Catchfence

NASCAR’s “regular” season reaches its penultimate round as a “new” tradition kicks off at Atlanta. The Southern 500 is dead, but NASCAR has tried to revive some of that flavor by putting the Dixie 500 in its stead. The event replaces Fontana, moved to mid-October ostensibly because of heat in the Fontana area during Labor Day weekend. I say ostensibly because NASCAR’s reasoning for racing in southern California has never been particularly credible given that the area is a dismal NASCAR demographic; it seems more likely the event was moved into the Chase to try and give it, and the demographic, something of a justification.

As a result, Atlanta, which had raced in the early-November slot from 1975 onward, is shifted to Labor Day weekend, a fact that is one of numerous issues worth discussing as the Dixie 500 approaches -

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The reality of NASCAR in southern California is the reality of a dismal racing demographic. However, racing at Atlanta has not made much sense for over a decade now because that demographic has proven to be among the weakest in the sport. The speedway’s inability to sell out races was among the most notorious reputations in the sport, and it doesn’t seem likely the track will sell out this time.

But the reality is that most tracks haven’t been selling out for many years – the majority of this decade, in fact. Even Bristol had to sell tickets at half-off to keep a streak of sellouts going – and I suspect they’ve been doing this for a number of years. So on this score Atlanta is by no means an egregious example. Yet it remains that Atlanta is not only a weak racing demographic but a weak sports demographic, shown both by Atlanta Speedway and by the importance to the Atlanta Falcons of game-day walk-up ticket sales to sell out the Georgia Dome – even when the team is good as it’s been most of the decade.

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Making his Winston Cup debut at Atlanta will be Erik Darnell, driving the Doug Yates/Hall Of Fame Racing #96 in place of Bobby Labonte. Darnell, part of the long-running Roushketeer gang of youngsters being groomed for potential Winston Cup rides, has raced in the Trucks and BGN and has two wins in the Trucks, most recently at Michigan in 2008. Darnell’s deal in the #96 is for Atlanta and six other races this year, with Labonte limited to Richmond, Dover, Fontana, Charlotte, and Martinsville.

Erik Darnell’s grandfather is Bay Darnell, who raced in the old USAC stock car tour in the 1960s through 1970s, winning at Indiana State Fairgrounds in August 1974, at DuQuoin in August 1976, the Alamo 500 at Texas World Speedway in 1977 a week after polesitter AJ Foyt had won Indianapolis for an historic fourth time, and at Illinois State Fairgrounds in August 1982.

The change of drivers won’t end Labonte’s season – and may not even end his association with the #96, as team co-owner Tom Garfinkel has expressed dissatisfaction with the alliance with Yates/Roush – but there is still a chance it will mark the end of his fulltime Winston Cup career. I wouldn’t mind him replacing Reed Sorenson in Richard Petty’s #43 Dodge, as Labonte, Robbie Loomis, and Richard always seemed to click and Sorenson simply hasn’t shown any kind of killer instinct or ability to make the car better; at several points this season he squandered encouraging qualifying or race efforts, notably Pocono when he clawed to 13th in the race’s first third and then plummeted never to be seen again until a late melee.

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How should drivers handle the race as the countdown to the Chase proceeds? Simple – ignore the Chase altogether and fight for the win from the opening lap.

It has long been tiresome to worry about points instead of the win, and with the season entering its final three months it is long past time the entirety of the field forgot about points and instead started fighting for the win. Points are not worth it. Period. It’s about winning the race, about going for the lead.

Talk about a refreshing change – if this Dixie 500 was a race where nobody gave a damn about points and the battle for the lead thus became a real battle.