Archive for June, 2009

It’s about time.

In a midseason attempt to add some excitement to Cup racing, NASCAR has moved to double-file restarts beginning with this weekend’s race at Pocono Raceway.

“We’ve heard the fans loud and clear,” NASCAR chairman Brian France said Thursday. “Double-file restarts, shootout-style are coming to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. This addition to the race format is good for competition and good for the fans.”

The first- and second-place drivers will line up side-by-side as the green flag drops for each restart. The former restart procedure had lap-down cars on the inside, and the lead-lap cars on the outside for the restarts.

Technically, in another inconsistent move, NASCAR actually listened to the fans. This inconsistency just happened to work out in everyone’s favor this time.

It was May 2007 when reports of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s well-choreographed move to Hendrick Motorsports surfaced. It was April a year ago when Tony Stewart’s intent to buy a team was revealed.

These early-season blockbusters set the NASCAR dominoes in motion, leading to a flurry of driver and sponsor changes that shook up the sport each of the past two years.

But as the 2009 calendar flipped past April and May, team owners and marketers found themselves still shopping for companies to fill out this year’s sponsor lineup, in addition to selling for 2010.

Maybe they should call it the Sober Season this time around.

Probably a smart move by NASCAR. Cover their bases and get it settled on the federal level once and for all.

NASCAR on Tuesday moved Jeremy Mayfield’s challenge of his indefinite suspension to federal court, a move that could keep the driver out of his car another week.

The notification came a day before a North Carolina Superior Court was scheduled to hear arguments pertaining to Mayfield’s suspension for failing a random drug test. NASCAR’s action automatically stayed that proceeding.

…

“Administration of NASCAR’s substance abuse policy extends to every state in which it races, which is why the logical forum is federal court,” NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said.

Sorry Jeremy, you still get no sympathy from me. Those drugs are dangerous and you should not be operating a stock car while taking them. Time for you to find a new career.

One of the primary issues Jeremy Mayfield’s attorneys are using to get their suspended client back on the track would not hold up in the National Football League or the Olympics.

Attorney John Buric argued in a Mecklenburg [N.C.] County Court on Friday that Mayfield’s positive test for amphetamines should be thrown out because the second test, a “B” sample, was done at the same laboratory as the “A” sample.

He will argue that again on Wednesday when Mayfield makes his second court appearance asking for a temporary restraining order that would lift the indefinite suspension for violating the substance abuse policy and allow him to drive this weekend at Pocono.

Does it matter? Jeremy Mayfield, and his attorney are not denying that he used the drugs anymore. Now they’re arguing that the samples weren’t tested somewhere else. Oh boo hoo.

Sitting in a stock car, traveling hundreds of miles per hour, is no place to be when you’re on that type of drug. Prescription or otherwise. If Jeremy Mayfield has a condition that requires him to take that medication, he shouldn’t be allowed to endanger the other drivers, the pit crews, or the fans. Period.