The Woes of Daytona

Dale Earnhardt Jr. hates Daytona.  So do a lot of other people. 

By now, Dale Jr's rant after this weekend's Coke Zero 400 (formerly the Firecracker 400) at Daytona is legendary.  He doesn't like the new 2 car trains, doesn't like the close packs, and certainly doesn't like the amateur hour that seems to take place the last few laps when half the field wrecks and a no-namer wins.  I can't blame him- It's time for NASCAR to do something with this track.

In case you haven't seen it : http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6736071

"What kind of move can you make?," was Dale's comment after the race.  He's got a point- with the new surface and plate rules at Daytona, you literally have to ride around hooked up to another car, and hope you don't wreck.  When you've got 20 other idiots around you doing the same thing at 200 MPH, it becomes a lot tougher than you'd expect.  There's no real passing, no "drive it in hard and hope that it sticks," it's just stay glued to the guy in front of you and hope he's going the same way you are.

Back in the day when guys like Dale Jr., Dale Sr., and Jeff Gordon were winning at Daytona, it was about horsepower and guts- sure you needed the drafting help, but when it came time to race, the five or six best cars always rose to the top.  Now, whoever wins the race is completely up to chance- you don't need things you can put into a race car to win - all you need is luck.  Sure, I can't win the race in my Altima, but the field is too evenly matched with the plates. 

I don't care what anyone says, Trevor Bayne and David Ragan being your two winners on the most famous circuit in NASCAR is not good for the sport.  Good for them- bad for NASCAR.

So, how do I propose we fix this dilemma?  I don't know.  Neither does Dale.  In his three minute rant, he seems to blame everyone from the brass to the media, but doesn't really offer up a solution.  One fix would be a rule change, but that seems out of the question.  There has always been drafting at Daytona- just not to the quirky extreme it is now.  Plus, how would you enforce/define violations?  Probably not the solution.

Another idea is to get rid of joint radio communications between "drafting partners."  Right now, the two-man teams share spotters and radio communications.  I'd be all for it- I don't really like to think of NASCAR as a true "team" sport.  I'm still not sure this is going to fix the problems- it will probably just create more wrecks with teams not being on the same page.

Taking the restrictor plates off the cars seems to be a popular idea amongst some fans, but it would make the race suicidally dangerous.  Rusty Wallace reportedly ran a few laps around Talladega "plate free" during a practice session a few years ago and hit over 230 MPH.  A major wreck would probably kill both the driver and some fans.  Think I'm crazy?  Look at Bobby Allison's wreck from 1987 in the Winston 500 at Talledega- it's one of the major reasons plates went on the cars in the first place.

I know there are a lot of fans that like the 2-man draft you see at Daytona and Talledega, but I'm going to side with the drivers and say that something has to change.  It's just not racing anymore at this point.