Your Turn: No respect

It’s that time of week again … the time for you to sound off on all things NASCAR.

If you’ve got an opinion you’d like to share – and the more diverse the opinion, the better chance you have of getting published – you can be a part of Your Turn by emailing us your rants right here.

We’ll kick things off with Raymond Reed of Jacksonville, Fla., who doesn’t think Jimmie Johnson gets the respect he deserves:

Why do so many NASCAR fans come up with a litany of lame excuses in an attempt to dismiss the greatness of Jimmie Johnson? Jordan was not my favorite basketball player and Tiger is not my favorite golfer, but I stand in awe of their abilities in their respective sports and applaud their dominance.

Kurt Busch and Jimmie Johnson have combined to win four of the last five championships, yet some still don’t think they get the respect they deserve.

(Getty)

I can understand the French having resentment towards Lance as he is an American that has dominated “their” greatest race. However, Jimmie is a true blue American from El Cajon, Calif., that has been blessed with tremendous driving abilities and has taught himself how to stay “in the zone” and to stay completely focused. NASCAR could change the rules every year and I truly believe that Jimmie and Chad would find a way to dominate and fans would still cry foul and claim that NASCAR caters to Jimmie (which is completely ridiculous in my humble opinion).

People claim that Jimmie’s success lies with the Hendrick organization, but how many other great drivers have driven Hendrick equipment and fallen short?!

Kurt Busch doesn’t get respect, either, says Dean Hill of Willow Grove, Pa.:

I watch every race and read all of the NASCAR news and all I read and hear about is Hendricks, why is there rarely a mention of Kurt Busch, he’s consistently in the top 5-10, he’s fourth in points, and the 2004 champion! Doesn’t anybody think this guy has a chance to win?

Wilton Richard of Mt. Vernon, Texas, is stoked about the Chase:

Man what a race and Chase this is gonna be. Congrats to Tony. He needed a good finish and pulled off a great win.

Dale Jr. fans, give it up. Yeah, he did good early then out pops the Jr. we’re use to seeing loses laps then drops out. Somebody please tell Hendrick to put a dominate driver in the 88 instead of a also ran.

Jeff Smith of Waterville, Ohio, says stop talking about the points standings in the middle of the race:

As I watch the races throughout the season, but especially during the countdown to the Chase and then during the Chase, the announcers say many, many times during the race that so-and-so has moved up to 3rd in the points or so-and-so has dropped to 8th in the points. POINTS ARE NOT AWARDED UNTIL THE END OF A RACE! No one can move up or down in the standings when the race is only 1/4 complete.

I understand what they are actually trying to say, but it is NOT NECESSARY until the race is complete. They don’t say this in say, basketball, that since one team is behind with 3 minutes remaining in the 1st half that they have dropped down in the standings for their division, so why do it in racing?

Rick of Tampa, Fla., rants on Junior, the Chase and, well, read on:

More JR bashing. I have to agree with the reader busting on JR for his comments about Reutimann. Look at the results for both drivers. Hell I could probably be in the same points bracket if I were driving for Hendrick’s team, and I don’t even do any TV commercials. But I did stay in a Holiday Inn once.

NASCAR needs an image overhaul and review of the Chase format. Do I have any suggestions, yeah but who the hell cares what I think? ooooohhh ooohhh Lets give points for reader votes on driver commercials.

Hey Tony, can I get an autographed burger?

Dave Wilson from Florida has an idea to make the Chase more fair:

Alrighty, the way I see it is that there is only one way to make the Chase fair, pick 10 different races to be held there every year. This would add excitement to the Chase knowing no one driver may be dominant, and it forces the seasons schedule to constantly change, which is what the fans want. We don’t want the same ol same ol every single year, change things up a bit NASCAR.

Tracy Pravlik of Mount Pleasant, Ga., stands up for Mark Martin’s decision to unretire:

This is to Mike Bartley from Springfield, Ill. If Brett Favre and Mark Martin want to go into and out of retirement a thousand times, they have that right. It’s called being an American citizen. Your freedom gives you that right, and if you don’t like their decisions that’s too bad. And as far as you not watching NASCAR anymore because of it that’s fine, go ahead. You have that right. As for me, I’ll never stop watching it.

And finally, we end things with this thought from Ron Wilkes of Lowell, Ind.:

I have an idea on how to give the driver with the most regular season points the home field advantage. He gets to pick one of the tracks that they race at in the playoffs. I know this would be almost impossible, but that would be the real home field advantage.