Hello, everyone. I am John Harlow and I am a NASCAR fan.
I became a racing fan because it was one of the few things my Dad and I had in common. I have been watching racing since the early 70s. It is an honor to be one of the newest writers at Speedwaymedia.com.
We’re five weeks into the 2016 NASCAR racing season and we have watched (the TV ratings says that many haven’t and the fans dressed as empty seats the last few weeks haven’t shown much) some of the best racing NASCAR has put on the track in years.
A few observations from the first five weeks.
Everyone who thought that Kyle Busch would change since he won his Sprint Cup championship is wrong. His comments following the XFINITY race in Fontana show that he hasn’t matured and trying to take out Austin Dillon shows that he is still all about Kyle. Racers are and need to be all about themselves. There are many times where I will defend Kyle, but this time, he was wrong. NASCAR got it wrong today for not digging into his wallet for his remarks. He was fined $10,000 for not showing up for media availability after the race, but nothing for his comments about fixing races.
The racing coverage on Fox Sports has the good and the bad. The good is Jeff Gordon making the transition from driving to the TV booth look easy. He gives great analysis from someone who was in the driver’s seat less than a year ago. Pairing him with Darrell Waltrip has been a disaster. DW comes across as someone who is jealous that someone is taking his TV time away. While we’re at it, get Chris Myers and Michael Waltrip off of the pre-race show. Danielle Trotta, Larry McReynolds and Jeff Hammond would make the pre-race show watchable. Pulling DW from the booth and replacing him with Larry Mac would make the race coverage bearable.
Last but not least, the XFINITY Series is a joke. Who cares about the Chase in the XFINITY Series? The three Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas have dominated this series. I would rather watch paint dry. Here is the basic narrative from each XFINITY. The Gibbs cars are 1-2-3 and the XFINITY regulars are battling for 10th-15th place. Let’s get the Cup drivers and Cup teams out of XFINITY. I would rather see a Corey LaJoie or Brandon McReynolds race than watching Kyle stink up the show.
Have a safe and Happy Easter. And we’ll talk soon about what I see in my Recliner.
Whoa there John. Kyle most definitely did NOT try to take out Austin. Watching those two coming to the line, it was clearly evident Kyle was THINKING of blocking or something. I applaude Kyle for his choices, both in his Not wrecking Austin and Not digging a bigger hole later due to his frustration
David