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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
HEMBREE: Have At It, Boys - And Danica
If the season develops as NASCAR said Thursday, there should be better racing...
Mike Hembree  |  Posted January 22, 2010   Charlotte, NC
If the season develops as NASCAR said Thursday it will be allowed to develop, there should be better racing, bigger moments and more fun for everybody. And isn't fun the best thing you can have?.- Mike Hembree (Photo: Getty Images)
Now that everybody has had time to take a big breath in the wake of Thursday's semi-revolutionary announcements from NASCAR, let's take a look at what it all means.

No one should underestimate the significance of what happened Thursday in the antiseptic confines of NASCAR's Research and Development Center. One of the most insular bodies in the history of modern professional sports opened itself to the realities of the age and actually listened to its constituents. And then followed up after having its ears pounded.

There is change, and it is noteworthy and extraordinary change.

If the season develops as NASCAR said Thursday it will be allowed to develop, there should be better racing, bigger moments and more fun for everybody. And isn't fun the best thing you can have?

“Opening up” the racing and letting the boys “have at it” are no-brainers. Let the excitement begin. Fans deserve it after too many years of vise-like control, single-file racing and weekends that sometimes had the flavor of country-club tennis tournaments.

Listening to NASCAR officials describe the changes - in particular the big ones involving racing at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway - Thursday almost produced the impression that these guys are going to be sitting back in recliners - adult beverages in hand - and watching the mayhem from the control tower.

“Have at it, boys,” one can imagine vice president of competition Robin Pemberton yelling as the green flag is dropped on the Daytona 500. Then they all laugh uproariously.

Might it be easier on the guys in the tower to run these races now that the reins have been loosened and drivers, in theory, will have a wide-open frontier on the racetrack?

Sorry, boys, but no.

Give a driver and a team a rules change to ponder, and they're going to ponder it to death. They will look for every advantage the new opening provides, and they'll take all of them - and then some. The “then some” could create the fun for NASCAR officials.

Now that rules against bump-drafting have been essentially eliminated at Daytona and Talladega and drivers have been given the green light to slam into the car in front of them to - in theory - accelerate matters for both cars, what individual is going to decide if a particular incident was simply bump-drafting or a more aggressive passing move that sent one car spinning and another sliding to the front?

NASCAR officials, that's who. And that brings NASCAR president Mike Helton front and center. Ultimately, his line of thought will determine what's aggressive and what's obnoxious.

“We want it to be very clear to the drivers that, when you get to Daytona, don't worry about us policing bump-drafting,” Helton said. “Now what that creates, we'll have to wait and see. It still leaves the responsibility to us to stop it at what we believe is - and what the competitors would expect to be - overaggressive driving, so there's still a limit there. But that limit is much further out than it was.”

Clearly, this can lead to trouble, and on a number of fronts. Racing will be more dangerous at Daytona and Talladega, and NASCAR's decision-making on what is cool and what is not in the new environment easily can lead to controversy. What's over-aggressive on the final lap of the Daytona 500 when drivers are fighting to win the biggest race of the season and to define a career? That can be a tough call, particularly in the heat of the moment.

That these sorts of questions are being asked, though, is a good thing. NASCAR racing needs a supercharge, and the new approach could be a big part of that. Already, it has spiked talk about the atmosphere that will surround the Daytona 500, and that's also a good thing. Chances are it will sell more tickets, and folks generally will be more inclined to watch the television broadcast of the race to see what, if anything, changes.

All in all, it's a plus.

Have at it, boys.

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
mike.hembree's avatar

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Mike Hembree

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