With NASCAR exposed and its credibility in tatters, what's next?

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

Detroit. Is anyone out there really all that surprised by the NASCAR fiasco that unfolded last week? I certainly hope not. Brian France and his minions set the table for the events that happened by creating a recipe that was perfectly ripe for disaster. But before anyone gets exercised about this all over again, I think it would be wise to take a step back and assess the situation for what it is. Talking about the "credibility" of a sport that has gone out of its way to operate with myriad gimmicks and accommodations - "start and parks," "green-white-checker" finishes and wildly orchestrated and excruciatingly "equalized" competition - is almost incomprehensible and borders on being a giant waste of time.

Yet, knowing all of that, there we were watching last week as the powers that be in NASCAR were bumbling through one stupid move after another in the interest of attempting to restore a shred of credibility after its final qualifying race for its vaunted "Chase" for the Sprint Cup turned into a tragicomedy of errors, deals, machinations and flat-out stupidity.

What have we learned in all of this?

1. When pressed, the France family's position on any controversy is to retreat to their bunkers while saying that, in the end, it's their right to do whatever the hell they want, whenever they want to do it. Why? Because it's their business, which means they control the ball and the ball field and everyone else can go pound Daytona Beach sand.

Except for this fact: when NASCAR ascended to prominence and became the darling of the stick-and-ball media (roughly 2002-2007) - something the France family was desperate to have happen, by the way - there was a certain expectation from the media and corporate America that came along with it. And that was that NASCAR would figure out a way to live up to and sustain its hyped promise, that it would be able to build on its American folklore roots and become the second-most popular sporting activity in the U.S., right behind the NFL juggernaut.

It didn't really work out that way, did it? And why is that exactly? Please refer to point 1. When push comes to shove and despite of all of NASCAR's alleged marketing and media savvy, it's a family business run with all the subtlety of a traveling carnival. When things are going well it's all "kumbaya" with the teams and team owners, the drivers, sponsors and the manufacturers. When things come apart like they did last week, we get a collective shrug from NASCAR led by Brian France and a lecture about racing "100 percent" for the credibility of the sport.

In one interview with the AP, Joe Gibbs equated the situation to past crises in the NFL, saying that the NFL figured it out and that NASCAR would too. ''I've seen things like that happen on the NFL side,'' said Gibbs, the former head coach of the Washington Redskins and a three-time Super Bowl champion. ''We tried to do the best we could in handling it, and hopefully we've got this behind us with the race. We all love our sport and nobody wants anything that would hurt or harm it or disappoint people.''

Really, Joe? NASCAR looked so bad last week on the eve of the start of the Chase that the idea that getting back to racing would solve everything was naive, at best. More like extreme wishful thinking. And if the collective NASCAR mindset in the garage area really thinks that, then this issue is even bigger than I first believed. Because despite the best efforts of the NASCAR minions and the collective wishes of the competitors in the garage, I can assure you this won't go away, but more on that later. (NASCAR's debut "Chase" race at the Chicagoland Speedway was not helpful. A rain-soaked event, it don't finish until after midnight local time. We have more on the race in "The Line" but read Nate Ryan's piece in USA Today on how NASCAR contributed to making things difficult for itself at Chicago here.)

2. The dichotomy between the doers - the team owners, drivers, crews and especially the manufacturers and the sponsors - and the NASCAR "overlords" is becoming more glaring with each self-inflicted crisis. It's readily apparent that for the France family it's all about the money, as if anyone needed to be reminded of that fact. But every once in a while we're reminded of it in such stunning, emphatic fashion that it gives everyone pause. Last week's incidents, recriminations and post-race orchestrations were a not-so-subtle message from the France family and the NASCAR machine that the "doers" ultimately will do exactly what's best for the France family and NASCAR - or else.

It's not for the quaintly endearing "credibility of the sport" that was bandied about in the earnest, soul-searching press conferences and the blatant media manipulations afterward. (By the way, I was pleased to see the NASCAR beat reporters nail NASCAR for the crisis and everything associated with it. They, more than anyone, understand the Big Picture and were acutely aware that this was a giant bowl of Not Good and reported it accordingly and in unflinching style.) No, the not-so-subtle message from the NASCAR hierarchy was that it's our show, dammit, and you're all privileged to be able to play in our sandbox and you will ultimately do what you're told.

But this is where it gets real sticky for NASCAR. The powers that be in Daytona Beach and Charlotte display that swagger-rich attitude when pushed to the wall, like last week. They steamroller the competitors, hand out big dollar fines with abandon and generally do whatever they want. Because they can. But they will then do a complete "180" in December when they come calling on GM, Ford and Toyota marketers in their annual hat-in-hand tour to make sure everything is okay and check that it's still all good between them and NASCAR in a kind of "Aw shucks, how'd we do?" exercise. Good enough for the three manufacturers to spend $200 million collectively - all-in annually - on everything to do with NASCAR, that is.

But this time I can assure you it will be different. That "little ol' deal we had before the Chase" (which is exactly how NASCAR management will portray it) will not be swept under the rug in the corridors of the participating manufacturers. Unfortunately for NASCAR the genie is now out of the bottle and for a lot of the marketers at these companies - some of whom grew up thinking that participation in NASCAR was a given handed down to them by their bosses who have long since faded into retirement - the gold-plated handshake deal with the Frances that seemed to be etched in stone will no longer be automatic.

It's not just about the ROI, either. It's about the fact that some of the sharper people at these companies have finally come to understand that they're being duped, that their participation in NASCAR is not the be-all and end-all that it once was, because at the end of the day they're just along for the ride and they're not driving the bus. (And trust me when I say this, but one thing that the manufacturers absolutely do not appreciate is being handed a bus ticket.) Everything they try to accomplish in NASCAR and in trying to get the NASCAR overlords to be responsive to their needs is like pulling teeth. And it has grown tiresome and tedious.

And more important than all of that is that there are new motorsports opportunities out there for these companies in their endless quest to attract young and new buyers, some of which haven't even appeared on the horizon yet (at least not for public consumption) that will threaten NASCAR's "gold-plated handshake" standing with the manufacturers to its very core.

Do I blame the competitors for what happened at Richmond? No, not completely. They grew up in the NASCAR system and they've come to understand, too, that it's all about the money. The difference between making the "Chase" and being left out of it can mean millions down the road. And it can even determine sponsor interest at contract renewal time. That's real money, folks. And if they're going to play in the NASCAR system, they know the deal. I feel for them though, because I have the utmost respect for the talented drivers and crews and engineers who are in the trenches and hard at work doing it every day. They believe in what they're doing and they don't want anyone messing with their livelihoods.

But NASCAR's actions last week spoke volumes and deep down it had to make the denizens of the garage area sick. The cynical, jaded thread running through the events last week was completely over the top and unacceptable. NASCAR was forced to do something because the incidents at Richmond were out there in plain sight on video and audio and all over the Internet. And they responded with something like, "Oh, never mind, after reviewing events we'll 'adjust' the rules to accommodate a team that was wronged." And to do all of this while talking about the integrity of the sport and the integrity of the "Chase"?  Really? It would be like Major League Baseball deciding that a team needed another shot at the World Series and adding a extra play-in game in October at the last second to accommodate it.

To reiterate, the idea that this crisis will just fade away is totally unrealistic. From NASCAR's perspective they want everyone to "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" or some such nonsense and move on, but it's not going to work out that way this time.

NASCAR has been exposed for what it is: A family-owned and run empire with the sole purpose of lining its own coffers. It's not about the integrity of the racing. It's not about presenting the sport in a proper, professional way and conducting things accordingly. It's about the cold, hard cash and anyone who gets in the way of that will pay dearly, or be disinvited from participating.  

But the most glaring issue going forward for NASCAR as a result of this mess is that everyone who participates in the circus is a party to it and has been exposed because of it as well.

And they've been caught up in the swirling maelstrom of negativity that washed over major league stock car racing too.

And some of those participants - inevitably the ones who provide NASCAR with piles of that cold, hard cash, i.e., the manufacturers and corporate sponsors - are not going to go along to get along with the NASCAR "way" any longer.

They've seen the man behind the curtain and they're not liking what they see.  Or what it means.

Editor-in-Chief's Note: Well, that didn't take long. NAPA Auto Parts will end its multimillion-dollar sponsorship of Michael Waltrip Racing at the end of the year, as a direct consequence of the team's attempt to manipulate the outcome of the Richmond race on September 7th to get Martin Truex Jr. into NASCAR's "Chase" for the Sprint Cup championship. NAPA is Truex's primary sponsor - meaning they pick up the tab for the entire 36-weekend NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule to the tune of around $18 million annually - and was in the first year of a three-year extension announced last August that was to run through the 2015 season. ''NAPA believes in fair play and does not condone actions such as those that led to the penalties assessed by NASCAR,'' NAPA said in a statement. ''We remain supportive of the millions of NASCAR fans and will evaluate our future position in motorsports.'' This move is devastating to MWR, as replacing a primary sponsor with just nine races left in the season will be extremely difficult, if not impossible. - PMD

Publisher's Note: As part of our continuing series celebrating the "Glory Days" of racing, we're proud to present another noteworthy image from the Ford Racing Archives. - PMD

(Photo courtesy of the Ford Racing Archives)

Daytona Beach, Florida, February 27, 1966. Cale Yarborough (No. 27 Banjo Matthews-prepared Abingdon Motors Ford) leads a pack of cars during the Daytona 500 NASCAR Grand National race. Yarborough would finish second that day to Richard Petty (No. 43 Petty Enterprises Plymouth GTX), who won the race with an average speed of 160.927 mph. David Pearson (No. 6 Cotton Owens Dodge) finished third. Watch the ABC "Wide World of Sports" videos here and here.

Publisher's Note: Like these Ford racing photos? Check out www.fordimages.com. Be forewarned, however, because you won't be able to go there and not order something. - PMD