The last few decades of NASCAR racing has ushered in a need from officials to create uniformity and a level playing field. In fact one of the main goals of the COT is to make sure teams cannot gain an advantage in body building and in recent years there has been talk of making teams buy engines from an approved distributor. They have done a pretty good job of achieving this playing field in the Nationwide and Cup series but there still exists discrepencies in the truck series.

This is a conversation that is certainly not a new one, but one that has raged through the truck series garage for the last several seasons.  Toyota, while not as fierce as they once were, are still very dominant over the big three manufacturers. One look at qualifying times for today’s race shows where they stand. Polesitter Mike Skinner was almost two miles per hour faster than the nearest non Toyota team of Ron Hornaday. This is problematic because it undermines NASCAR as a sanctioning body. They are sanctioning the actions of some, and not others.

The truck series offers perhaps the best racing of all three series; it is the only place that young drivers can come and compete with the veterans of the sport. However, if NASCAR allows this to continue they will only undermine the competition and fuel discord among the teams in the series. They have done a good job working to limit some of the things the Toyota teams could do, but there is still work that needs to be done.

On another, slightly related note, how about Scott Speed? The 25 year old California native and former F1 driver is making a splash in NASCAR. His flamboyant style is something that the NASCAR community is not used to, but something that could be a good change for the sport. NASCAR.com even wrote an article the other day where he describes that unique style. In shift from what has become the norm Red Bull is taking their time to develop Speed’s talents and from all indications it is working. While he is definitely in very good equipment, he wouldn’t be competing and winning races in his first attempt at stock car racing if he didn’t have any talent. We’ll see how the rest of the year goes, but if this first half is any indication he has a bright future ahead of him.  

Subscribe to the Insiders

Related Posts: