Zis Boom Bah
Kevin Harvick and Mark Martin fly towards the finish line, neck and neck as sheet metal and other debris flies in their wake, to give us one of the most exciting finishes to a race in a long time. A race that Clint Bowyer finished going upside down and with his car on fire.
Now, I know that a lot of NASCAR bloggers and journalists out there don't care for the crashes and worry about someone getting injured. But as a fan, I love the crashes. I love the tension. Don't get me wrong, I don't want anyone to get hurt or die in these injuries, but that feeling inherently contradicts my love of the crashes and the exciting finishes, and seeing Kevin Harvick beat Mark Martin by 2/100 of a second to win the 49th annual Daytona 500 was one of the most exciting finishes I'd seen in a while, making it all the more exciting with the big wreck flying behind them.
Now, there is a big argument going on about favoritism in NASCAR, and the lack of penalties that Jeff Gordon received, and a second argument about NASCAR not throwing the caution flag soon enough and these two things go together.
First--NASCAR showed a lack of favoritism by not throwing that caution flag until after the leaders had crossed the finish line. The wreck behind them would not have affected the leaders outcome of the race. What was Mark Martin doing looking in his rear view mirror instead of ahead him? Now, don't get me wrong, I was cheering for Mark Martin to win that race as much of anyone, but he lost it fair and square. Harvick beat him out and Mark Martin finished second (his best finish ever in the 500). If NASCAR would have thrown that caution flag with Martin still ahead--that would have shown NASCAR favoritism. So, maybe next time Mark. I'm sure you won't be able to fully give up racing any time soon.
Second--Jeff Gordon's punishment was fair. The car being too low... it happens frequently in post qualifying. And the punishment is usually the same--sent to the back of the field and your qualifying time doesn't count. Jeff's team's crime was nothing compared to what went down with Waltrip's or any of the other teams. Though, I must say Kahne, Kenseth and the rest of the Evernham Dodge's punishments were too harsh. But I guess NASCAR has decided that the longstanding policy of "if you aren't cheating, you aren't trying" is officially over.
Either way, things are off to a very exciting start. And while controversy and dramatic finishes may overshadow wins (congratulations Kevin Harvick) they do bring more fans to the sport. And in the end, that has to make NASCAR happy.
Posted 02/19/07 by Jaime Sue | Filed under: NASCAR/Auto Racing
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