This morning NASCAR was to qualify for the Sprint Cup race and there was a huge problem with the track!!!!! So drivers were trying to get through turn one and sliding up the track and almost crashing because there was something on the track! Apparently it was OIL from a blown engine in an ARCA Series car at the end of their practice on Friday. When the first car for cup went into turn one a white cloud went flying and he went sliding and did not complete his lap. So I just wondered who is responsible for cleaning the track to be sure that all have an equal chance to qualify their best??? So was it the track, the ARCA Series, or NASCAR's responsibility? Needless to say the go-or-go home cars were at an extreme disadvantage for cup qualifying!!! I realize there were time constraints but very unfair when it could have been easily handled correctly in the time between ARCA practice on Friday afternoon and cup qualifying Saturday morning!!! I sure hope the 1 car that was sent home gets 43rd place money from NASCAR or the Track, that's is the least they could do for their screw-up!!!!!
It seems we have another SNAFU at POCONO!!!!! It was VERY obvious during the early part of the race that something was wrong with the Speeds on Pit Road!!!!! It wound up with 22 speeding penalties over the entire race. At first no one had a clue what was going on, but after about 18 of those penalties the pit road reports discovered that the timing lines had been moved with the repave and one was added!!! So my question is, who is REALLY responsible for informing the teams of changes to a track????? Is it the tracks, NASCAR or is it totally on the teams back to know or find out everything it needs to know, before the race starts????? I don't know what the rules state, if there even are rules covering this kind of thing, but it seems to me that NASCAR had the obligation to at least mention the change to the drivers and crew chiefs in the Drivers meeting Sunday morning!!!!! Just Sayin!!!!!
the whole timing line thing has bothered me since they went to that system. if the teams know where they are they can cheat. speed up and then slow down so as not to get caught by the timing lines. I think they should add a couple of NASCAR officials with radar guns. If they catch a driver speeding he'd also get penalized. Because they'd never know if the gun was on them or not, everyone would have to maintain pit road speed the whole distance. In my mind it would make it safer.
I agree. I have never understood the whole timing lines deal. On NASCAR broadcasts they have the speed of how fast the cars are going. So shouldn't NASCAR have the same technology? That would allow them to monitor how fast a car is going and when it's too fast bust them.
I get what your saying John, there should be a better way to check their speed on pit road. The radar gun is a little weak in my opinion. They could only check a few cars and be sure that the speed was correct or know for sure which car was speeding. Especially under caution. I submit that the transponders or the GPS that TV uses, could give NASCAR speed on pit road very accurately and would cover the entire distance of pit road. Doesn't matter to me but I know you worked the pits for years and are very tuned in to the dangers there more than most.
TV gets those speeds from a transponder that is connected to the GPS system, I don't know if that is a different transponder from the NASCAR one for Timing & Scoring or if its the same one, but they could use it for speeding on pit road. Seems to me it would be much better keeping the drivers from fudging their speed anywhere on pit road.
