A Race Without Stars

Can you imagine a featured race that NASCAR holds and not have in the field drivers like Clint Bowyer, Juan Pablo Montoya, Ryan Newman, or Tony Stewart? Nope, not me.

Or better yet, this featured race will have relatively new drivers like David Stremme, Casey Mears, Joey Logano, Reed Sorenson, and Travis Kvapil in it.

But then, can you imagine having NASCAR call it some kind of AllStar Race? Nah... really?

Oh, yea... they will. After changing their rules without, what looks like, not really thinking it through, or maybe secretly punishing someone, NASCAR changed how the drivers will fill the field for the Coors Shootout. Instead of taking, say the making the top 3 qualifying drivers from each race eligible for the event, now it's the top six teams from each of the manufacturers that will be able to compete rather than those who might have earned it by winning a pole in the previous year.

I'm trying not to utter expletives on this one, but there ya have it. They say that the switch of sponsors, from Budweiser to Coors had something to do with the complete oversight that NASCAR rules over, but I'm thinking it's just a nice cop out.

A lot of people seem to feel that slowly but surely Brian France is making a mockery of what was once a true test of man and machine. Pretty soon, we may just be watching cars with power steering and air conditioning run circles around the tracks. I don't know what to think. I try to stay supportive, but at times I find myself more often than not throwing my hands up instead of saying anything good.

So with that, I am...