The Pesky Yellow Line Business Makes The Rules Tight in Turn 2

Boy, am I really tight in turn two this week, and I thought I could just share my angst with Charlie Turner of On Pit Row and see if he could inject some sanity in my following tirade!!!

NASCAR: Not Always So
Consistent Around Raceday.

Last weekend we saw a couple of confusing rule interpretations occur in the AMP Energy 500 at Talladega and I'm not talking about the "Big Ones" either. I'm talking about how rules are applied to the sport and how they get created, rescinded or conflicted on the fly.

Does anyone remember the comic strip Calvin and Hobbs? They'd play a game called Calvin-Ball. The problem for Hobbs was that Calvin would make up rules while the ball was in play. This took me back to those days initially and I thought we were looking at Calvin-CAR!!

What added to my mystification was an unusual display of trying to dodge one of the hottest topics to come out of NASCAR that threatens trumping the Chase for the Cup, there seems to be a distinct effort by some media to move on from this event. At least that's what I took away from SIRIUS Satellite last Wednesday morning.

They were telling the listeners that tomorrow they will not entertain your calls if you ask about the yellow line. In the afternoon they were calling it the Bank of America week, pushing the subject to move on to the upcoming weekend. Which is weird because when things like Dale Earnhardt Jr left DEI, no one could shut up about it, but when fans want to vent about this, it's shut up, we're moving on.

When callers hit the airwaves with their questions, one of the personalities was acting more like Tom Leykis and rather than answer the question, fired a question back based on their question, and then faulting them for not answering his question. And it happened on a few calls. It was rather disappointing and I was a bit dismayed at his constant and skillful dodging of answering any question that was gray in nature!

And yet so many people feel ripped off that Regan Smith didn't get the win in the AMP Energy 500 that it's overly compelling to revisit this one scenario, but not in the way you think.

* The biggest point that's been overlooked: A yellow flag should have flown before the checkers. There was a multi-car spin in the back stretch that should have ended the race there, in the backstretch.
* Smith out-faked Stewart superbly coming to the line, forcing the No 20 Toyota to the outside.
* Smith got the line under Stewart
* Stewart did hit the RF of Smith. It wasn't a block at all from where I was sitting. It was a force and if there was a wall there, they and others behind them would have crashed.
* With Smith being forced off the line, he ducked to keep from wrecking or getting wrecked but maintained his momentum.

Right after that, fans and media everywhere were quoting "NASCAR"'s take on the issue.

• "The last lap is a free-for-all",
• "if you can see the checkers anything goes",
• "if you can see the flag stand, it's whatever you can get",

These perspectives stemmed from the Johnny Benson Truck series incident back in February of 2007. And yet they seem to have contradicted not only those statements, but ignored a fleeting moment last year when Dale Earnhardt Jr had gotten forced below the line and was allowed to keep going.

So Jr can get forced below the line, it's OK. A non-name driver can go below the line, it's not OK.
A name driver can force a driver below the line, it's OK, but if reversed?

But none of this makes for exciting television, or racing. Hell, at least the last lap drowned out the pain from the ESPN coverage.

So where am I going with this? What the heck am I actually asking?:

Should NASCAR take the winter off to actually create / print out a rule book for everyone involved?

In all fairness, they've more or less always said that going below the yellow line at Talladega or Daytona and advancing your position is a no-no. With an exception or two, as noted.

When I look for big league sport rules, I can find them in a flash. NBA, NFL, NHL all have the rules right on the web for all to see. Here at work, I'm surrounded by F1 and ALMS (American LeMans Series) fans and it seems that what we are experiencing is not unique to NASCAR at all, but would seem to be a function of Auto Racing in general.

In fact web searches do not turn up any rulebook for some of the auto racing leagues we see on TV.

In fact my office neighbors have touted similar incidents where F1 drivers or what not have created a stir and rules about not leaving the racing surface had to be enacted. Hence, this is really an affect of the medium, not the organization. So what we're seeing here, is something we shouldn't be actually blaming on NASCAR itself.

Sure, NASCAR has their hands full, and sure, they need to be A LOT more consistent. I feel they need to lead the field of auto racing and try to compile a rulebook for us to reference WITH them as they make their calls. Yes, they seem to quote one, but they are very secretive about this "rule" book and we never see it.

For me, right now, their obvious inconsistencies and neglect of previous calls where even the person who said "If you can see the checkers, anything goes", won't comment on his comment has taken the wind out of my NASCAR sails for the moment!

NASCAR needs consistency, needs rules they will actually follow regardless of whom may be breaking or applying them, and let us in on it. They also need to rescind this weeks' stance that the yellow line rule applies to all laps. It should be lifted in the last 1/2 lap of these races so we can see real, god for-saken racing to the finish. That's what they want, right? Let's give it to the viewer!

Oh, now that I'm done ranting, in a word to my own question: Yes.

Other sports rules links:
NBA
NFL
NHL

Charlie? Can you please inject some sanity in my rant?

Charlie: I had to go back aways to find the actual question, but your arguement is compelling Bruce. I just don't think it is the nature of auto racing ingeneral and NASCAR in particular to do what you suggest.

I have always felt that NASCAR likes having some control in their rulings. Not that they want to necessarily manufacture finishes. But black and white is black and white, you know? There's no room for cutting the sport's most popular driver any slack. The France family has been the ultimate promoter of auto racing. They've built a fantastic, ultra popula, money machine. It ain't all skill and it ain't all luck either. They play the controversy/publicity cards as well as anyone ever has. I have to admit, I kind of like it this way.

~~~

Over on his site, Charlie asks
Talladega reared it’s wild-card head again Sunday. It was entertaining but is the chancy nature of the plate-race big-ones just too random for ‘Dega to be included in the Chase?

Go on over and check it out: On Pit Row