Gotta Love the G-W-C!!

With 10 to go the Phoenix NASCAR race looked over after Kyle Busch and JJ led the most laps and with Busch looking set to win the race.

Then the curse of the G-W-C happened again... and what a curse!

Suddenly the forgone conclusion turned into a free-for-all with a tire strategy (4 tire) vs. track position (2 tire) pit stop and a two lap sprint for the win. The combination of the G-W-C with the 2 wide restarts gave the end of the race a much needed dose of excitement. That's not to say there was a lack of good racing, as throughout the race there were two wide battles, aided by the high line at Phoenix working so well.

I am not sure however that adding laps to races is always a good idea. In my opinion some Cup races such as Pocono would benefit from the opposite. To me Pocono is normally one of the biggest let downs of the year. Maybe the G-W-C and restart rules will help but to me the Pocono races could do with being 400 miles long, maybe even 350. This would mean that the drivers would have less time to get into position and race for the win, and would give those races their own unique identity and excitement.

I would also love to see more short tracks back on the schedule. We all know that NASCAR went through the change to 1.5 mile tracks in the 90's as they were newer, more modern facilities that held more fans, but what was lost was the grounding and the variety that the short tracks gave the sport. Chicago, Michigan, Fontana, Las Vegas all similar / Charlotte, Texas, Atlanta again very similar, I wish NASCAR had maybe a couple less 1.5 mile races and a couple more short tracks, or maybe another Darlington race instead.

If you want a track that is the complete opposite of these, and proves you don't need perfectly smooth 20 degree plus banking and 1.5 miles of tarmac to create good racing, look at New Hampshire. Basically a flat, 1 mile long, standard old fashioned oval with 4 even semi circular turns and 2 (straight) straightaways, it has produces some great racing recently.

It will be interesting to see what the change to the spoiler does for the cars and the racing at Texas this weekend. If I am getting this right the teams have always complained that the wing gave the cars too much rear end grip thereby making the cars push in the turns. We will see if the teams now have more balanced cars, and we will see if they are able to run closer together in the turns and draft better on the straights with the spoiler.