Ragan has rough day...

[Chris]

Well... I felt bad for David,... Punted Schrader and wrecked him ruining his day. Knowing him personally, I know he feels bad about that.
Some folks jumped on the bandwagon slamming him,.. just the Schrader incident he caused.  Once or twice he was the one that GOT spun.  Thats TOTALLY not his fault.

I see Stewart had to put his two cents in and make this comment:
"The best thing would have been to black-flag [Ragan] and park him for the rest of the day and save half of the cautions," Stewart said. "We had a rookie out there that was kind of a dart with no feathers out there"

hhuummm Gee from a guy who is MOST of the time in one part of the track, and David on another... at the very best he would of had to be RIGHT behind Ragan at EVERY incident to make such a comment,.. so I don't see where he had any ground to stand on to open his mouth.  As usual I guess Tony just having to spout off to get some headlines.

Seems to me a certain Dale Earnhrdt Jr was told at this track one of the times he raced here "go out there and hit the pace car,.. you hit everything else so far"... and he had run a LOT more than ONE CUP race previous to racing here.  SO I think he did OK for a first trip.
MOST time if you manage just to FINISH at Martinsville you have had a good day.
If not for the miscue with Schrader... (and that only happened because the front tires locked up) I could even go so far as to call his day a "success"
Just the miscue with Schrader,.. and that Schrader had run so poorly for sooooo long is what made it seem so bad.
Gee,.. not that many negative comments were made last week when Yeley wrecked Martin,... and Martin is a CHASE contender, and Yeley's got LOTS of CUP races under his belt.

[Busch Babe 899]

Martinsville is not easy on ANYBODY, especially a rookie. Like Wally said at one point, he HAD to be gettin' dizzy... LOL

[creative_rajiv]

Ragan was a loose cannon out there. This shows that he still needs lot of seat time. Cup series is not easy by any means and a race in Martinsville adds to the misery. I was watching Ragan bump and grind with everybody and ruined Schrader's top 10 run. Schrader was really miffed because he doesn't get to sniff top 10 runs too often. I really felt bad for him. 

[Tyyrus]

Yeh , David had a tough day , they say some of the Worlds Most Valuable Lessons are Learned the Hard Way...Man ! He'll do Ok !   Hey , Smoke , Junior , Gordo & Cousin Carl..all went thru their Trial & Tribulations...Man !

[Busch Babe 899]

David was quoted on NOL as saying it could have been easier (his start in Cup) but Jack didn't WANT it easy for him. Martinsville for your first race in Cup (or the first after being named heir-apparent to the illustrious 6 car) ??  This was a test...he survived. Did he upset people on the way?? Sure. But he finished...on the lead lap. I can't remember the last time Todd Kluever did that.

[Chris]

hey,.. he's attempted two races,.. MADE two races,.. heck I can't remember the last time Kleuver did THAT...

[AfterShock]

 

[smyler]

I have nothing against Ragan, but I do have to say that putting him in such a difficult race of such importance seemed a bit of a dangerous move.  Both Kyle Busch and KS were knocked out because/by him.  Both of them were driving in the top 10 at the time.  He cost both of those drivers thousands, and more importantly they both lost valuable points.  Kenny is struggleing to be in the top 35.  Kyle is going for a championship.  I don't even like Kyle, but it seemed unfair that he was caught in someone elses mess.

I know, I know, you see that kind of thing every week, but I don't think NASCAR thought this through all the way when they introduced the chase.  Seems to me that they should only allow drivers with at least five finishes (not just starts) to race in the last ten races.  If they are not going to do that, how about they do like some have been discussing and have 2 seperate point systems for chasers and nonchasers?

Of course you have to get experience somewhere, but does it have to be at the risk of other drivers who have so much to lose?

[Busch Babe 899]

It's a good idea, smyler...however, for some teams, that would jeopardize their chances of running for ROTY the next season, if they put a rookie full-time in the car with 5 races before the Chase, then the last 10...that's 15, more than double the number of races a rookie can run one season and still be elligible for ROTY the next season; he'd be automatically out of the running. For some teams, I imagine the ROTY money is important for funding purposes. And not all teams have enough resources or drivers to put a rookie in the car for only a certain number of races in the Chase, with another driver to run the rest, if they are trying to field a full-time car for the all-important owner's points. Gotta get into that top 35 for safety sake, you know. 

[Chris]

well you got some interesting ideas Smyler
I guess it can be seen both ways.

IMO I agree with BB.  Many teams use the last 10 or 15 races of the season to test out new drivers to see what they are made of,.. move them up from BGN or CTS,.. come from a entirely different series (look at Montoya or AJ for example)... so it's about 'impossible' to make a rule to say "this type driver can't race",.. it penalizes all the teams from time to time.

ON the other point,.. I think Nascar WILL eventually go to a point system JUST for the chase drivers (as bad as I think that will be)... I'll explain why later.
But IMO I think the drivers have had to race and EARN points the first 26 races to get INTO the chase with the 43 cars and points intertwined together,... so I think that should remain the same in the chase.  Look what a close points chase it has given us for far the last THREE years by doing that.  Can't Argue with success..  Of course nascar is famous for trying to fix stuff that is NOT broken.

NOW,... lets look at what would happen if nascar set up a "chasers only" points system.
You could have a driver win,... and the next guy finish 30th,.. and only lose 2 or 3 points (just depends on the spread they use).  That hardly seems fair.  IMO this just falls into the hands of someone who drive and races for 'consistency'.  That is what the chase was designed to get away from.  Also if someone every got a lead (and a lead wouldn't have to be very "big" to be HUGE.  The way they do it now, if you fall out and finish last you stand to lose 150 points.  THAT can tighten a points race up in a hurry.  Look at what happened this weekend.

[AfterShock]

Here's an idea on how to repair the format problem(s).

PUT IT BACK THE WAY IT W A S !!!

Get rid of the chase for the tail.

And give an extra ten to twenty-five points to the race winner(s).

Simple. No?

[KurtBuschFan]

But AfterShock that would be wayyyyyy too easy...and it would make the fans happy.  And Brian France's pocket wouldn't be lined as much....you know that'll never happen!

[AfterShock]

But AfterShock that would be wayyyyyy too easy...and it would make the fans happy.  And Brian France's pocket wouldn't be lined as much....you know that'll never happen!

.................

Yeah,.........you're correct KG.
But, a super Heerow can dream,.........can't he?

*wink*

[KurtBuschFan]

you can dream all you want....just please please please don't hold your breath till it happens!  we'd miss you

[AfterShock]

you can dream all you want....just please please please don't hold your breath till it happens!  we'd miss you

....................

 

Can you IMAGINE me INFLATED??

NOoooo, DON'T LET GOOoooooooo!
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I'm FLYING!
I'M FLYING!