Idiotic NASCAR rules screw drivers and teams
Friday Nextel Cup Series qualifying at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International for Sunday’s Nextel Cup Series Centurion Boats at the Glen was cancelled because of rain.
Not postponed. Cancelled.
Yes it’s become standard operating procedure for NASCAR to scrap qualifying when weather gets in the way. It's one more way NASCAR proves that today’s Nextel Cup world is more about the stage show and less about the competition.
The field for Sunday’s event was set by owner points, meaning 6 teams that showed up at Watkins Glen to make an effort to get in the show went home without even getting a try at making the field.
And by the way, two Nextel Cup Series practice sessions scheduled for today at Watkins Glen will go on in their entirety.
I’ve never understood just how NASCAR can so easily scrap what is supposed to be part of its competition, but yet practice, which has no bearing on the actual competition, is the sacred cow that can’t be sacrificed.
It’s as if these teams now in the show would be rudderless and lost on Sunday if a portion of their time on the track on Saturday was taken away. Are they really that bad that they couldn’t hack it on Sunday without all of Saturday’s practice?
Understandably, maybe NASCAR doesn’t want to take the time on Saturday to send 49 cars out to make qualifying efforts. Fine then, don’t do it. The top-35 in owner points are locked in the field already, don’t send them out.
Why not let the 14 cars not locked into the field, teams that invested time and money to prepare for and get to Watkins Glen, go out and battle for the spots remaining in the field?
Is there anything unfair about that? And realistically, how much would the Saturday schedule need to be altered to let 14 cars go out on the track and take time? It seems like the least NASCAR could do for the teams that showed up for their show.
It’s hard not to have sympathy for a driver like Boris Said, a guy who desperately wants to make it in NASCAR who has seemingly put on a focus on competing in events where his team can run at a somewhat even plane with the big boys. More at Courant.com