Katie's Komments: 15th Edition

Welcome to the 15th edition of Katie’s Komment’s, a place to find the latest NASCAR news and my opinion on it! All comments are my views only but feel free to leave your own!

Tony Stewart: When news broke yesterday that three-time Sprint Cup Series Champion Tony Stewart had severely broken his leg and would be out of the No.14 Chevy for the foreseeable future, my heart broke. Tony Stewart is one of those racers who has to be in the car and in a race multiple times a week. And when I say has to, I mean that literally because his livelihood feeds on that competition and adrenalin. Stewart races is multiple Sprint Car races a week at dirt tracks all over the country, bringing in fans and keeping the love of dirt track racing alive. Because Stewart, and other NASCAR drivers like Kyle Larson, continue to race on dirt despite having a NASCAR ride, it brings in casual race fans into a new, albeit the original, form of racing. Taking a guy like Stewart and telling he is no longer able to drive his Sprint Car would be like telling Taylor Swift she could no longer sing bad breakup songs. Get well soon T-Stew!

Dirt Racing Unsafe: The big debate as of late has been the level of danger that comes with racing on dirt. There seems to have been an unusual amount of injuries this season that have come from NASCAR drivers going back to their roots. This is all coming on the heels of NASCAR announcing that they were hosting their first dirt track race in more than 40 years when the Camping World Truck Series took to Eldora just a few weeks ago. The fact is, dirt track racing isn’t necessarily as safe as NASCAR’s top series may be but that is because these tracks don’t have safer barriers. They aren’t required to have safer barriers. The big debate is that they should be required but unfortunately, they often can’t afford them. The odd thing is, the wrecks this season than have been because drivers have hit the wall. They have all be on-track incidents. The latest, involving Tony Stewart, is one example. Stewart was passing a lap car when he seemed to clip the tire and went tumbling through the air. Dirt track racing is safer then ever before but because of the added coverage this season, it seems like serious injuries and unfortunately death, are at an all-time high.

Hendrick Dominance: This past weekend at Pocono, it was a Hendrick showdown. Pole sitter Jimmie Johnson, who won the June race, led a large number of laps and looked to be on his way to a Pocono sweep when he blew a tire and hit the wall. After extensive repairs to the No.48, Johnson rallied back to finish 13th. Johnson was the lowest finishing Hendrick driver on Sunday. The other three Hendrick Motorsports drivers made up three of the top five finishers on Sunday. Dale Earnhardt Jr walked away with a nice fifth place finish. Jeff Gordon, who looked like he was going to get his seventh win at the Tricky Triangle when he took the lead with five to go, finished second. Kasey Kahne, for the second time this season, took his No.5 Chevy to Victory Lane after a late race caution allowed him to retake the lead from teammate Gordon. Hendrick Motorsports is stronger than ever this season with Jimmie Johnson leading the point’s standings by 77 points, more than one full race. Can anyone stop them?

That will be it for the 15th edition of Katie’s Komments and remember, if you don’t like mine, feel free to leave your own!