Full Throttle

out?li?er /?a?t?la??r/ Pronunciation Key - Spelled Pronunciation[out-lahy-er] Pronunciation Key - noun

1. a person or thing that lies outside.
2. a person residing outside the place of his or her business, duty, etc.
3. Geology. a part of a formation left detached through the removal of surrounding parts by erosion.

That’s me, number one and a bit of number two. As for number three, some of you may think I’m a rockhead, so that may fit, in a round-about way also. Why? Let me give you a list of what’s “inside” first:

The Spotter who seems to agree with Dustin Long that Bristol was a “yawner.”

Diecast Dude: Sorry Dude I’m not one that you are agreeing with. Bristol wasn’t an exercise in the art of “tedium.”

Bob Pockrass: I agree, there wasn’t a “Ryan Newman-Dale Jarrett flare-up” this year. Also concur Denny Hamlin finished sixth with “barely a scratch on it.” That’s generally true every year of those in the top five. That’s how they got there, they weren’t beatin’ and bangin,’ they were winnin’ or damn close.

Ed Hinton called it a “kinder, gentler Bristol” and says BMS president Jeff Byrd went through parking lots apologizing to people after the race. He’s also quoted as saying, “It happens to us,” Byrd said dejectedly, “about once every 10 years.” Chase? Could be, it also could be just an abberation and the latest meme the press has found to plump up and add to their column space.

That’s a short list. The other four or five sites that expressed similar thoughts I failed to place in the aggregator archive file. (convenient huh?)

Anyway, I don’t buy it, at least not much. Yes Bristol was on the tame side compared to past years. In Hinton’s column he quotes Dale Jr. saying drivers were showing more respect and many times moved over as he came through the field.

I’ll concede the Chase may have had a part, but look at the standings. Mark Martin had a miserable day yet is still in the top ten and 90 points from dropping out of it. The bottomline is everyone within the top 11 can make the Chase. 12th on down are history and most of them have been for weeks.

I suspect some of the on track antics of a couple drivers in the last few weeks may be having more of an impact, has produced a more “respectful” environment and manifested itself Saturday night. With NASCAR wielding its version of a Sword of Damocles in the form of points reductions for on track bad boys someone looking for immediate revenge faces a possible double whammy.

If it were me (wishful thinking) and I had a mind to use the chrome bumper Saturday, knowing I’d still be in the top 11 even if I crashed myself the thought of that double whammy would weigh heavily on the final decision.

So call me an outlier all you want, I’ll wear the crown proudly, with silver clusters. (and with distinction I might add) I’ll even accept definition number three thrown my way. So throw all the rocks you want, they’ll just bounce off my rockhead.

UPDATE: David Poole falls along the same general lines as I have. It’s the Chase, but it isn’t. ” The problem is, therefore, the system. Specifically, the problem is still the same as it always was. It