I Made the Right Call on Fontana

My buddy John and I have had a little IRL vs NASCAR thing going on for awhile, and we made an agreement last year that I would go to an IRL race with him if he went to a NASCAR race with me. We attended the IRL race in Fontana last October (see report here) and were going to do the NASCAR race in Fontana last February until my company's Hawaii trip got in the way (poor me).

I briefly considered getting tickets for the Labor Day race in Fontana, but thought better of it since it tends to be pretty hot in Fontana on Labor Day and the thought of sitting in the blazing sun for several hours didn't appeal to me. I made the right call on that. I was just watching the pre-race show and it's 103 degrees out there right now under a cloudless sky. No humidity, but it would still be like being slow-cooked in an oven.

Maybe we'll try the race again next February.

By the way, some interesting news for NASCAR fans. NASCAR has a tie-breaking procedure in their rules for any drivers who end up tied in the points at the end of the year. The first tie-breaker is number of wins, then 2nd places, 3rd places and however far they need to go to break the tie. It was assumed that the same tie-breaker would be in place for the Chase for the Championship, and in fact was announced that way on the morning NASCAR show.

During the afternoon pre-race show it was announced that the tie-breaker is out for the Chase, and that if two cars tie for the 10th and final position in the Chase, both cars will make it. Now why do you suppose they did that?

My guess is that the most likely tie at this point would be between Mark Martin (currently in 10th place) and Kasey Kahne (currently in 11th). Under the old rules Kahne would get the spot because of his four wins this season. I'm guessing that NASCAR wasn't wild about leaving Mark Martin out of the Chase in his final year in NEXTEL Cup and did a quick rule change to eliminate that possibility.

Neither Jimmy Spencer nor Kenny Wallace, panelists on the NASCAR Race Day show, were happy with the change, and they're both Cup drivers.

Interesting (as least to NASCAR fans).