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| Jackson: My suggestions for NASCAR |
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Thursday, December 25, 2008
By ASHLEY JACKSON - Bulletin Sports Intern
I just got a genie for Christmas that said it could grant me three wishes pertaining to the awesome sport of NASCAR. Just three wishes?!?! Wow, that’s hard! Let’s see....
My first wish would have to be that the Car of Tomorrow/Car of Today would be an ancient memory. Since the introduction of the COT full-time last year, racing isn’t what it used to be. Yes, I do like the safety of the new car, and the modifications were proven a success in the case of Michael McDowell at Texas Motor Speedway.
However, the new car doesn’t provide for good side-by-side racing that we all love to watch. The car is too heavy which makes it hard to handle, leading to no side-by-side racing. To Kyle Busch’s liking, the car is very durable when hitting the wall. While that may sound like a good thing to the drivers, it doesn’t make for a wreck-filled race that the fans want.
The new car simply does not provide for exciting races. I wish that NASCAR would do away with the COT. If they do not do away with it entirely, it does need major improvements to create better handling for the drivers and more excitement for the fans. With the lack of excitement with the COT, I definitely wouldn’t prefer that NASCAR bring the new car into the Nationwide Series. This past season, the Nationwide Series was much more exciting than the Sprint Cup Series. Shouldn’t that tell NASCAR something?
My second wish would be that a new rivalry would come about in NASCAR. Just like the old Richard Petty and Bobby Allison rivalry or the Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon rivalry.
We had a few glimpses of a rivalry this past season with the Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick scuffle in the garage at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, and the Kyle Busch and Juan Pablo Montoya incident at New Hampshire. These are just glimpses; we need another bitter rivalry in today’s NASCAR. I would prefer a good rivalry between NASCAR’s new up-and-coming stars, such as Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards. Wouldn’t we love to see a fight after the 2009 Daytona 500, just like the 1979 Daytona 500? Except this time instead of Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison, it would be Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch!
My third and final wish would be that Jeff Gordon succeeds in his quest for the “Drive for Five!” Jeff Gordon won four championships with the old Winston Cup points system(1995, 1997, 1998, 2001). If NASCAR was still with the old points system, Gordon would have won the championships in 2004 and 2007.
Unfortunately, with the new points system, Gordon has failed to win another championship. In 2007, Gordon had a record 30 top-10 finishes but couldn’t beat Jimmie Johnson’s surge during the Chase. After that disheartening defeat in 2007, Gordon deserves to win another championship.
As a huge NASCAR fan, if the genie could make these three wishes come true, it would make NASCAR even better than it already is. The new car needs adjustments, we need a bitter rivalry, and we need an old champ to become a champ again.
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