Thursday, May 24th 'What If' Question

Wednesday afternoon NASCAR announced their 2013 Hall of Fame class. The five men who will be officially place into the Hall on February 8, 2013 will be Buck Baker, Cotton Owens, Herb Thomas, Rusty Wallace and Leonard Wood.

As noted in his HOF biography on NASCAR.com, many call Wood the innovator of the modern pit stop among the many other things Leonard's credited with. And along with brother Glen, Wood Brothers Racing based out of Virginia, has become one of the most celebrated teams in the garage.

Elliott Sadler earned his first career Sprint Cup Series win in the Wood Brothers No. 21 Ford at Bristol in the spring of 2001. While drivers have come and gone in their cars, the success up and down, they've remained a constant on the track. Doing everything they could to get to the next track, the next race, the next season.

Then a young Tennessee driver named Trevor Bayne came along and gave the fabled team their second wind. Bayne went out and won the 2011 Daytona 500 after an impressive Speedweeks in which he gained the attention of champion and future Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon.

The win was the first for the Wood Brothers since Sadler's 2001 feat, the first Daytona 500 win since David Pearson in 1976. It was just the second career start for Bayne who had turned 20-years-old not even 24 hours before.

It was a sensational story that the NASCAR world latched onto. Bayne became its new star who was only running a partial Cup schedule for the Wood Brothers while competing for Jack Roush in the Nationwide Series. When Bayne got sick weeks after his win and was sidelined for a few months, the Wood Brothers stayed loyal and said the No. 21 was his.

He came back in late 2011 and tried to pick up where he left off but it's been a steep learning curve. Saturday night in Charlotte he'll be behind the wheel of the No. 21 in the Coca-Cola 600, a race that he missed last year. He's eager and excited to put another race under his belt, starting 13th, and certainly now that one of his team owners is a Hall of Famer.

But ...

What if the Wood Brothers hadn't won the 2011 Daytona 500 with Trevor Bayne and then been the focus of so much media attention for a year and a half because of his win, illness and comeback / success, would Leonard Wood still have been chosen as a nominee for the 2013 Hall of Fame class?


@cruetten no. He would've gotten in obviously, but not as soon.

@NancyatStudioN OMG - Yes! They have 97 wins w 17 dif drivers over 59 yrs. A shame they don't have financing to run TBayne fulltime

@RJ_Number8 They would've gotten in now. We're talking about THE men who invented the modern pit stop; a major contribution to the sport.

Saturday, March 17th 'What If' Question

The fastest cars don't always win, not even when a driver thinks they have the race all wrapped up.

Saturday in Bristol it was the defending champion, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., cruising toward his second straight win and first at the short track when the caution came out with 40 laps to go. The leaders came down pit road for their final stops but Elliott Sadler stayed on track and inherited the lead.

Sadler went on to win the race, Stenhouse fell back to finish sixth in frustration. Feeling he had the best car, Stenhouse wasn't happy with where he had finished or with fellow competitor Justin Allgaier, whom he says pinched him into the wall early in the race and then had another run in with him at the end.

Stenhouse knew though that it came down to the pit road call. His No. 6 team came in for two tires as Sadler didn't pit and earned the track position. While Stenhouse didn't berate his crew chief or team for the decision, he understood that as the leader he was a sitting duck and whatever he did, someone else was bound to do the opposite.

However, it doesn't make it any less frustrating. With Sadler and his new Richard Childress Racing team on a roll thus far in 2012 - two wins, two third place finishes and the points lead - Stenhouse knows it's going to be a long year. Having won last week in Las Vegas, the 6 team was looking to continue the success they've had since last season and sending a message that they're ready to defend their title.

They can see though that Sadler and his team will be putting up a much better fight this time around. Sadler leads Stenhouse by 25 points heading into the season's fifth race next weekend in California.

But ...

What if that last caution hadn't come out, does Elliott Sadler or anyone else catch Ricky Stenhouse Jr for the win today at Bristol? #NASCAR

@armond_ealey no

@StrokerAce90 I would say yes, Elliot was a man on a mission.

Tuesday, February 22nd 'What If' Question

On February 18, 2001 when Michael Waltrip won his first Sprint Cup Series race, which happened to be the biggest race of them all the Daytona 500, there was no celebrating. As the NASCAR world vividly remembers, Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr. raced toward the finish line but their car owner, friend, boss and father had hit the turn four wall behind them and died on impact.

Waltrip's win was overshadowed by a giant loss.

So, 10 years later Waltrip decided to enter the Camping World Truck Series race in Daytona, which was being held on the anniversary of Sr.'s death. In a black truck with the No. 15 painted on the side Waltrip again went out and won, this time in remembrance of Earnhardt.

And again his win was overshadowed.

After Waltrip crossed the finish line following a slingshot move of Elliott Sadler coming to the checkers, it became obvious that part of Waltrip's back spoiler was broken. It sent nearly everyone in the NASCAR world into a tizzy, hissy fits were thrown by many about the legality of it and how the win should be taken away.

Even Waltrip's brother, who was calling the race for SPEED channel, couldn't help but chuckle when saying, "I think we're going to have a problem there." When asked about it afterwards when speaking to the media, Waltrip said that if his spoiler had bent back before the checkered flag then NASCAR would most likely have black flagged him.

When exactly it occurred no one knows. The only thing that is known is that it happened out on the racetrack and was not done by the No. 15 team intentionally to gain an advantage. Either way it has caused quite the uproar and NASCAR official stated they would investigate further into the matter, however it appeared it was a part failure.

Either way, Waltrip's win will stand but it could have been a much more emotional and bigger story had it not been for controversy.

But ...

What if Michael Waltrip's spoiler didn't break/fall/bend backwards, does he still outrun Elliott Sadler to checkers in Truck race? #NASCAR

@KYTAB: No

@88myjr: Has anything else been said about the spoiler? I don't think her would have won.

@Nascar47Fan: I dont think his spoiler breaking had anything to do with his passing sadler & winning.

@Nascartwodozen: Not one bit.

@cruetten: I'd like to think Mikey still would've won, but that half-broken spoiler sure did help his lap times...

@NCL55: YES!

@StrokerAce90: No, Eliot would have been able to hold Mikey off. That missing rear spoiler gave Mikey more of an unfair advantage than Clint Bowyer's 60 thousant's of an inch issue did at New Hampshire Motor Speedway back in 2010.