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SOZ says: It's the "Soft Pass" driving fans away from NASCAR
7/22/08: SOZ Studios, MI - By Mike Harper "SOZ" (RaceTalkRadio.com)
Imagine sitting in your living room enjoying the big football game on Sunday afternoon when your favorite team's defensive line steps aside and allows the opposition's running back to score a touchdown. Can you imagine that happening in today's NFL?
How about the pitcher on your favorite professional baseball team throwing up easy softballs allowing the opposition free hits all in an effort to save his energy for the ninth inning. Would this be acceptable or smart?
Or this scenario, your favorite Sprint Cup Series driver moving over and allowing a faster driver to pass without any difficulty. Can you image this happening?
Ah, you're beginning to see my point!
In the NFL, players fight for every inch and they do this because they know if they give an inch, it could cost them the game. In Major League Baseball every pitch means something and a game could be won or lost on a single pitch. And in the NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series, unlike practices found in other professional sports, the "Soft Pass" is a gift given to drivers by other drivers who happen to have a faster or better handling car.
While in other sports, no matter what period or time of the game it is teams work hard to stop the momentum of their competitors. In NASCAR, drivers reward other drivers for having the momentum.
It's odd that in a sport constantly fighting for respect among the sports world, drivers in the Sprint Cup Series will point their fingers out their windows telling their rivals where to pass ultimately giving them a freebie pass.
Kyle Busch is having a dream season and he currently sits at the top of the standings. I'm not trying to take anything away from Busch because he's an extremely talented driver. But did you know that a majority of his passes that I've reviewed this season were Soft Passes?
It's true. More times than not his competition has allowed him to pass freely without trying to make it difficult on him and with that said it's no wonder he has won seven races.
Some will say it's a give and take sport and the smart drivers know when to move over and when not to move over. And while I understand the give and take aspect of the sport, it seems we're seeing an increase of it happening and a decrease of the number of new winners in the series. In other words, each week the majority of drivers give the gift of momentum to a small group of drivers just like it was Christmas morning and if you don't believe me just take a look at the list of winners. It's a short list.
In addition to the Soft Pass giveaway, drivers who make the pass without little effort, drive by with a smile and a nice wave out the window because it's the nice thing to do after such a gift. Please! This isn't racing my friends - it's driving.
Give and take isn't new to the sport. It's been around for a while and Tony Stewart gives Mark Martin a ton of credit for perfecting it. But it hasn't earned Martin a championship, in fact Martin has lost championships by less than 50 points and one must stop and think about how many points Martin lost over the years by allowing drivers a Soft Pass.
Speaking of Tony Stewart, the biggest story of the 2008 season to date is Stewart moving to his own team and the possibility of Ryan Newman joining his team. In my opinion, Ryan Newman was among the best in not allowing a Soft Pass. For a time it took work to pass Newman. Well, that was until he and Tony Stewart went fishing after an incident between the both of them in 2006.
"They tell us every week about give and take in the drivers' meeting and there is a reason they tell you that," Stewart said back in September 2006. "But Ryan, when you race him the way he races you, he just decides to dump you."
Stewart also added, "I wish he [Ryan] would learn a little on the give and take side of things." Newman has changed his driving style since 2006 and now he's the leading candidate to drive for Stewart at Stewart Haas Racing.
Bottom line, give and take or Soft Passing is a reality in NASCAR. An employee of a current Cup team sponsor speaking on condition of anonymity told us recently, "With millions of dollars invested in corporate marketing campaigns using NASCAR, the need to keep the cars on the track is a priority. Everyone knows this. And the goal is to race for it at the end. But when our car, our driver, races everyone early and often during the event, the chance of him not being around at the end to market our product is too much of a risk. So they're told to give and take until the last 50 or so."
So it's a practice set forth to protect sponsors? Not so fast - I don't buy that answer totally. Sure the money of sponsors needs to be protected, but it's the overall cost to play in this sport that has contributed to the calming of the sport. Thus the reason we don't see the rivalry aspect as much as we did in the past.
With sluggish ratings and less people in the stands, I could be in the minority of those who won't blame the current challenges of the Sprint Cup Series on the economy. I do think the economy has something to do with people not going to the races, but watching the race on television - no way. Something is happening where people do not want to make or take the time to watch the races. And for NASCAR and the broadcast partners to think people want to sit around for three hours to watch drivers give and take by dishing out Soft Passes is one of the major challenges NASCAR faces today.
I mean come on, a driver gives out a Soft Pass and after the driver passes he waves out his window in thanks for allowing the pass - people don't need to go to the track to watch this. They can see this in their own towns, on their own local streets. I take that back - no they can't! Maybe NASCAR is getting too friendly for the fans!
It's rare we see this type of racing in the Craftsman Truck Series and I'm guessing it's because the races are shorter. So maybe it's time for the Sprint Cup Series to look at shorter races or simply stop preaching the give and take philosophy.
If they can't do that - I would suggest sending the drivers to acting school so they're taught on how to give a Soft Pass without making it look so darn obvious. In all honesty the Soft Pass could be a contributing factor on why fans are passing on NASCAR. Think about it.
And the next time you see a driver point out his window giving way to momentum instead of making the driver use up his stuff or that friendly wave after the driver makes a simple pass, just think to yourself, "SOZ man is right - the stinkin' Soft Pass wins again!"
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