I love the road course races. I love them so much that I think that a road course should be added to the chase for the cup. What I don’t like about road courses is the fact that owners go hire “road course specialists”.

This has been a practice for as far back as I can remember. Also as long as I can remember it has not made a difference. Here is what I can’t figure out. The teams that bring in the “specialists” are teams that are having trouble running up front on oval tracks. They bring in a driver come in that isn’t familiar with the team, the crew, the car or the series and expect them to compete with the regular Sprint Cup drivers on the road course. Most times it seems as if the team owners are grasping at straws to bring some success to their teams. I don’t blame the road racers, they want to run in the Sprint Cup series. They figure that this might be their shot to get noticed by an owner in the Sprint Cup series. How are the drivers being substituted for going to gain any experience on a road course when they are taken out of the car everytime a road course appears on the schedule. It makes better since to me to let these young drivers gain experience and maybe become a good road racer. Where would Jeff Gordon be if Rick Hendrick put someone else in the car when it came to road course races. He wouldn’t be the premier Sprint Cup series road racer.

Going all the way back to 1986 the winners at Watkins Glen have all been Cup series regulars. Even Kyle Petty won a road course race in 1992. The teams who continually run up front will continue to run up front and no hired gun is going to beat them this weekend or any weekend in the near future. Hired guns have a place in a wild west gun fight, but not in NASCAR. It will be one big waste of time for some teams this weekend, but they are use to it, it happens twice a year.