[media-credit name=”Credit: John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”271″][/media-credit]As NASCAR’s fourth fiasco ended, Matt Kenseth and a few other lone cars made it back to the finish line in somewhat one piece.

Kenseth held off, blocked and/or kept himself were he needed to be on Sunday and won the Good Sam 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Kenseth was out in front just enough not to be involved in a huge pileup on the final turn that collected over 20 drivers.

This was Kenseth’s first win at Talladega in his 26th start and his second win of the season. Kenseth has finished third or better in all four restrictor plate races in 2012.

“I just looked in my mirror and saw them coming at me three-wide. I kind of let Tony have his spot there. It didn’t look like he had a big push behind him and lined up with Kevin and we pretty much stayed locked together there until we got to turn three and I thought it was gonna be a drag race to the finish. I didn’t know what was gonna happen and I’m still not sure what happened. Somehow I think Tony got turned and caused a big wreck.” Kenseth said.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. summed it up best after being asked by the media, “I know it sucks for you guys but for the fans it’s awesome to watch.” Earnhardt Jr. replies, “Really? It’s not safe. Wrecking like that is ridiculous. It’s blood-thirsty if that is what people want. It’s ridiculous.”

Chase drivers Jeff Gordon finished second, Greg Biffle sixth and Brad Keselowski finished seventh and managed to make it though NASCAR’s misguided restrictor plate non-racing event to capture decent finishes.

“I didn’t see anything but Kasey Kahne’s rear bumper. That was the craziest, craziest finish I’ve ever experienced here at Talladega. For a change, I finally came out on the good side of it. I had my teammate in front of me which is perfect.” Gordon said. “I got hit by the No. 18 and somehow that turned me down on the apron and I just put it back to the floor and drove by every car, and I came out of that second behind the No. 17 car. That is definitely what we needed to do. That is like a win. I am sure we survived it. We’ll see what we can do with it from here on out.”

“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me. Unbelievable. I was probably 20th and five-wide up against the wall and then cars started wrecking. A car flew over the top of my car as I turned to the bottom and missed guys by three inches. It was like Days of Thunder coming through the smoke and the grass and just kept it going straight. That’s all I did and once I was clear of all the stuff I kept going to the start-finish line, but it was the craziest thing I’ve ever been involved in, in my life.” Biffle said.

Keselowski’s seventh place finish extends his lead to 14 points over Johnson.

“We made all the right calls today. I tried to run up front but didn’t have any success at it. Everyone on the team did a good job executing with a smart race and we got a good finish.” Keselowski said. “That’s pretty big. I just feel lucky to survive Talladega.”

Kevin Harvick finished 11th, Kasey Kahne 12th, Martin Truex Jr. 13th, Denny Hamlin 14th, Jimmie Johnson 17th, Dale Earnhardt Jr. 20th, Tony Stewart 22nd and Clint Bowyer finished 23rd.

Official Chase Standings/Stats
After race 4 of 10
Good Sam 500, Talladega Superspeedway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/cup/chase.php

*Note: These stats consist of only the final 10 chase races.
(http://www.speedwaymedia.com/cup/chase.php)

Since this is NASCAR’s fourth fiasco of the season, all awards will be off this week.

Biggest loser(s) after race 4: 20+ cars filed up on the frontstretch. But let’s not forget the car owners.

Biggest gainer after race 4: NASCAR! Great job NASCAR!

Biggest movers after race 4 (+/-): Jeff Gordon +4

[media-credit name=”Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”249″][/media-credit]It is time to stop accepting that it’s “just plate racing” or “it’s just what you get at places like this” and start doing something about it.

“There is no right way to do what we do out there. And there is no wrong way to do it other than being the one that runs out of talent. I can’t even say that my teammate (Tony Stewart) ran out of talent. He was just doing everything he could to protect himself. And so it’s a different kind of racing, if they call it that.” Ryan Newman said after the race.

Talladega and Daytona is not racing! Both are a product of NASCAR misguided way to solve safety issues that have just created a big pile of BS, just like the 20+ cars were on Sunday.  Parity is not always a good thing.  Drivers need to be able to separate themselves from each other.  Too many rules and regulations.  The yellow line rule is just another simple example of too many rules and things have gone bad.  That rule only places the drivers in a smaller box.  If you don’t want them to drive there, don’t pave it!

As Dale Earnhardt Jr. said after the race, “If this is what we did every week I wouldn’t be doing it I will just put it to you like that. If this is how we raced every week I would find another job.”

Did you find this exciting? Earnhardt Jr. did not. “Really? It’s not safe. Wrecking like that is ridiculous. It’s blood-thirsty if that is what people want. It’s ridiculous.”

Greg Biffle’s view of the entire event sounds cool. But what a different story it would have been if someone was hurt or even killed? This is not a movie or a reality show…. It’s real, with real consequences. Wake up NASCAR!

“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me. Unbelievable. I was probably 20th and five-wide up against the wall and then cars started wrecking. A car flew over the top of my car as I turned to the bottom and missed guys by three inches. It was like Days of Thunder coming through the smoke and the grass and just kept it going straight. That’s all I did and once I was clear of all the stuff I kept going to the start-finish line, but it was the craziest thing I’ve ever been involved in, in my life.” Biffle said.

Rant, chant, ask for Harry Gant… we can’t keep going in this same direction. This has to end.

“It’s really not racing. I don’t know it’s a little disappointing how that all went down. That cost a lot of money right there. If this is how we are going to race and that is how we are going to continue to race and nothing is going to change I think NASCAR should build the cars. It would save us a lot of money.” Earnhardt Jr. said.

This is precisely what would solve the issue and very quickly. What do you think NASCAR would do if they had to fork out the money to build these cars for restrictor plate racing and then bring home nothing but scrap metal? It wouldn’t be long before changes were made. If the bottom line was red, things would change!

Right now they are the benefactor of presenting the “Great American Race” or the so called “wildcard race”. For now, the best nicknames should be, “Scrap metal of the south”.

A good commercial could be, “Come and see whose Sprint Cup Series Championship chances end and maybe their life to”.

Fell free to comment below.  I’d really like to hear the difference of opinions.