Who’s to blame in racing depends on who’s doing the blaming

By Mike Smith (contact)

Monday, Feb. 16, 2009 | 8:46 p.m.

If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then blame for a NASCAR wreck depends on the loyalty of the viewer. Dale Jr. fans most likely defend Jr. as blameless in the wreck with Brian Vickers that sent 10 cars spinning with 75 laps to go in the Daytona 500. And fans who don’t have their living rooms decorated with No. 88 merchandise are probably cursing Jr. as the destroyer of Vickers’ chance at victory.

I think it takes two to tango. The wild, sweeping block by Vickers on a car that was closing fast was an invitation for mayhem. And Jr.’s refusal to back off one inch from his position contributed to the wreck that ended the day for several good cars. OK, I sound like I’m sitting on the fence on this one, but driving that aggressively won’t get a driver to victory lane or help him make up a lost lap if his car ends up behind the wrecker.

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The teams of Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman were understandably frustrated with the circumstances that led to running backup cars in the 500. But blaming Goodyear doesn’t take into account that there were many angles to the weekend’s tire woes. There were three different tire issues at play here. There was a batch of bad tires that Goodyear confiscated. The tire that caused the Newman/Stewart wreck was due to a puncture. And Jeff Gordon’s tire issue during the race was most likely caused by a camber setting. The tire manufacturer definitely had serious quality issues regarding the batch of confiscated tires, but blaming Goodyear for the Newman/Stewart wreck is a rush to judgment. Stewart may wish for more tire makers to enter the sport, but if it’s hard to control one manufacturer’s quality, imagine how difficult it might be with several manufacturers.

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Mother Nature is the most powerful person in NASCAR. It doesn’t matter how much money teams spend or how great the drivers are or how much control NASCAR has, Mother Nature can waltz in and decide the outcome of a race. So much for all those predictions we heard for the last two weeks about who would win the race.

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That reminds me, why did NASCAR decide to end the race so early once the rain came? It’s the biggest race of the year. Couldn’t the sanctioning body have waited a little longer to see the outcome of the weather front? The race may have ended late once the track drying was complete, but who cares? It’s the Daytona 500!

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My last blog post included a poll asking who would win the 500. As of Sunday morning, no one, including myself, had picked Matt Kenseth.

Jack Roush's first Daytona 500 win has come after 21 years in the sport. It's amazing it took so long when you consider all of the resources his racing organization has.

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