Burning Questions: Phoenix

By Stephen Thomas, CNNSI.com
October 25, 2001
2:47 PM EDT (1847 GMT)

1. In the long run, does qualifying really matter?

Qualifying -- there's a white-knuckle affair for you! As much as 12.8 seconds' worth of excitement crammed into two, sometimes three hours of fun!

Talk about contrived. How important can winning the pole really be? In his career, Dale Earnhardt won all of three races after starting first.

Jeff Gordon

Sure, since 1997 (and through 31 weeks of this season), a reasonable 20 of 165 races have been won by drivers who started first. But consider the list: Jeff Gordon (eight wins from the pole), Mark Martin and Bobby Labonte (three each), Dale Jarrett and Rusty Wallace (two), Ricky Rudd and Tony Stewart (one). Not exactly a roster of rejects, is it?

Let's just end the charade and set the top 36 by points, letting the also-rans fight it out for the other seven spots. Let's face it, qualifying is little more than another pretext under which to separate the already-overburdened fan from even more money.

2. Is Tony Stewart really good for the sport?

At Talladega, NASCAR chairman Bill France Jr. came out in defense of the embattled/controversial/fiery/childish Tony Stewart. France went so far as to tell The Associated Press that Stewart is not only good for the sport, but that Stewart also reminds him of Dale Earnhardt.

Tony Stewart

Let's not get carried away. Stewart may prove to be everything Earnhardt was as a driver -- he's won 15 races in less than three full seasons; Earnhardt didn't win his 15th until his seventh full season. But as a representative of his sport, he has a long way to go before he reaches Earnhardt's level.

Certainly, there are similarities. Like Earnhardt, Stewart can be gruff and rough around the edges and he has a habit of telling NASCAR to go jump in the lake. But, if and when Earnhardt displayed his crotchety side -- and it was there -- he did so with a folksy, relate-to-the-common-fan way that somehow endeared him to the public that much more.

But what Stewart either doesn't, or refuses to, understand is that there's a fine line between being seen as the underdog (to NASCAR's bully) and being viewed as the angry young man who thinks the world is out to get him.

3. Is Ken Schrader all there?

It's something of a rhetorical question, given that the man makes a living driving race cars, but still, willingly running four races in one weekend is simply beyond the pale. Nevertheless, that's precisely what Schrader intends to do this weekend at Phoenix.

Ken Schrader

Schrader has submitted entries for a Southwest Tour race Thursday, trucks Friday, Busch on Saturday and Cup on Sunday. "Some people think it's crazy that I'm running all four races," he said, "but all that time at the track, I could either be in a race car or sitting in the motor home. I'd rather be racing, so it was a no-brainer for me."

Right, a no-brainer. Hey, baseball, basketball and hockey players, among others, play games on consecutive days, but, really, they have extra time on their hands, don't they? It's not like those athletes, oh, risk their lives each and every time they compete.

That Schrader is doing anything beyond the bare minimum expected of him might not indicate he's, well, nuts, but his willingness to extend himself certainly paints him a cut above the norm.