Flashman's Take

Jamie McMurray is one of the nicest guys in the garage. He’s a family man and gives everything he has to be successful. When he was tagged to replace a retiring Mark Martin so long ago, much was expected of him. It never came to fruition. It has been the same story since moving to Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. It’s not that he hasn’t had the talent; it’s more than he didn’t have the talent behind him.

You just never know. After what seemed like the worst race of all time, a race broke out in Charlotte (actually Concord) over the last 23 laps. On the rather pleasant night, the race had been dominated by Hendrick Motorsports.

What a strange week. Just when I thought NASCAR was handling things right, things go haywire. After the events at Richmond (I won’t go into it—you know the story), I thought the sanctioning body had made some tough decisions in displacing Martin Truex from the Chase and adding Ryan Newman, but what happened today was almost unbelievable.

It has been said that there has been cheating going on in NASCAR since they first started. Yes, advantages were sought, but usually it was to make the car go faster in order to win, not to throw the race in order to fix an outcome.

The decision was unexpected even to the beat reporters who follow NASCAR daily. After Saturday’s race, thing just didn’t look right, something officials missed. By Sunday at the truck race in Iola, Mike Helton, NASCAR’s President, commented that NASCAR was going to review the race and radio transmissions. That was the first clue that something was up. A timeline was not given, however.

Just three years ago, the Chase looked a lot different than what we’re faced with in 2013. Back in 2010, the Chase field was made up of Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, Jimmie Johnson, and Clint Bowyer.

The smoke cleared after the weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, and there were surprises upon surprises. After an exciting NASCAR Camping World truck race in which Kyle Busch just edged out Timothy Peters on the last lap, it was followed up with Busch dominating the Nationwide Series race. What happened on Sunday was different, if not pleasing.

It’s only mid-week and already a few big stories have hit. First there was the surprise YouTube video of Humpy Wheeler, the legendary promoter who put Charlotte Motor Speedway on the map, giving a critical analysis of what is wrong with NASCAR followed closely by Brian Vickers getting the full time ride in the No.55 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota and the dismissal of Juan Pablo Montoya from the No. 42 Earnhardt-Ganassi Chevrolet. Interesting moves, no doubt, so let’s start with Wheeler’s comments.

Want to know what’s killing NASCAR? Maybe is the lack of parity. It isn’t talked about much these days, but years ago it was a topic of conversation. If one team for one brand became dominant, the sanctioning body would step in to make thing equal. In those days, it was important to level the playing field for all brands. You see brand was important. I thought it had come full circle by now, but I was wrong.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway is one of the crown jewels of motorsports. When the speedway finally decided to let stock cars rumble around the 2.5-mile track, it was received with shouts of joy.