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Pete Pistone
Brian De Los Santos
We've now seen three first-time winners -- David Reutimann, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano in the Cup Series this season. Whose victory came as the biggest surprise? Are the victories of Reutimann and Logano tainted because they were rain-shortened?
Rain-shortened wins in auto racing are no more tainted than a baseball victory that comes when weather stops a game after only five innings. It's official. NASCAR does a great job trying to get a whole race in anytime weather is a problem and again Sunday in Loudon there was no choice but to call the race on lap 273 when soaking rains hit the track. All drivers and crews have the same chance to roll the dice and use strategy when rain is bearing down and Logano was the beneficiary Sunday. No asterisk is needed by his name in the record book.
On the face of it, without knowing how or at what tracks the three earned their victories, then Keselowski's name would easily stand out the most. But considering where Keselowski won and how Logano and Reutimann won, I'm more unmoved than surprised. Keselowski won at Talladega, a crap-shoot of race if there ever was one. However, at least his race went the distance. Shortened races leave me cold and the manner in which Reutimann and Logano won was doubly troublesome because fuel mileage was also involved. With a little pit strategy, they simply had the good fortune of being in the right place when the skies opened up. Reutimann never even led a green-flag lap during his win in the Coca-Cola 600. So to me at least, their first wins left me less than impressed.
COMMUNITY GUEST 'MIKEYFAN1599': Brad Keselowski's win at Talledega has to be the most surprising in the group. Even though everyone knows the plate races are crap shoots, the fact that Brad won as a part time driver, surprised most everyone. David has been running well most of the year and he was predicted to win a race and Joey has shown the talent in other series to prove he could win races. As far as David's and Joey's wins being tainted, no way. The rules are the same for everyone on the track and no matter how it came about a win is a win and that is the way the record book shows it.
Who will be the next driver to get his first Cup win and do you think it will happen this year?
The guys I thought might have a chance to get into the win column at the beginning of the year included Reutimann and Logano. Now as we head into the second half of the season, I think it might get a little tougher to choose from the list of non-winners because there have been a lot of disappointments out of that group, most notably David Ragan, who I thought would have maybe two wins in 2009 after his run at the end of last season. I think we're through with this year's Cinderella stories and will have to wait until 2010 before we see a new Cup winner in victory lane.
There are two drivers in particular I see as being the next breakthrough Cup winners -- Sam Hornish Jr. and Marcose Ambrose. In his second full season, Hornish seems more comfortable in a stock car and teammate Kurt Busch's success has shown that Penske Racing has the tools to be competitive. Ambrose, in the midst of his first full season, is a quasi-teammate to David Reutimann and has run well at the restrictor-plate tracks and you can bet he'll be a top challenger for the win at Watkins Glen. With two restrictor-plate races remaining -- including one this weekend at Daytona -- I could definitely see another first-time winner this season. And in that case, pick any non-winners name out of a hat and they'll have as good a chance to win as any.
COMMUNITY GUEST 'MIKEYFAN1599': If a driver is to score his first Cup Series win this year, I believe it could be at Wakins Glen and could involve Marcos Ambrose, A.J. Allmendinger, Sam Hornish Jr. or Scott Speed. Outside of that, I really don't see a track that will yield another first-time winner this year. In reality, I think the next first-time winner will probably come next season. I see Sam Hornish Jr. taking the checkered flag.
From AAC4BOWYER: Should NASCAR start the races earlier, especially at tracks where there aren't any lights such as Loudon to give the fans the best opportunity for a complete race?
Absolutely. Television starting times need to be changed for a lot of reasons and weather is certainly on the list. Had Sunday's race started at 1 p.m. ET, as should most regular season Cup races, the finish would have come long before the rains came. Ditto with February's Daytona 500. There is buzz that the 2010 schedule will include more 1 p.m. starts, which will also help generate more appointment television viewing from fans who have grown tired of trying to find out what time each week's race will take the green flag in the hodge podge the current network partners have created.
Though earlier start times aren't a panacea, of course, it makes more sense than wasting a half a day of sunshine. There will still be races that NASCAR will have to end early no matter the start time, but unless we're talking about a Saturday night race, where Sunday is still available if a race is delayed or postponed, what's the point in starting a Sunday race at 3 p.m. or 4 p.m. local time. Especially at tracks that don't have lights, it should be a no-brainer that races start between 1 and 1:30 p.m. Sunday's race at New Hampshire and the Daytona 500 back in February could have easily been completed with start times in the 1 o'clock hour.
COMMUNITY GUEST 'MIKEYFAN1599': As a long time fan of the sport, I have stated that NASCAR should not have moved away from the 1 p.m. start because it allows their fans too many opportunities to get involved in something else on Sunday afternoons. But does it give NASCAR a better chance to finish a race that is delayed by rain? Not really, in my opinion. If the rains come before the start of the race the start may be 3 or 4 p.m., which it would have been anyway with a 2 p.m. start time and if the rains come during the race and the track is lost, if past halfway, NASCAR will probably throw the checkered anyway. Oh, sure you might have a situation where the rain doesn't start until after the race would have been completed if it started at 1 p.m. but the forecast for rain was in there all during the race, so you never know.
Rain-shortened wins in auto racing are no more tainted than a baseball victory that comes when weather stops a game after only five innings. It's official. NASCAR does a great job trying to get a whole race in anytime weather is a problem and again Sunday in Loudon there was no choice but to call the race on lap 273 when soaking rains hit the track. All drivers and crews have the same chance to roll the dice and use strategy when rain is bearing down and Logano was the beneficiary Sunday. No asterisk is needed by his name in the record book. 
COMMUNITY GUEST 'MIKEYFAN1599': Brad Keselowski's win at Talledega has to be the most surprising in the group. Even though everyone knows the plate races are crap shoots, the fact that Brad won as a part time driver, surprised most everyone. David has been running well most of the year and he was predicted to win a race and Joey has shown the talent in other series to prove he could win races. As far as David's and Joey's wins being tainted, no way. The rules are the same for everyone on the track and no matter how it came about a win is a win and that is the way the record book shows it. 
The guys I thought might have a chance to get into the win column at the beginning of the year included Reutimann and Logano. Now as we head into the second half of the season, I think it might get a little tougher to choose from the list of non-winners because there have been a lot of disappointments out of that group, most notably David Ragan, who I thought would have maybe two wins in 2009 after his run at the end of last season. I think we're through with this year's Cinderella stories and will have to wait until 2010 before we see a new Cup winner in victory lane. 
Absolutely. Television starting times need to be changed for a lot of reasons and weather is certainly on the list. Had Sunday's race started at 1 p.m. ET, as should most regular season Cup races, the finish would have come long before the rains came. Ditto with February's Daytona 500. There is buzz that the 2010 schedule will include more 1 p.m. starts, which will also help generate more appointment television viewing from fans who have grown tired of trying to find out what time each week's race will take the green flag in the hodge podge the current network partners have created. 
Though earlier start times aren't a panacea, of course, it makes more sense than wasting a half a day of sunshine. There will still be races that NASCAR will have to end early no matter the start time, but unless we're talking about a Saturday night race, where Sunday is still available if a race is delayed or postponed, what's the point in starting a Sunday race at 3 p.m. or 4 p.m. local time. Especially at tracks that don't have lights, it should be a no-brainer that races start between 1 and 1:30 p.m. Sunday's race at New Hampshire and the Daytona 500 back in February could have easily been completed with start times in the 1 o'clock hour. 
