Nascar: 2010

[Ron61]

Terry,

It is crap and hard to believe but I still think it is money driven. Now NASCAR has something the media can blow up in hopes of getting more people to come to the next race and watch it on TV. But I think they are playing a dangerous game with this stuff. I am all for letting them race, but not the blatant type of wrecking someone that happened here. I thought sure he would be docked a bunch of points and maybe suspended for a race or two. Now NASCAR has put themselves in a mess as they can't penalize anyone else for doing this as they have already set a precedence. So be prepared for a destruction derby.

Ron

[Wayne Maybury]

Terry
A dozen or so drivers, including Carl Edwards, could get away with this. Just about any of NASCAR's star drivers would receive minimal punishment because of the money that is at stake. If this had been one of the fringe drivers instead of Carl, I think that the punishment would have been much more severe. Of course that is only my opinion and you know what people say about opinions.

In that interview, Mile Helton talked time and again about the car going airborne and how important that was and how it was separate from the initial contact incident, etc. He went on to say that NASCAR is treating this very seriously and going to be doing a full investigation. I found it very strange however that he never mentioned the wing as being a possible cause or even a contributing factor to the car flipping over once it had been turned around. I guess they don't want to admit or suggest that they should never have put a wing on these cars in the first place.

Wayne

[Don]

Public USA Today Poll: 3,859 votes

What's your opinion on Carl Edwards' punishment for bumping Brad Keselowski?

*** Too light. Edwards' actions crossed the line. 61%

*** Just right. The penalty seems appropriate. 21%

*** Too harsh. Didn't NASCAR want self-policing 18%

Comments:

•Robby Gordon, the last driver benched for discipline (August 2007 at Pocono Raceway), wrote: "Just heard the news. I wonder what would of happened to me in that situation? Hmmm someone playing favorites? "

•Kevin Harvick (@kevinharvick), who was parked in an April 2002 race at Martinsville Speedway after rough driving in a Camping World Truck race, said "huh! surprised by the penalty or lack there of....." and "i'm thinking about asking for a refund for all of my penalties!!!!"

• DeLana Harvick (@delanaharvick), Harvick's wife and co-owner of the Kevin Harvick Inc. in the Nationwide and truck series, wrote "my heading is spinning. i can't understand what a 3-race probation actually does. maybe @kevinharvick should awe shucks more. seems to work." and later "have no prob w/ heat of the moment racing battles but premeditated 190 mph+ retaliation fires me up."

•Scott Speed (@scottspeed) wrote: "Yo go #nascar!!! 3 race probation for Edwards! Awsome I love it!!! I bet Keslowski is scared now lol"

•ESPN analyst Ray Evernham (@skiprec) wrote, "ok lets get past the penalty and go to work on flying cars, roll cages and tires because it really has been a great race season so far."

•Kasey Kahne (@kaseykahne) wrote, "doesn't sound like favorites to me. Airborne is biggest and only issue. I like Helton's call."

•Elliott Sadler (@elliott_sadler) wrote: "In case anybody was wondering, I have no comment on the 99/12 incident, how about how can we keep cars on ground??"

• And Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) said: "i think everyone needs to take a chill pill. was it ok for brad to spin me in front of the field? how dangerous was that to me."

•Michael Waltrip (@mw55) added: Good call #nascar. You can't ask the driver to take their gloves off one week and then tell em to put em back on the next."

[Don]

Wayne, agree .....not an aero engineer, but when you look at the design of the wing, once the car is partially in the air and/or even slightly sideways/backwards, the bottom portion of the wing provides lift, rather than the intended purpose of down force when the air goes over the top of the car and top of the wing. Might be the wing design over rode the function of the roof flaps which were designed to let the air inside the car escape, and prevent lift. However, by the time the study is completed, the wing will be history in the new museum in Charlotte.

Mike mentions the incident happening on a 1.5 mile track, but speeds are continuously increasing, as evident by Dale JR setting a new track record in qualifying.

Safety wise, the higher green house sure helps if there is compression of the roll cage, to protect the driver. Also, the roll cage design still needs to consider the possibility of having to extract the driver thru the roof depending upon car damage.

[Wayne Maybury]

Don, good points. Safety has to be the first priority, that is why I can't understand why they are not converting to the spoiler more quickly. It isn't as if they haven't used rear spoilers in the past. They all understand how they work and as the weeks go by, the wing appears to be more of a concern than they previously thought.

Carl Edwards is a very popular and well respected driver in the NASCAR community. For 61% of respondants to say that the punishment was too light indicates a lot. Look at Terry who admits to watching NASCAR every week. He is so upset with this situation that he is completely turned off. Carl is one of my favorite drivers and I think he got away far too lightly. A 3 race ban would have probably been appropriate for his actions. I have to admit that if Brad had just spun around, no one, including me, would have looked at this twice.

Wayne

[Don]

Wayne, here's a past link regarding the spoiler:

http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/news/story?id=4840460

While there has been a spoiler ( no pun intended ) in the past , it would be new for the current version of the car ( I hesitate to use the term COT ) . How will it work with the higher greenhouse etc.

One of the design objectives was to make it a bolt on replacement , no extra work or expenditure for the Teams, along with allowing the Teams to test and provide their feedback.

Maybe now the spoiler replacement schedule will be expedited or make sure there are no delays.

[Don]

*** For the 2010 Mustang Challenge, a wing is being used instead of a spoiler, same for the ALMS , each one with their own spec wing. Same for the DTM series in Europe. Did not check any other race series, but might it be every other race series is using a wing ? Not the same style of racing, but just for comparison purposes. ALMS runs the high speeds at Daytona

http://www.themustangnews.com/conten...-this-weekend/

http://www.americanlemans.com/

http://www.dtm.com/index.php?lang=en

*** " Approx 24 Cup Teams are expected to participate in a one day test session Tuesday at Talladega Superspeedway. The session will target a number of mechanical options in advance of the April 25 Aaron’s 499 at Talladega.Teams also will test spoilers,which will replace the current wings on the backs of cars. NASCAR has not set a date for the wing-to-spoiler move, but the Martinsville race March 28 is a strong possibility.“It’s a confirmation test for restrictor plates and gearing, andan opportunity for teams to work on their handling packages as wetransition to the spoiler,” said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR’s vice presidentof competition. "