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Cassill’s “what happens” on last lap in Memphis sums up modern day NASCAR
By admin | October 25, 2008
By Richard Allen
On the last lap of the Kroger 250 in Memphis on Saturday Landon Cassill got into Bobby Hamilton, Jr. and sent the second generation driver for a seemingly harmless spin. The thing is, however, it was not a harmless spin. It was essentially a final death nail for a struggling team.
Cassill finished 13th while Hamilton was dropped to 21st.
Hamilton briefly confronted Cassill on pit road as the cars were pulling into the garage area.
“I had sticker tires and I was on the gas,” Cassill said in a post race interview. “That’s what happens.”
Unfortunately, in modern day NASCAR that is exactly “what happens”. However, I am not referring to last lap incidents or post race confrontations. The “what happens” I am referring to is the big guy running over the little guy and benefiting from it.
Before the race Team Rensi Motorsports, Hamilton’s team, announced they would be closing their doors if sponsorship is not be found quickly. Cassill has no such worries because he drives for heavily sponsored JR Motorsports, which is really a division of Sprint Cup powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports.
Overall, NASCAR has become all about the “what happens” of late.
The powerful teams are given tremendous advantages when NASCAR opts to change rules, body styles, mechanical elements and testing procedures. Teams such as Roush Fenway Racing and Hendrick Motorsports with the highly paid engineering staffs are able to quickly adapt to any changes made. While at the same time teams such as Wood Brothers Racing and Furniture Row Racing are left taking shots in the dark as they try to keep up.
The Top 35 rule, the Chase for the Championship, qualifying rain outs and any number of other situations only increase the advantage already held by the rich and powerful.
Another “what happens” is that those who are most responsible for the sport’s success are often neglected in favor of glitz and glamour.
The sport was built around people like the Hamilton family who have worked hard and dedicated their lives to racing. Those types are often passed over by sponsors and owners in favor of the more fashionable. Young, well schooled drivers with a certain look about them are the ones most sought after in the sport today.
Along that same line, fans who helped build the sport have suffered from “what happens”. Traditional venues such as North Wilkesboro, Rockingham and even Darlington have been forsaken in favor of such fashionable locales as Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami. The result has been half empty grandstands and an ever growing sense of alienation among NASCAR’s fan base.
Landon Cassill probably thought he was only referring to one simple incident when he remarked, “That’s what happens”.
Yes, Mr. Cassill, your late race incident went at long way in summing up “what happens” in NASCAR today.
Richard Allen is a member of the National Motorsports Press Association. His weekly column appears in The Mountain Press every Wednesday.
Topics: Articles |
October 26th, 2008 at 3:16 am
Oh get the hell over it, its RACING if you are afraid of denting your car stay off the track im sure someone else wouldve GLADLY taken Bobby Jr’s spot.
October 26th, 2008 at 7:33 am
Rich,you seem to have left out the paragraph about the post race actions of little Bobby and his classless wife. These two have done nothing to better the sport and in fact help to prolong its redneck image.
October 26th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
I tend to agree with the basic premis of this article-Nascar has evolved into a squeeky clean, highly technical,incredably expensive mega buck driven sport. It’s changed radically from the days of running real “stock” cars with moonshiner red neck drivers. For better or worse it has changed. The old spirit of racing is still alive and well at hundreds of little local tracks all over America-and this is where a character like Hamilton can ply his talents and his bull head attitude. I know Landon Cassill personally and he is a class act and deserves every break he has gotten in the sport. Young people like Landon are the future of big time Nascar racing and people like Hamilton are the distant past. There are no doubt many good reasons why Hamilton is having trouble getting sponsorship-some of them may have been shown at the track on Saturday. There are an equal number of good reasons why Landon Cassill was picked to be sponsored by, arguably, the most dominate organization in motorsports-talent-attitude-class act. If you want to see a bunch of the good old boys run-head out on a Saturday night to your local track and they are still there-and maybe Hamilton will be there with them. If ya want to see the best of the best-the elite drivers driving the best cars then head to a Nascar race-Landon Cassill will be there for decades to come.
October 27th, 2008 at 8:30 am
You Earnhardtites are so pathetic. You can’t see the forest for the trees.
This article is not really about Landon Cassil. It is about how the little guy is always getting dumped on in NASCAR, which includes the fans.
But since he quoted Cassil you junior followers just assumed it is a bad reflection on your boy since Cassil drives for JR Motorsports, which by the way is run by junior as much as it is by me.
October 28th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Nascar should ban Little Bobby’s wife from the track after she flipped Landon the bird. No wonder Bobby can’t get a sponsor with his temper and his wifes lack of class.