counterpoint
“I could not stand the way plate racing was for so long: cars that were unable to pass and just driving in formation. Was it just a change in my perspective, or did the drivers have to DRIVE the cars now? They would take off sliding: front end, rear end, maybe both ends, and the driver had to chase them. They seemed faster than the track and I appreciated the vast improvement in the show.”–Boneman
Actually, I agree with all that.
But (respectfully-- to you, not so much to NASCAR), that boils down to “The crappy plate racing is not as crappy as it has been lately, it’s more like the older, more-gooder crappy plate racing”.
To recap old news:
>Their current, balance-the-car-on-the-head-of-a-pin-through-aero-and-plate package still produced largely one lane (for the top eight or so) contrived racing after a few laps.
>If for any reason two guys got together (it’s a shame Kes went slower than Harvick, eh?), it still produced unheard of wrecks that were–as always–kind of pointless, dangerous, and expensive.
And then, NASCAR personally produced another sub par show with the rain deal. Now I get the lighting-within-8-miles = no-racing-due-to-liability thing, but imagine paying a hundred bucks or so to see…45 minutes of no rain and no racing followed by a rain out and a win by…whose favorite again…? Why, no one in the stands.
And, it was clear by six for sure, and it gets dark at nine, and they have lights, so… another bad decision, imo.
All that said–congratulations to Justin Haley and his crew chief. They won through strategy and that still counts.
And again, you are “right” Bones, given the sanctioning body, the plates, and the banking, the racing was better and the drivers more involved.