Daytona: Who's Bumping Who?
Stewart Praises NASCAR for 'Bump-Drafting' Stance, while others pan the move
By Greg Engle - Cup Scene Daily
Bump drafting refers to a car pushing its nose into the car ahead, a move that's common but especially dangerous in the corners of such high-banked tracks as Talladega International Speedway and Daytona.
NASCAR announced Tuesday it would start policing bump drafting by assigning spotters around the 2 1/2-mile Speedway. Drivers who are cited for bump drafting will be black-flagged and penalized.
On one side of the aisle is Tony Stewart, the man who first complained about the practice after the Bud Shootout this past Sunday. It was Stewart who issued the ominous warning that “someone is going to get killed” on national TV and spurred NASCAR officials into action.
"It was a big enough deal that I felt we needed to say something," Stewart said.
"I think it's a good decision," he added. "We'll see how it works out. We don't need to be hitting each other in the corners."
Joining Stewart is veteran Mark Martin. Martin, who will be racing in his last Daytona 500, added that perhaps NASCAR has not gone far enough.
"Look, Tony is 100 percent right - we are going to maim or kill somebody real soon if we don't do something," Mark Martin told the Associated Press. "Something has to happen and I applaud NASCAR for taking the first step. But we still have major issues."
Stewart seems to agree with Martin.
"If this makes it better for us, makes it safer for us, I'm all for it," Stewart said. "I don't know if (policing) is the solution. It seems like the logical solution right off the top of everybody's head. But when they sit down and think it through deeper, they may find that it's not the right solution."
On the other side of the aisle are the drivers who disagree with the new policy because NASCAR officials would be making judgment calls that could be wrong.
"You could be penalized for good racing, and that's the problem with the judgment part of it," said Ryan Newman.
Any judgment call in racing is not good for racing -- that's the bottom line," he added. "It's not 20% of the drivers (who bump-draft in corners), it's 2% of the drivers out there and there's so reason to make a rule of that. Those drivers should be quarantined, or however you want to put it."
"We've worked for four years to eliminate the questionability of the yellow-line rule," Newman said, referring to the rule at Daytona and Talladega that forbids passing below the line. "To add another judgment call to it, that's not racing. You've got some guys that are ruining it, because of their lack of driving ability, for every other driver that's out there."
"It's a joke, because NASCAR's job is to control the races, not control the drivers," he said. "We've got some drivers who are ruining it for everybody, and I said ruining it because the judgment call part of it is the ridiculous part."
Still other drivers feel that the threat of penalties for violations of the rule will be ignored
"You can talk about it all that you want,” three-time Daytona 500 winner Dale Jarrett, said. “But to say that you're going to put somebody on the inside or outside of the race track and monitor bump drafting at the right or wrong places, I don't know how you can do that."
"They can attempt to do anything. But until we do something that physically hurts the design of the car whenever you hit someone too hard, then we're not going to get much accomplished."
When the cars hit the track for practice on Wednesday, the sessions, led by Brian Vickers and Mike Wallace, were amazingly free of bump drafting.
"This practice was the most unbelievable practice we've had in a long time, with the lack of bump drafting," said Jeff Gordon, who was 16th-fastest. "It was calm, a lot less potential wrecks out there. I hope that's something to come. I hope that with NASCAR doing something, these guys say, 'OK, we've got to start driving without bump drafting."
Roush Racing's Matt Kenseth is among those who seem to think that the controversy is being blown out of proportion.
"The big bump-draft thing is more of an issue at Talladega than it is here, because you can run big and run into someone," Kenseth said.
What are we going to do to fix it? Well, it's real easy to fix it. Make it boring. Put the small spoilers on like we had in 2000 or whatever, and everybody can be single-file, three car-lengths apart. But nobody likes to watch that."
Kenseth added that he felt Stewart's comments after Sunday's Budweiser Shootout were too severe.
"The whole Sunday thing, in my opinion, got blown way out of proportion with some of the stuff that got said," he said, noting that he hadn't been told about the specifics of the new rule. "With this kind of racing … we have the same conversation after every race.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is one of several drivers who shrugged off Stewart's complaints about bump drafting.
"Yeah, it's dangerous, but that's why we get paid a lot of money to do it," he said. "It's just the nature of the beast."
All the controversy swirling around the issue may become moot as the series goes forward; NASCAR is working toward a new bumper configuration that, by the next restrictor-plate race at Talladega in April, would prevent teams from beefing up their bumpers with to allow cars to slam into the ones ahead of them and receive blows from the ones behind them without damaging the cars' aerodynamics.
"We're on it back at the research and development center now," Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president for competition told the Charlotte Observer. "Hopefully we can get through Daytona, make some corrections to the cars and get on with it at Talladega."
"Right now, we're going to take it a day at a time through Sunday. We understand there is going to be some incidental contact out there and we'll do everything we can to not make the wrong the call."
For now, veteran Ken Schrader has some advice for Stewart and others who are worried about bumping:
"Every car comes equipped with two pedals — one's the gas and one's the brake," he said. "Each driver can decide which one he wants to mash."
Courtesy of Greg Engle, the Editor of the Cup Scene Daily is seeking employment within the motorsports journalism industry.
If you are interested, please contact him at:greg@cupscene.com
By Greg Engle - Cup Scene Daily
Bump drafting refers to a car pushing its nose into the car ahead, a move that's common but especially dangerous in the corners of such high-banked tracks as Talladega International Speedway and Daytona.
NASCAR announced Tuesday it would start policing bump drafting by assigning spotters around the 2 1/2-mile Speedway. Drivers who are cited for bump drafting will be black-flagged and penalized.
On one side of the aisle is Tony Stewart, the man who first complained about the practice after the Bud Shootout this past Sunday. It was Stewart who issued the ominous warning that “someone is going to get killed” on national TV and spurred NASCAR officials into action.
"It was a big enough deal that I felt we needed to say something," Stewart said.
"I think it's a good decision," he added. "We'll see how it works out. We don't need to be hitting each other in the corners."
Joining Stewart is veteran Mark Martin. Martin, who will be racing in his last Daytona 500, added that perhaps NASCAR has not gone far enough.
"Look, Tony is 100 percent right - we are going to maim or kill somebody real soon if we don't do something," Mark Martin told the Associated Press. "Something has to happen and I applaud NASCAR for taking the first step. But we still have major issues."
Stewart seems to agree with Martin.
"If this makes it better for us, makes it safer for us, I'm all for it," Stewart said. "I don't know if (policing) is the solution. It seems like the logical solution right off the top of everybody's head. But when they sit down and think it through deeper, they may find that it's not the right solution."
On the other side of the aisle are the drivers who disagree with the new policy because NASCAR officials would be making judgment calls that could be wrong.
"You could be penalized for good racing, and that's the problem with the judgment part of it," said Ryan Newman.
Any judgment call in racing is not good for racing -- that's the bottom line," he added. "It's not 20% of the drivers (who bump-draft in corners), it's 2% of the drivers out there and there's so reason to make a rule of that. Those drivers should be quarantined, or however you want to put it."
"We've worked for four years to eliminate the questionability of the yellow-line rule," Newman said, referring to the rule at Daytona and Talladega that forbids passing below the line. "To add another judgment call to it, that's not racing. You've got some guys that are ruining it, because of their lack of driving ability, for every other driver that's out there."
"It's a joke, because NASCAR's job is to control the races, not control the drivers," he said. "We've got some drivers who are ruining it for everybody, and I said ruining it because the judgment call part of it is the ridiculous part."
Still other drivers feel that the threat of penalties for violations of the rule will be ignored
"You can talk about it all that you want,” three-time Daytona 500 winner Dale Jarrett, said. “But to say that you're going to put somebody on the inside or outside of the race track and monitor bump drafting at the right or wrong places, I don't know how you can do that."
"They can attempt to do anything. But until we do something that physically hurts the design of the car whenever you hit someone too hard, then we're not going to get much accomplished."
When the cars hit the track for practice on Wednesday, the sessions, led by Brian Vickers and Mike Wallace, were amazingly free of bump drafting.
"This practice was the most unbelievable practice we've had in a long time, with the lack of bump drafting," said Jeff Gordon, who was 16th-fastest. "It was calm, a lot less potential wrecks out there. I hope that's something to come. I hope that with NASCAR doing something, these guys say, 'OK, we've got to start driving without bump drafting."
Roush Racing's Matt Kenseth is among those who seem to think that the controversy is being blown out of proportion.
"The big bump-draft thing is more of an issue at Talladega than it is here, because you can run big and run into someone," Kenseth said.
What are we going to do to fix it? Well, it's real easy to fix it. Make it boring. Put the small spoilers on like we had in 2000 or whatever, and everybody can be single-file, three car-lengths apart. But nobody likes to watch that."
Kenseth added that he felt Stewart's comments after Sunday's Budweiser Shootout were too severe.
"The whole Sunday thing, in my opinion, got blown way out of proportion with some of the stuff that got said," he said, noting that he hadn't been told about the specifics of the new rule. "With this kind of racing … we have the same conversation after every race.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is one of several drivers who shrugged off Stewart's complaints about bump drafting.
"Yeah, it's dangerous, but that's why we get paid a lot of money to do it," he said. "It's just the nature of the beast."
All the controversy swirling around the issue may become moot as the series goes forward; NASCAR is working toward a new bumper configuration that, by the next restrictor-plate race at Talladega in April, would prevent teams from beefing up their bumpers with to allow cars to slam into the ones ahead of them and receive blows from the ones behind them without damaging the cars' aerodynamics.
"We're on it back at the research and development center now," Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president for competition told the Charlotte Observer. "Hopefully we can get through Daytona, make some corrections to the cars and get on with it at Talladega."
"Right now, we're going to take it a day at a time through Sunday. We understand there is going to be some incidental contact out there and we'll do everything we can to not make the wrong the call."
For now, veteran Ken Schrader has some advice for Stewart and others who are worried about bumping:
"Every car comes equipped with two pedals — one's the gas and one's the brake," he said. "Each driver can decide which one he wants to mash."
Courtesy of Greg Engle, the Editor of the Cup Scene Daily is seeking employment within the motorsports journalism industry.
If you are interested, please contact him at:greg@cupscene.com
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