“I guess that ain’t the case around here. I think that depends on who is on the front line a little bit.” -- Matt Bowling after finishing third in the 100-lap Late Model race March 22 at South Boston Speedway.
That answer came after I asked about a mid-race restart that allowed the car to the outside of Bowling to get a rather large jump and take the lead. Little did I know that the answer fits in with how certain events transpired over the course of the following three days.
I posted the latter part of the quote on Twitter early Tuesday evening and had several respond to ask what exactly I was talking about. It was out there without context and I answered a few of the responses privately because I didn’t know exactly how to say it in public just yet.
Until now.
Here is what happened:
Following the conclusion of all the races Saturday at SoBo, there were two Late Models sitting in post-race inspection well after everyone else had left the track -- the cars of race-winner Austin Thaxton and runner-up Peyton Sellers. So, as a journalist, I went down to inquire about what was going on. Come to find out through a visual inspection during post-race tech, Thaxton’s brake rotors were confiscated and being inspected.
I was told after leaving the track, by multiple people, that what was found on Thaxton’s car were slotted brake rotors. For those who do not really know the technical side to racing, the easy way to explain it is that those types of rotors are only used in the national touring series and can not be bought for Late Models.
It was described to me as a “black and white” issue. Essentially, pretty obvious that it was wrong to use the slotted brake rotors on his car.
While waiting for a ruling next to the tech shed, an official comes down and tells everyone that a decision will be made Monday. Needless to say, a few eyebrows were raised.
So, Monday comes around and I was told that the ruling was pushed back to Tuesday. I can understand that since that is the day that is typically reserved for major penalties in all series.
I would know. I’ve had to cover my fair share of those at this level.
Tuesday morning, I put in an email to NASCAR asking to be informed if any penalties are passed down. Later that day, a little after 3 p.m., I see that the official results have been posted and Thaxton is declared the winner. The once “black and white” issue suddenly contains a “gray” area.
I touch base with Sellers to see what he has heard and he tells me, on the record, that “they said it was a performance advantage and not a big enough advantage to warrant the penalties.”
Basically, in a nutshell, Sellers said he was told the penalty of using something that gave a driver a performance advantage would have been too severe for slotted brake rotors.
That’s a first.
“Historically, they take away the victory in the Late Model ranks,” Sellers said. “This is the first time that NASCAR has ever made a statement like this by not disqualifying somebody.”
In fact, I’ve seen my fair share of disqualifications at SoBo that happened the night of the race.
I haven’t heard from NASCAR and I knew that I would not get anywhere contacting the speedway. In the past with penalties, the speedway announces them but not the specific infraction. I actually brought that up once on Twitter during a race and was told to my face by track general manager Cathy Rice that, “We do not need to release that information.”
Now that I have recalled all of the events, you may ask why I did so.
The entire situation opens a can of worms that will likely take time to clean up.
Here’s why.
-- If a driver, after seeing the ruling and knowing what transpired, uses slotted brake rotors during a race and wins, he can expect not to be disqualified. That is the precedent that has been set with this decision. If the track or NASCAR decides to disqualify him or her, all that driver has to do is bring up this decision and all of a sudden, there is a case to keep the victory. Simple as that.
-- Also, with the track deciding to let NASCAR handle the ruling instead of keeping it in-house, does that mean that each future protest has to go to NASCAR? If the track does make a ruling immediately after the race, can’t the driver request that ruling be put on hold until NASCAR makes a decision like how Thaxton’s case was handled?
-- Who makes the decision of how much of a help a part is or not? When something is in black and white, you add a gray area to it if you decide if this part is a little help, a big help or no help at all.
-- There is also the giant elephant in the room of why the track did not make a ruling Saturday afternoon. If I thought of it, certainly others in the racing community thought of it as well.
All of this brings me to ask several questions.
Were the rotors responsible for Thaxton winning Saturday? Probably not. Could he have won without them? Probably. Was Thaxton eventually going to win this year? More than likely.
I’ll echo what Sellers said Saturday -- Thaxton has come a long ways from when he started racing at SoBo. I watched him in the Limited ranks and there were times he couldn’t get out of his own way. But like any good driver, he got better once he got laps under his belt and has steadily improved to the point where he is a legitimate contender to win.
What I absolutely hate is that Thaxton’s first Late Model victory, one he will remember for the rest of his racing career, will be tainted with an asterisk.
That is not fair to him, to the other competitors and to the fans.
But it does raise some concerns of how major racing decisions are handled at the track. What should have been a “black and white” issue suddenly contains a lot of “gray” and a whole lot more questions than answers.
The views and opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not reflect that of the newspaper I work for.
