Be careful what you wish for, NASCAR, you might get it. The nation's most popular auto racing series opened its "Second Season" last weekend with a race at Loudon, New Hampshire. It turned out one of the often expressed fears of some drivers came true.
It was the start of The Chase. A series of ten races that will decide the NASCAR Nextel Cup champion for 2004. The previous races this summer served to select the ten drivers with the most points, qualifying them for The Chase.
Other teams can still race in The Chase, but only for prize money and to keep sponsors happy, not for championship points. The idea was to avoid having a team run season long for survival, not race victories and winning the war without winning a battle.
There was a lot of grousing from teams and drivers about the new format for the season. They are a conservative lot and don't take kindly to change. This in spite of the fact that NASCAR changes its rules sometimes weekly.
Some of the complaints were that non-championship drivers would be in the way of those racing for the title.
That's pretty much what happened Sunday at New Hampshire.
Robby Gordon got tapped into a spin by Greg Biffle. Gordon, who often doesn't know when to be quiet, responded to his team on the radio that he would "get him."
Gordon did so some laps later. He nailed Biffle from behind.
Biffle's car slid into those of Jeremy Mayfield and Tony Stewart, who were chasing for the title. The resulting collisions gave them 35th and 39th place finishes.
With only nine races left, chances are both are out of the running for the Nextel Cup title.
Gordon was handed a two-lap penalty and later apologized for his action.
Word is that his job for next season with Richard Childress racing was hanging by a thread anyway and this pretty much snipped it off.
I have never felt that Robby Gordon is very happy in NASCAR anyway. He is happier racing open wheeled cars.
However, there are so few teams and so many drivers available at that level, he just no longer could find a home there. He wasn't good enough.
He was, however, good enough to get a ride with a NASCAR team. Never a star, but he won some races.
He may even hook up with another NASCAR team, if RCR does in fact let him go after this season.
Gordon, however, seems to look down on the NASCAR scene a little. We can't speak to what he actually thinks, but the impression is that he doesn't take it as seriously as he takes open-wheeled events.
Regarding the contenders, some experts say that one bad race out of ten shouldn't hurt that badly. Stewart is convinced his championship hopes are gone. He entered The Chase fourth in points.
Fact is, there are nine more races in which the current front runners could be taken out as well, so it may all balance out.