Here I am, back atop my imaginary turn two perch, wondering just what
happened to racing.
It seems to me that nowadays, if you don't drive for Hendricks, Roush,
Childress, or Gibbs, you have about as good a chance of winning a race as
a possum does getting across the road unscathed. Every now and again, some
other team will have someone run up front. Case in point, David Reutimann
at Richmond back on September 7. He led the most laps before he finally
finished ninth. Then this past Sunday, Martin Truex, Jr. looked to have a
dominant car early, but then tragedy struck as a broken transmission put
him in the garage and out of the race. And eventually, once again, the
victory went to a Hendrick driver with a Roush driver close behind.

     Of the 29 races that have been run so far this year, 26 have been won
by a driver from one of these four teams. What are these other teams
to do? Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to down these drivers, or
for that matter, the owners. Except maybe Jack Roush. I've found
myself liking Roush less and less in the last couple of years. That
man whines more than a cartoon rat after some cheese. He's been heard
complaining that the Toyotas have an advantage. Looks to me that the
only Toyota he's had to worry about on a consistent basis so far has
been that of Kyle Bush. And who does Bush drive for? Gibbs.

     It seems that Lady Luck is giving the majority of her business to
these four teams. For example, something I like to call the
"Hendricks Caution". How many times has it happened? Jimmy Johnson or
Jeff Gordon find themselves a lap down for whatever reason. Then, out
of nowhere, some mysterious debris ends up on the track instigating a
caution that puts them back on the lead lap. Sometimes we get to see
the debris. Other times, like a couple of weeks ago at Dover, we
don't see it. We just have to take the announcer's word for it. Does
a ghost mysteriously appear and poop on the track? I don't know. All
I know, it that these cautions conveniently appear just at the right
time for Johnson or Gordon to get their lap back. Then they go on to
finish well. Conspiracy theory? No. It just seems to happen alot to
me. I know I've opened up a whole BOX of worms, but so be it. I've
heard many race fans have the same opinion.

     The COT car was supposed to increase the competitiveness level among
the teams. I can see that to a point. There seems to be a little more
side-by-side racing on some tracks. But there's not that much
difference from previous years. The races are still being dominated
for the most part by the same four teams. I find myself paying less
and less attention to the sport I once wouldn't miss a minute of. Do
I have the answer to fix this? No, I don't. If I did, I wouldn't be
sitting here blogging about it. I'd be taking my hindend to NASCAR
headquarters in Daytona and making some money. I, like so many others
on the internet, am just here spouting off my opinions and
frustrations. The bottom line is, NASCAR needs to figure out some way
to get ALL the teams on the same competitive level. Until they do,
more and more fans of the "other" teams are going to  keep tuning out
midrace.

     And that's the view from turn two today.....