The Spare Tire: What the Chase?

Last week, the world of NASCAR had their eyes set on twitter and NASCAR.com to see two separate press conferences that would impact the sport in such a way that all news markets in the United States were talking about it. After Richmond, the NASCAR world expected to expect penalties and consequences after Clint Bowyer changed the outlook on the chase by intentionally spinning his car out with 9 laps to go, which would result in getting his teammate Martin Truex Jr into the chase.

TOP: Clint Bowyer's infamous spin

BOTTOM: 2012 Chase photo after Richmond

After the race, we learned that NASCAR officials were reviewing the in-car audio and communication on all three Michael Waltrip Racing (#15-Bowyer, #55-Brian Vickers, and #56-Truex) cars as we heard some audio from Bowyer's team that questioned their integrity to the sport.

On Monday, NASCAR came out with breaking news that after reviewing the in-car audio from the Michael Waltrip Racing team that penalties would be dealt to all three cars of the team. According to NASCAR CEO and VP of Competition Robin Pemberton, "It is our determination that MWR attempted to manipulate the outcome of the race." As a result, Michael Waltrip Racing was dealt the biggest penalty in the sport's history. NASCAR fined Michael Waltrip Racing $300,000, placed #55 team spotter Ty Norris on indefinite suspension, and penalized all three MWR cars 50 driver and owner championship points. Since Martin Truex Jr made it into the chase on a top-5 tie-breaker with Ryan Newman, and the 56 team was given a 50 point penalty, Truex was bumped out of the Chase (NASCAR's playoff system) and replaced with Ryan Newman, who NASCAR felt would've made the chase if the caution that Bowyer brought out didn't happen.

TOP: Robin Pemberton discusses MWR's penalties following Richmond

BOTTOM: The updated "Chase for the Sprint Cup" photo, with Ryan Newman replacing Martin Truex Jr in the bottom right

Am I wrong or didn't Richard Childress Racing try this a few years ago with Paul Menard spinning out to get Kevin Harvick into the chase? Honestly, I feel that NASCAR did an okay job with the MWR penalties. What they got wrong was the amount of the penalty. If NASCAR wanted to prove a point, they shouldn't have penlized Bowyer BEFORE altering the points system to the chase setup (Technically Bowyer is still in championship contention after all this chaos). The real victim, however, was Martin Truex Jr and the 56 team. The 15 and 55 teams did what they could to get a fellow teammate into the chase. Michael Waltrip Racing was in desperation mode when they saw the 39 of Ryan Newman pulling away with the lead and an eventual race win. Although I don't agree with the intentional caution and disappointed with the fact that it had to come to this, I understand why the team did it. I probably would've done the same if I was in their shoes and called for one of my drivers to try and wreck their car to bring the caution out. Call me an idiot but I understand the necessity of it. I am happy for the 39 team though. After a win at Indianapolis and a "shoulda-coulda-woulda" kind of win at Richmond, the 39 team did deserve to make it into the chase.

It still doesn't beat the fact that Martin Truex Jr was the real victim. A week after all the news and scandals that longtime Michael Waltrip Racing and NASCAR sponsor NAPA Auto Parts is leaving the 56 team after 2013, one year before their contract ends with the team. Now weeks into "Silly Season" and because of their poor decisions, Michael Waltrip Racing now has to find sponsorship for Truex's car. In a world where NASCAR sponsors are far and few to find, there might be some changes to the team, including the possibility that Martin Truex Jr might not return to MWR in 2014.

NAPA has been with Michael Waltrip and his team since the 2001 Daytona 500, spanning 12 years of sponsorship that covered three different manufactures (Chevrolet from 2001-2005, Dodge in 2006, and Toyota from 2007-2013) and in total recorded 5 wins with Waltrip and his organization.

But wait, there's more! As if the news on Monday didn't get people riled up (Most of the fans were begging NASCAR to fire President Mike Helton and CEO Robin Pemberton because 4-time champion Jeff Gordon didn't make the chase), there was news on Thursday afternoon that now included the 22 team of Joey Logano and a possible team communication to the 38 Front Row Motorsports team of David Gilliland. Apparently, NASCAR was reviewing more team communication when they found that Penske Racing's #22 team contacted the 38 team through radio and tried to make a bargain with them (Didn't state what but the audio said "we'll help you in the long run." Sounds financial to me.) in order for Joey Logano to gain a spot and a point (which ended up putting Logano in the top 10 and knocking Jeff Gordon out of the chase). So then, NASCAR announced ANOTHER press conference to happen at 2:55 PM last Friday. I was there watching the minutes and seconds tick down because to be honest, I was nervous for that 22 car. I thought NASCAR would screw things up and replace Joey Logano's chase spot with Jeff Gordon. Then I would've been upset. Thankfully when that news conference came, there was no replacing Gordon into the 12th Chase spot. Instead, they announced that after reviewing the audio, there was no deciding evidence to go against Penske and Front Row Motorsports. However, both the 22 and 38 teams were placed on probation through the rest of the year. NASCAR President Mike Helton and CEO Robin Pemberton were there to announce these findings. They also noted that cameras will be mounted in the spotter's stand to watch all of the spotters each and every race and that each spotter can now only talk to their crew chief and driver. Oh, and then they added a 13th chase spot. WAIT...WHAT? That's right. NASCAR decided that Jeff Gordon was treated unfair and that he deserved to be in the chase, so they added a 13th Chase spot, something that has never happened in NASCAR before. I feel that if NASCAR could give a chase spot to Gordon, they should have gave one to Truex as well because he was also treated unfair. It wasn't his fault that his dumbass teammate decided to play hero and intentionally bring out a caution. All NASCAR did to the fans in this press conference is question the future of the Chase.