Tony Stewart Wins Good Sam 499.5 at Talladega

Just days after welcoming in a new sponsor, Tony Stewart had more good news this afternoon, claiming victory in the Good Sam 499.5 at Talladega Superspeedway.

"I was surprised just how clean the race was today", Stewart said in the Mobil 1/Office Depot Victory Lane.  "We got lots of help at the end from Michael Waltrip and whoever's in the 13 car, it was nice to have such a calm, cooperative race."

Waltrip, running a partial schedule in the 55 car, was ecstatic with his 2nd-place finish.

"This is just awesome to put the Aaron's Dream Machine in the top-5 today.  Running with these cats around this track, never wrecking and never pushing the issue, reminds me why I got into racing in the first place--to run good at the Good Sam 499.5."

Marcos Ambrose, who also found himself in the top-five, commented, "The CAH was real good today, and we just had to make sure we had our CAH at the front for the last 4/5ths lap."

Stewart continued, "And to think, we got out of here without a scratch on the car!  I figured this was the kind of place where you finish on your side, or on another car's hood, or both.  It'll just be great to go back to Charlotte and stare at the Good Sam 499.5 trophy.  Thank God they put the start-finish line right by Turn 1."

Talladega "News" and Notes

--If Dover was "Separation Sunday" (when drivers could position themselves to be Chase favorites), then 'Dega has to be "Screwed Sunday", when a blown tire can ruin a year's worth of work towards a championship.

--Tony Stewart has picked up Bass Pro Shops as a primary sponsor for 18 races in 2013.  The announcement would have been sooner, but Smoke was busy trying to figure out why the heck Lewis Hamilton had switched teams.

--With Bass Pro Shops leaving EGR, who will sponsor Jamie McMurray next year?  Hair gel companies of the world, this is your best chance to move into Nascar.

--I have no idea why Tayler Malsam was let go by Tri-Star Motorsports, but lets take this time to point out that "Tayler Malsam" sounds like a good name for a teenage actress on an ABC Family drama.

--Its a good thing that Kurt Busch moved on to Furniture Row next season--it sounds like his brother might need the #51 ride next year to "…get back to having fun".

--Someone might want to mail one of those "Honk If Parts Fall Off" bumper stickers to Matt Kenseth.

Lets Blow it Up and Start Over: Qualifying

In the fourth part of an agitating-ongoing series, I take a look at a particular aspect of Nascar (in this case, the qualifying system), and give it a makeover from square one.

Nascar's the only sport where you don't know if you're going to compete in the real event--its not like football teams need to run a 40-yard-dash to see if they'll play on Sunday.  So Nascar's issues are pretty well difficult for "stick-and-ball" sports fans to understand.  Lets see if we REAL fans can make it better.

--The Top-35 rule was great while it lasted (you know, when there were more than 25 teams with a legitimate shot to get a top-10.)  So lets get rid of it ASAP.

--The old provisional starting system (used before the Top-35 rule was put into place) was OK, but it was too damn hard to understand.  So let's make the NEW system a simpler version of the older system.

--Here's how it will work:  There'll be one round of qualifying to determine the starting order.  The fastest 38 teams (assuming a 43-car-field) will make the race.  This will put a premium back on qualifying, as right now its more of a leisurely Friday afternoon test session.

--The five teams highest in points that did not get in on speed will fill out the final five spots (again, assuming a 43-car-field).  This gives upper-echelon teams a "mulligan" if they spin out or have a poor set-up in their qualifying lap, but is far from an actual guaranteed starting spot.

--But what if a bunch of start & park teams just set up their cars for one good qualifying lap?  Well, teams will now be able to re-adjust their cars between qualifying and the actual race (with a Happy-Hour test session to allow for tweaking).

--The past-champion's provisional, aka The Darrell Waltrip Memorial Starting Spot, is a bit of a necessary evil left over from the days of Richard Petty struggling to make races.  However, Bill Elliott and Terry Labonte have shown how much the system can be abused.  So from now on, a past champion can only claim a past-champion's provisional if they've run at least 80% of the previous year's races.  Additionally, past champions may only use this way to qualify for a race five times a year.

--Obviously the 43-car field (rumored to be a requirement of the TV contracts) has become a joke lately.  I'd like to see a more "elastic" field size based on purse money and track size.  Maybe only 40 cars per race for tracks 1-mile long and shorter, which will help to free up room on the tight pit roads of Dover and Martinsville.  In that case, only the fastest 35 cars would qualify on speed (five provisional starting spots stay the same).

Well, there you have it--oh, and the best/worst side effect of this (if its implemented in all three national series) would be Jeff Green losing his main source of income.