9 for me. Best Chase race so far. The ending was bogus. And lets forget the fact i'm a Stewert fan. I'll admit, Regan was wronged. I'm not happy about it. I like seeing rookie's win. Boy i feel i have a target on my back. :(

10!

Best race of the year.

It got the fans talking and will make it on the highlight reel for Sportscenter. Can you ask for more?

jcmark611 - 06 October 2008 04:01 AM

10!

Best race of the year.

It got the fans talking and will make it on the highlight reel for Sportscenter. Can you ask for more?

+100

For those fans that think NASCAR making judgement calls within the grey areas of the rules either haven't watched for very long, have short memories, or their bias for or against a particular driver(s) is clouding their reasoning. I'm not saying NASCAR made the right call yesterday but it's certainly not out of the ordinary to be scratching your head by the end of a race.

from NASCAR: Post-Race Comments from NASCAR Vice President of Corporate Communications Jim Hunter Talladega Superspeedway, Oct. 5, "You cannot improve your position anytime you go below the yellow line. In our judgment, he (Regan Smith) improved his position and the penalty for that is a pass thru, so he was moved back to the tail end of the longest line or 18th position. At the driver's meeting, we clearly state that you cannot improve your position by going below the yellow line. We do not feel he was forced below the yellow line. Anytime you get into a situation like this, there are going to be two different opinions. We respect Regan's view, but we made the call, we think it's the right call and the finish is final. NASCAR has to maintain some kind of control – and that's the reason we say, you cannot advance your position by going below the yellow line. If he had not improved his position, he probably would have been awarded 2nd place."(NASCAR)

-jayski

Hunter almost drew a line in the sand so that everyone is one the same page regarding the 'out of bounds', but he left a loop hole open by saying NASCAR didn't feel he was forced below the yellow line. Fuzzy logic based on variables leaves the option for NASCAR to be the all mighty puppeteer and the teams as powerless marionettes. The only thing consistent with yesterday's call is that it wasn't 100% consistent, which is how NASCAR likes it, because it reminds the teams who always has the last say.

The way I took the yellow line rule was, you treat the line like it's more or less a concrete wall. Go below the line you in essence hit a wall. Regan had three choices, go low, stay behind Tony, or go high. Granted I wasn't the one driving but I was screaming at Regan to make his move coming off of two, heading down the backstretch. RS had nothing to lose to try and go around Tony, the race showed that being in the lead was not a safe place to be, and he had his teammate right behind him, but he waited until the trioval to make his move(without help) and as it turns out, he chose poorly.

Yesterday's NASCAR call reminded me of when Harvick beat Mark Martin in the 07 Daytona 500, a race whose finish was dictated by the control tower.

oh yeah, and controversy is good for headlines, fan/media interest and discussion.

I figure she was worth a 7.. Not great, but some good racing.

Restrictor plate racing is the best to watch in my opinion. I gave yesterdays race a 5 though. I hate that so many drivers were taken out due to tire issues.

VetteGuy62 - 06 October 2008 11:11 AM

I figure she was worth a 7.. Not great, but some good racing.

Agree. I attribute it all to the absence of door handles and hood ornaments on the COT.

I give the race a 9. There were some drivers hanging back, but almost all the drivers raced and wanted the lead. There were 28 different leader and something like 65 lead changes. The drivers were not riding around single file, which was nice to see.

That 9 rating is just for the racing however. The tire explosions, though they lacked a pattern because both right front and rear tires were exploding, not only on the straights but in the turns and on various laps, were annoying. Not Goodyears fault though, the tires were over inflated and even Bowyer's CC Gil Martin said so. The call at the end, although questionable, was not out of left field IMHO. I agreed with it, but their are alot of people for and against that call.

Carl Edwards really messed up the race though. There could have been a myriad of drivers racing for the win but he not only bumb drafted IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TURN causing a huge wreck, he didn't even let off the gas when he hit Biffle. That was the most disapointing part of the race.

Regardless, Talladega=Craziness.

You really never know what will happen.

I hate restrictor plate racing. What makes it worse is a tire the drivers cant depend on. It seemed to me there wouldnt have any big ones if the tires had kept from exploding.

I gave it a 7 if the controversy at the end didn't happen it would have been better.

I give it an 8.5.

For a NASCAR noobie like many of us who never watched before JPM made the jump it was a pretty fun day. Juancho looked like he could either be the guy to beat or a top 10 finish. That has not happened often this season for JPM fans so it was rather exciting to see the team running near the pointy end for a chunk of the race.

The end call I can't really comment on but give the race a -1.0 for the controversy.

Woop woop #42 team.