It's the current veterans that keep people watching NASCAR. It's the new generation of drivers that will keep interest in it. If these first two weeks meant anything, it showed that these guys will do anything necessary to get themselves wins and championships. Daytona and Atlanta both saw emotional wins coming from different sides of the Spectrum.
Last week's Daytona 500 seemed like it belong to Aric Almirola. However, he was touched by Austin Dillon and crashed into the wall. Dillon would take the lead on that last lap and won in the 3 car. Last year, he took Richard Childress Racing to victory lane in that number for the first time since 2000. On the day in 2001 when Dale Earnhardt was killed on this track and 20 years after that driver's only win there, Dillon won Daytona. It's huge for the team. Also huge was Darrell Wallace Jr. finishing second, going side by side with Denny Hamlin at the finish line in the 43 car. That was more along the line of the new generation drivers becoming the new faces of NASCAR.
Sunday's Atlanta race was marred by rain, but they got the race in. Ultimately, it became Kevin Harvick's as he was dominant. He's had a number of chances over the years, but he got his due once again. With this one, it was his second win in the Cup series. His first however was his first win ever back when it was the Winston Cup. The immediate backup to Earnhardt after he was killed, Harvick took over and won Atlanta in only his third start. At that time, he put out three fingers in honor of the late driver. He would repeat it again yesterday. This was more of a veterans kind of race as the top five were longtime guys, the top three being Ford's Brad Keselowski, and Clint Bowyer. Rounding out was Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr..
As the younger drivers keep fitting in, a handful of them seemed destined to get the huge wins. Last year, Kyle Larson pulled in four. Dillon and Ryan Blaney had one, the latter winning for the Wood Brothers. Chase Elliott is still looking for his first. Meanwhile, the veterans still have that kind of leadership to lead their teams and teammates to the Cup. It's very early in the year. We'll see if some of them are pretenders or continue strong to become contenders when those important races in the fall matters.
Showing posts with label ausin dillon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ausin dillon. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Thursday, March 23, 2017
NASCAR's Image
Another week, another incident for the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. This time, it was in their XFINITY series in Phoenix. Late in the race this past Saturday, Austin Dillon got hit by Cole Custer and the car suffered some bad damage. Dillon would retaliate and wreck him. Following that, both guys had to meet with officials regarding it. As far as I understand, there's not going to be any punishments issued. This comes almost two weeks ago following the Las Vegas Monster Energy Cup race with Joey Logano and Kyle Busch. Long story short, Logano got a tiny bit loose and hit Busch on the final lap. Busch thought it was deliberate and threw a punch, sparking a little brawl between him and Logano's pit crew.
Every sport has it's issues regarding certain people that are involved. Most of the time, it's just between players. A few times have had fans involved. Some examples include Ron Artest and a few other Indiana Pacer players in 2004 when a Detroit Piston fan threw a beer at him (the fan was under probation for DUI incidents. He was banned for life from going to Piston games 10 years ago). You got in hockey the incident with Tie Domi squirting water at Philadelphia Flyer fans. One of which actually fell into the penalty box. The way NASCAR has handled these two incidents is pretty bad.
Here's how I view throwing a punch in a sport. You do that, you get ejected and the possibility of fines and suspensions are imminent. The same thing can be said for doing something deliberate. Really, both Logano and Busch should have been fined for the fight. Despite my disdain for Busch, he should have suspended at least one race. Some of Logano's pit crew should have been punished as. This past weekend, Fox really promoted the incident to get people to tune in. As far as Dillon goes, there should have been at least a fine. It almost comes off as bush league.
Unfortunately, it's the heat of the battle. For these drivers, they are competing for points. Whatever place you're in makes a huge difference as the year goes on in the chances of winning a championship. It's sending a wrong message that you should be doing this whenever things don't go your way. Luckily, there's still enough drivers from the late 90s and early 2000s to know that stuff doesn't fly with them. However, as the older group ages, who is going to be that big leader to lead the way for the younger generations and beyond?
In the end, it's going to frustrate fans. Not in the sense of wanting conflict. That's never going to disappear. It's more so getting away with things scot-free. NASCAR needs to start taking some of these incidents very seriously. Otherwise, that message is going be wrong and someone will wind up needing stitches or fixing a broken arm. Stop it before it gets worse.
Every sport has it's issues regarding certain people that are involved. Most of the time, it's just between players. A few times have had fans involved. Some examples include Ron Artest and a few other Indiana Pacer players in 2004 when a Detroit Piston fan threw a beer at him (the fan was under probation for DUI incidents. He was banned for life from going to Piston games 10 years ago). You got in hockey the incident with Tie Domi squirting water at Philadelphia Flyer fans. One of which actually fell into the penalty box. The way NASCAR has handled these two incidents is pretty bad.
Here's how I view throwing a punch in a sport. You do that, you get ejected and the possibility of fines and suspensions are imminent. The same thing can be said for doing something deliberate. Really, both Logano and Busch should have been fined for the fight. Despite my disdain for Busch, he should have suspended at least one race. Some of Logano's pit crew should have been punished as. This past weekend, Fox really promoted the incident to get people to tune in. As far as Dillon goes, there should have been at least a fine. It almost comes off as bush league.
Unfortunately, it's the heat of the battle. For these drivers, they are competing for points. Whatever place you're in makes a huge difference as the year goes on in the chances of winning a championship. It's sending a wrong message that you should be doing this whenever things don't go your way. Luckily, there's still enough drivers from the late 90s and early 2000s to know that stuff doesn't fly with them. However, as the older group ages, who is going to be that big leader to lead the way for the younger generations and beyond?
In the end, it's going to frustrate fans. Not in the sense of wanting conflict. That's never going to disappear. It's more so getting away with things scot-free. NASCAR needs to start taking some of these incidents very seriously. Otherwise, that message is going be wrong and someone will wind up needing stitches or fixing a broken arm. Stop it before it gets worse.
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