The Goose That Laid The Golden Egg Is All But Laid To Rest

I've been saying for years that Nascar wouldn't be content until they killed the goose that laid the golden egg. I believe they have finally done it!

The above picture shows attendance at this past Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. Considering that this race used to always be a sellout and that people NEVER gave up their tickets, and in most cases willed them to family members after their deaths, to say that attendance was down a bit would be a gross understatement.

A change in the track surfacing and a move to progressive banking has allowed for more side to side racing and less of the old "bump and run" style that Bristol used to be known for.

In consistencies in the handling of rules violators as has been evidenced against the Jimmie Johnson #48 team has also driven a lot of fans away. Chad Knaus, crew chief for the #48, has been caught cheating in various ways in Nascar at least nine times in the past. Last year at Talladega he told his driver, on camera, that if he won the race to make sure he wrecked the back end of the car. Nascar did nothing about this, of course, because this is their only "five times in a row" champion. Sorry, but as many times as this team has been caught cheating, I put no value in a single one of those championships because I truly don't believe any single one of them was won without cheating in some way, shape or form.

At Daytona this year, before the car ever made it on the track, it was found that they had altered the body area behind the C post in an effort to make the car more aerodynamic. Nascar fined, penalized points and suspended Knaus and another member of the team. Team owner Rick Hendrick filed an appeal, which they lost last week, and then filed a second and final appeal, which today resulted in no docking of points, no suspensions and the $100,000 fine against Knaus left intact.

So, basically, Nascar told Knaus and the #48 team, if you cheat, you're going to lose some money out of your pocket(right, like that's really coming out of Knaus's pocket) but you can keep your points and keep right on working and doing your best to cheat again.

Had this been any other team, I think all the penalties would have stood up. Nascar just doesn't want to take a chance away from their fair-haired boy and his team not winning more championships, regardless of how they do it.

However, I'm sure as any true fan of the sport will concur, it's costing them far more in the long run. Looking at the empty seats at a race that was always sold out should tell Nascar something. They don't even sell out their Crown Jewel race anymore, The Daytona 500.

Why would you want to sit and watch a race where certain teams are given every chance to cheat and win? Why would you, as a sponsor, want your name on the car that obviously likes to cheat to win?

The empty seats tell the tale, the slip in television ratings tells the tale and the number of diehard fans that now tell you they don't watch it all that closely anymore hasn't been enough to get Nascar to start treating everyone the same.

Until that happens, more and more people are going to quit going to races and quit watching them on television.

I, for one, along with a lot of others, will never frequent a Lowes store as long as they continue to give millions of dollars worth of sponsorship support to a team that refuses to play fairly.

I have no respect at all for Chad Knaus or the #48 team, I have no respect for Jimmie Johnson as a driver and I have no respect for any of his five championships.

I also have no respect for Nascar simply because they themselves refuse to play by the rules that they themselves have written.

And while I might watch a half dozen or so races a year from now on, I will no longer watch it week in and week out and I won't be supporting all the sponsors of the sport like I used to.

And like I previously mentioned, I will never walk into a Lowes store ever again as long as they have their name on Jimmie Johnson's vehicle.

Nascar, you took aim on that goose for a lot of years and you kept taking shots at it, and finally, after a lot of misses, you made a direct hit this year.

The only thing left to do is bury the poor animal before it starts putrifying!