Nascar officials have been getting more than their fair share of criticism for how their race was booked on Sunday, with scores of experts bashing the use of an ambiguous “Dusty Finish” at Pocono.
“Its, ah, finishes like this that, um, show how bankrupt Nascar is on the, uh, creative side of things”, said pundit Don Beltzer, longtime publisher of the Pro Racing Observer. “There’s, uh, no way things will get back to, ah, how Nascar was in its prime, unless, uh, they return to running exhibition races in, ah, Japan.”
The term “Dusty Finish” (named after frequent user Dusty Rhodes), refers to a race or match that ends one way, only for that result to be overturned soon afterwards. The usage of “Dusty Finishes” has been criticized for years by the Internet Motorsports Community.
“This is worse than those Indy 500 finishes that took months to decide”, said NascarInsider writer Mark Johnston. “You can’t insult the fans’ intelligence like this by disqualifying a driver only AFTER most of the fans have left the track. I mean, this isn’t the 90’s where you were trying to drive fans to the Nascar 1-900 line for scoops.”
The final decision—which stripped the win from Denny Hamlin and second place from teammate Kyle Busch—has been roundly mocked by numerous fans and experts.
“I haven’t seen anything like this since Emmanuel Zervakis in 1960”, said longtime racing wag Will Bapter. “I don’t want to cast too many aspersions here, but its moves like this that allow conspiracy theories to form.”
When reached for comment, Nascar would not confirm or deny that the race win had been “held up” and would be fought for in a ladder match at Michigan.
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