Tony should have won not Regan Smith because Regan Smith passed below the yellow line if he would have won then it's ok to win that way and everyone else should be allow to win the race by passing below the yellow line.
Im just sticking with my thought...stewart in first with smith/menard behind him. Those 2 just arent plate racers and dont know how to get around the track. Waited way to long to try anything, and it cost them. Maybe they will learn by next year you cant just wait back. Edwards waited back, and look what happened to him. tried moving to the front...possibly to fast, and he paid for it just as well.
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Ever since the Sprint Cup series has gone to the CoT, races at Talladega and several other races simply have been dull. Nowadays at the Talladega races, most of the time the cars all just follow each other and stay in the same spot in one or two long lines, thanks to the godawful CoT.
Furthermore, the commentators of the Amp Energy 500 said that passing on the last lap below the yellow line is LEGAL on the last lap, and Regan Smith said the same thing during the post race interview.
That was Smith's ONLY shot at a win. A bunch of cars staying in one place in a long line IS NOT RACING! It is NOT competition!
What happened at the conclusion of the Amp Energy 500 is another example of how the CoT and NASCAR's awful and sometimes inconsistent rules has marred the sport.
Tony should have won not Regan Smith because Regan Smith passed below the yellow line if he would have won then it's ok to win that way and everyone else should be allow to win the race by passing below the yellow line.
Smith was forced below the yellow line by Stewart.
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2008 Daytona500 Champ
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Reagan got blocked, tried an illegal move, and got the deserve penalty, Tony's win!
Libra, if you think that race was "a bunch of cars staying in one place in a long line" then you must have missed Talladega yesterday, maybe you saw some sort of go-kart race. What was there, 28 different leaders and like 55 "official" lead changes? I've never seen a race with so many...
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Go, Rowdy, Go!!
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Very important for all to note, that the business of Nascar trumps everything. In this instince, we are at a profile track, a driver in the Chase who has not won in a long time, 2 high profile sponsors, one of which (Subway), which Nascar would like to see expand their involvement. The race coverage had gone over it`s alloted time window, so now you have people looking to tune into the news, suddenly watching a stock car race at suppertime on a Sunday afternoon. This was the "perfect storm". A "judgement call" so to speak sneaks in to determine the end of this race. This was a no brainer for Nascar. Make a discision that will benefit all the above conditions, lobby the media outlets for the next few days to justify, and everything will be fine next week. The cars you see going around every Sunday is secondary, to the big picture, which is to sell product & sell exposure. That is the price to pay for corporate involvement, and to grow the monetary value of the sport. Capitalism... I urge all to enjoy the spectacle of cars going around in circles at 2000mph, but just remember that this is a business 7 days a week. If you can adjust your thinking to this mentality, you won`t ever be hurt by a Nascar decision. Thanks for reading.
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Reagan got blocked, tried an illegal move, and got the deserve penalty, Tony's win!
Libra, if you think that race was "a bunch of cars staying in one place in a long line" then you must have missed Talladega yesterday, maybe you saw some sort of go-kart race. What was there, 28 different leaders and like 55 "official" lead changes? I've never seen a race with so many...
Strange your a Kyle fan where the same thing happen to him this year but Nascar gave it to him...
What would have been worst...Give Smith the win he deserves because he was forced below the line...or him wrecking Tony taking out possibly alot more drivers and maybe hurting or killing someone..
Stolen Victory?
Written by Journo on October 5th, 2008
From where I sat on Sunday, it looked like Regan Smith had a victory stolen from him.
Now, I am normally one to at least try and justify the actions of NASCAR. For better or worse I can usually see where they stand on certain issues. This one lacked sense to me.
For years NASCAR has maintained a policy of allowing passing below the yellow line if the race is in the final stretch. As I looked into the wording of the rule and previous precedents, I came across an old article courtesy of Jayski.
The article discusses an incident last season where Johnny Benson won a truck series race after crossing below the yellow line at Daytona. In it, NASCAR spokesman Owen Kearns said, “Benson wasn’t penalized because ‘if you can see the checkered flag on the last lap, anything goes.’”
Now today NASCAR’s Vice President of Corporate Communications Jim Hunter said, “You cannot improve your position anytime you go below the yellow line.” What a difference a year makes.
So instead of awarding Smith 2nd place, he has now been pushed back to 18th because that is where NASCAR feels he would have been if he had served the pass-through penalty they would have assessed.
Then the question is, why no penalty for Tony Stewart? NASCAR set the penalty precedent for a forced push below the yellow line in 2003.
“What we are beginning to see happen…is some of you have figured out that to protect your spot, you can move down against the yellow line to prevent someone from going on your inside…If you do it while that guy is trying to get around you…then you are subject to a black flag, too.”
Hunter said NASCAR did not feel Stewart forced Smith below the line. Had that been the case, Stewart would of course had to serve a pass-through penalty of his own.
I am not sure what constitutes forcing someone below the yellow line, but what I saw Sunday sure looked like it to me. This was not a case of Regan Smith moving below the yellow line to get around Stewart; it was a case of him moving below the yellow line to avoid left-rearing Stewart (who moved down on top of him). He had the run, plain and simple.
The issue of NASCAR not consistently applying rules in the every situation has been an issue for sometime. This weekend showed the sad reality of that.
Sunday should have been a day of celebration for DEI and Regan Smith, instead it was a moment of loss and frustration at the hands of the body there to protect their interests.
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Talladega has a history of delivering drivers their first wins, so on the surface any three drivers teamed together, regardless of the depth of experience, should have no problem mounting a charge in the final lap on the leader.
So when Tony Stewart took the white flag in Sunday’s AMP Energy 500, I figured one of the three drivers running right behind him would have a good shot at career win number one. But it didn’t happen, and on this day I truly believe the difference had everything to do with Stewart’s experience and the other three drivers’ lack of it.
Regan Smith, running second, was clearly in the best position to pass Stewart, but made one critical mistake when he chose to push Stewart at the end of the back stretch on the final lap rather than make a move to the outside. From a driver’s perspective you cannot be in a better position than this – running second with a teammate directly behind, which Smith had in Paul Menard.
Rather than push Stewart entering Turn 3, I expected Smith to capitalize on the momentum he had and move to the outside. Stewart could not have blocked Smith without opening the lower groove, and you have to assume your teammate is going with you. While a move to the outside entering Turn 3 would not have guaranteed victory, it would have slowed Stewart until another car closed the gap, and it also would have given Smith the advantage Stewart had coming to the checkered flag, which is the advantage of blocking and defending the lead in the final half mile of the race.
But instead, Smith pushed Stewart, which gave Stewart enough speed to move out to a car-length lead. That set up the last-ditch passing effort that we saw play out.
I cannot be critical of Smith’s final decision to go below the yellow line because time was running out and he had to make some move. It turned out going below the yellow long was the wrong decision, but again, he wouldn’t have had to make it had he made the right move going down the backstretch.
Most people believe that racing on the largest track on the circuit (2.66 miles) accommodates a driver and his decision making. While that’s true when you’re on the track alone qualifying, it’s actually a misconception as it relates to racing at Talladega. Any race at the Alabama track will test you and exhaust you mentally.
Smith did a remarkable job positioning himself to win his first race Sunday. He did what a lot of other drivers, including a few title contenders, could not. He avoided carnage.
At the start of the day, Smith had no top-five or top-10 finishes in his brief career. At the end of the day, he was going for his first career Sprint Cup Series win.
Between the end of Sunday’s race and the beginning of the next, plenty of people will discuss the validity of Smith being penalized for his move below the yellow line coming to the Checkered flag. I will not be among them. The rule is clear and precedence had been set.
I look at the move in admiration of a driver who could have coasted home and gotten that first top five and a career best day, but instead put it all on the line (figure of speech) in an effort to do what your programmed and paid to do – win.
I also do not look at the move as being the single moment that cost him the race. Instead, I look back to the decision to push Stewart entering Turn 3 as the most damaging.
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