There has been quite some debate on whether the racing has change since the reconfiguration of Bristol Motor Speedway.  I have to say it, I really like the old way of racing at Bristol.  I am not a fan of crashing out another driver.  I do like the beatin’ and bangin’, door to door kind of racing.  I like the bump and run unless bumper takes out the bumpee.  I don’t mind the bumper moving the driver up the track to get around him.  But I don’t want to see the other driver put into the wall.  I like the drama the old racing at Bristol brought.   I guess that is what I liked about the old style racing.  Bristol was always high on my bucket list of tracks I want to see a NASCAR race.  It was probably at number three behind Daytona and Talladega.  But for the last couple of years, Bristol has moved down on the list.  The drama that we know as Bristol is not as dramatic as in previous. I don’t know if it is a combination of the new configuration and the new car design.  Who knows, but I do not look forward to Bristol as I used to.

The type of racing at Bristol wasn’t the only topic coming out of Bristol.  If you saw the race on Sunday, you noticed there were several empty seats.  I remember when Bristol was the hottest ticket around.  You couldn’t just walk up to the ticket office the day of the race and purchase tickets for the Cup race.  They had sell outs and if there were empty seats you couldn’t tell.  But on Sunday you could tell there fewer butts in the seats.  Part of that may be due to the type of racing.  I am sure the economy has something to do with as well.  Not matter what the case it was strange to see that many empty seats at Bristol.  This fact did not go unnoticed by Bruton Smith.  He is going to look into putting Bristol back the way it was before they change things back in 2007.  According to article on ESPN.com, Bruton did not give permission for the progressive banking that is currently at Bristol.  Apparently the engineer gave the go ahead for the progressive banking without mentioning it to Bruton.  however all this took place, I want the old style of racing back.

The penalties handed down by NASCAR was overturned by the chief appellate officer John Middlebrook on Tuesday.  The only remnants of the punishment was the fine that was levied against Chad Knaus.  No suspensions and not points were lost.  Since the 25 points were given back to Jimmie he has moved up to 11th in points.   Should the penalties be upheld?  I don’t know any more. Mr. Hendrick must have felt his appeal would be heard and the penalties would be overturned.  I am sure Mr. Middlebrook listened to all the evidence presented at the hearing on Tuesday.  I am also sure Mr. Middlebrook did not come to his decision lightly.  However, I just wonder what he saw differently than the three panel committee that upheld NASCAR penalties?  I can’t even begin to stand in the shoes of Mr. Middlebrook.  I do not think I would want to be in his position either.  Whatever he saw on Tuesday to overturn things (with the exception of the fine), there are those of us in NASCAR Nation that find this all suspect.  Perhaps NASCAR may look at how the appeals process is designed.  Who knows?  All we can do is accept how things have been handed down and move on.

Thank you, thank you, and thank you for streaming Sirius NASCAR radio!!!  I hated the fact that I could not listen to my NASCAR radio while at work.  I do have a radio where I could take my unit from my car and put in the radio at work.  But due to the fact you must have your receiver pointed a certain direction, there was no way to list at work.  So I was thrilled beyond belief when it was announced yesterday that NASCAR radio would be streaming online beginning today!

Non-NASCAR news…In case you have been living under a rock, Manning Watch 2012 is over.  Peyton Manning signed with the Denver Broncos this week for a cool $96 million over 5 years.  I am sad that Indianapolis could not find a way to keep Peyton.  But I am absolutely thrilled in is playing for a team I have been a fan of for a while.  So long Tebow….welcome to New York.  Since Peyton is now in Denver, Tebow was traded to the Jets.  Not a fan of Tebow.  He seems like a man with a good head on his shoulders, but as an NFL Quarterback, not so much.

From one Peyton to another…Sean Payton was suspended for a year without pay for the whole Bounty Gate brouhaha down in New Orleans.  NFL laid the hammer down this week.  Yes, other teams probably had some kind of bounty system.  But unfortunately you got your hand caught in the cookie jar after being told by the NFL to stop doing it and then lying about it.  When you get caught doing something wrong after being told not to do it and then lie about, don’t get whiney about things when you get the hammer thrown at you.  Case in point…SMU.  You broke the rules, you get punished, you continue to break the rules while on probation, and when you get the death penalty you shouldn’t be surprised.  It’s what I always stress to my children, if you get caught doing something wrong, TELL THE TRUTH!  Do not try to lie about things.  Yes, you may get punished, but the punishment may be more severe if you lie about it all.  There will be more fallout from all of this.  If Commissioner Goodell was trying to send a message to the teams, I hope they got the message.

Well…the boys are headed to California this weekend.  I am not excited about this weekend’s race.  It is not one of my favorite tracks, but that isn’t going to keep me from watching.  Go Tony!