Feud of the Week: Quit whining, get some seasoning and Phoenix picks
CBSSports.com's Brian De Los Santos and Pete Pistone provide analysis on three weekly racing topics.
| We welcome your question submissions. If you have a question or hot racing topic you'd like to see discussed, post it here . | |
| 1. Does NASCAR need to make a change to the new car to improve the racing? | |
| Brian De Los Santos | Pete Pistone |
 No. At least not yet. I would like to see NASCAR give it a full season before even thinking about making changes. The teams still need time to tinker with the car instead of just moaning about it. I think they'll eventually figure it out. I don't know what the drivers are feeling inside the car, but from the outside, I really don't see much difference in the racing from the old car. You're just not going to see side-by-side racing lap after lap at tracks like Texas. I'm with Carl Edwards on this one. As much as he might want one, a driver isn't going to have a great car every weekend. He's actually going to have to prove his skill as a driver. I don't think it's a bad thing to make the driver work a little. No matter what, the cream will rise to the top. |  Absolutely not. I for one am tired of hearing these so-called "best drivers in the world" whining about the new car. This isn't supposed to be an easy job. I like seeing drivers manhandle cars around tracks. I also like having wins by all four manufacturers this year. And keep in mind, we have only raced this car on four midsized tracks, which is where the most complaining has taken place. Short tracks and road courses had some of the best races we have seen in years last season with the new car. It's still a work in progress and crew chiefs will eventually learn what adjustments make the cars run better. NASCAR should of course monitor the situation, but don't make any knee-jerk rules changes. |
| 2. Is Michael McDowell in over his head? Should NASCAR force drivers to drive a full season in Nationwide or Trucks before moving to the Cup level? | |
| Brian De Los Santos | Pete Pistone |
| He is in a bit over his head. It's not meant as a slight, but the fact of the matter is that he has a total of seven starts in NASCAR's top three series, two in the Cup. It's basically trial by fire for the 23-year-old, who has a little more than one full season in the ARCA series to complete his stock-car experience. Why so many organizations are choosing to put relative stock-car novices -- and I include the open-wheelers in this mix -- straight into a Cup car without some seasoning in the Nationwide or Truck Series is beyond me. From the way the veterans talk lately, the new Cup car is the hardest thing to drive in the history of motorsports. NASCAR would be wise to implement a system where drivers would have to run at least 20 races in the Nationwide and/or Trucks. It still won't totally prepare them for what they're going to experience in the Cup Series, but it's better than just throwing a newbie in the car and say, "Go drive it." | Michael McDowell is a very nice young man and a talented driver but he has no business in a Sprint Cup car. That's not to say what happened to him in that qualifying crash was totally his fault. I still believe there was oil dry and debris on the track from a blown engine three drivers earlier. But an experienced driver maybe wouldn't have overcorrected the way he did and hit the wall as hard as he did. I think NASCAR does need to look at a driver's résumé a little more before letting someone race in its top series. Unfortunately the way the Nationwide Series has devolved, it's no longer a place for a driver to get a wealth of experience before stepping up. |
| 3. Who are your favorites this week at Phoenix? Who are your sleepers? | |
| Brian De Los Santos | Pete Pistone |
| Put me back on the Richard Childress Racing bandwagon. Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick both own two victories at Phoenix and have finished in the top 10 in more than half their trips to the track. Burton has been especially strong of late, winning at Bristol, and I think he should have an excellent shot to pick up his second victory of the season this weekend. The boys at Joe Gibbs Racing -– Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin -– should also be strong, just as they have all season. Look at Juan Pablo Montoya as a dark horse. He had a good testing session at the track last month and Chip Ganassi is putting the pressure on all his teams to start producing better results. | I see Phoenix exactly as I did Martinsville two weeks ago -- a chance for Hendrick Motorsports to come back strong. Despite Jimmie Johnson's runner-up run, the team has a bad taste in its mouth from a bad day in Texas. Jeff Gordon's 43rd last week will be reversed Saturday night in the desert and I believe he is the favorite with Dale Earnhardt Jr., who loves PIR and has won there before, right behind. From the dark-horse stable how about Kurt Busch, who has been lost since finishing second to teammate Ryan Newman in the Daytona 500 but has an excellent record at PIR. |
