Racing or reaching?
Posted Aug16, 2006 at 02:01 PM
Is it just me or is NASCAR's "Lucky Dog" rule instituted at Dover in '03 getting completely out of hand? At Indy, we saw Jeff Gordon lose four laps in the pits when the sway bar came unhooked only to rebound with a 16th place finish and keep his hopes of making The Chase alive as ever.
Then, just when it seemed the policy couldn't have any greater impact, his teammate Kyle Busch earned (well not exactly) the "Lucky Dog" not one, not two, not three, not four but five times--a new NASCAR record--last weekend at the Glen! At one point in Sunday's race, Busch would have dropped all the way to ninth in the standings. Instead, Busch finished ninth and maintained fifth in the points.
At this rate, there will be drivers making up 10 laps under the Lucky Dog who go on to win races before long!
I can only imagine how the late Dale Earnhardt or the retired Harry Gant would have weighed in on this. Those guys were two of the hard-nosed greats of yesteryear who had to drive like it was no tomorrow just to make up one lap. Can you imagine what they would think about being spoon-fed five?
In over his head?
No disrespect to soon-to-be full-time Robert Yates Racing car No. 38 wheelman David Gilliland. His Busch win at Kentucky in June was the biggest upset of the year in any of NASCAR's top three divisions. But Gilliland's average finish through eight Busch starts this season is 22.5. His only Cup start, which came on the road course at Infineon, was a less-than-spectacular 32nd. Perhaps more revealing, his second best finish of the season was a 26th place outing at Chicagoland. In fact, the 11 laps he led at Kentucky were the only ones he's spent out front all season.
Signing the 30-year-old California native to any kind of contract might be the riskiest move RYR has made since inking Dale Jarrett to a multi-year deal in 1996. While Jarrett was hardly a hot commodity at the time, though, he was a former Daytona 500 champion who had spent the previous season in the Yates car of the injured Ernie Irvan getting acquainted with the Cup ranks. He even won a race that year at Pocono. Gilliland's resume hardly compares.
What was he thinking?
Jeremy Mayfield's public criticism at Chicago of owner Ray Evernham's commitment earned him a -- big surprise -- humongously fat boot to the rear. Before last weekend at Watkins Glen, Mayfield was permanently relieved of his duties as driver of the No. 19 Dodge and will be replaced for good Sunday at Michigan by Elliott Sadler. Mayfield's next step? Bill Davis Racing. He might as well take the rest of the year off. As poorly as the other BDR cars of Dave Blaney and Michael Waltrip have qualified and finished this year, Mayfield may not have much of a choice.
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