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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: The Answerman Returns
Fans are ready for an exciting 2010 NASCAR season...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted January 14, 2010   Charlotte, NC
The NASCAR Answerman on SPEEDtv.com - The Online Motorsports Authority
Welcome to this week’s edition of The Answerman. If you’ve got a question about NASCAR, fire it off to me at speedtvanswerman@gmail.com — Tom Jensen, Editor-in-chief, SPEEDtv.com.

That Mikey is one smart man. I love his ideas about Talladega and Daytona. Let's not have any more boring races. — Wanda Flatt

Thanks for the note, Wanda. For those of you who may have missed it, Michael Waltrip’s suggestion was to award drivers one point for every lap they lead at Daytona International Speedway or Talladega Superspeedway. That way, he reasoned, drivers wouldn’t play follow-the-leader at the two restrictor-plate tracks.

Of course, doing so would create its own unique challenges: The likelihood of big crashes would increase, IMHO, especially early in the race. And almost certainly, there would be questions raised about whether this system should be adopted at every track. Still, it’s an intriguing idea.

And, Wanda, I can tell you NASCAR is working overtime to avoid dull racing. I’m more excited about the start to this season than I have been in years.

I would like to know how I can contact NASCAR directly. Although if I cannot, can you pass this letter to them? I am currently a Jimmie Johnson fan but knowing he will win the championship makes me not want to watch the sport any more. The same person winning is ok but when you make it easy for him to win. I turn off the TV or not want to go to a race because I know who will win it all. It is not that interesting.

I would like it very much if you could email me back to let me know if they will get this letter. The sport has become boring. The same drivers win all the time, and missing a few races is not hard at all to do. I missed the last four races because I knew Jimmie would win it all even though he crashed at Texas. —Megan Miller

Megan: Thanks for the letter. You can reach NASCAR at the following address:

NASCAR Public Relations Staff

1801 West International Speedway Blvd.

Daytona Beach, Fla. 32114

Tel: (386) 253-0611 · Fax: (386) 252-8804

And as noted in the prior letter, I truly believe NASCAR is moving as swiftly as it can to inject some real energy and suspense back into the racing.

What do you hear about fuel injection in Cup? A West Coast maker of Cup manifolds has made and shipped Cup manifolds with injector bosses. To who I don't know. — Laurasdaddi.

That’s an excellent question. The last I checked, NASCAR is seriously considering adopting fuel injection for the 2011 season and is evaluating different ways of implementing it, since there are numerous different types of fuel-injection systems.

Hello, Tom. Whatever aero/plate combination NASCAR comes up with, nothing will change as long as you can drive through the turns at the plate tracks on the floor. Look how many one-and-done winners there are at Talladega. They can't dump the plates, too much speed. They can dump the aero. No wings, splitters, spoilers, air dams, etc. This would put mechanical grip and talent back where it belongs, out front. Thank you. — Jim Little

Hello, Jim and thanks for the observations. As much as I wish it were otherwise, I don’t think it’s quite as simple as unbolting the aerodynamic aids off the current cars and letting them race at the superspeedways. You’d have way too many lift issues and I think it would make the cars way too dangerous to drive. Either that or they’d have to go so slow that the racing would seem really, really boring to watch.

Hi, Tom. I finally figured out a way to contact you. I am little new to all this new stuff. I would like to you and tell everyone at Scene that I will miss them tremendously. My favorite part of receiving the paper is saving it and reading it on my patio with my coffee early on Saturday morning. I look at your site and various others but there is something old school or romantic about being in the quiet and hearing the birds watching my dogs and reading and getting away from the computer.

I truly hope these so-called people in charge know that they are cutting out a lot of fans that are not into the computer, I will be 45, not old by no means, but I do appreciate things from the past. Some of the best things about Scene were reading all the letters from “snail mail” that would be sent in. I loved it. A lot of these really old school people would really make me laugh shake my head, or change my mind. That will be missed. I know I have rambled but something tells me that you will appreciate how I feel. Sometimes it would be great just to sit down and write an actual letter to the NASCAR news media and tell them I appreciate their efforts in reporting a sport that I truly love. I am from Chicago area I believe Pete Pistone is a rare man from my area that reports on the sport. If it were not for all you dedicated individuals I would not be able to follow the sport they way I do now. — Kimberly Racicik

Kimberly: Thanks for a great and heartfelt letter. You are not alone. There are an awful lot of old-school race fans who will miss Scene, me included. I love the ability to write for the Internet, but as you so correctly noted, there is something romantic about paper.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED, and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com! Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel

Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale: Jan 19th-24th
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