No, It Can't...

Last week in this space, the question was asked whether the Brickyard 400 could be a great race. After the show on Sunday, I’d have to say…not under the current format.

Don’t get me wrong. Everything from the only big crash of the race to the finish was interesting. That’s not to say riveting, because it wasn’t. It was interesting in a “hmmm, this could be interesting” kind of way, not an “Oh My God…I can’t turn the TV off because I have to KNOW what happens!” kind of way.

Sure, Paul Menard’s improbably victory was nice, and seeing John Menard in Victory Lane as a participant was heart-warming for those of us who know and appreciate his burning desire to be there.

Watching Jeff Gordon pick off cars like he was in the Kroger parking lot while chasing the leader was kind of cool. It put me in mind of another race at Indy, back in 1982, when Rick Mears was chasing Gordon Johncock over the closing laps and shaving whole seconds off the lead lap after lap.

He didn’t make it either, but the chase was the thing. You can’t hear the PA at Indy unless the cars are at the other end, and the radio we had was a transistor set with the volume cranked. Listening to what was happening at the other end was one of the most riveting moments I can remember having witnessed in person.

SuperG’s run was something like that, though it was due to the fact that the five leaders were running in lockstep to save fuel rather than nursing a slower car. I’ve been around IMS in a variety of vehicles, and based on what I was seeing, the leaders were cruising at about 55 seconds per lap. I’ve been around in about a minute, 10 seconds, and it felt like I was faster than they were.

SuperG had it set on kill, and he was lopping a second a lap off the lead when they finally got the word that they could make it on fuel.

Give Menard credit; when Slugger said go, he went. Hard. He beat Gordon to the line, despite having to negotiate around a less-than-attentive Mike Bliss, who was laps down and in the way.

Still, fuel mileage and a lapped car with delusions of grandeur were not enough to save a race that was more exercise than full-out battle. Doesn’t take anything away from Paul, but it wasn’t like a Daytona race or a Talladega race or even a Martinsville race, if you ask me.

The problem is the cars. They tend to be aero-tight even in clean air, and that was one of the things the new car was intended to address. It hasn’t, or rather NASCAR has not let it happen.

IMS is not a great track for stock cars. You know this. I know this. NASCAR knows this. But you can’t NOT race there. It’s too big, too famous, too prestigious. So, we get…that.

AJ Foyt famously said once, upon a rules discussion, that officials should let him decide how fast he could go down the straightaway and let him worry about how to get it through the corners.

SuperTex was right. Unless NASCAR comes up with a new fix or decides to let crew chiefs and engineers “have at it” too, then we’re in for 130 laps of ennui prior to a staged, strategic, fuel-mileage “race” to the finish.

In other words, why not put the Cup cars at IRP (Lucas Oil Raceway) and be done with it? The racing would be a lot better and you can always build more seats. Some 145,000 attended on Sunday, and LOR is an eighth of a mile larger than Bristol, which seats 160,000.

It’s something to think about…

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