iNSIDE SCOOP: Too Fast Too Soon?

Speed. 

It's what keeps race fans coming back to the track, spending thousands of dollars to keep pace with the sport of NASCAR racing. Sure, there's the rivalries, favorite drivers, lifestyle and all the rest, but it's speed that brings 'em all to the track.

Or is it?

With Wednesday's news that speeds topped 217 on average and 220 into Turn 1 at Michigan during a tire test, there comes a hint of panic.

If they're racing that fast, who is going to be able to pass?

That question has been asked for quite some time in NASCAR circles, and that's why we have a new-generation car these days. Is it better to go fast and dominate, or duke it out in the field?

If you want pure speed, then Indy Cars should be the flavor of the day, not NASCAR. Those ground-suckers can top 240 miles per hour, generate downforce by the truckload and just keep on diggin'. They race pretty well too, dicing and slicing in packs with open wheels and just inches apart.

But, as former ISC and Indianapolis Motor Speedway president John Cooper once told me, "there's six guys anybody's ever heard of" in Indy Car racing. It's not the A.J. Foyt-Mario Andretti show any more.

NASCAR doesn't have that problem. Six-Time, SuperG, Junior, Smoke, the list goes on. They beat and bang and slam and slide, and at the end of the day, somebody takes home a big trophy and a lot of cash. They're driving Fords and Chevrolets and Toyotas, not Dallaras.

They relate.

But, when you're going hell-bent for election down the front straight at MIS at 217-plus, there's a lot of single-file, run-in-a-line racing that NASCAR fans don't seem to appreciate all that much. Or, at least, they don't if their guy isn't the one doing the leading.

We built the CoT to save lives and improve the racing. We built the Gen-6 to really improve the racing, and that means side-by-side, "I'm braver than you are and I will kick your rear end if you think you're going to beat me today stuff."

Growing up worshiping the ground that the Indy Car raced on, I had no problem with speed. I was there the day Tom Sneva broke the 200-mph barrier for four laps, and I was there the day Arie Luyendyk retired the Indy Car speed trophy at better than 237. 

Now, as primarily a NASCAR guy, I think it's way too fast for good racing. If NASCAR wants to keep butts in seats--and they really, really do--then this is going to have to be nipped in the bud.

Of course, the track has something to do with it. They were hitting 208 heading to Turn 1 at Auto Club Speedway, and they routinely have done that at MIS. The racing wasn't bad at all. However, I believe that if we allow the 217-plus average to continue, it eventually will be bad.

Hendrick and Roush and Gibbs and RCR have the resources to do all the speed work they want. JTG Daughterty probably doesn't. I've lived this once; with Penske and Ganassi and Carl Haas in Indy Cars. I don't want to live it again. Haves vs. have-nots is inevitable, but the haves can't sustain the sport by themselves. They need opponents...cannon fodder, so to speak.

Speed is great, but speed is also a commodity. It costs money, and everybody wants to go as fast as they can.

Let's just rein it in a bit and save the sport we're all committed to, OK?