Green-White-Checkers

Stop #8: Kansas

By Ryan Frisco

As I sit here starting this article, I'm trying to find some clever way to incorporate Dorothy in 'The Wizard of Oz' into the introduction, when she states, 'We're not in Kansas anymore.'  Not happening.  Oh well, let's talk about NASCAR!

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So, if you watched the race last Saturday night in Texas, you pretty much saw what today's race is going to be like, the only difference being it's during the daytime.  Kansas and Texas are very similar tracks.  There are actually too many of these tracks on the circuit.  This intermediate level, 1 1/2 mile tracks make for not close racing and what many fans call 'boring' races.  I'm not totally on board with the 'boring' part, but NASCAR has too many races at tracks without any character to them.  Let's branch out and pick up a couple more road courses (Riverside, Montreal) and short tracks (Iowa, Nashville) and move some of these mid level tracks (Kansas, Texas, Kentucky, Chicagoland,  Las Vegas, etc.) back to one race a year instead of two.  That's my two cents, and I think it would do NASCAR well in the long run to do so.

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Let's take a moment and review the penalties administered last week at Texas.  Defending Champion Brad Keselowski and his Penske Racing teammate, Joey Logano, were both penalized  heavily for their car's rear end housing not being 'In the spirit of NASCAR.'  I know, it sounds silly.  Both were penalized 25 championship points (equal to 25 positions on track).  In addition, their crew chiefs were fined $100,000 and the crew chief, car chief and engineer are all suspended 6 races.   That means they cannot be in contact with the team at all.  That is harsh.  That will make it tough for this prestigious team to continue to compete at the level they have.  Do I agree with the entire situation?  My opinion is slightly skewed, I've been rooting for the #2 car since 1990.  But, things seem a little fishy to me.

In other news, Martin Truex, Jr. was penalized 6 points and his crew chief is on probation until December due to a minor infraction.  Whatever minor means.  Every point is precious to these drivers, especially when you're on the bubble.

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Now, back to this week.  Like I said, expect more of the same. Rousch Racing, specifically Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards will be in the hunt again.  Hendrick cars will be too, much like they were last week until encountering trouble.  Gibbs (Kyle Busch) will be awesome.  Who will win?

Martin Truex, Jr.  Dude's been out of Victory Lane too long now.  Last week he should have won.  You can make the claim that it wasn't his fault, but a dozen other drivers in his spot would have pulled it out.  Truex is good, but he needs to take that next step to be a contender.  It's time Martin.  Win.