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Late season casual lamb bastings.

There’s plenty to talk about since I’ve taken a few weeks off from Nascar coverage and writing. I decided it was in my best interests to bypass the infatuation with Jeff Burton after Charlotte due to the fact that he and RCR in general have shown no signs of being on the same level as Jimmie Johnson or Carl Edwards. For those of you who haven’t been paying close attention, teammate Clint Bowyer has one win this year that came off a series of misfortunes from others and Kevin Harvick hasn’t won a race in nearly two years. It’s amazing Burton can squeeze out what he can with that team and even more amazing that anyone thinks they’re championship worthy. With that said, Charlotte was a whale of a race and if cookie cutter tracks continue to be the norm it’s fine by me as long as they’re all as entertaining as that was.

So with Johnson having things about wrapped up, there’s only one thing to do: air out all the frustration I have with mainstream Nascar writers and prove them wrong.

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Public Enemy #1: Duane Cross.

Duane Cross is a fine writer and an even finer Nascar historian, but this past week his faulty logic was publicized for all to see over on .com. Cross, who has spat at the Chase format since its inception, declared the system a failure because of Johnson’s dominance over the last few years. Cross failed to offer any kind of alternative, but assuming that the one-man show that is the 48 team is the problem, nothing short of resetting the points before Homestead is going to do anything about it. Certain drivers dominated the old era that traditionalists like Cross long for, but no one changed the points system. Sacrificing a sport’s integrity for the sake of manufactured drama is inexcusable and ridiculous. Luckily, the Chase is a realistic way to retain both. The fact that Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus are the best driver/crew chief combination in the history of the sport (quote me) doesn’t mean that the system is better or worse than it ever was. It means they’re good.

Cross acts as if Johnson and company have found some loophole that undermines the integrity of the system, as if Johnson hasn’t had the best season three consecutive years. Even without the Chase, he would be leading the points over Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards all the same.

Leave the Chase alone and be done with it. It rewards winning and it creates a crunch time situation that separates sandbaggers from real champions (see Jeff Gordon vs. Jimmie Johnson last year.) Switching to the old points system isn’t going to bring back any of the glory days Cross. Labonte and Waltrip retired, Earnhardt Sr. passed, enjoy it for what it is.

Public Enemy#2: Joe Menzer.

While I have nothing to gripe about recently with .com’s Joe Menzer, I do have to publicly declare my distaste for his track record of comparing Nascar to other pro sports. Menzer, a former NFL writer, loves to tie together common threads and use the NFL’s roads to success to criticize Nascar somehow failing to realize that the two sports are virtually nothing alike. Unless defensive players are drafting each other in an effort to catch an end zone-bound running back, then you should probably stop connecting invisible dots Joe.

I could write a thesis on Joe’s chronic tendency to declare all races that don’t feature photo finishes or fiery wrecks boring, but that’s another story.

Public Enemy#3: All Paranoid Nascar Writers.

Somewhere in the last few years some bomb went off that I’m not aware of. Perhaps being as neurotic as possible is simply the new millennium thing to do in every line of work, but it’s now hard to remember a time in racing for me where the writers weren’t constantly discussing the health of the sport, the television ratings, the empty seats in the stands…

The list goes on and on of things that the Nascar media is worried about. Here’s a great way to remedy the problem: find something else to write about. There’s no story and you’re beating a dead horse to a bloody mangled pulp. The economy is horrible. That’s why the seats are empty. The Internet and YouTube exist, that’s why ratings are down. Get back on track. Literally.

Public Enemy#4: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

While not a writer as far as know, Jr. in his infinite wisdom rekindled the “Nascar throws cautions on purpose” absurdity after Martinsville. Jr. claimed he knew the two cautions that came at the end would get thrown by Nascar to make the finish more exciting. Hey genius, two cars spun out. When a car spins in the middle of the track, that’s usually a fair time to chuck the yellow flag. I may have to check on precedent on that one, but I’m relatively sure that’s what the caution is for in the first place. Drive your car.

That felt great.

Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson and the Lowe’s 48 crew on probably winning another championship. I won’t hand him the trophy yet, because mathematically he has not won, but it is clearly of the highest likelihood. There were people—yes, Joe Menzer was one of them—declaring him the champion as far back as three weeks ago. Technically, Johnson could get hit by a bus tomorrow and lose so no, the championship is not his. But it probably will be and you’d seldom fine a more fitting representative of this great sport.