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Tale of Two Races - Making the Grade California Speedway
2/26/08: SOZ Studios, MI - By Dennis Michelsen "DMIC" (RaceTalkRadio.com)
This week NASCAR featured a double feature for Cup racing fans. The first chapter occurred on Sunday and was clearly a tragedy. The second act on Monday afternoon was terrific! It is such a pity that all anyone will remember from this weekend's Auto Club 500 are the long list of bad decisions made on Sunday evening. Oh sure NASCAR says it has a responsibility to get the race in for the fans on the scheduled day on the ticket. But last year at Michigan International Speedway they showed that common sense is good business sense. Unfortunately those lessons were forgotten this weekend!
Race Grade- Act One F- Act Two B
Any first year meteorology student could have figured out the problem for NASCAR on Sunday during the first act of the Auto Club 500. It was all about drainage and weather conditions more than total amount of rain! If it takes 90 minutes to dry the track during the day it will be at least twice that amount of time during the night. Add high dew points and weeping turns and they should have given up shortly after they started and sent the fans home at a decent hour! Better yet blow this place up and start all over again just like ISC did at Homestead-Miami!
F for NASCAR's Decisions
It's a lucky break for NASCAR that nobody got hurt on Sunday! Racing into the turns at over 200mph is risky business. Doing that with moisture on the track is almost suicidal! Wouldn't it be funny if Dale Earnhardt Jr missed the Chase for the Championship by 20 or 30 points?
D for California Speedway Management
Only NASCAR's never ending perpetually annoying rain delay theatre could keep California Speedway Management out of the "F" grade this week! When the fans don't show up and the racing is sub par those are signs that change is needed. But the only change they made was to the signs as they sold a sponsor on naming rights to this dump! No the rain is not their fault but the embarrassment of a pre-race show and the hiring of a Grand Marshall that was a disgrace is their fault! Change the track or close this place down…those are the only options that make sense!
C for Dale Earnhardt Inc
Eight starts this season and DEI only has one top ten finish and zero top fives! This could be a long season for a team that used to win a lot of races. Meanwhile management talks about bringing another motocross champion into a driver development program. Something sure is wrong in the house that Dale built. This is turning into a very average team and that is why they earned a "C" this week too.
B for Kyle Busch
Like him or hate him race fans but what you are witnessing is the coming of age of Kyle Busch this season. After playing third fiddle to his Hendrick teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, now Kyle is in contention to be the number one man at Joe Gibbs Racing! Leaving the Auto Club of Southern California Speedway leading in points in two of the three major series is simply amazing!
A for Carl Edwards and Roush-Fenway Racing
Coming into this season there was a big question mark hanging over the Roush-Fenway camp. Jack Roush admitted in the post race press conference that they got behind in their COT program last year. Now it is obvious that they are on par with anyone in the sport! Carl Edwards drove a smart race not pushing the envelope when the conditions were lousy on Sunday. When the track got racey Carl got to flip for the first time this year!
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