Lack of 'NRA' in NRA 500 broadcast was enjoyable

After a relatively uneventful race with a disappointing ending — for my taste, at least, since the underdog didn't win, I'll try to focus on a little more than the action that happened off the track at Saturday night's NRA 500.

For those who like parity, and I am one, it would have been great for Martin Truex Jr. to break that long winless drought that has plagued him since his first Cup victory at Dover in 2007.

It would have been nice to see him snooker Kyle Busch on that final restart and cruise to victory. But after losing the lead to Busch on the final round of pit stops under caution, Busch cleared Truex and sailed on for his 26th career win.

I had thought and hoped that it would be a much more exciting race than it was. It was OK. No real storylines other than the Penske cars having their rear ends confiscated and barely making it through prerace technical inspection. That's going to be a fun story to watch over the next few days.

The racing was alright. I just wish I'd gotten to see Truex firing those pistols in Victory Lane.

And with that manufactured segway, I introduce you to the real point of this rant — the pistols — and the group that so heavily advocates the use of those pistols: the NRA (National Rifle Association), and this race's title sponsor. Kind of.

A few months ago when I heard that the spring Texas race would be called the "NRA 500" I rolled my eyes, and thought "Well, that makes sense, doesn't it?"

But, after noticing that during the FOX telecast, the name of the race wasn't anywhere to be seen and they didn't seem to be mentioning the name of the race too often, I took to Twitter to investigate. It seems that the NRA bought the naming rights to the race, but not the television rights, meaning the right to use its logo, name, etc., during the broadcast on FOX.

It was odd. But it wasn't unprecedented.

It happened quite a few times during the 1990s, usually during a CBS broadcast. It stands out in my mind that the 1994 Miller 400 at Michigan (one of my favorites, and one of the most interesting, exciting NASCAR races of all-time) was just called "the Michigan 400" on the broadcast and the TV cameras took special care not to show the infield logo.

The same thing happened during Saturday night's broadcast.

After seeing the logo on Karl Malone's (of all people) shirt as he gave the command to fire engines, you didn't see or hear much more from the NRA, unless it was Mike Joy choking out the words "NRA 500" once an hour per the rules of the race/sponsor agreement.

And I couldn't have been happier about that.

During tough economic times, and when dollars are at a premium for race tracks, I can't blame Texas Motor Speedway for accepting a race sponsorship from the NRA. But, I can't understand why the NRA wouldn't just have sprung for the TV rights to utter its name like every other race sponsor these days. I can't really remember the time they didn't do that and always wondered as a kid growing up and watching NASCAR why some races didn't have their names said on-air. Now, thanks to Twitter, you can find out things like that within a matter of minutes.

Did they just want to get their name out to only the largely Texas-based crowd that attended the race in Forth Worh? Did they feel like they would disenfranchise a lot of now-mainstream NASCAR fans that aren't pro gun? Did NASCAR or FOX not like the idea of NRA plastered all over one of their broadcasts?

I don't like being one to ask such cynical questions that seem to immediately infer guilt. But I'd like to know an answer. I'll do some investigating.

The NRA is a controversial organization. And they're only controversial because of the people at the top of the organization. Most NRA members are logical, safe gun owners and that's evident in the over 60 percent of them that are in favor of background checks and increased mental evaluations for those who want to legally purchase firearms. I, a gun owner, myself (though, mine is locked away at my parent's house) grew up around firearms, took safety courses as a kid, and know how to operate one.

And now that I've qualified myself as someone who can logically speak on the matter, I consider people like NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre to be some of the lowest scum in existence on this Earth. He's not one of those sane people who just like to hunt, or feel safer in their home with a gun as protection, or go to the shooting rage to blow off some steam, or skeet shoot as a hobby.

He a lobbyist. He's in it for making as much money as possible and he doesn't care how he makes that money. He doesn't care how many people die due to gun violence. He doesn't care whether or not gun safety measures would or wouldn't save people's lives. He only cares about his next dollar. And where it comes from. And doesn't care if it's got a few drops of blood on it.

I can only imagine the NRA had already spent all of its extra cash lining the pockets of Republican — and perhaps some Democrat — congressmen so they will block any sensible gun safety measures that the House of Representatives or Senate try to get through. 

I had the not-so-great pleasure of reading the tweets of probably the biggest dullard on Twitter (@ImTheSportsDude) making nonsensical comments about how great the NRA sponsorship and NASCAR went together followed by 'Merica!

I honestly follow his account because of the mostly-ignorant, hateful comments make me feel like a more intelligent human. 

But his comments are not reflective of what America is about. And that kind of closed-minded thinking isn't what sports are about.

And I'm glad I had to digest as little of that NRA propaganda as possible while I tried to watch the sport that I loved.

But, I would have gladly have endured a whole race, filled with 43 cars, all sponsored by the NRA, with every commercial break brought to us by the NRA, and the scoring ticker with a big AK-47 on it after every loop.

I would have watched it with pleasure if it meant that organization spent its money there instead of buying the votes of cowardly politicians.

Martinsville at its best ... like old times

Jeff Gordon said it best:

"This was old-school Martinsville, today."

It was. And it's about time. I tweeted to @MRNRadio before the race that "the most entertaining races are a crew chief's nightmare," after they interviewed Paul Menard's crew chief, Slugger Labbe, who said that's exactly what this race would be.

For a very, very long time, we've been greeted with snooze-fests at most tracks for a various number of reasons. Enter this new Generation 6 car. Well, I'm not exactly sure if the car was solely the reason for the fantastic racing Sunday in the STP Gas Booster 500 — your winner, in dominant fashion, being Jimmie Johnson.

That old grandfather clock that Johnson received in Victory Lane sure makes you think of old times. And what happened on the track Sunday did the exact same.

But as Johnson cruised for most of the day, outlasting Clint Bowyer and Jeff Gordon on a restart with 9 laps to go for his 62nd career victory, what we saw through the middle of the pack was exactly what old-school NASCAR is all about.

No, I'm not talking about the bumping and banging and the damaged cars and the wrecks. I'm not talking about the bump-and-run, and the see-ya-later spins. I'm talking about the strategy due to handling issues and tire wear.

Goodyear, with the old COT car, had to design a harder tire to cope with the cumbersome body and weight of that ride. But with the new car, it seems like they've been able to soften the tire, allow for wear and make the teams save their stuff for the long runs. That's why you saw a guy like Jeff Gordon really come on at the end of the long runs — he knows how to drive an old-school NASCAR.

It makes for a boring race when cars stay in basically the same positions on the run after a pit stop. And whoever has the fastest car has to do nothing but drive hard with no give-up in the tires. We saw what NASCAR used to be — and should be — at Martinsville on Sunday.

There were comers and goers. Every run, from 4th-20th, there were cars falling back and cars coming forward. And some of the cars that came forward early in the run fell back as the run went on. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's due to the softer tire that wore more, and the drivers who took care of their stuff all day (and not necessarily just the fenders, just look at Bowyer's 2nd-place ride) ending up toward the front.

This made for some strategy.

Take, for example, Brad Keselowski and Marcos Ambrose.

They pitted on the second-to-last round of stops with around 45 to go. Keselowski gave up ninth and Ambrose 11th to come in. They restarted around 14th and 16th, respectively, but look what happened. The Blue Deuce of Keselowski stormed through the field and nearly nipped Kyle Busch for fifth at the line. Ambrose was one of those cars who got worse and worse as a run went on and ran just above 20th all day after getting caught up in a mid-race wreck. But playing the strategy perfectly — and having the opportunity to do so because of the fall-off in tires — allowed them to storm through and get the No. 9 Stanley team an eighth place, its first top-10 of the season.

And a mid-race move by Mark Martin's FedEx crew (that sounds weird) to take two tires when everyone else took four sent him straight to the back. That's how Martinsville should be. And that's what provides for an entertaining race. 

But, if you're one of those "fans" who mindlessly follow NASCAR for the beating and banging, the new car/soft tire combination gave you guys what you wanted, too. Throughout the run, cars fell off — the mid-pack drivers came through and bumped, and beat, and banged their way through the field.

The only way the race could have been better is if Johnson wasn't so dominant, making for more parity at the front of the field. But you can't blame him for that. You can blame NASCAR for a lot of things that have gone wrong in the sport over the past 10 or so years — the boring racing being Public Enemy No. 1. But it looks like they've really tried to fix it.

Denny Hamlin had it right. After the first two races, the Gen6 provided the worst racing at Daytona I've ever seen — ever — no exaggeration. And at Phoenix, it wasn't great, but it was better than the recent past. Bristol was fantastic, even though I prefer the old, run-the-bottom, non-momentum track I fell in love with as a child. And the Gen6 — if, in fact we can lay all the praise on the car — gave us the most exciting race I've seen at Auto Club Speedway, with a down-to-the-wire finish between Hamlin and Joey Logano, with Kyle Busch sneaking through for a last-lap pass for the win. (California Speedway, for those of us who remember the good ol' days and who still refer to NASCAR's second-tier series as the BUSCH Series). "Hey, what are you doing at 1 on Saturday?" ... "Sittin' down and watchin' the Busch race," is how the conversation still goes.

But this was vintage Martinsville, where a really good car could storm through the field on new tires, and those who saved their stuff were there at the end. It wasn't a drive-your-brains-out-and-the-tires-won't-fall-off-at-all borefest.

Hopefully NASCAR gets the plate package sorted out by the time the July Daytona race comes around. But as for short track racing, things are looking up in NASCAR.