Hitting the Road Again (But Not Bashing It)

Every sport known to man has its share of evergreen arguments--debates that seem to have been going on since the dawn of history and seem destined to continue until the end of time. Some examples: Would baseball be better off getting rid of the designated hitter? Should college football institute a playoff? Does golf really count as a sport?
For you gearheads who found this blog, there's another argument that could go on forever: Should NASCAR be racing on road courses?
For the non-gearheads out there, road courses are those that require drivers to turn both right and left, as opposed to the "oval" courses, which demand turning in one direction only. In the Sprint Cup series, NASCAR uses two road courses: Watkins Glen in central New York and Infineon Raceway in northern California, which will host its annual stock car spectacular on Sunday.
NASCAR is quick to tell you that it has been running road races since the very beginning, and many people enjoy the racing that these tracks produce. Others think that road courses should disappear from the schedule altogether, especially if some teams are going to pull their drivers in favor of road "ringers."
But there are plenty of reasons to keep the roads on the roster.
For one thing, NASCAR's open-wheel cousins have no problem asking its drivers to demonstrate skill on both oval and road (and street) tracks.
For another thing, shifting gears from Michigan International Speedway's 2-mile oval to Infineon's 2.5-mile serpent of a course can't be that much more traumatic than shifting from Talladega's 2.66-mile restrictor-plate special to Martinsville's half-mile "paper clip," as the Sprint Cup drivers will have to do in October during the Chase.
Besides, every reporter who can be cajoled into riding on a road course end up saying things like "This was a thrill like no other."
When was the last time you said that watching a pitcher bat?

A Tough Run in the Irish Hills

This week wasn't quite as bad for the People's Pitstop, but no one will be mentioning it in our Hall of Fame speech, either.
The Internet's favorite fantasy NASCAR team scored a grand total of 258 points during Sunday's race at Michigan International Speedway. Our season of total of 4,169 is good enough to keep us in first place in the 9beersfantasysportstavern league on Yahoo Sports, but the top of the standings are pretty tight. We lead the new runner-up, speedway41, by only 110 points.
Here are the complete results from the Irish Hills.
Jimmie Johnson: Started 21st, finished 27th (1 lap behind the leaders) and 38 fantasy points. Is it possible that there was a Hendrick Curse in effect on Sunday? Johnson spun out before many of his fans had gotten to their seats, and he was playing catch-up for the rest of the race. He plunged three spots in the points standings, and he probably took a lot of fantasy teams with him.
Kasey Kahne: Started 8th, finished 28th (1 lap behind the leaders) and 36 fantasy points. Michigan is known as a place where fuel efficiency mattered. And it bit Kahne in the tailpipe. He ran out of gas on his way to his pit box. His engine stalled, and he fell two laps behind trying to restart his car. It's a good thing Kahne is getting out of Red Bull Racing while the getting is good.
Ryan Newman: Started 13th, finished 6th, 3 laps led and 90 fantasy points. It was a good week for the Rocket Man to have a solid outing. Newman's car celebrated both the U.S. Army's birthday and Hall of Famer Bud Moore.
Paul Menard: Started 9th, finished 4th, 2 laps led and 94 fantasy points. You know your career is on the right track when columnists admit to rooting (even briefly) for you to win the race.
Now, it's time to turn our attention to this week's race at Sonoma's Infineon Raceway, a road course. No, NASCAR has not eliminated road races, which are certainly a different breed from the oval races that dominate the schedule. And there's a good chance this week's lineup for the People's Pitstop will look different from last week's roster. But that's up to you. The polls are now open, and they will stay open until Thursday night. Feel free to vote now.

The People's Choice - Sonoma

You, the Internet, have spoken. You have chosen the People's Pitstop lineup for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Sonoma. And this week's lineup looks radically different from the one that started for us last week at Michigan. Here are your choices.

A List. The Internet's favorite fantasy NASCAR team is proud to welcome Tony Stewart (and his talented pit crew) back to the starting lineup. This will be Stewart's second start for us. Denny Hamlin will get the bench spot by virture of the points tiebreaker.

B List. Here's a switch. Marcos Ambrose, the Australian driver with extensive experience in non-NASCAR circuits, gets one of the starting spots this week. In the other starting spot, we have a tie between Ryan Newman and Clint Bowyer. Whoever qualifies better will get the start. The other one will sit on the bench with Matt Kenseth.

C List. Rejoice, Said-heads. Your prayers have been answered. Boris Said, one of the so-called road specialists, has achieved what is certainly one of his lifelong goals by earning a spot in our starting lineup over A.J. Allmendinger.

We will update the lineup when the qualifying session is done. In the meantime, we have a new poll on whether you like road courses. Please vote now.

UPDATED SATURDAY: The qualifying session is finished, and Ryan Newman, who qualified 13th, gets the nod over Clint Bowyer, who qualified 22nd. As for our other starters, Marcos Ambrose qualified 6th, Tony Stewart qualified 7th, and Boris Said qualified 17th, the best spot among the drivers who did not have a guaranteed spots in Sunday's race.

We'll be back with a fantasy football post.