What happened: NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France was jailed overnight after police in Sag Harbor, N.Y. pulled him over and arrested him for aggravated driving while intoxicated and criminal possession of a controlled substance (oxycodone pills), according to a press release from the Sag Harbor Village Police Department. The news was first reported by TMZ and more details are available there through TMZ’s sources.
What it means: Two hours after Chase Elliott crossed the finish line at Watkins Glen, giving NASCAR a massive boost of much-needed positive momentum, NASCAR’s leader was getting arrested for DWI and criminal oxycodone possession in the Hamptons. As if France hasn’t done enough damage to NASCAR during his time in charge, this is a major black eye for the sport.
Instead of a feel-good, racing-related storyline that seemed to give NASCAR momentum on Sunday, all the talk nationally will be about France’s arrest. Additionally, this comes while NASCAR is up for sale — so having the chairman and CEO conduct himself this way only serves to devalue the sport. France has been at the helm since 2003, a 15-year stretch in which he has made highly questionable decisions and statements, oversaw a sharp decline in his company’s fortunes and acted oddly during his all-too-rare public appearances.
France has no ownership stake in NASCAR and serves at the pleasure of his uncle, Jim France, and sister, Lesa France Kennedy. Perhaps this is the catalyst in having Brian France step aside for someone who is more engaged and capable of guiding the biggest racing series in the United States through turbulent times.
News value (scale of 1-10): Ten. Despite his lack of presence at the races and having other executives run the sport on a day-to-day basis, France is still the chairman and CEO of NASCAR — a sport with a strict drug-testing policy and public “Road to Recovery” procedure. Whether or not this is an isolated incident or a symptom of larger substance abuse issues, let’s hope France follows the example set by drivers and crew members and takes the time he needs to avoid such situations in the future.
Three questions: Is there further embarrassment to come from this situation, such as a video of the arrest or mug shot? Update: The mug shot has been released. If this incident doesn’t result in France leaving his role as head of NASCAR, what would? Given France’s close friendship with President Trump (whose name France dropped during the arrest, per TMZ), could he simply be pardoned for any charges that result from this? Update: Many of you tweeted to say the president cannot pardon someone for state charges, only federal; so this doesn’t apply.
Five thoughts after Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen International…
1. The Amazing Chase
It’s just one win, and on a road course at that. So we probably shouldn’t view Chase Elliott’s first career victory on Sunday as some sort of watershed moment.
On the other hand, it’s tempting to think this changes everything.
Elliott has been living under a dark cloud — one created in his own mind — when it comes to his racing in the Cup Series. At times he has clearly felt inadequate and undeserving of even having his ride. That might sound crazy, but Elliott possesses a competitive mindset in which he knows what he is capable of — and feels he’s letting people down if he does not live up to it.
This bleeds through in everything he does, because it’s as if he doesn’t feel he’s even earned the right to act like he belongs until he proves he does. And in his mind, he should have proved it a long time ago.
Whatever any of Elliott’s critics have said about him? He already has thought those things about himself, so he’s more likely to agree than be offended. He believes driving for Hendrick Motorsports requires winning races and championships, and anything less is simply unacceptable.
So over these last few years, as wins have slipped away, Elliott hasn’t wanted to hear anyone’s words of consolation. Eight second-place finishes? Nice for some people, but not satisfying for him. He had to win.
On Sunday, though, there was a sense of real relief. He’s now a winner in the Cup Series. He gave Hendrick Motorsports its 250th victory. He is ready to take the torch as the face of the team in the future, ready to seize upon this confidence and win more.
He can and will — and must, in his mind.
“Definitely relief I would say would be one way to describe it,” he said. “I’ve left these races pretty down over the past couple years at times and had some great opportunities.
“I learned a lot about myself the past couple years. I’ve learned a lot racing in general. I felt like the end of last year I was probably (more) at the top of my game than I’ve ever been racing as a race car driver in general. … The past few weeks have been encouraging and I feel like we’ve been running more like we did last fall, which was really nice.
“No reason why we can’t do that more often.”
This really could be the type of situation where Elliott the high achiever takes those almost races and turns them into wins on a regular basis. He’s already elevated Hendrick beyond where its cars were typically running over the last couple years. Now that the team seems to be turning a corner as a whole? Well, it could just be the beginning for him.
Welcome to Chase Elliott’s world, everyone.
2. What if…
As great as Sunday turned out to be for NASCAR as a whole, let’s talk about what would have happened if things had gone sliiiiiightly differently.
Imagine for a moment if Elliott had blown Turn 1 on the final lap, allowing Truex to pass him (and not run out of gas, just for the sake of this scenario).
First of all, it would have been a masssive gut punch for a lot of NASCAR fans. A member of the Big Three would have won yet another race, and while snatching it from the driver who seems to have the largest support in the fan base at that.
Meanwhile, it would have been a tough blow for Elliott’s career overall. His reputation as a driver who was unable to close out races would have had a signature lowlight and it would have become that much harder to overcome those demons.
Honestly, it would have been uncomfortable to watch for both those on TV and in person.
Instead, Elliott not only got a win — but it was a resume-building one. He beat the best in the sport — passing Kyle Busch earlier in the race and then holding off Truex at the end — in a straight-up, non-fluky way.
How he did it is just as important as the fact he did it at all, in Elliott’s case.
“That’s just satisfying as a racer when you’re able to go and race with the guys who are dominating this deal right now — and actually be a legit contender and not back into one,” Elliott said. “That’s pretty cool.”
3. Road courses are back!
A ho-hum Sonoma race in June made me doubt my love of road courses for a moment there, but…phew! Watkins Glen brought it all back in a major way.
Damn, that was some good stuff! I’m not sure how anyone could watch that race and be bored or dissatisfied with their time investment in any way. Even when Busch was out front and building a lead in Stage 2, there was still entertaining and action-packed racing taking place.
As many have noted over these last few years, double-file restarts completely changed the quality of racing at road courses. These circuits put on a phenomenal show these days, maybe the best product NASCAR has to offer. Yes, consistently better than even short tracks at times.
One reason is they check all the boxes fans are concerned about. Fans are tired of hearing about aero (not much of a factor here) and inspection (35 of 37 cars passed on their first try) and they desire close racing (got it), lead changes (yep), passing (oh yeah) and a showcase for driver skill to come through (no doubt).
I’m not sure how the Roval will turn out this fall, but at least we get a shot to see one more Cup race in that style this season — and several more lower-series races. I wish there were even more road races on the schedule, but maybe someday.
By the way, that race was only 2 hours and 13 minutes — the shortest full-distance points race of the year. Do races need to be 3.5 hours to be enjoyable? Clearly not.
4. The remarkable Kyle Busch
It’s too bad so many fans can’t stomach Busch, because that seemingly stops them from being able to appreciate what he can do in a car every single week. I get much of it has been self-inflicted over the years with his attitude, but Busch might be the most purely talented NASCAR driver — ever.
Just look what he did during the final run on Sunday: After a fueling mishap, Busch restarted 31st and then drove all the way back to third. Third! He was passing the best of the best like it was nothing. That is insane!
Imagine if Busch was as well-liked as Elliott and people were going crazy over all his moves instead of hating on them. I honestly believe NASCAR would be a much different place in terms of popularity, because people would be tuning in for the Tiger-like dominance effect.
Alas…
5. Points picture
As always, the last item of the Top Five looks at the regular season points picture.
Elliott became this season’s eighth different winner, which means there are currently eight playoff spots available on points.
Those are currently held by Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Aric Almirola, Jimmie Johnson and Alex Bowman.
Honestly, there’s not much drama in the points right now — and with only Michigan, Bristol, Darlington and Indianapolis remaining, there might not be another new winner to shake it up.
The closest points battle is between Bowman and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., but they have more than an entire race’s worth of points between them (62!). And Paul Menard is 72 points behind Bowman, so he’s not close either.
Daniel Suarez, for all the gains he’s made lately, is still 89 points behind Bowman. He’ll have to win to make it.
If there were to be a new winner outside the top 16 in the last four regular season races, that would move the line up to Jimmie Johnson as the cutoff. The seven-time champ is currently 40 points ahead of Bowman, so he should be safe either way.
So there’s a bunch of people sitting in the media center after a long day at the track, waiting on Cup qualifying to start, and I hear other media members start talking about Bill Elliott.
I’m barely listening. It’s background noise, but they’re sort of laughing incredulously and joking about something related to Bill Elliott. He’s coming back to drive again, they’re saying.
Yeah, OK, right. Not sure why this is the topic of humor, but like I said — it’s been a long day.
But then I scroll back through Twitter and it hits me: Wait…they’re saying Elliott is going to drive an Xfinity race…..and he really is?
This has to be a joke. April Fools? No, it’s August. Fake news? I open my email. And there’s the press release from GMS Racing.
It’s real. Bill Elliott — BILL — will race the No. 23 car at Road America on Aug. 25.
WHAT!? Bill Elliott is 62 years old! He’s in the Hall of Fame already. And…he’s going to drive another NASCAR race.
That is a shocker right there, my friends. Who could have seen that one coming?
Upon further review, it’s not a complete surprise. (Actually, what am I talking about? It’s totally a complete surprise.)
But what I was going to say is when I heard Nate Ryan’s podcast with Ray Evernham in May, Evernham was talking about how he and Elliott ran the Indy Legends Charity Pro-Am event together — which is held on the road course inside Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
So although Elliott hasn’t run a NASCAR road race since 2007, he was just road racing two months ago en route to a third-place finish (combined with Evernham).
Elliott hasn’t really stopped racing. In NASCAR, yeah. But it’s not like he’s been sitting on the couch. So this should be interesting.
Can he beat the Xfinity regulars? Can he beat open-wheel guest stars like Katherine Legge and Conor Daly?
I don’t know the answer to any of those questions. But I know this: I’m pretty sure I’ll be watching now.
It feels like NASCAR is stuck in a rut lately. Everyone is waiting for something to happen or someone to break out. Whatever that something is, people hope it will inject freshness and excitement and energy back into the sport.
But it occurred to me recently I’m not even sure what the something is. What development is going to come along and suddenly change the course of today’s NASCAR?
A string of epic races? A dramatic rivalry? The sale of NASCAR? I’m honestly not sure.
So maybe it’s not NASCAR that’s in a rut. Maybe it’s me.
Think about it: The races have been pretty good lately (except for Kentucky), even though the results are predictable. Aside from the trio of dominant drivers, it doesn’t feel that different from a typical NASCAR season.
Has NASCAR changed in the last few years? Not really, aside from the big-name drivers. And yet there’s something missing that’s not allowing me to enjoy each week as much as I’d expect.
I’ve asked myself recently what that could be. I don’t want to feel this way; it’s troubling, frustrating and discouraging to do so.
If I’m being honest, a large part of it stems from what’s been happening to NASCAR over the past few years, and for two reasons.
First, in case you somehow haven’t been paying attention, NASCAR is struggling these days. TV ratings have plummeted, tracks can’t tear out seats quickly enough and sponsors are leaving. It’s painful to watch something you love go through a decline like this.
But second — and this is where it gets particularly disheartening for me — is there’s a growing divide within the sport about even acknowledging the hard times are occurring.
One of the best things about NASCAR has always been the sense of community and the tight-knit family feel. These days, though, there are two distinct sides developing.
In one camp are the people who are extremely concerned about the future. These people, who view themselves as realists, believe NASCAR is headed in the wrong direction and something must be done.
In the other camp are people who believe that while NASCAR has challenges, they aren’t that different than any other sport right now and believe public hand-wringing over its health only does harm.
Increasingly, the two sides are having a hard time seeing eye to eye — even though they both deeply care about NASCAR. There’s extreme sensitivity over every public comment, which turns into a “with us or against us” environment.
This has manifested itself in several ways lately:
— Last week, Forbes wrote a story that declared NASCAR is “certainly not dead and far from dying,” but is merely in transition. This story was seized upon by the people who believe that’s the case — or want to believe it — and cited as proof things aren’t that bad.
— At Pocono, NASCAR’s chief operating officer Steve Phelps lamented the industry “tends to focus on the negative” and added, “I’m not really sure why.” Phelps’ comments were criticized as out of touch by those who felt the opposite way.
— After the Pocono TV ratings came out, some on Twitter trumpeted NASCAR was the No. 1 sporting event of the weekend; others lamented another race that flirted with all-time low ratings. And this was for the same event.
You’ve probably figured out I’m firmly in the “greatly alarmed about NASCAR” camp and thus frustrated and puzzled as to why others would not feel that way.
But those on the other side — including some of my very good friends — are equally as frustrated. They’re understandably weary of hearing bad news every week and just want to enjoy their racing in peace.
I get that and appreciate where they’re coming from. But to me, NASCAR is like a patient who went into the hospital with a simple fever but whose condition has deteriorated over time.
More and more symptoms keep popping up. Is it a terminal illness? Not yet. But if doctors don’t prescribe the right treatment — or any treatment at all — then yes, the patient will eventually die.
I promise you some people in the NASCAR industry will read that line and be angry about it, but it’s true. Just as in medicine, ignoring the reality doesn’t help anything. We wish it could be different, but it’s not.
Some within NASCAR prefer to focus on the positives: The patient is still breathing. A lot of patients in this hospital are also sick. Our patient isn’t as ill as some others.
Meanwhile, I want to jump up and down and scream: DO SOMETHING!
That’s part of why I’m feeling down these days. There are so many potential changes NASCAR could make to help slow or reverse the downward trend — all are well-known to fans at this point — but talking about them over and over feels a bit hopeless.
Something needs to change, because it’s not too late to save NASCAR. There’s still hope.
But you can’t start making major changes until acknowledging there’s a problem. And unfortunately, the NASCAR industry is still not at the point where everyone agrees there’s anything seriously wrong in the first place.
AJ Allmendinger, shown here at Phoenix, is 23rd in the point standings this year after finishing 14th last week at Pocono Raceway. (Photo: Action Sports Inc.)
The 12 Questions series of interviews continues this week with AJ Allmendinger of JTG Daugherty Racing. Allmendinger heads to Watkins Glen International this weekend as one of the contenders to score a playoff-clinching victory.
1. How often do you have dreams about racing?
Unfortunately, pretty much every day. Or nightmares. Either one. Depending on how it’s gone that weekend. It’s something I wish I could be better about –just shutting my brain off when I leave the racetrack and forgetting about the weekend, whether it was good or bad or not. But my brain’s never worked like that — and I’m 36, so it’s probably not going to stop until I’m done.
2. If you get into someone during a race — intentional or not — does it matter if you apologize?
No, no. It really doesn’t, because if you’re on the opposite end of it, you’re the guy getting hit or wrecked. The “sorry” really doesn’t matter. Whether you do think it’s on purpose or not, I think you say it just to try and make yourself feel better, especially if it’s on accident. If it’s on purpose, then you don’t really care. But yeah, you try to say sorry — but you know if you’re on the other end of it, it doesn’t matter to that person.
3. What is the biggest compliment someone could give you?
That I care. Whether it’s about going out there and giving everything I have and knowing how much I care for my guys especially, knowing I appreciate them and care about how hard they work whether it’s going great or it’s going awful. I hope anybody who has worked with me knows that I leave the racetrack giving everything I have. I care about it.
My passion for it, whether it comes out in a good way or a bad way, whether it’s frustration or happiness, I just care about it. I care about looking good for my guys, the sponsors, the team, for myself — and I will always care. I guess the day I stop just caring while I’m in the race car, I probably should just stop.
4. NASCAR comes to you and says they’re bringing a celebrity to the track and they want you to host them. Who is a celebrity you’d be excited to host?
Tiger Woods, Rickie Fowler. Probably a lot of golfers, because I have a huge passion for golf. I love golf. I try to go out on the course during the week and think I’m a PGA golfer and get to the end of round and look at my score and I go, “That’s probably not going to cut it.”
But yeah, I think Tiger would be awesome to just take around the racetrack. I mean, it’s Tiger Woods, so there’s an aura around him. There’s very few people in the world that you can say, “Yeah, I’ve been around or been able to meet the best ever.” And Tiger would be one of them.
Do you think after your racing career is over you can get good enough to be on the Senior Tour or something?
No. I’m working on that. But I would love after my racing career to be able to do something on TV for golf. That would be probably something I’d be hugely passionate about and really get into. My golf game is definitely not close enough. I do have 13 years to work on it, but it’s not looking good right now.
5. In an effort to show this is a health-conscious sport, NASCAR decides to offer the No. 1 pit stall for an upcoming race to the first driver willing to go vegan for one month. Would you do it?
Yeah. I’ve actually tried to go vegan in the offseason. I try to be as healthy as possible. What you put in your body is critical and I’m learning a lot more about it over the past year or two. I’ve kind of went through stomach issues — a lot of it is probably stress that I’ve put on myself — but food is definitely a big thing in that.
It’s great having Kroger as a sponsor, because they’re very health-conscious and it’s fun to be able to talk to them about what’s in their stores. Especially their new stores, you can see the direction the world is going and they’re kind of following along with it, so I enjoy it. So I’m very fortunate to have Kroger as a sponsor to be able to do that.
6. It’s time for the Random Race Challenge. I’ve picked a random race from your career and you have to tell me where you finished. This is the 2014 Martinsville fall race, the Chase race that year. Do you happen to remember where you might have finished?
The Martinsville fall race…I’m trying to think back, I’m just trying to get the exact number. I know how we ran there. I want to say ninth.
Oh my gosh, yes! That’s correct.
Yeah. Nailed it.
You finished right behind Denny Hamlin. You started 15th that day, that was the race that Dale Jr. won. You must be good at remembering races.
I can remember most races, yes.
That’s amazing. Why do you think that is?
Because I care. That’s it. I couldn’t tell you my girlfriend’s birthday, I couldn’t tell you anything about dates or phone numbers or people’s names really, but I can pretty much remember every race that I was in. Do a lot of people get the answer right?
Some people get it somewhat close. We’ve had a couple people get it right, but some people are just like, “Nah. No idea.”
(I remember) the races that I’ve run the whole race. (Although) in NASCAR it doesn’t matter if it’s 34th or 37th. But yeah, I can remember generically almost every race I was in and kind of how it went.
7. Who is the best rapper alive?
(Laughs) I mean, right now, I’ll be honest, even though he doesn’t put out a lot of music anymore, I’d have to say Eminem. He’s got some sick lyrics still. But I mean, I would have to say 8 Mile is the best movie in the world, right? Nah, I’m just kidding.
8. Who has the most punchable face in NASCAR?
(Laughs) I’d have to go with Ryan Newman. It’s a big face.
You’d have to run though.
I didn’t say that I wasn’t going to get punished after.
A close second — or a tie for first — is probably Brad (Keselowski).
He’s been picked by a few people.
I would say probably, if I had to go with recoil after the punch, I’d definitely take Brad over Ryan.
I’m just assuming they might punch you back after.
Yeah, and so if I’m going with that, if that was part of the question, if there’s a recoil…the only thing is I would have to run quickly if I punch Ryan. I think I can outrun him, but if he got to me, he’d land on me and crush me.
9. NASCAR enlists three famous Americans to be involved with your team for one race as part of a publicity push: Taylor Swift, LeBron James and Tom Hanks. Choose one to be your crew chief, one to be your spotter and one to be your motorhome driver.
I’m not sure how his eyesight is, but I’d go Tom Hanks for sure as my spotter. He’s got a soothing voice, just keep me calm. So I would do that.
I guess it’ll be Taylor Swift as my crew chief because if the car’s going to be ill-handling, it’ll be nice to at least talk to her.
And LeBron, in case I got in a fight after, you always want your motorhome driver to be a big dude. So if I did wreck somebody with my ill-handling car that Taylor Swift gave me, I’d need LeBron James to be there to throw down with me.
10. What is the key to finding the best pre-race bathroom?
Well, I really try to look at the urinals before qualifying and kind of where they’re located, and then I just try to qualify around that. It’s like Fontana, there’s only one, it seems like, down at the end of pit road — so you really have to qualify up front so it’s not that big of a walk.
But you know, there’s certain tracks that have urinals right in the middle. So if I see that, then it’s like, “Yeah, 20th. Good for a bathroom.” It gives you extra time so you don’t have to get out of the truck, run to the bathroom and all of a sudden it’s the national anthem.
That’s the excuse I’m going to go with for my mid-20s qualifying.
11. NASCAR decides they miss the highlight reel value brought by Carl Edwards’ backflips and want a replacement. How much money would they have to offer for you to backflip off your car following your next win?
Just all my medical bills, because I wouldn’t get halfway over.
Really? You’re such an athletic guy though.
Yeah, well, I’m a very athletically stiff guy, so the launch off the car would be (bad). I could get halfway over and land on my neck, so they probably have to cover my after racing life insurance policy, disability stuff, so I get paid.
12. Each week, I ask a driver to give me a question for the next interview. Last week’s was with Kaz Grala. His question was: Do you know anyone who can sponsor him, and if not, do you have a backup car he can borrow?
No. And I’m always questionable with my practice habits, so I need my backup car. So I’m going to give him a big fat no and no.
I mean, shouldn’t he go with possibly going to a zoo (for sponsorship)? He’s got an animal name, like a Kaz Grala. Seems to me like that’s what he could go with. Has he tried that yet? Maybe go back to him and ask him that.
There’s a lot of zoos that would be up for sponsorship.
“Here, in this (exhibit), we have the ‘Kaz Grala.'”
The next interview I’m doing is with Ross Chastain. Do you have a question I might be able to ask him?
Yes. Could he beat Joey Chestnut in a watermelon-eating competition?
Previous 12 Questions interviews with AJ Allmendinger:
Portland-area NASCAR fan Russell Solberg joins me — actually, hosts me at his home — to watch the race and record this week’s post-race podcast, which covers all things Pocono.
