Kenseth Not Happy

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Late in the race, while the number of lead-lap cars had already been reduced dramatically through attrition, leader Kasey Kahne, Brian Vickers and Matt Kenseth spun in oil dropped on the track by Casey Mears' Dodge and wrecked in Turn 4. Kenseth, the reigning series champion, complained that NASCAR waited to call a caution knowing Mears had dropped oil. He also criticized the safety crews for not sending an ambulance to get him. "I think race fans should be mad. First, NASCAR spends 40 laps under caution screwing around for who knows what. Then a car blew up half a lap before we got (to the turn) and they never threw the caution. They just let it go green until we all rode down in there and wrecked," he said. "We've run two laps under yellow and haven't seen an ambulance. Glad I'm OK. I haven't seen anybody check me out yet."(ThatsRacin.com)
 
If he was knocked out he couldn't cry for an ambulance could he?
 
I guess I see the other side of this argument.

Last year DJ was upset about the ambulance not being there for him either. No there wasn't anything wrong with either of them. But, what if there had been. It's easy to sit back after the race and say Matt is whining but NASCAR has committed to their safety and sometimes they fall short. Whether it is a matter of not having enough safety workers or improperly trained safety workers or some other reason the drivers have a right to expect a safety worker to check on them in the event of a wreck.

At one point in the race they flashed a stat that showed that the time spent on red/yellow was greater than green. 2hours 4minutes to 2 hours or some such. For weather not to be involved they did spend a lot of time riding around burning up laps. Like the Newman spin. Everyone bitches when they call a race short due to a caution but when half the time is spent in red/yellow no one notices...
 
And sometimes the safety workers try to help the drivers that are still in their cars (and who possibly need their help the most) and don't worry as much about the drivers who get out and walk away under their own power. Every speedway can't afford to have 43 ambulances at every turn. I know California Speedway only has about four or five of them.
 
Originally posted by barelypure@Jun 7 2004, 10:01 AM
Everyone bitches when they call a race short due to a caution but when half the time is spent in red/yellow no one notices...
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I noticed, and I wasn't real happy about that. I think we went throught two or three commercial breaks under caution.(and we all know how long commercial breaks are.) :angry:
 
Originally posted by 66mustang@Jun 7 2004, 10:09 AM
Every speedway can't afford to have 43 ambulances at every turn. I know California Speedway only has about four or five of them.
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130,000 fans at probably $80 a shot. They could probably afford a couple more ambulances, And Kenseths car was pretty torn up. He has a right to complain. Smoke was pooring out of the back of Mears car. You could tell it wasn't a tire rub.
 
Originally posted by racerx11+Jun 7 2004, 07:24 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (racerx11 @ Jun 7 2004, 07:24 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin--66mustang@Jun 7 2004, 10:09 AM
Every speedway can't afford to have 43 ambulances at every turn.&nbsp; I know California Speedway only has about four or five of them.
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130,000 fans at probably $80 a shot. They could probably afford a couple more ambulances, And Kenseths car was pretty torn up. He has a right to complain. Smoke was pooring out of the back of Mears car. You could tell it wasn't a tire rub. [/b][/quote]
I agree they need to have more ambulances available. At the last Californa race, they had so many calls they were calling other ambulance companies outside the speedway to assist with all the heat related problems. The ambulances also have to help out the fans and crews too.
 
Stupidity on Nascar's part. They held up the race because they had to figure out where ryan newman was. They wasted a long time. And then when a car looses it's oil, they do nothing and the first cars hit the oil and spin and get taken out of the race. I agree completley with kenseth, and if I was kenseth or ryan newman, i would make nascar realize what they did wrong somehow.
 
Nascar sure as heck had their hand on the switch when Wallace scraped the wall.

Maybe we could take up a collection and buy them some binoculars that allow you to see a smoking car dropping oil on the track.
 
Originally posted by Patrick9999@Jun 7 2004, 11:25 AM
Nascar sure as heck had their hand on the switch when Wallace scraped the wall.

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Didn't that caution allow Jr. to restart with the leaders?

Wasn't he in a pretty good race with Tony when Mears blew up?
 
Originally posted by racerx11+Jun 7 2004, 11:37 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (racerx11 @ Jun 7 2004, 11:37 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin--Patrick9999@Jun 7 2004, 11:25 AM
Nascar sure as heck had their hand on the switch when Wallace scraped the wall.

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Didn't that caution allow Jr. to restart with the leaders?

Wasn't he in a pretty good race with Tony when Mears blew up? [/b][/quote]
:yawner: :yawner:
 
"That was about the biggest joke of a race I think I've been involved in," said Jamie McMurray, who was involved in two accidents Sunday.

"It looked one of the old enduro races that you see with street-stock cars on your local race track. That was nuts."

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"We shouldn't have been in that position in the first place. It was my fault," Newman said. "I know timing and scoring was messed up and we got held for a lap. In my opinion, we shouldn't have."
 
NASCAR made a mistake. Mears blew up and they thought it was tire smoke. I can see how that mistake was made.......it is hard to tell the difference sometimes. Yeah, if it's a great big plume of smoke suddenly erupting from a car you can be pretty sure that car lost an engine. But there wasn't all that much smoke from Mears car. It did look like tire smoke and then he was off the track.........NASCAR missed that one. But, if it had been just tire smoke and they threw the flag..........would y'all be happier? Or would we be complaining and bitching about NASCAR throwing one of those "mystery cautions" again? It's bad to be late with a caution, it's bad to be quick with a caution........it's a hard job and some think it's so cut and dried. :blink:
 
Aren't tire and oil smoke different colors? Throw the caution just in case and what's the worst that can happen - someone gets a lap back. So much for safety.
 
Both are generally white in color.........not really easy to tell the difference at times. And throwing the caution "just in case" does more than just give a lap back to someone. You would have races worse than yesterday's for time spent under caution or red flag conditions (non racing conditions). A caution needs to the thrown when it's necessary.......needs to be kept in the holster when not. Racing cars is not what people would call a safe sport to participate in..........there are risks. And NASCAR is responsible for trying to limit the hazardous risks. A tire rub is not generally considered to be a hazardous risk. But it's really easy to put it off on NASCAR. How many times have we heard "NASCAR threw the caution for no good reason...........let 'em race!!!"? Now we are hearing "NASCAR totally neglected to throw the caution for Mears' smoking car......they should have thrown it just to be safe". They made a mistake yesterday.........we know it, they know it. They didn't do it because they are stupid, uncaring for safety, or just asleep at the switch. Why bash them for an unfortunate mistake? I wonder how many of us could do half as good a job as they do? That's something to think about.
 
Yeh well it did cost Kasey Kahne the race, according to the guys on MRN he was pulling away when he hit the oil and there were only 14 laps left if i remember correctly. I think at that stage of the race, when there had been already so much weird crap going on, Nascar should of thrown the yellow. I'm not just saying that because i'm an Everham man either, it did take out 3 cars. Nascar has a lot of tough decisions maybe the spotter in the corner blew the call and not the flagman,but whatever the case yesterdays race was not a good one.
 
The smoke wasn't coming from the wheel wells, It was bellowing out from underneath the car.
 
Matt was just mad and made some statements under the heat of the battle. I am sure he feels better today. He had a good car and could have finished in the top 5 (at least).
 
I think their is some misinformation going on here...

Mears did not "blow up." Mears did not "loose on engine."

Mears cut an oil line which leaked oil on to the track.
 
i was sitting in turn 3 for the race, i saw mears come in the the corner, the oil line or whatever it was let go goin into 3, he was smoking and he was sliping all over the place almost got into the wall in the middle of 3 and 4, he made a hell of a save, instantly i said heres another caution, but to my surprise there wassnt so we end up with 3 more wrecked cars, i could tell he droped oil, but im not an official, i cant throw the yellow
 
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