Newman/Borland team; what will become of them?

Working out the scanner issues (Photo credit: purduenila)

As I was listening to the radio communication between Stewart- Haas Racing's Ryan Newman, driver of the #39 car and his Crew Chief, Matt Borland, Sunday at Kansas, I began to wonder about next year. 

Changes always require a period of adjustment, but I can't help but wonder what will become of the long-time relationship between these two. They have built a real team, both on the race track and off. Yet in 2014 Ryan Newman will move to Richard Childress Racing; his crew chief will be Luke Lambert on the #31 Caterpillar/Quicken Loans car. There has been no word on the future of Matt Borland. Will he remain with Stewart-Haas Racing, or follow Newman, as occurred when Newman joined Stewart-Haas.

These two have been through so much together. From 2001 to 2006, the two worked well together at Penske Racing, scoring 12 wins and 37 poles. Following a brief separation, they coalesced once more under the Stewart-Haas banner. Borland was hired in an engineering capacity, but returned as Crew Chief to Ryan Newman's #39 car last year. The result brought an end to Newman's winless streak at New Hampshire and a big win this summer at Indianapolis. Newman has also posted top speeds, giving him the pole twice in recent months.

There is no question that the two, both with engineering backgrounds, and an analytic approach to problem-solving, work well together. They are personal friends. Matt was the best man at Ryan and Krissie Newman's wedding.

Added pressure of the last few races of this season; perhaps the last races the two will work together, are undoubtedly stressful. It was made more so, according to the sense I got from hearing the tone of the voices over the radio at Kansas yesterday. Newman just happened to be the collateral damage when Justin Allgaier lost control of his car, hit the wall and slammed into Newman. The damage was severe, though the team worked hard to get Newman back onto the track to earn one more position before the race ended.

The situation called for some tense moments, as the crew had to practically rebuild the back end of the race car as well as the right side. Borland urged the team to calm down and just do their jobs. But that normally cool demeanor was preceded by a few raised voices and loud directives. It was not a good day for the #39 team. The result was losing five places in the points. If it wasn't for bad luck, Newman would have no luck at all. The team never gave up however. They got Newman fixed up, back on the track in time to make up one more position. Every point counts. He finished the race in 35th position. 

New track record for Ryan Newman at New Hampshire

Ryan Newman

It certainly feels good to be a Ryan Newman fan these days!

Congratulations to Ryan Newman for qualifying on the pole and at the same time setting a new track record at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with a time of 27.904 at 136.497 mph.

The Loudon, NH track is a special one for Newman. It was here that he won his first official cup race in 2002. Since then he has scored two more wins.

Today marks Newman's 51st pole, the sixth of which he has earned at this track.

Starting at the front of the field plays right into Newman's strategy, since he believes track position is important. He said passing at Loudon is difficult. And, winning the pole allows Newman to choose the first pit stall, which is just icing on the cake.

This is the second race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship. Last week at Richmond, Newman ran a great race, finishing tenth, which moved him up to 8th in points. He started the Chase in 12th.

I miss the Speed Channel

Speed (TV channel) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There could not have been a better illustration of what was lost to fans of motor sports when Fox Sports 1 took over the SPEED channel, than the race at Chicagoland that was postponed because of rain.

If it wasn't for Twitter, it would have been impossible to have known if or when the race would restart or where it would be broadcast. The too many ESPN channels, Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2 were void of updates on the restart of the race. I'm sure plenty of race fans missed out because they had no information about when the race would restart or where it would be broadcast.

Eventually there were comments on Twitter claiming the race would restart and be telecast on ESPN2, but that was of little consequence when funny cars and rails sped down the quarter mile. There was no hint of NASCAR either on the television screen or in the programming guide.

Gone are the days when events related to a race were shown on SPEED. It was nice to have a place to go for information. Now, that is completely up in the air.

There were jokes on Twitter about the jet dryer 400, but I can't tell you how many times the progress of drying the track and monitoring the chatter among race analysts provided a helpful backdrop while cooking dinner or other household chores. When a race is pending due to rain, life may go on, but it doesn't go on far from the television. It is difficult to admit, but just being able to check in on progress being made was oddly comforting.

While I understand a desire to portray NASCAR as a sport on a par with football, baseball, etc., it is not the same thing. For anyone that follows NASCAR but has no interest in college basketball or national football, we seem to be out of luck.

It is very frustrating to watch Race Day and then experience a complete void for an hour or more before the race starts. I assume the whole idea behind Race Day was to get fans pumped up for the race. Now it simply leaves us hanging.

Specifically this weekend showed the frustration in trying to stay on top of NASCAR news. This had to be very frustrating to fans that are not users of social media or subscribers to Sirius XM radio. If it wasn't for Twitter, I would not have known how to watch the end of the race.

If you are not a Twitter user now would be a good time to start.

My take on NASCAR drama

Chicagoland Speedway, Wikipedia

The dust has settled, even after the long rainy spell that turned it all into mud.

The first race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship is now behind us--finally! It was a long road to hoe, but the championship battle has commenced.

My observations to follow this long week of racing news is as follows:

Adding Jeff Gordon to the chase:

As much as I recognize that Jeff Gordon seemingly got robbed by the events during the race at Richmond that affected the final race of the regular 2013 season, I'm not sure it made sense to simply add his name to the roster. When that was done to add Ryan Newman to the Chase, NASCAR went out of its way to justify it. Newman wasn't simply given a chase berth because he would likely have won the race that was stolen from him when Clint Bowyer spun out his car, Newman was added because the points dictated it. He was tied with Martin Truex, Jr. who as a Michael Waltrip Racing driver was penalized 50 points. The same wasn't true for Gordon, which once again shows NASCAR's inconsistency, a problem they never quite seem to grapple with.

Michael Waltrip Racing penalties:

If it was possible to simply add Gordon to the chase, why wasn't the same action accorded Martin Truex, Jr.? He too was a victim of the overall incident at Richmond. Clearly he had no knowledge of the team orders for which he was an innocent beneficiary. Truex was the one victim in this whole story and he was the only one given no consideration. That was patently unfair. I believe Gordon was added because NASCAR tends to favor him. There have been countless other incidents, like when NASCAR calls a race for rain at just the right moment, or when caution is called for debris that no one sees.

Clint Bowyer points penalties

Clint Bowyer's spin, which started the events that changed the face of the championship field, was intentional, by all accounts except that of Bowyer himself. I believe it to be as well, based on the video of his in-car camera as well as so much feedback from drivers and former drivers turned analysts. NASCAR could have gone back to the technology available to them to prove the spin was intentional, but they didn't. Rather than make it right they would have had to admit they were wrong. The decision-makers are the same ones that initially said there was no problem with the spin. NASCAR doesn't often admit when they are wrong. But I think they were wrong! They should have investigated this further.

For Bowyer to receive a points penalty in the regular season points standings was ineffectual. The penalty should have been after the reseeding for the chase. This was totally wrong on NASCAR's part. The result of their action was moot. Bowyer should not have been allowed to run for the championship in the same manner than the rest of the field of drivers. By comparison, what happened to Bowyer and Truex--well--there is no comparison. Bowyer, who caused this mess came out smelling like a rose while Truex paid the price. That is wrong!

Penske Racing and Furniture Row Racing

Probation for Penske Racing--again--and Furniture Row Racing was meaningless, yet the video transmission about dealmaking was alarming. How many times have these deals altered the results of a race in the past? Will it happen again in the future? This did result in NASCAR cracking down on having only one spotter per team with no digital radios and cell phones allowed.

Restart rules

I applaud NASCAR for loosening the restart rules that were never followed anyway. This is the closest thing to an admission that they were wrong in trying to police restarts, for which they failed miserably.

Painfully long rain delay

NASCAR did the right thing by re-starting the race after the rain. It was a good race overall and certainly worth the wait.

Thank goodness for Twitter

Thanks to Twitter, I was able to follow all the nuances of the painfully long week of news related to what was deemed "spingate." I feel as though I was as informed as I wanted to be, limited only by my own curiosity. NASCAR news men and women did a Yeoman's job reporting all of the events surrounding this bizarre week that began at Richmond Saturday night and continued until the conclusion of the rain-delayed first race of the Chase Sunday night at Chicagoland. Heck, it was almost Monday morning by the time the race ended.

Kudos to the news media

A special shout out to all of them for keeping race fans apprised of what was happening during all the drama unfolding throughout the previous week. They did a fine job, interviewing drivers, staying on top of NASCAR officials, asking all the right questions, and coming up with excellent analysis. 

Final thoughts on Richmond; Fix points racing; Go for legitimate win!

Clint Bowyer

As much as everyone would like to put last week's Richmond race behind them, that may not be possible. NASCAR can choose to simply move on or they can make the necessary changes to ensure it doesn't happen again.
This has been a really busy week! What has been deemed "Spingate," has kept everyone on their toes, including those of us who have watched intently as the news began to unfold.

Reporters and commentators have been busy, not just filing stories about the upcoming Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship, but posing questions associated with Spingate, when Clint Bowyer spun out in the closing laps of Saturday's Richmond race. It was the final race to determine the championship contenders, and a lot was on the line. Bowyer refuses to admit he spun out on purpose, changing the entire complexion of the race, but he may be the only one who won't admit it. Drivers and past drivers have all but accused the action as being intentional. NASCAR stepped in and assigned harsh penalties to Michael Waltrip Racing. The only person really affected by them was Martin Truex, Jr., the most innocent one of the MWR stable, but who was the beneficiary of his teammates' actions. Personally, I think he was completely innocent and had no idea what was happening. All he knew, is he was driving for his life, and with a busted wrist, no less. The result of the penalties took Truex out of contention for the chase and replaced him with Ryan Newman who was running in the lead when the spin occurred. In essence, the win was stolen from him. NASCAR made it right by him to assign penalties to MWR. the result was that he replaced Truex in the points standing, as he would have had the race reached its natural conclusion.

A shout out must be given to the reporters staying on top of this story. I know how hard they are working. When they aren't doing interviews, or filing stories, they are tweeting about their observations. They have been living this story just about 24-7. Kudos to them for a job well done, keeping us all informed.

While NASCAR officials have made monumental changes, with the alteration of the chase field, they continue to review radio communications between the teams of David Gilliland and Joey Logano to see if additional action should be taken. It seems Jeff Gordon feels he was robbed of the opportunity to compete for the championship because of team orders in the Ford camps of the #38 and #22 cars. While I don't anticipate another change in the chase field, it remains that Jeff Gordon is a very popular driver. I would never be surprised to see NASCAR help him out, possibly by adding a 13th car into the Chase.

From where I sit, NASCAR caused this perfect storm of controversy with their emphasis on points racing. They have the ability to change what they created.

While NASCAR's Chase for the Championship is a playoff of sorts, much like football has its super bowl and baseball has its pennant race and world series, NASCAR needs to change its structure. With so much on the line, cheating is practically inevitable and rarely discouraged. NASCAR may have looked the other way for many, many years, but with the open communication available today and social media where fans can talk to one another readily, NASCAR can no longer get away with business as usual. Besides, a little cheating to help yourself is one thing, but cheating to manipulate an entire race that determines the season is quite another. NASCAR has in essence been caught, doing what they have always done. Fans have long suspected cheating to manipulate races and favor certain drivers over others, but now it is out in the open.

NASCAR has to change before there are no fans.

One way to do that is to simplify the process. It has gotten way too complicated. Rules are made but not enforced consistently. Perhaps there are too many rules that contain gray areas.

The emphasis of racing should be as it always has--winning. The way it is now, winning is rewarded, but it is not the end all, be all as it should be. How many times do drivers lay back for hundreds of laps only to make a late charge toward the end? Perhaps races are too long. Whatever the case, every driver needs to fight his way to the lead to win the race.

"If you aren't first, you are last." There is something to that. For a driver to race his butt off to earn a point is ridiculous. He should race his butt off to try to win the race. That is what fans want to see. That is what they pay money for. And they don't want to see anything but a legitimate contest.

Related articles about Richmond

• Richmond race controversy, problems, solutions
• Richmond race fallout, virtually meaningless
• More tweaking needed for Chase field
• Confession; I'm a happy Ryan Newman fan