to be Cup Champion in 2032 – if the previous 20 years are any indication.
And are we going to have to suffer all year through the “Stenica” references?
So here’s a story. It would seem Lowe’s is a much more tolerant organization than Home Depot. I heard JJ indicate it was so easy to qualify at Daytona that a monkey could do it. So far, he’s still employed. I, on the other hand, was fired from the Home Depot for making a similar statement.
2.17.74: Daytona 500 (450). To comply with the new Federal Energy Policy, “the first 20 laps were not scored”. Help! Anyone know what that means? Were they run under caution? Were they run at speed and simply not scored?
If Ned was in the booth we’d know what’s up with Carlos Contreras.
By Gary Erdakos
Ref: racing-reference.info, Greg Fielden’s “Forty Years of Stock Car Racing”, Richard Sowers’ “The Complete Statistical History of Stock-Car Racing”.