Write Turn: ABC, Kenseth moves during Phoenix draw fans' ire

ABC's decision to bail out of last week's Phoenix race before it was over generated the most response this week from our readers, who also were interested in the Chase format (again), Matt Kenseth's aggression in Phoenix, the merger landscape of NASCAR and a swap of drivers for this weekend's season finale in Homestead.

From: Rick

NASCAR will continue to decline in fan base and ratings if they continue to pull the nonsense they did during the Phoenix race. With over 40 laps left in the race, they ended the coverage of the race to go to America's Funniest Home Video on the East Coast and they mentioned that the coverage would continue on ESPN2. However, not everyone has cable or satellite, so many people missed the end of the race. Also, if someone Tivo-ed the race, they missed the end of the race as well since the race concluded on another channel. Please do what you can to share this information with NASCAR.

Rick you can believe that thousands of fans shared the info with NASCAR and echoed your sentiments. What ABC did was within the rights of its contract and shifting the end of the race to ESPN2 still gave viewers a viable option to watch. But it was certainly an insulting move and puts NASCAR in the light of not being a major league sport. Would the network have pulled the plug on an NFL game? Highly unlikely. Since coming back to the sport, ABC/ESPN hasn't done much to win over NASCAR fans, and Sunday's antics will not help the cause at all.

From: joeandi

If the Chase format is such a great idea in NASACAR, why don't the other racing organizations follow this format? I personally feel that bunching the points up after 26 races to make the end of the season more exciting seems artificial. Jimmie Johnson was not the best driver most consistent for the whole season, just the last 10 races, which is also based on consistency.

Actually other forms of motorsports do use a Chase-type format, including the NHRA and its Countdown concept. And two years ago, the PGA adopted the FedEx Cup format specifically citing NASCAR as its inspiration. The Chase is still a good way to generate interest and set up a championship run in a playoff setting. But when a driver dominates like Johnson has this year, no format will keep things close.

From: sandy's

I have lost a lot of respect for Matt Kenseth, who I used to believe was one of the classier drivers on the circuit. But his move last week at the end of the race in what was completely and obviously a payback to A.J. Allmendinger was a blatant attempt to crash and hurt someone.

I have to admit that was definitely something I don't think I've seen from Kenseth, dating back to his days as a late model driver around the Midwest. He was clearly frustrated by an earlier incident but that is no excuse for a move that could have hurt Allmendinger and other innocent bystanders who drove into the last lap melee with nowhere to go.

From: werenr

Now that DEI and Ganassi have merged, who is left out there to join forces?

Talks are still going on between Gillett Evernham Motorsports and Petty Enterprises now that GEM and Bill Davis Racing have ended negotiations for a possible partnership. That one seems to make a lot of sense as both are struggling Dodge teams. The Ganassi-DEI merger is going to have a lot of growing pains in my mind with several strong personalities within each organization trying to work together and the issue of one team having to switch manufacturers with DEI currently in the Chevy camp and Ganassi with Dodge.

From: babedan

Pete, Red Bull is saying they are putting Brian Vickers in the 84 this weekend and Scott Speed in the 83. Will NASCAR allow this swap of drivers? They turned down Petty Enterprises earlier this year when they wanted to swap Bobby Labonte and Kyle Petty because of Bobby's past champions provisional. So what's up with this move?

NASCAR says allowing the two drivers to switch from Red Bull is different than the Petty Enterprises example you point out because there isn't a former champion's provisional involved, but in theory it is the same scenario with a guaranteed spot since the No. 83 is in the Top 35. We'll have to see if the sanctioning body really does allow this to happen once the cars unload in Homestead, but it does seem odd.