Danica? What say you?

NASCAR announced, yesterday I think, that the rules for the All Star event in Charlotte this weekend are being "modified". Prior to last year's event there was no rule specifying that the winner of the Fan Vote had to be on the lead lap in the "pre-event" to qualify for the main event. That was changed last year requiring that any car making the big show MUST be on the lead lap if voted in by fans. Not sure what the reasoning was for that change but it seemed to make sense. My guess is that it was for the purpose of getting someone competitive in the field for the main. The rule has NOW been changed to say that the winner of the Fan Vote must only have a car in "raceable condition" (Kerry Tharp's words) to be entered in the main event.

NASCAR is so certain that Danica is going to win the Fan Vote, that the rule change was made to remove any obstacle that would prevent the Go Daddy Girl from "wiggling" her way into the big show. Of course, NASCAR denies that, and also denies knowing who is winning the Fan Vote, but think about the obvious.

There is a great article on Yahoo Sports pages this morning, written by Matt Myflia who has been a writter and blogger for the past 15 years on NASCAR and is published in "The Oakland Press". He is convinced the rule change is strictly to benefit Danica. The comments made by his readers support his theory and some express strong dissatisfaction with how NASCAR has handled this.

My concern is that NASCAR is admitting they already know who has "won" the Fan Vote. Isn't that premature? What about fans still voting and thinking they make a difference? I just don't like this scripted "Hollywood" B.S. where the fans are supposed to make a difference. It would appear to me that NASCAR has, and will, take every possible precaution to ensure Danica's presence in that race, including rigging the fan vote. I would guess D.W.'s fingers are worn to a numb from all the votes he has been casting.

NASCAR has been great at fining those who criticize the "product" this year. Maybe they ought to fine Danica and for stinking up "the product". It will be interesting Saturday night to see what strings are going to be pulled to get that green car in the main event. Oh wait, isn't the "Main Event" a term used by the WWE? Guess it's not that far off.

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What a change! It's been awhile since I've checked in and I'm quite surprised. It may take me awhile to figure it our but first look it's really great.


updated by @tim-leeming: 12/05/16 04:04:08PM

With Junior already in the race and not in play for the fan vote, I think Danica is so far ahead that it's a foregone conclusion who the winner would be. NASCAR has been seeding the clouds for the All-Star race since Daytona. I've read numerous articles about the potential battle between Junebug and Princess Sparklepony for this year's title of "most popular driver".I'd read yesterday's statement that the fan-vote winner had to be on the lead lap and I thought it was a good one. I was curious if the winner would default to 2nd place in votes if they were on the leap lap and the vote winner was not. I agree that the rule was changed for Danica's benefit. Seeing the poor performance of the SHR cars this year, including Talladega, I'm thinking she got a special pink restrictor plate for Daytona qualifying.Have you noticed that the Go Daddy Indycar has won two of four races this year?And none were fuel mileage races? He didn't win any in his first year in the car but he's showing that it wasn't the car that was holding Danica back. He's very popular and I think he's beginning to cast a shadow at Go Daddy headquarters.The best thing Danica could do is to run the Indy 500 next year. She doesn't even need to do the double. She's very good on that track and could push her stock back up a few points. If she doesn't produce some kind of results by the end of next year then her career is over. Nobody was pulling harder for her than me when she almost won Indy on her first time out. I wanted to see her win Daytona this year to shut up all of the haters. But she just isn't worthy of the hype.She's good enough to hit the top ten regularly and she's excellent at getting a car to the end of the race, but she's not a racer. She doesn't have that extra element to take chances and push a car to the front. She can't get a good finish out of a bad car.Brian France and Darryl Waltrip are going to be very disappointed in their little girl. I hope they don't pack up the media circus and move it to Johanna Long's transporter instead. Nobody deserves the constant attention that's been focused on Danica. Have you noticed how well Junior has been running since the spotlight shifted away?

I never had any doubt she'd be in it by hook or crook.

One thing I noticed this morning is that there wiill be no speed limit on pit road during the mandatory pit stop during qualifying. NASCAR has gone to great lengths to protect pit crews since Ricky Rudd slid into Bill Elliott's car on pit road at Atlanta resulting in a crew fatality.

I'm not sure NASCAR needed to make this one race change and risk an unfortunate incident.

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"

Fan vote Fan vote Fan vote LOL Right

I presume that they're using every other pit stall so they think that they have a buffer to offer some protection. I guess they don't want the outcome to be affected by a pit road speeding penalty. I think the whole all-star race thing is ridiculous anyway, especially when half the field is eligible. The all-stars race each other every weekend.

I'm in favor of limiting pit road speeds but I wish that they had a different way to control them. I think open wheel racers have a rev-limiter button or send a signal to a black box common to all cars. NASCAR's method of watching the tach and trying to game the scoring loops is ineffective. I believe that like debris cautions, it's a gimmick they use to make the "race" more random.

Nate Ryan, USA TODAY Sports

CHARLOTTE It will be decades before she likely will be eligible or perhaps even worthy of induction, but Danica Patrick is in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

The Charlotte shrine to stock car history added a display saluting her as the first woman in the 65-year history of NASCAR's premier series to qualify first for a Sprint Cup race.

Patrick donated the trophy from her Daytona 500 pole position along with a few hats from the victory lane celebration after being asked for some mementos by Hall of Fame executive director Winston Kelley.

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There's no mention in the article, but let's hope that some of the other women who came before her will get a footnote. I think they could have waited until she'd won a race.

I'm anxiously anticipating exhibit for Boris Said's victory in the truck series. Then we have Ron Bouchard and Jody Ridley, one for the 1st Canadian in NASCAR, the 1st non-North American competitor, the 1st redhead...

Now I am ready to puke.

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"

I had not heard this. I am truly disappointed in the Hall of Fame for allowing such a display in what is supposed to be a place to honor stock car racing history. Danica on the pole at Daytona? I know I get the label of "hater" for believing this, but I think everyone knows that was as rigged as anything has ever been in sports. NASCAR and Daytona wanted that week of publicity and they got it. I'm glad for that, but don't expect me to buy into that being a legal car.

I frankly think Janet Guthrie was 1000 times the driver than Danica. There have been several others. But I will stop right here before I get off on the tangent of how I really feel about Danica and Go Daddy.

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What a change! It's been awhile since I've checked in and I'm quite surprised. It may take me awhile to figure it our but first look it's really great.