COMMENTARY: “Anyone Can Do It” Does A Disservice To The Sport

NASCAR’s new 2019 Rules Package is now three races old, with plenty of opinion on both sides of the aisle.

Fan reaction has – as usual – been all over the road, with some hailing the on-track results at Atlanta, Las Vegas and ISM Raceways as a positive improvement over past seasons. Others have been critical of the package, characterizing the competition as marginally better, if at all.

Fan reaction is predictably unpredictable, since no one in the grandstands (or at home in the Barcalounger) has actually driven the race cars they’re commenting on. However, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series garage seems equally divided, with some drivers complimenting the new package while others administer tar and feathers.

“I thought there was a lot of side-by-side,” said Logano after winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway two weeks ago. “It was very intense. My heart rate was going as high as it has ever been, because there’s so many other things you have to think about now, because the cars are closer.

“Three-wide, four-wide, bumping, banging, very aggressive moves on the racetrack. How do people not love that? I don’t understand. It’s really good.”

Logano’s positive take is not shared by all of his garage-area brethren, however. Both Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman has been highly critical of the new rules

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver told the media that NASCAR had "taken the driver skill away from the drivers in this package.” Newman echoed those comments, effectively saying that the cars are now so easy to handle that NASCAR could pull fans from the grandstands to drive them.

In addition to being patently untrue, overhyped “anyone can do it” statements like those uttered by Busch and Newman do the sport a huge disservice.

One of the main selling points of NASCAR since its birth in 1949 has been – as Ken Squier so aptly stated nearly half a century ago – “Common men performing uncommon deeds.” Comments like those made by Newman and Busch turn that statement on its head. Now, we are suddenly supposed to believe that NASCAR is nothing more than “common men performing common deeds;” all due to one simple rule change.

Does anyone truly believe that the average Joe Sixpack could wheel a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series car at speeds above 180 mph, inches away from a pack of 37 other automobiles?

Horse hockey. You know it, I know it… and Busch and Newman know it, too.

I cannot drive a speeding MENCS car in heavy lapped traffic, any more than I can throw a Tom Brady-esque 65-yard spiral through double coverage onto the fingertips of a sprinting wide receiver.  

No more than I can wallop a Justin Verlander fastball 400 feet into the upper deck at Yankee Stadium.

No more than I can snipe a top-corner slap shot past Carey Price in Game Seven of the Stanley Cup finals.

None of those things are ever going to happen, no matter how insistent some of today’s top drivers may be to the contrary.

Mowing the lawn is not a spectator sport, because anyone can do it. Taking a bath is not a spectator sport, because anyone can do it. Why should anyone buy a ticket – or devote three hours of their valuable Sunday afternoon – to watch a group of people do something that they (apparently) can simply do themselves?

NASCAR drivers have traditionally been poor spokespersons for their sport. If they owned an Italian restaurant, some NASCAR wheelmen would place an ad in the local newspaper stating “WORST LASAGNA IN TOWN! LOUSY DECORE, SHODDY SERVICE AND EXHORBITANT PRICING,” then wonder why nobody shows up for dinner.

Last week’s grousing was simply the latest example.

It’s understandable, I guess. After all, racers have been raised on speed, virtually from the womb. Going fast is all they care about; to the point where many of them would rather put on a lousy race at high speed than a great race, only slower. In addition, Newman’s comments came just moments after a frustrating, 24^th-place finish. A guy's bound to be a little crabby after a day like that. Busch, meanwhile, made his remarks after a pit road speeding penalty cost him a shot at Victory Lane, relegating him to third place on the podium. We all know how Kyle feels about finishing third, don't we?

Car out to lunch? Made a critical mistake that cost your team a possible win? Blame the rules. It’s much easier than facing up to your own shortcomings, or giving a brand new technical package enough time to prove itself, for better or worse.

Newman and Busch are absolutely entitled to their opinions. And eventually, NASCAR’s new rules package may indeed prove to be as flawed as they say. But when virtually every driver and crew chief on pit road says they have a lot of learning to do before the new technical specs can be fairly judged, comments like “anyone can do it” are premature at best and irresponsible at worst.