By: Rob D'Amico and Michele Rahal from Race Day on Fox Sports Radio

Michele Rahal's Side

The first round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship at Louden, New Hampshire is one in the books and a dark-horse takes the win, if you can call Greg Biffle a dark-horse. That’s what the Chase is supposed be and Sunday’s Sylvania 300 race didn’t disappoint, at least as it shook up the points. On the other hand, it was still a race where cars couldn’t turn, splitters hit the ground rendering the cars uncontrollable and passing was still a restart process rather than battling side by side on track racing. The common catchphrase by all the commentators has now become ‘track position’.

Aerodynamics are paramount on tracks like Lowes, Texas and Atlanta but the negative effects of it should not be as severe as it is on one mile tracks, no matter what the configuration. The mechanical grip should be the dominant force that controls whether a car can turn and actually pass in the corners.  If you have grip coming off the corner then you have speed at the end of the straight, hence an ability to pass. This is still not happening and the New Hampshire race was more of the same.

Greg Biffle drove his heart out and beat an oncoming train across the tracks, the said train being Jimmie Johnson. It’s obvious that everyone has the same chassis to work with but those teams that have more money can make them work. Add to that the disparity that exists in horsepower from manufacturer to manufacturer and further exacerbate it with the ‘have and have nots’ and you end up with races that have not lived up to the hype.

It was great to see Greg Biffle win. It was sad to see a small bolt destroy Kyle Busch’s day. It was dramatic entertainment with dialogue between Dale Earnhardt, Jr and Rick Hendrick. Having stated this one would think that everything NASCAR wants to see happen to make a great race, but everything else in between was a continuation of the problems that have painfully existed the day the first COT hit the track.

It’s time to stop blaming Goodyear for its tires, after all, you can dress up a horse with new shoes, but it doesn’t make it run any faster.


Rob's Side

First it’s not the Car of Tomorrow. It’s here already and it’s called the “New Car”. Are there problems? Yes. Can they be fixed? Yes and they will over time, real competition time, not in Formula One simulators. The car hasn’t raced a full season to date and it has shown marked improvements.

The teams are finally beginning to find the correct direction for this car. Bob Osbourne, Carl Edwards crew chief, couldn’t get their car to handle this past weekend at New Hampshire. Things looked dismal. What did he do? He immediately went back to the hotel to pour over his notes and ultimately changed virtually everything. Bob shows up on Sunday morning and told Carl “we changed virtually everything on the car” and it’s going to work! The net result is that Carl, without even turning a lap to test it out, jumps in and takes the green then shoots out to an early lead ultimately finishing third.

Whining about the new car is like whining that the Chase is all wrong because a driver like Kyle Busch goes into the Chase dominating and comes out of the first round in 8th place. Whether or not that is fair is debatable, but the bottom line is that ‘it is what it is’. Work with it.
 
It’s disappointing that a $25 part takes Kyle Busch from the top spot but that same part could have failed on Reed Sorenson’s car as well. The positive in all this is that the chase is not like the NFL’s playoff system where a team is knocked out every week. Kyle Busch can come back next week and show us what he can do best when the car will let him.

This car was designed by NASCAR’s Research and Development Center for safety. The fact that it has taken the teams time to sort out the handling is irrelevant. They are all playing with the same rules, the same chassis and ultimately the racing will be better off for it.

My point here is to forget all the stuff you hear people saying about the “New Car” and look at the real stories in this sport. The teams will get this car right, Goodyear will catch up and the racing will speak for itself.

Has anyone given serious thought to the possibility that it may not be the cars handling at all, but the commitment of the manufacturers to deliver a competitive power-plant?
 

IndyCar announced its 2009 schedule featuring 18 races including two new destinations and bookend dates for the state of Florida; boy does that sound familiar. NASCAR opens their season in Daytona and ends with the last race of the Chase at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

IndyCar season will now open its season running through the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida April 5th and will now end their championship run in Homestead-Miami on October 11th. As you can imagine the excitement that Homestead-Miami has, “That the IndyCar Series has chosen to move its Championship to Homestead-Miami Speedway says more about our facility and Miami as a Championship host city than anything I can put into words,” said Homestead-Miami Speedway President Curtis Gray.

“IndyCar is anchored by such a decorated open-wheel history, and now the series is poised for a phenomenal future driven by the momentum of this year’s reunification with Champ Car, as well as by last year’s stunning Championship finish.”

The season will now feature 10 ovals, three permanent road courses and five temporary circuits including a debut in Toronto on July 12. The Indy Toronto, which dates to 1986, will be the first of back-to-back temporary course events in Canada with Edmonton scheduled for July 26.

You will notice that New Hampshire Motor Speedway was dropped from the 2009 schedule and this has definitely upset the track and fans in this area. “I don’t understand the decision not to include our facility on next year's schedule,” said Executive Vice President and General Manager Jerry Gappens.

“I think it’s a slap in the face to Bruton Smith, our Chairman, and to our company who have both been very supportive of the Indy Racing League since its inception.”

The IndyCar Series will return to Kansas Speedway, The Milwaukee Mile, Texas Motor Speedway, Iowa Speedway, Richmond International Raceway, Watkins Glen International and Infineon Raceway at approximately the same time on the calendar as 2008.

“We are thrilled with the schedule we have developed for 2009,” said Terry Angstadt, the president of the commercial division for the Indy Racing League, the sanctioning body for the IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights. “When unification was announced earlier this year, we talked about the opportunity of developing future schedules on a blank piece of paper, and with today’s announcement we have a solid foundation for developing a consistent, long-term schedule for the IndyCar Series.”

Next season’s schedule will feature four Saturday prime-time events, and unlike the previous two seasons the 2009 schedule affords a couple more in-season off-weekends for drivers and teams.

“Looking ahead to 2009, and with one season of unification under our belts, we know that the IndyCar Series continues to offer the most diverse schedule in all of motorsports,” said Brian Barnhart, president of the competition and operations division for the Indy Racing League. “As our schedule has evolved in the past few years, the race for the IndyCar Series championship has become one that demands the ability of both drivers and teams to master a variety of venues and the challenges each one brings with the end result being a true champion.

“We are also pleased to respond to our teams and offer a couple of more off-weekends during the core of the season.”

Date Location Venue

Sunday, April 5 Streets of St. Petersburg 1.8-mile street course

Sunday, April 19 Streets of Long Beach 1.968-mile street course

Sunday, April 26 Kansas Speedway 1.5-mile oval

Sunday, May 24 Indianapolis Motor Speedway 2.5-mile oval

Sunday, May 31 The Milwaukee Mile 1.0-mile oval

Saturday, June 6* Texas Motor Speedway 1.5-mile oval

Sunday, June 21 Iowa Speedway .875-mile oval

Saturday, June 27* Richmond International Raceway .75-mile oval

Sunday, July 5 Watkins Glen International 3.4-mile road course

Sunday, July 12 Streets of Toronto 1.721-mile street course

Sunday, July 26 Edmonton City Centre Airport 1.973-mile airport course

Saturday, August 1* Kentucky Speedway 1.5-mile oval

Sunday, August 9 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course 2.258-mile road course

Sunday, August 23 Infineon Raceway 2.245-mile road course

Saturday, August 29* Chicagoland Speedway 1.5-mile oval

Sunday, September 6 The Raceway at Belle Isle Park 2.906-mile street course

Saturday, September 19 Twin Ring Motegi 1.5-mile oval

Sunday, October 11 Homestead-Miami Speedway 1.5-mile oval

* Denotes Night race Schedule Subject to Change

Listen to Race Day on Fox Sports Radio with Rob D'Amico and Michele Rahal Sunday mornings from 6am-9am eastern on 216 Fox Affiliates, XM Radio Channel 142 and streaming LIVE 24/7 at www.FoxSports.com