Is NASCAR worried that Rick Hendrick is dominating this sport? Just what is NASCAR worried about?

  The buck stops here: NASCAR president Mike Helton (L) and NASCAR CEO Brian France (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   PHOENIX
   Muscle cars are hot again.
  Remember the go-go era of the 1960s? Well, guess what the Camaro and Mustang are hot sellers again, even in a down car market – and the kicker: big buyers are the NASCAR's middle-age demographics, perhaps remembering themselves those heady car days of their youth, as well as the youth market, also a key NASCAR market and now enamored with the new pony cars.
   Maybe NASCAR itself needs to step up this new twist it's angling for the Saturday Nationwide tour, and not wait till next July to get on this bandwagon.
   NASCAR can't afford to slow to this table. In fact, it ought to step up the whole thing and ensure the new stock cars are ready for action at Daytona in February's SpeedWeeks.
   NASCAR is getting something of a rap for being too slow to adapt to the new. It looks like it's losing market share to other sports, and it needs to strike quickly, or that reputation may get too engrained.
   Indeed, the idea of debuting a new marketing campaign like this new Nationwide car in the middle of the summer is not only odd but it simply doesn't look like good business.
    NASCAR and its team owners need to get back in the game and take advantage of the situation. Twist Chevy's arm a little harder to get that Camaro out on the track with the Mustang and Charger.
   And, hey, where's that Toyota muscle car? Somebody in that camp needs to get on the stick.
   OBTW, there are signs that the surge in muscle-car buyers is coming from a rather unexpected rank – truck buyers.
   If muscle cars are the 'new trucks,' in Detroit, well, think marketing and if you were NASCAR prez what would you do?
      
    

   NASCAR's new Nationwide 'muscle cars,' testing at Talladega: the new racers should debut at Daytona in February, not Daytona in July. And NASCAR needs to twist Chevy's arm to get on board with the Camaro...or else (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
    

   Meanwhile, among the enigmas of 2009, few are more prominent than the strange case of Greg Biffle/Carl Edwards/Matt Kenseth, the lead Jack Roush trio, who have been at the head of the battle with the Chevy hordes for years.
    But not this year.
   Not even yet, in the final days.
   This season-long malaise – since April really – should have turned at Texas, the long-time Roush stronghold.
   Now Biffle and the guys may be getting tired of hearing the questions, but until we see some answers that make sense we've got to ask them again:
   What's going on here?
    "That's a great question," Biffle concedes….."because we’ve been looking at that and digesting all of the information we have. And with the lack of testing, we're putting a lot of importance on each race.
   "Looking to 2010, we know the spots are -- to figure out these front bump-stops, the front geometry, how to get our cars to turn around the center of the corner. Rotate so we can put the gas back down.
    "It's been a tough year…"
    However it is worrisome, to say the least, that Ford teams still aren't showing signs of the turning the corner. For one thing, usually teams that are strong down the stretch are strong when next season starts.

   What is really worrisome is that one operation, the Rick Hendrick camp, has dominated the sport all season, except for brief flurries by Joe Gibbs' guys.
   What has happened – if NASCAR execs would only realize it – is that NASCAR, with its tight new rules packages, has lost any wiggle-room with which to balance the playing field.
   So NASCAR is looking just like Formula One – in too many ways.
   By taking away downforce – which many believe to be an ill-advised move by NASCAR, or at least an idea whose time has come and gone – NASCAR wanted to put the driver back in the game more.
   Well, guess what? Jimmie Johnson is a darned good driver. Even Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin, with equal stuff, can only rarely keep up with him. And don't even ask about Dale Earnhardt Jr.
   So, hey, why not put more downforce back in these cars? Give more drivers something to work with.
   And open up testing so the game isn't won by the guy with the most engineers and the fastest computers.
 
   The bottom line – and don't think fans don't see this – is the gap between the Hendrick powerhouse and the rest of the NASCAR field has never been wider. If Jack Roush's guys are struggling, imagine what it's like over in Robby Gordon's camp and Eddie Wood's and even Richard Petty's.
   NASCAR officials have never seemed more powerless to try to level the playing field.
   Or more unwilling even to try.
   Odd, isn't it?
   Would Bill France Jr. put up with all this?
   When Jack Roush put five teams in the 10-team chase, NASCAR's Brian France got all up in arms.
   Well, Rick Hendrick is about to become the first car owner in NASCAR history to finish 1-2-3 in the championship chase. Should that provoke some NASCAR response?
   Or maybe it's just about so much luck -- bad luck for too many Hendrick rivals.
   To be perfectly blunt this sport has been dominated by three operations the past few years, and at least the Joe Gibbs guys have been able to match up against Hendrick at times this year. Even Richard Childress can't get traction. And for all the hoopla over Juan Pablo Montoya, he is still winless this year remember.

   So do we complain about some secret unfair advantage the Hendrick guys have found…or do we complain that Jimmie Johnson is just too good…or do we complain that NASCAR's no-testing policy has backfired…or do we complain that NASCAR's tight rules have put crew chiefs in such a box they feel handcuffed?
    Should we have raised eyebrows about that NASCAR movie production about Rick Hendrick? Haven't seen NASCAR do a Richard Childress movie yet, with a Hollywood premier. Or a Jack Roush movie for that matter.
    Or maybe we should all simply sit on our hands and wait for something to change.
    If not for that bobble by Sam Hornish at Texas, Johnson and Hendrick would already be celebrating four titles in a row.
    Should four straight titles be cause for alarm? Is this sport so unbalanced?
   Wasn't this supposed to be the year of the return of the little guy (at least as long as his name wasn't Jeremy Mayfield or Carl Long)?
   Sometimes it just seems that NASCAR doesn't care about the show any more, that it's taking its fans for granted…and fans, in response, are taking a hike.
    Maybe it's just time to start tearing down some more stadium seats and selling them for souvenirs.
   
   

   The only weak link in car owner Rick Hendrick's game is Dale Earnhardt Jr. (L). And where in the world did that National Enquirer article come from? And how will Hendrick's PR operation handle that one?   (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)