Weather has plagued the NASCAR schedule from Atlanta to Martinsville to Bristol. This weather shows no weather concerns with sunny skies and warmth at Talladega. That’s good news for race fans whether heading to the race or watching on television. I’ve only attended two races this year—both postponed and run on Monday, but it’s easy to see that both saw unusual weather. I saw the smell of a snowstorm at Martinsville on Saturday. I’m from West Virginia where it can snow from October to May. It was, as they say in my rural neighborhood, a “doozy.” As many people who told me at the track they didn’t have snowstorms like that in March, they did.
Same with Bristol. The weather people were right, and the temperature dropped 35 degrees plus the rains came. It was so cold on Monday that even this crusted mountain man couldn’t handle it. From the looks of the crowd, no one else could either. What people missed were two excellent races, and that’s a shame. Maybe the powers that be should re-think the schedule a bit. There is no reason why the teams should go to the left coast and come back to snowstorms and rains when it is possible. I know, weather is fickle, but why take a chance? Why not run Talladega and Texas before Martinsville, Bristol, and Atlanta? Just asking.
My friend, Patrick suggested something to me. In cases where weather is almost certain, why not run those races by postponing them like baseball? Food for thought. There was no reason why lights couldn’t have been used or a better date used. Of course, every situation is different. I respect NASCAR for their decisions. But why not just move the schedule to avoid all of this? I’ve wiped snow off seats at Rockingham in years passed. Maybe someone is not thinking?
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I find the announcement that Matt Kenseth is coming back to Roush Fenway Racing a little bit head-scratching. Kenseth left RCR to move to Joe Gibbs Racing a few years ago. Later on, Carl Edwards joined him. One retired and the other was non-renewed. Both could have ended their careers at RFR but chose to go to greener pastures. Both were relatively successful, winning races and being competitive. Tomorrow, if reports are accurate, we will hear that Kenseth will return to the place he was most competitive and share a ride with Trevor Bayne. It’s no secret that after his debut with the Wood Brothers in 2011, Bayne hasn’t done much. The Daytona win was spectacular, but recent great runs by Ricky Stenhouse Jr., made him look like the underachiever.
To this reporter, it seems that Bayne is on his way out or at least there to wait for the third charter, which may or not exist to become free for Kenseth. Getting over Kenseth’s move to eliminate Joey Logano at Martinsville still sticks in my craw, but I think Kenseth wants to race and there’s not a better racer in the circuit. With the move to younger racers, some great talent gets put on the sidelines. I applaud Jack Roush and his organization to bring Matt back. I feel sorry for Bayne, but in this industry like all industries, he wasn’t getting the job done. Just like everywhere else, that’s the way of business, which has, unfortunately, become part of NASCAR, today.
