NASCAR: Phoenix Post-Race Reactions

I will have more articles about my thoughts on Randy Bernard and the US GP at CoTA in the coming days. But right now, I must make a post race reaction post.

Whatever it was that we just watched, was...well, crazy. Was it good? Oh heavens no. Was it bad? Well, no. It was just insane.

I'll start with the big headlines. Brad Keselowski and Jimmie Johnson, going head to head in one heck of a title fight. NASCAR has some great fights going on this year. All the nay sayers to the Chase might have a point, but if these points battles don't excite you, well, today's race had to have.

However, I for one found this race exciting for all the wrong reasons. First of all, Jimmie was driving it far too hard all day. He had good reason to however. When you are looking at a point here and a point there to expand your lead, I would probably race pretty hard as well. But when you make a mistake doing so, well, hindsight is 20/20. Brad however, kept his cool and drove a clean race.

But that's not what I'm upset about. What I'm upset about, was NASCAR's calling. As a fan, I expect every call to be in the best interest of the fairness and safety of the drivers. Clearly, what was displayed in those last 30 laps was not that. Jeff Gordon first off going after Clint Bowyer. I can tell you how easily that whole mess and embarrassment could have been avoided. When I can see debris coming off the #24 on TV, you need to call a caution. But for whatever reason, NASCAR decides to keep in green. What happens there? Jeff Gordon pays back Clint Bowyer for (allegedly) 5 wrong doings. I could spend hours debating who is in the right there - but that is not the point of this article. The fact is, there could have been an entirely different turn out had NASCAR called a caution. Jeff Gordon had damage to his car which caused him to throw debris all over the track, and NASCAR doing nothing allowed Jeff to retaliate against Bowyer. Granted, lord knows if he would have done it under caution or not. So, I suppose that might have been the best in hindsight. But still, unacceptable.

Now on to what has all the fans fired up on Twitter. Jeff Burton turns Danica Patrick out of a possible top 15 finish, which impressed many fans from what I've seen on Twitter. Regardless of who's fault that was, it was clear there was oil on the track. Turn 4 and the frontstreach were in NO WAY safe for racing. And what we saw on the final lap was similar to a call Brian Barnhart would make.

I can say that I am disgusted as a fan, and would most likely be disgusted as a driver or car owner. But since I am a fan, I will say that in retrospect, it was rather exciting. But not the way it should have been exciting.