NASCAR Rules – A big joke?

Tiny holes drilled through decklid fasteners, suspicious oil-like additives in the intake manifold, illicit ducting behind body panels. These don’t quite make a suspense novel, but they are the recent headlines in the world of NASCAR. They are the reasons why four crew chiefs, including that of Roush Racing, have been suspended from this years Daytona 500 and why NASCAR officials are handing down fines and suspensions to team owners. The tactics, while seemingly small and inconsequential, can have potentially huge impact in a race where margins of victory are measured in fractions of a fraction of a second. But does NASCAR really takes cheating seriously? If so, then why doesn’t NASCAR ban the entire team from competing in the race?

Some critics say NASCAR really isn’t a sport so much as it is a televised game show. (What other “sport” has the lead finishers earning prize money?) NASCAR is indeed competition, but the competition is simply a vehicle for a huge business in mass-marketing. The real competitors in NASCAR are the companies sponsoring the cars. When millions of people are fixated upon brand logos for hours on end, the winners are the advertisers whose logos are strewn across the hoods and sides of the race cars. So it makes sense then that NASCAR wont ever take serious measures against cheating – such as banning the Dewalt sponsored Roush team from competing in this months Daytona 500, because the real penalty could be the company cutting NASCAR from their marketing budget next year. Instead, NASCAR takes the easy road – ban a crew chief, or a driver, issue a meaningless fine and hope the public bites. All the while the same number of cars belonging to the team are allowed to carry logos across the TV sets of millions of viewers.

We say that NASCAR needs to make up its mind. If it really wants to present itself as a motorsport, and one with integrity, stop balancing the business with the competition and yank teams from the event if they are caught cheating. If they think this will hurt ratings and revenue, then make NASCAR like the WWE where anything goes and there are no rules.