Scorecard: Short race at Phoenix was still pretty sweet
Back to basics racing doesn't get any better than watching Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt (albeit Junior) going toe to toe on a shorter track while exhibiting tremendous skill, control and finesse to outrun the other. Oh yeah, the new car proved to be actually racy.
It's a shame that the Subway Fresh Fit 500 had to come down to fuel mileage after fans finally had the opportunity to enjoy some sporty racing throughout portions of the event. No, the new car is far from perfect, but given that this was the third time Sprint Cup competitors visited Phoenix International Raceway, this is the best it's going to get for now. A lot more research has to be conducted before the tour returns to the intermediate tracks. Testing at Lowe's Motor Speedway before the Coca Cola 600, the next race at an intermediate track, would not be a waste.
Still, as polesitter Ryan Newman so eloquently put it — and I agree with his sentiment wholeheartedly — "the racing is up to fans to say it's better or worse. They're the ones that are giving us jobs." Use your voice. That's why the message boards and blogs exist.
Now, let's take a look at the Subway Fresh Fit 500.
First, let's start with the good stuff:
1. Green until the end: Radio banter over the final 10 laps had crews wondering whether a bogus debris caution would wave so the leaders could pit. Thankfully, the yellow never came out. Despite unfolding as a fuel mileage game rather than a race, the story played out according to fate — not someone making the call from the tower.
2. Short and sweet: Why was Saturday night's race more enjoyable than most this season? Look at the length of the event. Instead of being a 500-mile marathon, the Phoenix race was only 312 miles in distance. There was no time to hang around in the back and wait to make a charge — you had to get up on the wheel from the very beginning. Decision makers at tracks like Pocono and California should note that less can actually be more.
3. Making the racing better: NASCAR is looking at double file restarts and putting lapped down cars behind the leaders. This allows the leaders to avoid the riff raff and those off the lead lap to race against themselves for the lucky dog.
Now, back to the drawing board:
1. Mystery theater: Still looking for the debris from the first caution on Lap 12.
2. Keep it clean: Although the safety workers improved reconditioning the track at Texas following Michael McDowell's vicious crash at Texas, a better job could have been done at Phoenix — which is prone to being a dust bowl.
3 Gimme a break: The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule is supposed to be demanding, nobody is challenging that. But what teams are about to face is more than painful. Following this upcoming week off, there will be 12 consecutive weeks of racing (including the All-Star Challenge), a week off, and then another 17 straight weeks of competition. NASCAR doesn't want to subtract race dates — that's fair, we should give fans as much racing as we can — but teams deserve some down time so crew members can get some R&R time. The folks at Daytona need to take another look at the schedule and see if the off weeks can be spread apart a little more.
See more at http://msn.foxsports.com
