If anyone were surveyed, NASCAR fan or not, and asked who were the most popular drivers in the Sprint Cup series, the large majority would say Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Danica Patrick.
During Saturday night's Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway, Danica was left with harsh feelings after the No. 88 got into the back of the No. 10 on lap 137. There was so much pent-up frustration from Patrick that she was still angry later in the race, as this video suggests.
The introduction of less downforce may have been a hit among most drivers, but don't tell that to Patrick. She finished 34th at Kentucky, two laps down, but Earnhardt wasn't that much better as he came home in 21st.
There won't really be a lot of fallout from what happened between Danica and Dale Jr. once they strap in for this weekend's race at New Hampshire, but there's a valuable lesson to be learned here. There was plenty of fury from Patrick when she got taken out like she did. Junior told his race team that he "didn't have any brakes," but the incident happened near the wall.
When it's a racing deal, parts and pieces between driver and machine don't always work together properly. Cooler heads will recognize what happened and it's time to move on. The fan bases can duke it out on social media all they want, but it won't change the outcome.
Amid the favorable reaction to the racing at Kentucky, though, along came NASCAR Chairman Brian France, who appeared on SiriusXM Speedway Monday afternoon and almost came across with a Donnie Downer type of statement.
France wants "more drafting and pack racing."
Uhh...OK. From a piece written by Dustin Long of NBC Sports, the lower downforce package used at Kentucky increased green-flag passing by 132 percent. France had this to say to SiriusXM's Dave Moody:
“What we’re really looking for is how tight is the racing?’’ France said. “How many lead changes are there? How much passing through the field is going on? How many more teams are competitive by a given package? What accomplishes those goals the best? That’s how we go about sorting it out."
From the stat sheet Saturday, there were 13 lead changes among eight different drivers. In last year's Quaker State 400, there were 12 lead changes among only three drivers, and the pair who finished 1-2 -- Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano -- led for 230 of the 267 laps.
I'd certainly call that progress. The real impact of the new rules will come in time.
Tom Zulewski is an 18-year veteran of journalism and has covered many forms of motor sports throughout his career. Follow him on Twitter @Tomzsports.
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